The Alternative Health Gazette

Herbal Remedies for Athletes Feet

Athletes Feet is yet another type of common fungal infection many people get on a regular basis. This fungus growth is another form of a yeast infection, it just happens more on the feet and between the toes instead of elsewhere.

Yeast thrive in warm, moist, dark environments, and this is why athletes feet is so common - particularly with athletes, hence the name, and anyone who’s feet sweat easily, anyone who wears tight enclosed shoes for many hours of the day, and so on.

Athletes feet is usually more problematic for people who participate in a lot of sports and exercise. The fungus is very easy to spread, and often it’s picked up in the locker room, gym or swimming pool. There are many ways to reduce the changes of getting athletes feet, and there are numerous home and herbal remedies which easily get rid of the fungus growth too. We only have room for a few of them here, so we’ll summarize the best for you.

The first steps you should be taking are steps of prevention. Not getting athletes feet to begin with will save a lot of time and hassle. There are many easy ways to reduce the chances of developing fungus on your feet. One of those is to let your feet breathe. If you wear closed shoes throughout the day, such as gym shoes, be sure they fit properly and be sure you’re wearing socks that allow good air flow. Cotton usually works well.

Whenever you can, take your shoes off and let them breathe. Give them some sunlight too, because fungus cannot live in sunlight. After taking a shower or bath, be sure to dry your feet completely before stuffing them into shoes. If your feet sweat alot, you might want to try putting some antiperspirant on them too.

And last but not least, when using community gyms, swimming pools and locker rooms, try wearing some sandals to keep your feet from potentially encountering infected surfaces.

Now if you have athletes feet there are many excellent home remedies which work very well getting rid of it. Any herbal or natural antiseptic or antifungal substance usually does the trick quite nicely. Here are several for you to choose from.

Garlic - this is the number one herbal fungus killer. Rub it on with a fresh garlic clove, or use garlic powder or oil.

Onion - a close cousin to garlic, onion will also kill the fungus pretty easily.

Ginger - this is another strong herbal antifungal medication. Just rub ginger oil on or soak your feet in warm water that has ginger added to it.

Black Walnut - this is a natural antiseptic which is high in iodine, simply rub the tincture or oil onto the affected areas.

Kelp - another herb that’s very high in iodine, and iodine kills germs, bacteria and fungus growth.

Each of these herbal remedies should be used once or twice each day until the athletes feet is cleared up, which takes from three days to roughly one week in most cases.

Statements made in this article may not be approved by the FDA, and should not be taken as professional medical advice.

Tags: Candida, Fungus, Yeast