The first few moments of a hike and I confess, I do not feel like one of those Grandmas on the move. I feel every twinge in my ankles as they wake up; in my knees as the right one clicks ominously; in my left foot where the old neuropathy pain can flair up. After about 20 minutes and everything works like a well oiled machine, a steady climb or descent. There is no snow to speak of in our Snoqualmie Pass, so the ski bus was called off for the second week. Three of us went hiking on the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. It was a beautiful day for us Grandmas on the move and we loved it.
Down in LA, the Trust for Public Land installed a fitness zone in a neighborhood park. Here is what they found when they went back to check two years later: Grandmas on the move.
Get your self out there and keep moving. It makes a difference. I have the choice of not moving when these twinges tell me my legs, joints and muscles are not working they way they did 50 years ago. Sure, I have severe osteoarthritis and spinal stenosis. These diagnosed conditions might give someone license to sit down. Years ago, my neurologist told me I should be in a wheel chair, if my x-ray images were to be believed. He said my bones were not good enough to operate. “Get strong, Betsy. Let your muscles carry you.”
These grandmas on the move have figured that out. I hope you can find a way to do what they are doing.
Here is a suggestion list of beautiful ways to remember someone’s birthday, anniversary, special achievement or goal with a simple gift for a healthy life. Your friends and family will know how much you care when you give one of these gifts for health.
TO SLIP IN WITH A CARD
*180 Pomegranate Tea Stick(s) with a Girardelli Chocolate Square with a little note to “enjoy this gift of energy” and to “remember to enjoy all antioxidants all year-long.”
*Energy Chew(s)with a little note to “enjoy the energizing treat of Olympians.”
*180 Drink Mix Packet with a little note “a gift of healthy fast food this busy season.”
FOR GUYS
*Performance Sports Drink (Orange or Lemon-Lime), 180 Snack Bars, and Joint & Muscle Pain Cream along with a sports bottle, football, soccer ball, a signed ball or signed photograph.
*180 Snack Crisps (Sea Salt or Barbecue or both) in a basket circled with ribbon along with some movies or a subscription to NetFlix, etc.
*Basic-H2with a sponge in a bucket filled with car magazines. Add Scour Off Paste for the tires and tough spots.
*ENFUSELLE Sun Screen, Performance SportsDrink (Orange or Lemon-Lime), and ENERGY CHEWS with golf stuff, ball, gym bag, etc.
*180 Meal Bars with brochures for hiking trails, bike routes, fishing holes, etc.
*Herbal Blend Multi-Purpose Cream with some nice slippers and/or cute designer sox. Include a note about how the cream soothes sore tootsies year round. You can even refrigerate it to cool feet in summer.
*Cocoa Energizing Soy Protein with the recipe for cocoa soy-peanut butter “energy balls” and a festive container full of them. Or Instant Protein with a container of fruit or chocolate dessert bars made with it and the recipes.
*Travel Bag filled with ENFUSELLE Products along with travel magazines and/or a video of a fun destination.
*180 Snack Bars wrapped in a see-through colorful net and tied with ribbon
*ENFUSELLE Shower Gel, ENFUSELLE Hand & Body Lotion, and Bath Sponge in a pretty shower caddy or with a set of monogrammed towels.
*Basic-H2 Sample rolled in the sheet called “How to Use This Little Bottle of Basic-H2,” tied at each end with festive ribbon with a card that says, “My gift to you is a gift to the Earth, too! Enjoy!”
*A bottle of VIVIX with a bow and a nice calendar with a message about having a “youthful” year.
*Vitalizer with a picture of the kids or grandkids or great grandkids. And add ENERGY CHEWS with a gift of gym membership.
*Herbal Blend Multi-Purpose Cream with some nice slippers. Include a note about how the cream soothes sore tootsies year round–refrigerate it to cool in summer.
*NUTRIFERON with ear muffs and HAND & BODY LOTION.
UNIQUE GIFTS
*Stress Relief Complexwith tickets to something fun for “stress relief” or add VITALIZER with a map and a shaving kit or cosmetic bag for traveling.
*EZGEST and Stomach Soothing Complex with a coupon for a supply of ice cream for someone who usually can’t eat it…or with a coupon for dinner out at a restaurant known for 4 Alarm chili, or Mexican food, or spicy Indian cuisine, etc.
*SHAKLEE Sun Screen SPF 30 with sun hat, ball cap, sunglasses, or picnic basket.
*180 Turnaround Kit or Lean & Healthy Kit to start the new year right, along with a funky calendar, and a coupon for a shopping spree for clothes in 90 days.
*Orange and Lemon-Lime Performance Drink Canisters with a walking audio like Dr. Weil’s. (Remember that mixing the two flavors gives you a tropical flavor!)
*Performance with gardening things like a hat, cotton gloves, and/or kneeling pad. You could add Joint & Muscle Pain Cream, and Basic-H2 as a safe bug repellant, an invisible glove, as fertilizer, and more.
Here we are in a New Year. I hear murmuring around me about changes in eating, in exercise, in work habits. People everywhere seek balance in their lives, which seem to be uncontrollably hectic. We interrupt ourselves and forget what we hoped to accomplish in the next hour. There is no peace.
This time of year solutions abound. Your favorite person on Facebook asks everyone to comment on their resolutions and past successes. The radio and TV, pod casts and news articles have the answer if you would just listen, please. Of course, I am going to recommend a better diet, one with supplements. Ha! It just could be that digestion is the key to health.
Years ago I learned a very important lesson that relaxed my need to save the world all by myself. Food, diet and nutrition are one small part of the total health picture. A wise woman, Angela Arriens, lectured on the 8 common threads across all cultures that lead to a health filled life. As a cross-cultural anthropologist, she knew what she was talking about from years of research.
It turns out that our diet per se is only one/eighth of the picture. Other factors–exercise, spiritual practice, friends and relationships, music and color (art), and deep rest are the aspects I remember to this day, 24 years after hearing her speak. What a relief to know what a small part I might play in advising someone’s health picture. My supplement program is not the key ingredient to a healthy life, just one aspect.
Having said that, I want to suggest that digestion is a key to health, one of the most important aspects of nourishing our bodies. We can eat whole foods and never contaminate our bodies with junk food, but if we don’t have a functional digestive system, we may still miss the nutrients we need. If you struggle with acid reflux or bloating and gas after eating, perhaps your digestive system needs some fine-tuning. If you suffer from arthritis, joint pain, or are developing spinal stenosis and osteoporosis, it could be that your nutrients are not doing their job in the body.
Goal of Digestion
Take whole foods and turn them into energy and nutrients to allow the body to function, grow, and repair itself. When we swallow food we have chewed in the mouth, the esophagus carries the mass to the stomach. The first potential problem is the esophageal sphincter, or trap door that opens to let the slurry of food pass into the relaxed upper stomach. If the food is well-chewed, broken down evenly, the weight will easily open the trap door and the mass will pass into the stomach, letting the sphincter close behind it.
Chew your food well to aid this process.
Problems occur when we swallow chunks of food and the sphincter explodes open to let the material pass. Gas results. Flow back of acid results. In time, the sphincter wears out and doesn’t close firmly or quickly.
In the stomach, an acid excretion further breaks down the food into the nutrients that can be absorbed by the tiny cilla in the small intestine. The stomach must be acidic to do this job or food continues down the digestive track un-dissolved and its nutrients are not absorbed.
When people feel discomfort from the escaping acidity up the esophagus into the mouth, called heart burn or acid reflux, the go-to remedy is an antacid. This might give a feeling of relief but the nutrients that need to be broken down into their absorbable components remain unavailable to our system. Antacids neutralize the acid the stomach provides to break down food.
Ideally, the stomach breaks down proteins. When this is not functioning as designed, a better intervention is to increase the stomach acid by drinking warm water and lemon juice first thing in the morning. Not coffee. And chew, chew, chew until the slurry that drops to the esophageal sphincter gently pushes the trap door open.
If there are foods that are hard for you to digest like dairy or refined carbohydrates (cookies, crackers, breads, cakes), the cruciferous foods—broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, or legumes—beans, you might need digestive enzymes to hit the stomach first thing before a meal to help break those things down. (This is where Shaklee’s EzGest comes in handy, Take one before each meal.)
Most of us do not feel the peristalsis—muscle action of the small intestine as the slurry passes on down. When functioning normally, the digestive acids in the intestines break down starches, proteins and carbohydrates. Nutrients are absorbed into the body all along this passage as they become dissolved. Certain vitamins like the 8 different B vitamins become absorbed in specific areas of the intestines whether the B’s come from foods or supplements. When not functioning normally, we feel gas and bloating moving down the intestinal track, often producing pain and even severe discomfort.
Finally, the pancreas introduces pancreatic acid to break down starches, fats and protein and the liver produces bile acid to further break down fats.
Alcohol is absorbed into the blood stream from the stomach. (Eating grapes and other high sugar content foods seems to have the same quick absorption rate for me, but I know there has to be some breakdown beyond the stomach acids. Still the same rush alcohol brings happens with these high sugar foods.)
The most common drugs prescribed by the medical profession and purchased over the counter are meant to correct mal-functions in this digestive process. They often eliminate the discomfort that occurs when the acids do not stay where they belong but they weaken natural digestion. It is possible to return your digestive system to a drug-free, comfortable state. It takes changing your eating habits. Since digestion is the key to health, you’ll be glad you did.
Changing your digestive process may be the key to losing weight along with the other benefits. Many of us take on the goal of getting to our healthy weight by summer time. The Shaklee 180 Turnaround is an excellent program to help you on your way. It could be that dealing with the digestive issues will make all the difference.
Remember, just losing 10 pounds will ease up on those aching joints, the arthritis in your knees, hips and feet. Could better digestion help? Didn’t we say that digestion is the key to health?
Let us know your solutions to the struggles you have with digestion.
What factors create digestive challenges? Why do we need digestive enzymes?
What is EZ-Gest?
How does it work?
Why chose and why use EZ-Gest
What Is EZ-Gest?
EZ-Gest offers as-needed relief for the unwanted results of incomplete digestion of
foods. Unlike popular single-function digestive aids, EZ-Gest offers plant-based,
comprehensive digestive enzyme support*:
Alleviates symptoms such as gas, bloating, and feelings of fullness*
Includes targeted enzymes to help digest common “problem” foods, such as dairy
and gas-producing vegetables, including beans and broccoli*
Supports complete digestion of the fat, protein, and carbohydrates in all foods,
with a concentrated, multi-enzyme formula that addresses all food groups*
How Does EZ-Gest Work?
Digestive enzymes manufactured in the body play key roles in breaking down the
complex molecules of food during digestion. Different enzymes work at different sites in
the gastrointestinal tract and under different conditions. For example, gastric pepsin does
its job in the low, acidic pH of the stomach, while pancreatic enzymes such as amylase,
proteases, and lipase work in the higher, more alkaline environment of the small
intestine.
EZ-Gest enzymes are “acid resistant” and have the capacity to function within a range of
pH that is compatible with that of the stomach during digestion. When taken along with
problem foods such as dairy or beans, EZ-Gest enzymes are in the right place at the
right time to assist with breaking down the complex molecules of these foods.* The
plant-based enzymes in EZ-Gest are derived through natural fermentation, and support
digestion of all food groups:*
Why Choose EZ-Gest?
Complete formula of enzymes known to support digestion of all food groups.*
Plant-based formula.
Enzymes in EZ-Gest are acid-resistant, and survive stomach acid without
synthetic enteric coatings.
Scientifically backed formulation containing enzymes clinically proven to work.
No artificial colors or flavors.
No synthetic preservatives.
How Should EZ-Gest Be Used?
EZ-Gest is recommended for use with meals that may cause digestive discomfort, such
as heavy meals, or meals containing problem foods. Take one capsule of EZ-Gest as a
digestive aid.*
Consumers who are specifically concerned with lactose intolerance or gas-producing
vegetables may wish to take EZ-Gest at the start of a meal. If pregnant, nursing, or
galactosemic, ask a healthcare professional. If rare sensitivity to fungal sourced
ingredients occurs, discontinue use.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Betsy Bell’s Health4u, 4455 51st Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98116
Even on the beach in Nuevo Vallarta, news filtered down that, once again, some gurus warn us that vitamins are no damn good. How does that news make you feel? Like a fool for spending all that money on worthless pills? Here you have been trying to avoid the chronic diseases of life-style so many Americans develop in their late 50s and 60s, and you are told that multi you have been taking will not do the job. My vitamins should protect me from cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or else. Is it true? Absolutely. Otherwise why would I be taking all these pills?
Dr. Jamie McManus, medical director at Shaklee, asks us to take the 30,000 mile high view. Vitamins are meant to supplement a diet that does not provide optimal nutrition. They are not intended to substitute for a healthy diet rich in vegetables, lean protein and fresh fruit. Ninety-seven percent of us do not get adequate nutrition every day. Vitamin supplements help bridge that gap.
Perhaps we should be begin by questioning the premise of the studies: that multivitamins can prevent chronic disease. Do you believe you take your vitamins for that express purpose and leave everything else to chance?
Dr. McManus says “Prevention of any disease is a multi-factorial process that has to include diet, weight management, and lifestyle. To expect to see disease prevention accomplished by virtue of taking a daily multivitamin is a flawed premise. So, why are these large-scale (and very expensive) studies undertaken? It is simply the model of research that scientists and physicians understand – studying a single drug to determine what effect it may have on a single disease. Studying nutrition is far more complex.
These studies were conducted the way scientists study specific drugs. Let us question that approach.
While a drug has a primary effect (usually something positive), they also have a myriad of side effects (which are usually negative and even life threatening). Every year pharmaceuticals are removed from the market because of these serious side effects. A study published in JAMA in 1998 showed that as many as 125,000 Americans die each year of properly prescribed pharmaceuticals – wow! When was the last time a vitamin was removed from the market?
Have you ever played around with stopping your vitamin intake for a week or so and then going back to them? Could you tell the difference in how you felt with and without the supplementary nutrition?
Vitamins and minerals all have multiple positive functional roles to play in our bodies – which is why so many Americans pop a multi each day. People simply feel better when they take a multi because they are filling in those all too common nutrition gaps.
All three of these studies showed that multivitamins have an excellent safety profile. Well, of course they do! The only “potential harm” that continues to be mentioned every time we have a study such as this published is the slight increased risk of lung cancer in smokers who took beta carotene. My response to that is – smokers: stop smoking!
Let me quickly summarize these studies. The largest one is another report from the Physician Health Study – previous publications of data from this large government funded study did show an association of reduced cancer associated with multivitamin usage.
The next study looked at cognitive decline in physicians – who are at the upper end of the intelligence scale and pretty well nourished. Showing a significant change in cognitive decline in this population is going to take some intervention beyond a multi – as this population is most likely doing lots of the right things to protect their brain function.
In other words, the presence or absence of a multivitamin can not be the deciding factor in declining brain function.
The third study tried to show that higher doses of specific vitamins decrease the likelihood of a second heart attack in folks who have already had a heart attack. Hmmm. Maybe we should look at weight reduction, cholesterol, blood pressure lowering, and blood sugar management as opposed to putting the burden of prevention of a second heart attack in someone with heart disease on vitamins!
I have been recommending a multivitamin (and beyond) to my patients, and consumersin general, for my entire 30 years as a physician – and nothing in these studies changes my mind. The statistics on inadequacies in our American diet are clear – most everyone is deficient in multiple nutrients. Here at Shaklee, we have the Landmark Study, published in the journal Nutrition in 2007 that showed a nice correlation of better health with multiple supplement usage, starting with a multivitamin. We have over 100 published studies that validate the connection of nutrition and health. I urge you to continue taking your Shaklee supplements – but also, to remember the importance of eating healthfully, avoiding fast foods, and getting to a healthy weight on your journey to better health. Dr Jamie McManus.
I couldn’t agree more. The turnaround to Vitamins are no damn good could be vitamins are good. Another could be my vitamins are not supposed to prevent cancer, heart disease or diabetes. I prevent these diseases as best I can through my life-style choices. My vitamins help. I may develop these diseases anyway, no matter what I do to avoid them. What is more true for you?
I wish you good health and happy consumption of the healthiest diet you can muster in any given day, supplemented by the vitamins that fill in the gaps. I wish you success in finding your healthy weight, your top level of fitness, your most peaceful spiritual happiness, satisfying work and family relations. If you have questions about a supplement and diet program to help you achieve these prevention goals, I’d be honored to help. The New Year is upon us. A good time to begin.
I have a friend who is a seeker of alternative cures. She has studied the back story of her blood and skin and their reaction to the environment and foods. She knows she has a bad reaction to anything with sulfur in it. A doctor had prescribed a medicine with a form of sulfur. An over-the-counter supplement someone recommended had a form of sulfur in it. Both gave her the negative reaction she feared. It turns out nature’s bounty is full of plants with sulfur. However, some forms are benign while others are active. This girl knows these things and as I read the label of a product she was interested it, we both discovered the Shaklee scientists had included a form that was not active or harmful.
Even as I open the document with the ingredients, she lets out a happy sigh, “Thats perfect. I think I’ll try some.” She is rattling everything in the kitchen as we speak. I can picture the lake with all its homes and docks out side her sweeping picture windows, a mist rising off the still water. She is probably putting away the groceries, unpacking one cloth bag after another.
My friend is beautiful, a cosmotologist with a tiny waist and perfect features. She is a mother of grown teenagers and she has taken great care to raise her children on an organic diet, helping them recognize the consequences to their health of poor eating . Her own mother raised her on Shaklee supplements. She remembers rebelling against “so many pills”. For year she didn’t take any vitamins, but her yearning for knowledge led her to seek alternative products and procedures. She has taken lots of Shaklee over the years, cycled away from “so many pills,” again and just recently came back. The search for pure products, ones made from the part of the plant that will react well in the body brings her back again and again to Shaklee.
I am so happy to have found a product line with a solid scientific foundation. Products that work every time. Products that are safe. Products that are cost effective. My task is never to argue or persuade, only to present information that is true and reliable. You decide.
If you are the sort of person who seeks to both prevent illness and to heal yourself with alternative cures, I’d love to explore the possibilities with you. Results vary and not every vitamin or herbal supplement works for every person the same way, just like in medicine. Let’s talk.
Read Elizabeth’s Shaklee 180 Story: Learn how she went down 30 poundsand dropped from a size 16 to 6 and stayed that way.
Some of you may or may not know this about me, but I have struggled with my weight for quite some time. At the age of 14 I got up to a size 12 and I stayed there until I was 19. Then in fall of 2008 I spent 4 months in Germany as a volunteer helping out an religious order of retired sisters. Little did I know that I would come back home 20 pounds heavier than when I left. I went from a size 12 to a size 16! My clothes didn’t fit any more and I knew I didn’t want to buy all new clothes! Something needed to change and It needed to change fast.
After a year of not being able to lose the weight and after trying so many different kinds of diets, none of them seem to work. I guess you can say I gave up on trying to lose the weight all together. I found that it was easier to put on weight than it was to take it off. I had convinced myself and everyone around me that I was comfortable with who I was and how I looked. But what I really needed was to do a complete 180 with my life.
I felt very sluggish and unable to show my true potential. Everything I did took me twice as long as it should have and that was just to get the bare minimum done. I would want to sleep in late, go to bed early and nap almost daily! I had no energy to do anything and no motivation to change on my own.
My sister Bonnie was really the one who introduced me to the Shaklee 180 Turnaround program. I decided to give the program a shot. I had committed to give it my all for the full 90 days, as long as Bonnie did it with me!
As far back as I can remember, Bonnie and I would always do everything together. Whenever one of us would want to lose weight or get healthy we would make the other do it as well. It not only made it more fun but it was great to have someone keep you on track and keep you going.
Take the Challenge today, we did!!
In just 5 months of using the entire Shaklee 180 program, I ended up losing a total of 28 lbs and 19 1/2 inches! I went from a size 16 down to a 6! I don’t think I had ever been a size 6 before. Thanks to Shaklee 180 my life had been changed forever!
I haven’t even told you the best part yet…It has been 3 years and I am still a size 6! I have never had a weight loss program teach me how to keep off the weight like this one did. I love that Shaklee focuses on not only your before and after but your after-after as well! I feel better than ever and I have more energy than I ever could imagine. This is a picture of me from October, 2012. Now that I am a Shaklee specialist, I earned a free trip from Shaklee. It was a week long, all inclusive resort to the Rivera Maya in Mexico. I never felt more comfortable in my bathing suit and I am looking forward to my next year’s Shaklee Trip!
With my wedding only 8 months away, my fiancé (Brandon) and I have decided to do this challenge again! We would love to start our lives together feeling health and happy. I know personally I want to be “Tiny Tone and Tan” come my honeymoon! Besides with Shaklee’s 100% money back guarantee, we can’t go wrong.
Ok, now you are probably wondering what Shaklee 180 is and how you can get more information about it. Well don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging. I got started with the Shaklee 180 Turnaround kit! It has everything you need to get started with your own weight loss journey. This is an amazing value! This kit includes: 2 meals, a snack, an energy drink, the BURST work out program, along with a great mobile app to help you track your progress and receive manageable rewards. Not to mention an amazing support group to help you stay on track and meet your goals. All for less than $9 a day! You will also receive a free Shaklee Lifetime membership that will give you not only 15% off all future Shaklee orders but you can also get the chance to get your entire Turnaround kit for FREE! And I used to think that a $5 foot long was a good deal!
To get yourself started with a 180 Turnaround, go to my shopping web site. It’s my personal Shaklee web page for all the Shaklee products.
Who do you know who suffers from sore, painful knees, hips, fingers or shoulders? You love this person who has arthritis and you are going to go shopping to buy them something for Christmas. Why not combine a cozy lap blanket with an herbal pain reliever and a deep-tissue cream that could bring comfort as well as warmth?
I’m not a shopper so I was stunned Wed. night when a friend and I went to a movie in Seattle’s endless mall area with a big AMC. We were thinking the parking would be easier. Whoa! People are out shopping already—in droves and into the night. In this blog, I’m inviting you to shop. ‘Tis the season, right?
You might appreciate choosing gifts that bring better health to those you care about. This is an invitation to shop for health. Bring meaning to every purchase.
Have you watched Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff? Take a minute to watch before piling up a mound and consider the necessity of each purchase and how it got to the store and what the received is going to do with that gift later.
I make an argument for buying a Shaklee product over something else because I believe in the company’s philosophy of living in harmony with nature in every aspect of their corporate life. In the end, stuff is stuff, and all the great suggestions I have for you about things you can add to a Shaklee product to make a sweet, health enhancing gift still accumulates stuff. It is tricky being a fierce environmentalist and a sales person of goods I love and buy myself.
So, having suggested you buy nothing this Christmas here goes my suggestions for what to buy for someone who has been complaining of arthritis. After all, I know you and I are going to buy some stuff anyway.
Joint Health Complex and Peggy Cappy’s CD meditation for back health. I listen to this CD nearly every night and I’m convinced her quiet words have helped heal the arthritis in my lower back. You can add an orthopedic pillow. This is the one I have used for the last 15 years and I love it.
If you decide to do any of these suggestions, I’d love to hear about the results. You can shop for the Shaklee part of the gift at www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com/shop. Or you can click on the links above.
Have a great Thanksgiving, pain free and full of love.
Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,
Betsy
206 933 1889
Enjoy the list. I hope you get some great ideas. Let me know if you have questions.
In my last post, I talked about the pain of plantars faciitis along with some suggestions as to how to alleviate that debilitating pain. Today, I want to address the care of your feet, i.e. blisters and how to heal and prevent them.
Last Wed. Betty and I hiked 11 miles along Rattlesnake Ridge, overlooking North Bend, WA., a trail 45 minutes from Seattle. It is a through-hike requiring two cars. We chose the long uphill route dropping to the Ledge and thence to the lake below. Rattlesnake
People fall to their death from the Rattlesnake Ridge ledge
ledge is infamous because so many unprepared people can easily get up there–it is only 1 1/2 miles, and every year one or two fall off to their death below.
View from Rattlesnake ledge
In spite of arthritis, chronic pain, aching joints–hips, knees, ankles–, you still want to go walking. Your feet must have the best possible support. For me, this has been a huge challenge because I have bunions which require double wide men’s shoes. At one point I developed a metatarsal neuroma or Morton’s neuroma . I mentioned Dr. Huppin’s Foot and Ankle clinic last week. He knew exactly what modifications to make to the orthotic inserts to take the pressure off the 2nd toe and spread weight over all the toes.
He and his partner, Dr. Hale, publish a guide to shoes that helps a person choose the most stable shoe. They even consider and recommend a flip flop! Here’s the link where you can sign up for their recommended shoe list and guide lines on how to choose a shoe that will keep your foot stable.
On the Rattlesnake Ridge hike, I make a huge mistake. I ignore a hot spot between my big toe and the 2nd toe, a place where I have rubbed countless blisters. By the time I get home late that night, after another event, I can hardly walk.
I’d like to share what to do to avoid that suffering. Blisters are serious business. I knew a woman who ignored a blister her ski boot rubbed. It developed septicemiaand she died before they could airlift her to a hospital.
Women on Wed.hike to Red Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail
In my pack I carry a tape made by a German company. The product is called Hansaplast and is not available in the US, only Canada and Mexico in North America. But of course anywhere in Europe you can purchase rolls of this magical thin, easy-to-tear-with-your-fingers tape. If I’m not going to Europe, I ask a traveling friend to buy it for me. Usually I put a piece of this tape on the areas of my feet most likely to blister in my hiking boots before I begin the hike. Usually, if I feel a hot spot, the way I did when we hiked out of Commonwealth Basin up the Pacific Crest Trail toward Red Pass, I stop on the trail and take off my boots and sox and put the tape on, thus preventing a blister. But on Rattlesnake Ridge, I ignored everything I usually do.
The blister kept me awake all night. In the morning I punctured it, cleaned it carefully and put Second Skin on it. This is the second thing to tell you about blisters. Second Skin is a must for your pack first aide kit. Don’t leave home without it. You leave the second skin on for 5 days and by that time the blister is completely healed. I hiked again yesterday, 8 miles on Tiger Mt. with quite an elevation gain. Before going, I used the Hansaplast and a pair of liner sock.No blisters or sore feet.
One more suggestion for protecting your feet and legs: walk with hiking sticks and use them to lift your body up and lower it down on the steep bits of trail. Your upper body gets a work out and your legs and feet have less stress. We spent much of our time on Tiger a little bit lost. I was glad we were 5 and that my smart phone GPS could locate us, but nothing helped poor signage. We are determined to master the maze of wilderness trails on this complicated mountain, a foot hill of the Cascade Range, blessedly protected by forward looking environmentalists. Known as the Issaquah Alps, Tiger and Cougar and Squak mountains form a corridor of wilderness in an otherwise densely developed exurban Seattle.
More than anything, keep moving, Gentle Reader, keep moving.
Before you go, what is your foot sore story and how have you kept sore feet from keeping you in your chair? Let us hear from you.
