Treating and Preventing Foot Fungus Infections Naturally

It's itchy, uncomfortable and can be picked up just about anywhere: foot fungus, its no fun to deal with. More commonly known as athlete's foot, it is caused by the Ringworm fungi. Its been estimated that 70% of people in the U.S. develop a case of athlete's foot at some point during their lives. For many, the infection will be so mild they wont even know it's there!

Causes and Symptoms of Foot Fungus

Fungus thrives in wet, moist, warm and humid environments and, as stated above, is caused by the ringworm fungi. That makes gyms, pools and saunas excellent places to pick up athletes foot. As a preventative measure, you can slip on a pair of flip-flops or any other footwear you don't mind getting wet, to act as a barrier between your feet and any possible fungus. As to why some people get athlete's foot and other don't it's up for debate. Some people are just more susceptible to fungal infections than others. It can be transferred via contact with another person but instances of that happening are rare. In fact, there have been many cases where two people living together have shared the same shower for years without the other contracting (to his or her knowledge) athlete's foot. You'll know if you have got it by the itching, burning and redness that develop either on the bottom of your foot/feet, on your toe(s) or in between your toe(s) also called moccasin type, interdigital type or inflammatory type, respectively.

Treating Foot Fungus Infections

The standard Western medicine treatment for foot fungus is miconazole nitrate cream (at a concentration of 2%). This medicine works by inhibiting the synthesis of ergosterol, a key component of the fungi cell wall. Unfortunately, the miconazole cream can be absorbed into the bloodstream (albeit in small amounts and depending on use). While having a foreign substance introduced into your bloodstream is never a good thing for your body's defenses, miconazole is particularly troublesome because ergosterol is a provitamin. A provitamin is just a fancy term for something that the body can turn into a vitamin, in this case vitamin D, and vitamin D just so happens to be one of the key vitamins in determining your moods and sleep patterns. Miconazole certainly isn't something I want in my body!

Another athlete's foot treatment, and one that is much better for your overall health, is to use Himalayan crystal salt. To use the crystal salt to treat your infection, just make a paste with some salt and water and apply it to the affected areas. You could also use a brine solution and rub that on the affected areas. For maximum results, I recommend using both the salt paste and the brine solution. Salt helps to kill fungus because it tends to draw the moisture out of things. Remember, salt controls the osmosis process inside our bodies via this same mechanism. Dryness is the enemy of fungi. Without a moist environment, fungus cannot live which is bad news for them but great news for you! There is a myth out there that salt helps fungus. That is, that fungus can somehow thrive off of salt. This is absolutely untrue. Salt, especially Himalayan crystal salt with its unique crystalline structure, will help you not the fungus. Because treatment with Himalayan crystal salt deprives the infection of an essential element of survival (water), it does 99.9% of the infection-clearing for you, leaving your immune system to make quick work of the unwanted invaders. Using salt for foot fungus also has another advantage in that it does not matter if excess salt gets absorbed into your blood stream, your body needs it anyway. Yes, there are people out there who eat too much salt, but that's iodine-filled table salt they are talking about. Crystal salt is another thing altogether. table salt is lifeless and a drain on your body's water resources whereas crystal salt is full of life energy and actually helps to restore your body's natural balance of fluids, without any bloating.

Salt for foot fungus is a good treatment option for another reason: it has antibacterial and antiviral properties. Although that might sound the same as an antibiotic, it's not. They have the same ends but a much different means. Crystal salt gets its antibacterial properties from the osmosis effect: when bacteria intake salt it expands their cell walls and causes then to bloat. The more bloated the bacteria are, the easier it is for your body's white blood cells to destroy them. Contrast that mechanism with prescription antibiotics which work by seeking out any and all living bacteria in your body and destroying them.

The next time you have itchy, burning feet remember that salt for fungus is a healthy, natural treatment and is much better for your general health than medications. Himalayan crystal salt will have your feet and you feeling better in no time!

Source References

• Dermatology: 2-Volume Set. St. Louis: Mosby.
• "Trends in the treatment of dermatophytosis" Biology of Dermatophytes and other Keratinophilic Fungi.
• "Athlete's Foot – Cause". WebMD. 2 July 2008.
• "Athlete's foot". Mayo Clinic Health Center.
• "Recovery of dermatophytes from shoes and a shower stall". J. Invest. Dermat. 22 (4): 17–22.
• "Athlete's Foot, Toe Fungus a Family Affair" (Reprint at USA Today). HealthDay News. Retrieved "Researchers used advanced molecular biology techniques to test the members of 57 families and concluded that toenail fungus and athlete's foot can infect people living in the same household."
• "Topical treatments for fungal infections of the skin and nails of the foot" Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

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