15 Years of Swollen Legs & Feet Gone in Minutes! Barbara O'Neill's HIDDEN Discovery

One of the first questions I ask people when they come to me for help with their health is, how much water do you drink? Here are some of the answers, I don't like water, another answer is not much, another answer is I don't drink water or I'm visiting the little house all day, another answer is if I drink too much water my legs swell. These last two answers tell me that the water is not getting inside the cell. Believe it or not, the swelling in the legs means that your kidneys, your kidneys are what balance the sodium and the water levels in your body, so it's an indication that the kidneys aren't very happy. So what you can do is, you can increase your water intake and salt intake. Hello I'm Barbara O'Neill, today we're addressing a common issue that affects many people, swollen legs and feet. If you've noticed that your legs or feet have been swelling, you're not alone. This condition is more common than you might think, especially as we age. Swelling in the legs and feet can result from various factors, from simple fluid retention to more serious underlying health conditions. In this video we'll explore the potential causes of swelling, what it might indicate about your health and practical steps you can take to reduce and manage it. Stay tuned as we delve into this important topic and discover ways to find relief and maintain your overall wellbeing. Now your circulatory system is what carries the blood and it has a pump and that's your heart and it pumps the blood through the arterial system way down to the extremities. Well how does it get back, do you ever wonder that? You've got a second pump and forgive the illustration but here's your second pump, your calf. Your calf muscles are your second heart. It's your calf muscles that pump the blood back up to the rest of your body. Now there is a problem that some women and some men get called varicose veins. Do you know the best cure for varicose veins is rebounding because when you're rebounding that majorly stimulates your second heart which is your calf muscle. And what happens with varicose veins is the blood's tending to sit and cool in the venous system. You see your arteries come away from the heart, the venous system is coming back to the heart. Even just the health bounce, just even going like that is strengthening or moving your second heart, your calf muscles. When your calf muscles are strong and active they play a critical role in preventing blood from pooling in your legs. This is particularly important when it comes to avoiding swelling also known as edema in the legs. Swollen legs can occur when your calf muscles aren't effectively pumping the blood back up toward your heart. This can lead to fluid accumulation especially if you spend long periods sitting or standing without much movement. Engaging your calf muscles through regular exercise like walking, jogging or even bouncing on a rebounder can help prevent and reduce swelling in the legs. The more you move the more your calf muscles contract pushing the blood back up through the veins and reducing the likelihood of it pooling in your lower extremities. If you're already experiencing swollen legs incorporating exercises that focus on the calf muscles can be highly beneficial. Simple activities like calf raises where you stand on your toes and then lower your heels can make a big difference. Elevating your legs when you're at rest can also assist in draining excess fluid from the lower legs. In addition to exercise staying hydrated and maintaining a balanced diet low in salt can help manage swelling as excess sodium can lead to fluid retention. Wearing compression socks might also be recommended as they apply gentle pressure to your legs supporting the veins and enhancing blood flow back to the heart. Varicose veins often has an inherited factor but remember that genetics loads the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger. It's an interesting study of today it's called epigenetics, the effect of lifestyle on the cell. So if someone has inherited varicose veins there is a few things they can do to manage it. If someone's carrying excess weight that can certainly intensify the veins. Constipation, that excess weight on the lower legs can compound the problem. If the person with varicose veins chooses exercise and I definitely choose you do, I would choose an exercise where you're not on your feet too much. So an exercise bike, swimming, that varicose system, your vein system is the system that pumps the blood back up to the heart and you have a second heart, it's your calf muscle. So you see right now I'm going up and down, up and down just on my toes, that stimulates the calf muscle which is the heart or the second heart it's called that pumps the blood in the venous system back up to the heart. Also rebounding, even though with rebounding you're on your feet it's a cushioning effect and the rebounding is excellent for strengthening that venous system. Make sure you're well hydrated to keep that blood nice and thin, make sure you're well nourished so that the cells are able to repair and heal. Taking cayenne pepper by mouth can also help because cayenne pepper thins the blood, cayenne pepper also opens the capillaries, cayenne pepper strengthens the arterial and the venous walls. So that person might start with a quarter of a teaspoon in a little water with each meal three times a day and they could build up to half a teaspoon three times a day. So there are some simple things that you can do to help manage varicose veins. Swollen legs can be uncomfortable and may arise due to various reasons such as fluid retention, poor circulation or inflammation. Natural remedies and herbs can play a significant role in alleviating this condition. So let's explore some natural remedies. One of the most effective natural remedies is the use of horse chestnut extract. This herb has been traditionally used to improve blood flow and reduce swelling in the legs. It works by strengthening the walls of veins and reducing fluid leakage which helps in managing the symptoms associated with swollen legs. Regular use can lead to noticeable improvements particularly when combined with other healthy lifestyle choices. Another beneficial herb is gotu kola. This herb has been widely used in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries due to its ability to support vein health and improve circulation. Gotu kola can help reduce swelling by enhancing the integrity of blood vessels and preventing fluid accumulation. Drinking gotu kola tea or taking it in supplement form may contribute to reducing leg swelling. Dandelion is another powerful herb known for its diuretic properties, helping the body eliminate excess fluid naturally. By promoting better kidney function and increasing urine production, dandelion can help reduce fluid retention which often causes swelling in the legs. Drinking dandelion tea daily can be a simple yet effective way to manage swollen legs. Ginger is also known for its anti-inflammatory and circulatory benefits. Incorporating ginger into your diet, whether by drinking ginger tea or adding fresh ginger to meals, can help reduce inflammation and improve blood flow, thus reducing swelling in the legs. Now let's turn our attention to potatoes. This simple food can act as a remarkable herb against tissue inflammation and swollen legs. Potato, the humble potato. Now the potato is very good at reducing tissue inflammation. So this would be something like a swollen infected finger. It would be something like a swollen ankle. And sometimes you might have a swollen knee and you'll think, well do I do potato or do I do ginger? Well do one for a few hours, take it off and do another one for a few hours. Your body will tell you what is best because sometimes you don't know whether it's joint or tissue inflammation. And what you do is you just grate that potato, we've got a tiny little potato, but that's usually all you need because if you do too much it becomes too wet and there's nothing worse than leaking poultices. And the lady of the house will not be happy if there's potato juice on her sheets because it's not easy to get out. In fact our laundry lady has asked us please don't do any more poultices at night in the health retreat because the sheets were getting a bit stained. But you can certainly do them through the day. As long as you make sure you wrap them up really well there shouldn't be a problem. So here is the potato poultice. And this would be a good size for a knee, say a sore knee, sprained ankle, like that. And you put it, again you make the poultice out of it. Now with the potato it's very alkalising and when you've got inflamed tissue it's very acid. And potato is high in potassium and phosphorus and both of those are absorbed by the skin to help with the healing. So you can see again I've got an area around my poultice. So that when you put it on the skin, like I did with Amelia's poultice, the plastic well covers it. A few stories about the potato poultice. I was at a friend's house here, it must have been 18 months ago, and I was seeing a lady. And when she came in her little boy came in too. And her little boy was about seven and he had a sore finger. And I was immediately drawn to his sore finger. His finger was swollen almost twice the size, it was all red with a pussy top. I said, what's happened to the finger? And the lady said, well the doctor says it's cellulitis. Do you know what cellulitis is? Just inflammation of the cell, that's all cellulitis is. I said, well that's obvious, that's inflammation of the cell. I said, hmm, what have you been doing? She said he's on his second course of antibiotics, he's on painkillers and sleeping tablets at night, seven. I said, hmm, did anything happen to that finger? See the detective hat has to go on. Did anything happen? Oh, he had a blister and then he played in the dirt and the blister broke and the dirt got on the skin. It's not rocket science, is it? And of course as soon as the dirt got into the blood, then the body reacts by sending white blood cells, inflaming the area to try and protect the area. I said, aha. I said, do you mind if I try something? She said, please. I said, well what I'd like to do is get two cups. One cup's got hot water, the other cup has got cold water. And in the cold water there are blocks of ice. It's a hydrotherapy treatment. So I shall write this one up. So what we did, we did three minutes in the hot water and we did 30 seconds in the cold water. And the reason this works is that hot is a stimulant, because we know if we get into a hot shower or a hot bath when we're cold, it stimulates, doesn't it? It's a stimulant. But probably within about five minutes of being in a hot bath, how do we feel now? We feel like falling asleep, don't we? So initially hot stimulates and then it slows right down. So I put his finger in the hot water, but I'm only going to put it in for three minutes because by three minutes everything's going to slow down. And then I put it into the cold. What happens when you have a cold shower? Has everyone been trying their cold shower? It's a stimulant, isn't it? But if we were to go and dive in a cold creek in the middle of winter, very quickly we start to slow down. In fact, in about 30 seconds everything starts to slow down. So can you see what we're doing here? We're using the stimulating time of hot and by the time, before it can slow down, we whiz over to the cold and wake it up again. And before that has time to cool down, we go back to the hot, wake it up again. Can you see what we're doing here? And you do that three times. More than three times can exhaust the body because this is dramatically moving the blood. You see, the blood is the life of the flesh and that finger needs more blood. And that wound, in that wound, the blood had tended to sit and pool. So bringing fresh blood in drives the stagnant blood out and when the fresh blood comes in, it's got oxygen, it's got nutrients, it's got water, it's got white blood cells, everything that that finger needs to heal. Now both the potato poultice and the hydrotherapy treatments can be used for a swollen leg. The potato remedy is effective because potatoes have anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce swelling in tissues. To use this method on a swollen leg, simply grate a small potato and apply it directly to the swollen area. Cover it with a cloth or plastic wrap to keep it in place. The potato's alkalising effect can help neutralise the acidity in the inflamed tissue, while the potassium and phosphorus in the potato are absorbed through the skin to aid in healing. You can leave the potato poultice on for a few hours and then replace it as needed. Hydrotherapy, on the other hand, works by alternating hot and cold water to stimulate blood circulation. For a swollen leg, you can soak it in hot water for about three minutes and then immediately switch to cold water for 30 seconds. Repeat this process three times. The hot water will initially stimulate blood flow, bringing fresh blood to the area, while the cold water will constrict the blood vessels, reducing swelling and pain. This method helps to flush out stagnant blood and bring in oxygen and nutrients that are essential for healing. Both of these methods can be used together for added benefit. Start with the hydrotherapy to stimulate circulation and then apply the potato poultice to further reduce inflammation and promote healing. Hydrotherapy has been used for centuries and in the area of pain relief, there is no equal to it. And then I put a grated potato poultice on his because he had a lot of tissue inflammation around there. And when he left, he just had a smile on his face. The mother said, what will I do now? I said, well, you can do that every two hours if he has discomfort, but I think it was something like 11 o'clock in the morning. I said, maybe do it again about two and maybe do it again before he goes to bed. And every time you do it, put a fresh potato poultice on, because that potato is going to start drawing out the waste and you want that thrown away. She said that when they got home, the little boy said, can we do that again? Why did the little boy say that? He had experienced it. And the mother, I think we got feedback that the mother, I think it was the next day. My friend is here. I think it was the next day, wasn't it? She said that all the stuff came out. So I did another potato poultice at about two, another potato poultice before bed. And when she took the one off in the morning, all the stuff came out. So naturally, that potato had opened the wound. Never put a knife or a scalpel. No, no, no, let the body do it. You see, I used to work as a psychiatric nurse and I worked in the operating theatre. Brutal. Surgery is brutal. This is not brutal. This is very gentle, but it's a very powerful way to operate. Now, if I broke an arm and my bones weren't matched, I'll be very thankful for a surgeon to reset my bone, you know, there may be a time. But, you know, there are four doctors that get me to go to their town and give these meetings because they know that if everyone had this knowledge, wouldn't that cut down casualty visits in a powerful way? They're just simple things. Do you know, if you're not getting a response, go to the doctor. But, you know, I never have had to because the body always responds. No need for that little boy to take antibiotics. No need for that little boy to take painkillers or sleeping tablets anymore. Just hot and colds and a grated potato polish. Isn't that amazing? So simple. The mother said, what will I do with his second course of antibiotics? I said, well, I don't have any authority over your son's medication, but I can tell you what I would do. Now, I don't usually have to say anything else because that is quite obvious. But in 15 minutes, we got more results than he'd had for the time. I'm not against antibiotics. They have saved lives and they will continue. But, you know, most people should go through their life never having them. Remember, this is just life-saving that they should be used for. Now, a simple natural remedy for swollen feet involves using Epsom salts and Elevation. Dissolve about a cup of Epsom salts in a warm foot bath and soak your feet for 15 to 20 minutes. Epsom salts contain magnesium, which can help reduce swelling and ease discomfort. After soaking, elevate your feet by propping them up on a pillow or cushion to help improve circulation and reduce fluid retention. Combining these steps can provide relief and help alleviate swelling. For added benefit, ensure you're drinking plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated and flush out excess fluids. Thank you for watching. I hope this video provided valuable insights into managing and understanding swollen legs and feet. Remember, while occasional swelling can be common, persistent or severe symptoms should be discussed with your healthcare provider. If you found this information helpful, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more health tips and advice. Feel free to share your thoughts or questions in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you. Take care of yourself and I look forward to seeing you in the next video.