Barefoot Part 1: The first step

If you follow titles (which from my experience can be very misleading) here is a nice video accompanied by a podcast by two separate professors both advocating barefoot running and barefoot living.

http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/date/2011/02/ (episode 444)

As no doubt you have guessed, this is one of multiple posts. In future posts I will discuss and simplify the mechanisms in the body that make loosing your shoes one of the best things you did since you gave up bread (and if you haven't...sort it out).

Unfortunately of course, the developed world has been socially conditioned to think that if your wondering around anywhere but the beach without shoes on, your a bit of an oddball. So there are two options; first, ignore what the masses think and go for it! Second, find a pair of shoes that allow you to walk as if you were actually barefoot.

I have just purchased my first pair of Vibram fivefingers. Unfortunately I bought a size too big so those are on their way back and I'll have to make do with my plain old socks for a while longer. If you haven't heard of these shoes, have a quick look up here. But to begin this series of posts I thought I'd start with a bit of anecdotal reporting. I often walk the dog....



Lexsie, one of the loves of my life.

 ...around the block just before bed. It's a nice time to reduce my body temperature (see later post on temperature and sleeping patterns), spend some time thinking out in the dark (see later post on light and sleeping patterns!) and give the dog a chance to unload it's nessesaries. But having got into my barefoot way of thinking, it's a nice opportunity to get out without shoes on and feel the ground and get my feet used to less protection. Yes it's not comfortable at first (although wasn't as bad as I'd thought) and it's also a bit peaky given the time of year (not to mention wet but hey....I'm hardcore) but it actually feels liberating. So step two is having the balls to go out and about when there's actually people around and until my Vibrams come through, whispering and funny looks here I come! See you in part 2, where hopefully I will make sense of all this!

t20mpt out.

3 books that will change your life!

The Diet Delusion - Gary Taubes (Titled  "Good Calories, Bad Calories" in the US)


 Using extensive research, Gary Taubes debunks the idea that saturated fat is bad for you and identifies how excessive carbohydrate intake leads to weight gain and other health concerns. Great book to understand how bad science and indoctrination ruined the health of the developed world.

 Body by Science - John Little and Doug McGuff




McGuff and Little present the idea of how low freqnecy high intensity short duration exercise, is more benificial than conventionally excepted methods advocated by the fitness industry. This book backs up it's claims with a broad spectrum of research and brings together sources that were swept under the carpet when "aerobic fitness" became popular. Debunks more bad science.  

Primal Blueprint - Mark Sisson


Mark Sission provides a range of lifestlye recommendations, including diet, exercise, sleep etc, all based on the idea of living life to match our primal genetic makeup. Good book to wake you up to the unatural world us humans now live in.



Saturated fat, friend or foe?

This is a video my good friend James Steele passed on to me. I think it's a great place to begin to understand the idea that saturated fat isn't the nasty stuff we've all been indoctrinated to believe. It's a 2.35 minute story of how that "bogus" idea came to be. Well worth the time, enjoy.