Cankels are not pretty. So you can imagine my horror when I started to develop them on a regular basis earlier this year.
What are cankles, some of you may be asking. Cankles are unusually thick or stout ankles caused by weight gain or fluid retention. The clever word is a blend of calf and ankle alluding to the width of the calf remaining constant until the foot without the benefit of shapely, narrowed ankle bones.
This is not my foot, but I can relate:
My cankles were being caused by fluid retention so naturally I started to analyze the fluid-retaining salt in my diet. Since I was still pretty heavily into my love-hate relationship with SeaSnax (roasted nori seaweed in olive oil and sea salt), I suspected these salty, fatty treats may be the cause. I’ve pretty much given up SeaSnax now except for maybe the once or twice a month treat.
But yet the intermittent cankles remain.
They seemed to get worse the further into my marathon training that I got. I would have no fluid retention immediately after running but later in the day or the next day I would develop cankles. Was it inflammation? A symptom of recovery?
As a massage therapist I’m on my feet and I work a lot at my desk. I am often standing at my elevated desk, so it’s not as though I’m extremely sedentary. Yet often fluid would gather while working (standing or sitting) and the dreaded cankles would develop.
I’m active, I eat well, drink plenty of fluids. What’s up? This was driving me mad.
Then I started drinking more lemon oil water to alkalize my body. I make it with lemon essential oil, sea salt, and water. I did this purely to cleanse and balance my body, but guess what? The cankles started to go away. So naturally I drank more. The lemon oil seemed to be more effective than the other citrus oils perhaps due to the microcirculation benefits of lemon oil.
Here’s my theory.
I have very low blood pressure and a slow heart rate genetically. Because I run regularly now I’ve probably lowered my blood pressure and heart rate even more. I drink a lot of fluids (matcha green tea, herbal tea, water). When my post-exercise blood pressure and heart rate fall, I just don’t have the heart-pump action or strength to move the fluids and they collect in the lower part of my body thanks to gravity.
My stats thanks to The Blood Alliance:
When I make my lemon oil water with sea salt (I now use about a full teaspoon of salt and about 6 drops of oil) my blood pressure increases just enough to move the fluids in my body and they don’t pool in my ankles, creating cankles. I aim to drink 30 fluid ounces of salty, lemon water once in the morning and once at night. If I have forgotten and cankles develop during the day, I can drink my lemon oil water and the cankles go away within the hour.
It might be a magic combination of the oil, sea salt, and water and maybe the SeaSnax didn’t use a high quality sea salt, but the water drink works and the salty seaweed didn’t for my body. Another lovely side-effect of drinking the lemon oil water is that my extremities (fingers and toes…but especially toes) are not as cold. I used to have the chronically coldest toes, but no more! There’s a lot to be said for a healthy blood pressure and heart rate.
If you eat well, exercise regularly, drink ample water, have low blood pressure and still get fluid retention, try the salty, lemon oil water. It may help you too. I do not recommend this for anyone with high blood pressure. Please be smart, choose wisely, and consult your physician if you are uncertain.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
So interesting! I continue to hear such great things about lemon water. Glad I drink it every day!
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Lemon water is so yummy…cold or hot! Have you tried lemon oil, Jina? It’s from the fruit rind rather than the meat so it’s different. I’d be curious how it compares for you…and expert lemon water drinker!
Several “yeah, me, too” moments in reading your article. Cankle? Check. Low blood pressure? Check. Exercise regularly? Check. Drink water all day? Check.
I’m healthy and offended by my water-retaining ankles. And exercise, which I would have thought to be helpful, hasn’t helped.
Looking forward to trying your recipe for salty lemon water. I already tend toward a low salt diet, but your approach of adding salt is intriguing.
I hope it works for you Misti. I haven’t had this cankle problem in a while since I stopped eating so much fruit. Sugar – even fruit sugar – tends to cause water retention because water is required to metabolize the sugar. I still love and eat plenty of fruit. I’m just not eating quite so much. If my lower legs get jiggly, I’ll cut back.
According to Dr. Berg, eating salt is fine if we balance it with the right amount of potassium. Salt is necessary for the body too.
I find this incredibly interesting. I love lemon water but dont drink it often or any acidic fruit because I have chronic stomach problems and too much acid bothers me. But Id love to try this given how bad my cankles are. Im 5’6″ 119lbs, I have no fat anywhere yet my calves are massive. As soon as I get to the ankle, the fat buldges out and I look like I have 2 stuffed sausages for calves. Its fustrasting because everywhere else is skinny. Ive only recently started exercising though, before I just was walking a lot but no strength training. Im hoping to try this after my workout and see if it improves. Thanks!
Best wishes! The improved circulation through exercise should help tremendously as well as possibly increasing your blood pressure a healthy bit.
I read that swelling in the lower leg and foots is from something wrong with the kidneys, like Chronic Kidney Disease, or a Liver problem. ? Scary!
Thanks for adding this Chelsea. Yes chronic swelling in the lower extremities can indicate more serious problems as you mentioned, but temporary, intermittent swelling can indicate a mild situation.
Jen
You might want to try a lymph drainage specialist. I have cankles and large calves and it’s a lymphatic drainage issue . Self massage for drainage certainly helps . Our lymph has no pump so often settles in lower legs !
This is fascinating for me! I discovered that I have POTs it’s an orthostatic condition that Eve most cardiologists don’t know or understand. It’s almost impossible to treat and typically the meds are harder on the system than the POTs. I didn’t know I had but somehow started to treat myself. I drank lemon water hot and cold every day.. when I moved cross country and a lot of my old habits fell away, it got worse and I fainted all the time etc.
I am have always had low blood pressure, I’m very very thin, very active and couldn’t comprehend how and why my candles were enormous— I mean, male friends noticed it, and come on, guys don’t see that stuff typically, so it was very embarrassing.
I also wore compression socks which were the only thing that helped but not during the hot summer so I found anklet compression socks which help.
The thing I noticed the most was an overall better sense of well being on the days I remember my lemon water – but I am SOOO excited to try the oil instead.
Thank you for posting this!
Could eating out also correlate to the swollen ankles and feet issues? Seaweed has iodine in high quantities and so does table salt, which would come in foods if you eat out or eat food that others prepare. I believe that this problem may be actually due to iodine poisoning. Hashimotos and iodine poisoning are both very common in Japan due to intake of seaweed. These have become more common in America ever since iodine was required to be put into table salt to prevent an uncommon type of thyroid disorder that caused mental illness in half of the institutionalized mentally ill.
Unfortunately, iodine can be too much of a good thing in some people. Iodine poisoning has a weak slow pulse (Bradycardia) and cyanosis (blue-colored feet) and cold feet and hands (Raynauds syndrome) and an often the inflammation of the thyroid gland (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) and the fatigue of thyroid issues. I had all of those medical issues, I went off of all salt and all iodine and I no longer have any swelling issues, thyroid issues or low energy issues, nor cold hands and feet. In your case, it might be worth testing yourself by doing a low salt, iodine-free diet, and use pure lemon water to detoxify. Would you please let me know if you tried this and found this is to be helpful?
Hi Geraldine, I wrote this post in 2014 and don’t have an issue anymore with cold toes or cankles. I still eat nori but in toasted not roasted (with olive oil and salt) form. I don’t eat out a lot because I do notice swollen fingers and eyelids when I do due to the refined salt so common in restaurant food. My thyroid is in good working shape. I appreciate your input!
I’m so glad I found this article. I have always been skinny, but had extremely large ankles. I recently even started to save money to maybe get them surgically taken care of, but I definitely want to try this first!!! As I was reading, I noticed that my toes were freezing. And they usually are… my blood pressure also runs 90/60 usually.. Can you tell me the measurements that you started with and worked your way up to?
It will be interesting to see if this method has an impact for you. I started with a pinch of salt and a drop or two of oil. If this method doesn’t have any affect on your physical formation, try your best to love your body as it is and be grateful for its healthy function. Elective surgery can sometimes produce unwanted effects that are worse than the “problem” aiming to be solved. I don’t love the shape of my legs, but I’m thankful they can run, walk, and swim with great strength.
I will try this and give some feedback in a few weeks! You are absolutely right, thank you for your words!
Hi! How exactly do you prepare your lemon oil water with sea salt? I’d like to try it since I’ve got cankles..
Hi Elsa, it will be interesting to see if this method has an impact for you. I started with a pinch of salt and a drop or two of oil. If this method doesn’t have any affect on your physical formation, try your best to love your body as it is and be grateful for its healthy function.
Hey, thanks for your tips! What does the sea salt do? I get the lemonoil cause it improved circulation, but isn‘t eating salt kind of bad for your water retention?
Can‘t wait to try!
The salt is required to break the lemon oil down into the water (emulsify). Without the salt the oil will just sit on top of the water and sting the heck out of your lips upon the first couple of sips. Sea salt is a whole salt that contains trace minerals. It is a healthier salt to use than regular table salt which is not a whole salt. A few alternatives to sea salt that are comparable are Himalayan salt, salt lake salt (brand Real Salt), and desert salt. Anyone with heart trouble may need to avoid all types of salt, including whole salts.
Hi! I need to ask you something about the water mix thing. People say its very dangerous to ingest essential oils because its water insoluable etc. What do you think about it and what if we just add lemon water to the salty water rather than lemon essential oil?
High quality oils that are considered GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) are often ingested. Using salt with the EO is necessary for emulsification (oil mixing with water). Of course you can use fresh lemon juice instead. Lemon EO is just far more concentrated than lemon juice.
I’m only 37. I think it’s genetics. It’s 4 of us siblings. I’m the only one with this issue. Whenever I go out to eat I’m sure they add salt to everything. When I cook I do not add salt but they still seem to swell up. I notice when I sleep my legs are elevated and they are down a lot. Could I try the lemon oil and water without the salt ?
You can try the lemon oil without the salt but the oil will just sit on top of the water instead of mixing in. Whole salt or maybe a pinch of baking soda will emulsify the oil into the water.
This was really enlightening, and I’m so glad I found it! I’ve never read about anyone else with the same, conditional issues I’ve struggled with my whole life. I’ve always had cankles, and a layer of fat around my knees that makes it appear that I don’t have them. It’s genetic. But the bit about low blood pressure is really fascinating, because myself, and all the women in my family, have frighteningly low blood pressure, and we all have abnormally large legs in proportion to the rest of our body. I always joke with my doctor or dentist when they take my blood pressure, “I assure you, I am alive.” Yet, No matter how small I’ve been, how consistently I’ve worked out, and maintained an obnoxiously clean diet, my knees and ankles get proportionally smaller, but still lack any definition.
I already start my morning off with warm lemon water with a half tsp of Himalayan salt, but I am going to double up the amount of salt. I’m extremely hesitant to use essential oils internally, but if the salt helps to bind it and reduce the chances of shocking my body from over-concentration, then I feel a lot more comfortable. Thank you!
I hope you are able to find a solution that works for you Tara! Thanks for taking the time to read and to share your story.
How much water to how much salt to how much lemon oil??? I would love to try and my ankles are huge 😫
“When I make my lemon oil water with sea salt (I now use about a full teaspoon of salt and about 6 drops of oil) my blood pressure increases just enough to move the fluids in my body and they don’t pool in my ankles, creating cankles. I aim to drink 30 fluid ounces of salty, lemon water once in the morning and once at night. If I have forgotten and cankles develop during the day, I can drink my lemon oil water and the cankles go away within the hour.”