TYLER TOLMAN BLOG
Varicose Veins | Prevention and Healing Using Natural Remedies
Varicose Veins | Prevention and Healing Using Natural Remedies
Today I want to talk about varicose veins and spider veins – what causes them and how to get rid of them.
The 2 major things I want to focus on are:
1. Circulation and the quality of your blood.
2. The bad habits we develop as we get older that can lead to these issues.
Hydration is essential for good circulation. When the body is dehydrated the veins will have very little blood volume, which means there is decreased pressure to pump blood back towards the heart.
So think about what happens when you drink more water. You can’t compress water, so the blood volume goes up which provides increased pressure to help pump blood through the body.
When you have weak veins combined with low blood volume, blood pressure builds up in the valves of the veins and forces the veins to pop out. The result is varicose veins.
In lower parts of your body such as your feet and legs, more pressure is required in the veins to move the blood because of the effects of gravity. This is why it’s often in these areas that varicose veins develop.
How Much Water Do I Need?
To keep hydrated you need to consume about 1L of water for every 22kg of body weight each day.
If you are eating lots of fresh produce such as salads, fruits and vegetables that have high water content then I’d say you need about 1L for every 25-30kg of body weight. I weigh about 76kg and I drink on average 3.5-4L a day, but I also eat a diet really high in fresh produce so I’m getting a lot of hydration from my food.
Your Diet Matters
There are some very specific foods that reduce circulation and I hate to say it, but it’s a really high fat diet.
If you are eating a super high fat diet with lots of proteins – especially animal fats and animal proteins – they are things that will negatively affect your circulation. It’s been proven from Cornell University that when you have a high fat meal, so much that your body can’t digest it all, it literally shuts down something called “endothelial function” of our arteries and veins. This mean they can’t expand and contract the way they are supposed to and this can lead to things like varicose veins and spider veins.
So we definitely want to take a look at our lifestyle and what foods we are consuming. By eating lots of fresh plant-based foods you not only increase your water intake but you also supply your body with the nutrition it requires for the veins to repair themselves. The great thing about these kinds of foods is that they are going to help prevent varicose veins as well as treating them. A good, healthy diet is going to be part of the remedy AND the cure.
Clean and Build Your Blood
It’s also super important to build the blood so that we have quality blood and our veins and arteries stay healthy.
One of the best things to help build your blood is greens. Greens contain chlorophyll which almost identically matches our blood plasma!
The highest plant-based source of chlorophyll is alfalfa. I love this plant so much because its roots go down 10 metres deep into the ground where they can suck up all the nutrients that most other plants can’t get access to.
I have taken organically grown alfalfa and put it into greens powder with 2 other ingredients. Tolman Health Greens contains literally every nutrient known to man and it’s the highest source of chlorophyll. All you have to do is take a teaspoon of the powder and mix it into water and drink that twice a day and it will detoxify the blood and build it with all the nutrients we may be lacking.
It’s something we can do that’s very simple. It’s what I do personally and what I would recommend. Focus on avoiding the foods that are causing congestion in the circulatory system and building the blood with chlorophyll. It doesn’t have to be my product, you could also add greens to your diet – things like spinach, lettuce, kale or silverbeet. Any kind of big leafy vegetable is going to work great.
Another vegetable that is really good at building healthy blood is beetroot. It has the highest source of nitric oxide which really helps the arteries to function the way they should. You can eat the beetroot or you can juice it – you can even take the big leafy tops and juice them too!
Alternatively you can take the leafy beetroot tops and blend them up with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and make a pulstice. Take that and put it directly onto the varicose veins then wrap it up and leave it on overnight while you sleep.
If we build really healthy blood, everything is going to stay healthy because blood builds everything!
Get in Flow
Breathing exercises are another great way to promote good circulation.
I recommend you follow my 7 Rounds of 7 breathing audio. It only takes about 4 minutes and if you do it 3 times a day it will help you to relax, whilst improving circulation and increasing the level of oxygen in the body.
It’s also really important to make sure you do some basic exercise every single day. Aim for at least 30-45 minutes of something like a good paced walk with deep breathing. If you can go beyond that level of exercise, great, but strenuous exercise is not recommended while you have varicose veins.
More suitable exercises would be light kinds of cardiovascular activity to get circulation moving. Anything that induces a sweat is fantastic! In fact, just sweating in a sauna is a great way to increase blood flow and remove toxins.
Icing Varicose Veins
If your veins are really protruding, a next level treatment is to ice the area. The cold ice causes constriction of the veins which helps to pump the blood.
Hot/cold therapy is great too! I like going in the sauna first then jumping straight into an ice bath made with about 4 bags of ice. This really boosts circulation and helps eliminate inflammation! It will also boost your immune system and would definitely help with varicose veins.
If that sounds like a bit too much then you can use ice packs on the veins. Just leave them on as long as you feel comfortable. You could alternate placing a heat bag and then an ice pack to mimic the hot/cold therapy.
Don't Cross Your Legs
One of the worst habits for causing varicose veins is crossing your legs. When you do this you are actually cutting off circulation to your legs and that literally damages our arteries and veins.
You really need to re-train yourself not to cross your legs! We need to keep that circulation flowing.
As you can see, there are many options for healing depending on the severity of your varicose veins. However, ultimately dietary and lifestyle principles are always going to be the most effective over time to both prevent and treat varicose veins.
So make sure you are avoiding the types of foods that clog the system, focus on doing things that build your blood, stop crossing your legs and you can definitely get rid of this problem!
Thanks for reading!
