A Secret About… My LEGS :-)

Do your feet & ankles ever swell? Mine do, and it is NOT pleasant. 😛

It just started in my mid 30’s, and it’s really only when I travel (mostly long flights or long road trips) but sometimes my ankles swell if I’m just on my feet too long too.

Eating low carb dramatically improved the amount of swelling in my feet & ankles that I experience when traveling, but I still get a little fluid retention on long trips. Which is NOT sexy when you get where you’re going. 😛 Especially if you want to be barefoot on the beach, or slip into your sexiest pair of heels when you get there!

It was especially bad when I got home from my low carb Vegas trip recently. My feet and ankles, and even my lower legs, were quite puffy and aching – to the point it concerned me, even. It was a long flight both ways, with A LOT of time on my feet (and in heels) while I was in Vegas. Ack! I also had a 3-hour drive after my last flight, so I had to come home and elevate my legs and rest.

I got home from San Diego last night… with no puffy feet. 🙂

I learned a couple of secrets to this on my first flight to Australia years ago, which is the first time I experienced swelling of the feet & legs while traveling.

It was so bad that they offered to fly in a medic halfway over the Pacific ocean. I am NOT kidding you. I was just as concerned as the flight attendants, but decided to tough it out (without my shoes, which would no longer even go on my feet – lol). My feet & ankles looked like I was 12 months pregnant. 😛

Fluid retention in the lower extremities is totally normal when you’re traveling, by the way – or sitting/standing for long periods. Elevating your feet is ideal, but you don’t always have that option. The next best thing you can do is move around or exercise your feet & legs, to improve your circulation. On longer flights you’ll find “sitting exercises” in the card in your seat pocket that you can do for good circulation. I’ve found these “legercises” are great on road trips too.

Being overweight contributes to leg swelling, so this is a great incentive to keep losing weight on a healthy low carb diet. 🙂

Anyway, I’ve found the exercises alone are not enough on my longer trips – and the idea of varicose veins, blood clots, circulation problems, and the risk of developing deep vein thrombosis SCARES me. 😯 It was on that first trip to Australia that I met a really nice older couple in Sydney that introduced me to “travel socks.”

I bought a pair on that trip. They cost $50 (ouch!) but I was desperate. I wore those travel socks (a fancy name for compression stockings) around the country, and around the world, for years – including 4 more trips to Australia and back. I wore them until they literally FELL apart. I got my fifty dollars worth, lol. 🙂

Knowing I had a lot of back-to-back travel coming up, I ordered a new pair recently. Actually I ordered three different pair – different brands/types – because I couldn’t find the original stockings I bought all those years ago that I loved so much.

I just ordered them on Amazon so I’d have more selection, and this is the pair I wore on my flight to and from San Diego last week:

Truform 8865, Compression Stockings, Below Knee, Closed Toe, 20-30 mmhg, Beige, Medium

I live in Tennessee, so that was a cross-country trip for me.

These were less than $18, and VERY high quality so they’ll definitely last me awhile! 🙂

These have a feature I haven’t seen in compression stockings before, and one I LOVED. I didn’t realize it when I ordered them online because it didn’t really mention this – but they have “loose toes” so you have wiggle room, which is NICE. You’ll see what I mean in the picture below.

The compression was really good, and they had a nice thick band at the top that didn’t feel like it was squeezing my legs off – but they stayed up on their own without a problem. They are also very smooth and didn’t show under my pants. Some squeeze a little too much and make a “panty line” – you know, a “dent” where they end, lol. Not this pair! 🙂

I just discovered they come in black, so I’m grabbing a second pair. I can wear them with my black knee boots – and they won’t look funny peeking out the top. Knee socks “peeking out” are actually trendy right now, so that’s a win! 🙂 lol…

Like I said, I got home from this last trip with NO puffiness in my legs, ankles & feet. That was really nice! I was even able to show off my feet & legs in the beautiful San Diego sunshine while I was there. 🙂

I know compression hose are not sexy. It’s not like I wore them under a moo-moo or anything (lol). I threw on my cute jeans and favorite boots, and nobody knew “my secret” except me. 😉

I’ll be forever grateful to the kind couple in Sydney that introduced me to “travel socks” as they’ve saved me from foot misery on many a trip since then!

I’m off to order a pair in black. I’d be curious if you’ve ever tried compression hose / stockings, or if you experience swelling of the feet & legs on road trips or flights? If you do, definitely grab a pair of compression socks. You’ll be SO glad you did!

Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler

p.s. You can get them cheap on Amazon here…