Your feet need good nutrition just like the rest of your body, and considering the fact that your feet and ankles support your weight every day that you are standing and maneuvering, it’s important to approach nutrient intake from your feet’s point of view. You have over 120 tendons, ligaments, and muscles in your feet and 26 bones! Let’s try to take good care of them.
Some nutritional guidelines that can help you take good care of your feet include the following:
- Healthy bones—Calcium and natural vitamin D are essential for healthy bone growth. While dairy products are often mentioned as good sources of these nutrients, they can also be obtained through cod liver oil supplements that are unadulterated by chemically altered man made vitamin D. Other natural sources of vitamin D and calcium include fatty fish like tuna and salmon, and dark green leafy vegetables including kale and spinach. Avoid fortified foods like cereals and soy milk that contain inferior chemically produced mimics of the real, active ingredients.
- Healthy nails—Incorporating natural sources of B vitamins, zinc, and vitamin C are an excellent way to increase nail vitality and prevent opportunistic infections like nail fungus. Vegetables that help promote healthy nails and skin include broccoli, tomatoes, and bell peppers. Shellfish such as clams, oysters, and mussels are great for your nails too. Eat lots of nuts and seeds which are abundant sources of zinc. Nutritional brewers yeast can be purchased in non-fortified pills, thus avoiding the contaminants contained in many mainstream sources.
- Avoid inflammatory foods—Many foods can create and exacerbate inflammation. These tend to be of the hopelessly addictive, aggressively marketed and sugar loaded refined grain variety of malnutrition. Add some red meat, trans fats, and then chase the rainbow right into diabetes.
Modifying your diet and nutrient intake can be an easy and simple way to advocate for your own foot health. But when foot or ankle problems such as nail fungus and plantar fasciitis cause you pain and discomfort, schedule an appointment with the Foot First Podiatry in New Albany, IN. Our highly qualified podiatrist Dr. Zahid Ladha is dedicated to providing the best diagnostic care and medical treatment for you and your feet. Contact us at (812) 945-9221 and schedule an appointment today!