~pjgh : påleo

Inov-8 RocLite 288 GTX - 1,000 Mile Recap

2012-03-18T21:00:00.000Z

Inov-8 are a small company based in northern England. Nevertheless, their impact upon the outdoor, fell, mountain, indoor, gym, crossfit scenes is staggering! You see their shoes everywhere and recognise their distinctive tracks when out in the hills.

About a year ago, I bought my first pair of Inov-8: the RocLite 288 GTX. I have since bought some X-Talon 240 boots for a tighter grip when cross-country running; the RocLite 288 GTX were primarily for walking.

Now sold as the RocLite 286 GTX, the 288 has a three shock heel (two shock with the new 286), comfort last (performance last with the new 286), meta flex, meta cradle, fascia band and of course, the RocLite sole with sticky rubber suitable for all manner of surfaces, grass, mud, trail, quarry, scree and rock.

My stomping ground is a mixed terrain of 1200' highs with 400' valley floor, quarries, tracks, trails, bridleway, mud, more mud, lots of mud, bog, streams, becks and woodland. Very keen on minimalist footwear, I still know my own limits and the limits of the footwear I choose. These boots have given me the right footwear for the terrain and activity.

Sizing with Inov-8 is an art in itself - you must try on the shoes!

I normally wear a Euro 45, but chose a Euro 44.5 for the RocLite 288 GTX (Euro 45 in X-Talon 240, for comparison). The half size down fitted perfectly with thin socks, so maybe the 45 fills out with walking socks.

Foot in, kick back to the heel and pull the laces sufficiently tight; set for many miles of comfortable walking with the freedom that comes from the very flexible and active sole.

These boots have not let me down - always capable in whatever conditions I walked in, from the height of summer to the depth of winter and whatever terrain that brought. More than that, they enhanced my experience - not dulled by hard, inflexible soles, my walking was a sheer pleasure; able to pick routes off trail with ease and always very confident about feel and grip on muddy hillsides or in slippery streams.

Not a review, as such, but a recap ...

Somewhere around 500 miles the rubber covering behind the toe protection started to wear away.

Waterproofing gave up after 600 miles with a small hole that breeched the GoreTex inside the crack that developed on the outside edge of my right foot and shortly after in the same place on the opposite foot.

Those cracks further developed and really opened up after 700 miles.

At 1,000 miles, these boots are still eminently useful with good grip on the toe and heel, with the ball of the sole more worn. Perhaps this suggests something about being able to maintain good walking technique in these boots and allays any fear of returning to heel striking when in such footwear?

I gather Inov-8 warrant these boots to 600 miles. I put these boots through everything and they rewarded me, not only for immediate performance, but for that long-term performance.

They performed! They lasted!

Buy again? Definitely! A fresh pair this spring ...

Any opinions on the RocLite 400 GTX in comparison to the 288? Better for heavier terrain? How does the new RocLite 286 GTX stack up against the 288? Improved? Feel free to comment.

Coming in From the Cold

2011-12-14T15:34:00.000Z

Warning! Metaphors ahead!

Metaphors, not innuendo - if you like innuendo, check out Modern Paleo Warfare.

As ancestral eaters, we've been living in the ice age, some may have considered leaving the ice age and I've wondered whether we're even entering the mesolithic.

Metaphors aside, paleo is moving along with the times and being moved along by the people.

Is it time to come in from the cold?

What began as the paleo diet has inspired and sparked much debate, research and reasoning to become a paleo template - using the paleo diet as a starting point and building it up into a framework, or set of principles.

Chris Kresser calls it a paleo template in Beyond Paleo and this is very much at the forefront of Kurt Harris' and Richard Nikoley's mind in their responses to the recent debunking paleo articles.

Paleo is not a religion!

J Stanton noticed that paleo had reached the ominous third stage but who would have thought that the fight would come from vegans? Yes, vegans of all people!

Sadly, these people are missing the point when it comes to paleo. Some would say they're missing more than a couple of points, but that aside, they're looking at the paleo diet not the paleo template; the minutia, not the big picture. The arguments and positions simply don't stand up against a template - the paleo template being made up a set of principles drawn from individual manifestos.

Taking Chris Kresser's trinity of principles:

Don't eat toxins
Nourish your body
Eat real food

... veganism, vegetarianism, pescetarianism, whatever other dietary isms there are would consider that they fit into that and would all agree that is a sensible set of principles. Explaining what exactly is behind those principles is where the template is drawn up, where the die is cast.

Call it The Primal Blueprint, Functional Paleo, Archevore, the Perfect Health Diet or Paleo+ what we have is a gentler, more playful paleo but with no less teeth and no less justified. Paleo, evolved.

We are animals, not machines!

Optimal is not necessarily advantageous or desirable.

We are not machines - we are not here to engage in optimal exercise, re-feeding with optimal meals to maintain our optimal bodies. What's the point in all that?

Ancestrally, we would have fattened up in advance of months where food was scarce and enjoyed gorging when food was plenty. We do not go through the whole year as one body shape - our environments change and so should our bodies. We are adaptive creatures.

We are here to live! We are here to work, to play, to toil and to sleep ... to be alive in the freedom that the wide and varied environments that we live in as highly adaptive organisms capable of living way off trail, way off a specific diet, yet continuing to survive.

This is why a template for paleo works in the long term, once the paleo diet has been understood and used as a means to starting out on a fresh journey through life, resetting the damage and founding a healthy and fulfilling life - this is where the template starts and where The Primal Blueprint, Functional Paleo, Archevore, the Perfect Health Diet and Paleo+ become the joys of life. Chris Kresser sums it up perfectly in Is Paleo even Paleo? And Does it Matter?

As J Stanton says, "Live in freedom, live in beauty".

Kindred Spirits

The die has been cast, the template struck, and many paleo eaters are moving beyond the savannah of the paleo diet into the varied global ecosystems and local takes on the principles within the paleo template.

Further to the likes of Mark Sissons, J Stanton, Kurt Harris, Paul & Shou Ching Jaminet, Chris Kresser, a couple of manifestos which have struck me as sound come from:

Full Fat Nutrition Ten Commandments of Nutrition
Prague Stepchild Shealthy Manifesto

Having developed my own take on the paleo pyramid in language like "enjoy, eat, include, use, ensure, limit, avoid and supplement" I wonder if I might have been better to distil the salient points into a manifesto. I may yet do that, although it is unlikely to be much different from Full Fat Nutrition or Prague Stepchild, but here's the pyramid ...

Principles

Prior to paleo, I ate real food and held a simple set of principles: balance, fresh, local and pure.

Paleo opened my eyes and helped me refine my diet of real food; my digression from that purist stance was simply because I understood it and was happy to eat a little further away from the main hunting grounds, having found the likes of J Stanton and Kurt Harris online, and been most impressed with Mark Sissons from the initial bushel of books that I bought.

Paleo+ feels right. Go with what feels right, but know why it is right!

Principles become second nature, unlike the lengthy tomes heavy in scientific dogma that make up a diet book, and three principles which I have held most useful in determining whether food is good to eat since taking my first steps onto the savannah are:

The Hunter/Gatherer Principle - can the food be hunted and gathered in the wild? This links into the local and organic principles I have always held. This guides us towards nutritious food.
The Raw Principle - can the food be eaten raw? This is not to say that it should be, although something more like can it kill you even when it is dead? is perhaps a more useful a way of putting it. I think that's one from Kurt Harris. Anyway, this guards us against toxins.
The Predator Principle - is the food for grazing prey? J Stanton's 'Eat Like a Predator' shows us how to eat food which will form meals, and to fast in between. Prey graze their way through the day while predators hunt, eat and fast. This protects us from snacking.

I have one further principle to add which has helped me when re-engaging with supermarkets and picking up food that comes in packaging:

The Ingredient/Description Principle - does the ingredients list more than the description of the food?

The ingredients for butter should read as "butter"; for salted butter, "butter, sea salt" - there should be no stabilisers, no emulsifiers, no preservatives. That, and any ingredient that has the letter X in it cannot be good! X is not natural; X is laboratory!

Put another way, the Hunter/Gatherer Principle leads us to food. The Raw Principle tells us if it is fit to eat, while the Predator Principle shows us whether is it ideal. Those three are then fully modernised by the Ingredient/Description Principle which helps us to make a decision about food which comes in unnatural packaging.

Maybe that manifesto is burgeoning ... maybe not ... I've always said that paleo is a way of life, and just as it is not a religion, it is not political. Let's leave dogma to the religious and the manifestos to the politicians.

Paleo is not an exclusive diet ...

I will say that paleo should be an inclusive diet - what we can eat.

Exclusive diets that prohibit, eschew, ban, whatever, are negative in their outlook and ultimately doomed to failure as a long term prospect. These diets are not a way of life and must be backed up by dogma, even fanaticism.

We have a world, abundant in excellent food sources despite "big farmer" trying to ruin the food chain. We can pick and choose from all manner of excellent sources, and we can lobby for better husbandry in areas which are lacking - this is our lives and we should ensure that our longevity, ours and our race, is ensured through bringing our diets and indeed our lifestyles back to a natural state for our genus.

There is sufficient in meat, eggs, fish, shellfish, vegetables and fruit to live on. That is the beauty, the simplicity and the joy of paleo.

myprotein.com Essential Whey 60

2011-11-22T23:03:00.001Z

Me? Paleo me, writing about protein powder? With my reputation?

I'll throw my hands straight up and surrender! Protein powder is not paleo.

Shoot me! Go on ... I dare you! I double dare you!

It is very useful for active, paleo people. Let me explain ...

myprotein.com Essential Whey 60 is a 60% protein powder made from undenatured milk. Furthermore, there are no flavourings, colourings or most importantly, no emulsifier. This is pretty much pure whey, as extracted from raw milk.

Let's take a look at the breakdown of a 30ml scoop:

Energy: 123 kcal
Energy: 514 KJ
Protein: 18.2g
Carbohydrate: 9g
Fat: 1.1g

... and it has a superb amino acid profile, too: http://www.myprotein.com/uk/Files/Documents/852.pdf

Ideally, the protein could be higher and the carbohydrate lower, but this is a straight down the line extraction but the most positive benefit to be had from undenatured protein extraction is that it is glutathione boosting.

Glutathione is immune boosting. Protein rebuilds the muscles and the carbohydrate forms immediate energy, saving further muscle degradation after activity and allowing the body to totally benefit from the activity you have just engaged in.

Being a paleo eater, I like more fat.

Here's my shake:

200ml water
30ml scoop of myprotein.com Essential Whey 60
Shake, shake, shake shake sh-shake it!
Add two tablespoons of full fat probiotic natural yoghurt
Shake again ...
Pour out into a glass and enjoy!

If I am feeling particularly indulgent:

150ml water
30ml scoop of myprotein.com Essential Whey 60
Shake, shake, shake shake sh-shake it!
1 shot of fresh Espresso
1 shot of single malt Whisky
Shake again ...
Pour out into a glass and enjoy in a hot bath, soaking tired muscles ...

You've got it ... I have a glass of this every so often after a particularly exhaustive period of activity.

I also have the occasional serving early morning for breakfast, which is usually nothing more than a couple of spoons of full fat probiotic natural yoghurt.

Interested?

http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/essential-whey-60

Entering the Mesolithic?

2011-10-24T05:00:00.000+01:00

Let's just take a step back and look at what exactly paleo is ... In The Paleo Identity Crisis, J Stanton perfectly distills paleo as:

Eating foods that best support the biochemistry of human animals with a multi-million year history of hunting and foraging, primarily on the African savanna.

Avoiding foods, such as grains, grain oils, and refined sweeteners, that actively disrupt the biochemistry of these human animals.

That second point is increasingly important to take paleo forwards, yet the first point is the lynchpin. In keeping with this functional paleo, Chris Kresser talks about a paleo template, rather than a diet and puts the following as the first three steps in his Nine Steps to Perfect Health:

Don't eat toxins
Nourish your body
Eat real food

... and finished with, The Biggest Obstacle to Perfect Health is Your Mind.

There is a lot of talk amongst the paleosphere as to what exactly can and cannot be included in the paleo diet. Much of that talk is about compromise, about mimicry of neolithic foods, about supplementation and a whole heap of n=1, which is about as much to do with paleo as it is to do with trainspotting!

While talk of shunning white potatoes in favour of sweet potatoes is fine, does it necessarily fit with the second statement? We well know that carbohydrate = sugar = fat. We well know that foods with a high glycemic index (GI) cause insulin spikes, which we want to avoid ... but ... what about context?

When you eat a white potato, what do you eat it with? I put in a lot of heavy cream and some butter to make mashed potato. I like a good slice of butter and some cottage cheese over a baked potato. Fried, I like nothing more than to drop some large chips of potato into dripping.

That's the beauty of fat!

In Fat and the Glycemic Index: The Myth of Carbohydrates, J Stanton blows the doors wide open and shows us that cooking, and cooking with fat significantly lowers the glycemic load (GL) of carbohydrates.

Paul & Shou-Ching Jaminet's Perfect Health Diet is one which is very much amongst the front runners of the functional paleo diet - one which is concerned with J's second point: avoiding foods which actively disrupt the biochemistry of humans.

The Jaminets speak about the inclusion of safe starches, a useful source of glucose.

This also strikes an accord with another favourite paleo writer of mine, Kurt Harris MD, father of Archevore who, in his latest revision, has dropped mention of legumes from his manifesto!

Between the Jaminets and Harris, we're now okay to eat starches and beans? Really? What next? Oats? Well, Mark Sissons, father of The Primal Blueprint is already considering just that: Are Oats Healthy?

I'm throwing this out there - paleo is about turning conventional wisdom on its head. Fat does not make you fat ... healthy grains are actually unhealthy ... fruit is not good for you ... meat does not rot in your colon!

Time to turn conventional paleo wisdom on its head?

Once a white potato is cooked, it has a lower glycemic load than sweet potato. When beans and lentils are pressure cooked, they are dramatically reduced in phytic acid and are pretty much a neutered source of energy. Likewise, safe starches may well have all manner of positive effects, not least keeping your glucose levels at a level which modern adapted humans actually require.

You'll need to do the reading for yourself. The Jaminets are not suggesting that a diet high in carbohydrate is a good thing - their book clearly shows this, and their statements online recommend keeping carbohydrate intake below requirement for glucose. Balance is the key. Likewise, Harris is not suggesting we run out and start eating beans instead of meat and vegetables, just that once properly processed beans do not pose the risk they do when raw, if any.

While meat and vegetables common to conventional paleo wisdom exist, is there any reason to look elsewhere?

Well, Peggy Emch at The Primal Parent thinks there might well be a case. In http://theprimalparent.com/2011/07/27/the-carnivores-dilemma/ Peggy talks about how food affects mood, that meat, meat and more meat puts us in a very focussed mode which is not entirely useful in social settings. We need more smile - that comes from glucose, from carbohydrates in stalky vegetables, root vegetables and so on.

Maybe carbohydrate is important after all?

Speaking of society, have you seen Richard Nikoley's manifesto over at Free the Animal?

http://freetheanimal.com/2011/10/free-the-animal-a-manifesto-version-30-third-times-the-charm.html

Richard speaks of physical health, mental health and even societal health. Truly, fresh ground that has only been surveyed and subjected to probing raids by J Stanton, thus far. Well worthy of a concerted read.

It is clear that paleo is moving on - we might well be at the end of the ice age; the epipaleolithic, so to speak, but are we entering the mesolithic?

Agriculture defines the transition between the paleolithic and the neolithic, but the mesolithic was the handover.

Some characteristics of the mesolithic:

During the mesolithic, mankind had not begun agriculture, but had begun the domestication of animals, had begun to store surplus, had begun to develop tools which aided him in the processing of vegetables, had begun to process and eat wild seeds, like rice, and had developed cooking methods such as roasting on hearths and in clay pots.

Man still moved with the seasons between bases, but had not fully settled into neolithic ways. Man started to change his plate from hunted meat and gathered fruits and vegetables to what we might call a more balanced plate of cooked meat and prepared vegetables.

As modern humans, we have learned to change our diet with the seasons - perhaps relying more on root vegetables and safe starches through the cold months in northern climes and then return to spring animals in the warmer months. This is less so with produced food, but paleo people do like to try to eat with the seasons, eat food which is natural to the environment they live in and in turn with their geographical adaptations.

Modern humans have learned to prepare vegetables, process foods which distrupt our biochemistry through fermentation, soaking, boiling and chilling. In time, will we manage to negate the seriously disruptive effects of grain?

As we paleo folk enter the mesolithic, to avoid neolithic pathways for modern disease, is it more a case of 'Eat Like Your Grandparents' (thanks, J) than 'Eat Like a Predator'?

100 Days of Paleo

2011-09-29T08:01:00.000+01:00

... or thereabouts.

I don't really have much to add to my 30 Days of Paleo post other than to say that paleo has become very much my normal way of life. I don't think about it any more - it's just what I do.

Yes, "do"! Paleo is life - sleeping, waking, eating, working, playing, relaxing, enjoying.

I set out to address my weight and fitness, and quite by accident found minimalist running and from there, paleo. I fast understood that longer term, sustainable fat loss was going to be the best way for me and I am well into that journey with continued fat loss, but not necessarily the same dramatic weight loss.

An unexpected benefit has been that my lifelong gastric reflux problems have gone - gone entirely. Again, I simply don't have to think about it any more.

My two favourite paleo bloggers, Stanton and Harris, have made some significant contributions to the paleosphere - Functional Paleo is now defined, Archevore has moved to version 3.0 and the role of starches in the paleo diet is now well understood, and well discussed by Harris.

Food remains a real passion of mine.

My own paleo cuisine blog at Living in the Ice Age continues to attract new visitors every day and I am pleased to be followed by one of my favourite paleo cuisine bloggers: Finn & Greg AKA Modern Paleo Warfare - be warned, some of the language is on the edge and humour definitely adult! Enjoy ...

One final thing - I have found an excellent supplier of Biltong whose recipe does not include sugar. Other suppliers extol the virtues of their product being MSG-free or containing no artificial flavours, but they still use sugar.

Interested? Check out Discover Unearthed Biltong whose product is softer than many, more chewy. Yum!

That said, I do like Coan's Original Beef Jerky - I can cope with a tiny bit of sugar.

30 Days of Paleo

2011-07-18T08:01:00.000+01:00

"I took the mission ... what the hell else was I going to do?"
Captain Willard 'Apocalypse Now'

Like minimalist footwear, I found my transition to paleo to be quite straightforward. I already ate a diet which I have heard described as "JERF", that's "Just Eat Real Food", and so I simply had to drop out all agents of disease - foods which create a high insulin response, which cause cortisol responses, which inflame the muscles and flesh, which strip my gut of good bacteria ...

Walk like a Monkey, Eat like a Caveman!, The Logistics of Going Paleo and Living in the Ice Age stand as my journey into paleo; into purifying my diet and making a change in my lifestyle to include the joy of increased activity and play, decreased inactivity and refusal of the downward spiral of snacking, drinking and those other modern methods of relaxation.

Paleo/Primal writers like Robb Wolf and Mark Sisson challenge us to 30 days - do it their way for 30 days and see how you feel. Go back to your old ways and ... well, you'll be running, screaming back to your new ways!

I have "revolved" ...

The single most useful principle I have relied upon is J Stanton's Eat Like A Predator, Not Like Prey - eat meat and vegetables, not cereals and seeds; do not "graze" and do not drink your food.

While an easy transition for me, I have had to approach paleo with imagination and flair - I must confess, I looked at the food and it did not inspire me. I love meat, fish, eggs and vegetables, but what I saw on the paleo table left me thinking it could be a lot more appealing and so I set about applying my confidence with food and competence as a cook to paleo.

I have started a food blog which I hope will inspire fellow paleo converted as well as the paleo-curious.

Introducing ...

As outlined in my initial mission statement, if you like, I have weight to lose - I have been doing this with a combination of activity and diet. I have also been using "IF" - intermittent fasting. Actually, it has been quite regular and that is probably not good for me as a long term thing.

I have been skipping breakfasts, savouring the hunger and eating within a compressed window of eight hours from midday.

Want to know more about IF and the health benefits of fasting? Check out Mark Sisson's 'The Primal Blueprint' website on the matter:

I think I have come about as far as I can with that IF regimen - I need to start eating breakfast! At the weekend, I do. I feel great for it ... and as a curious paradox feel to be losing weight as a result. Using IF every so often when not being able to eat comes outside of my control (or desire) is the way I should be looking to use it now that I have lost the dangerous weight and fat.

That initial weight and fat loss is almost certainly down to increasing activity and coupled with a significant drop in excess carbohydrates, specifically from potatoes, has brought me back to a more normal state but not necessarily normal size.

Paleo is not a regimen which focusses on low carbohydrate intake; lower carbohydrate intake is a benefit of the paleo regimen which focusses on reducing insulin responses. I have retained a lower but sensible intake of carbohydrate mild foods in the form of butternut squash, celeriac, carrot, swede and beetroot, for example, and very occasionally, white rice.

Fat loss (not necessarily weight loss) is my goal and for that, IF and a body state known as ketosis seem attractive since fat stores can be reduced. Pushing the body into what is essentially a state of starvation, albeit in a controlled manner and for short terms, seems at odds with striving to achieve a normal state of health: homeostasis

More useful is MF - metabolic flexibility.

To quote J Stanton, "our bodies always burn glucose when it’s available. But eventually we run out of glucose, and that’s when our bodies need to switch over to beta-oxidation—burning fat. The ability to switch back and forth between the two processes is called metabolic flexibility in the scientific literature."

In his article The Science Behind The “Low Carb Flu”, and How To Regain Your Metabolic Flexibility two key points stand out to me:

It turns out that exercise is important after all … not because of the calories you burn by exercising, which you usually replace right away because you’re hungry, but because it helps you regain metabolic flexibility
It is a lot easier and quicker to burn fat via beta-oxidation than it is to adapt to ketosis … so unless ketosis is your goal, you might be making your transition to a healthy diet much harder by keeping your carb intake too low

Summarised, Stanton gives us the following: "... if we keep our carbohydrate intake under our body’s requirement while not in ketosis, which is perhaps 20% of total calories - and only eat those carbohydrates with meals involving complete protein and fat, not by themselves - most of us should be able to gain the fat-burning benefits of metabolic flexibility without suffering the pain of trying to adapt to ketosis.".

Thanks J! As always, a simple distilled whack of good advice backed up by biochemical science.

Back to the establishment! I have read, digested and understood three core books from the paleosphere - Loren Cordain, Robb Wolf and Mark Sisson. I am a firm adherent to Sisson's approach.

Mark Sisson holds central to his 'The Primal Blueprint' the joy of life - life is to be lived, not endured and not travelled through as if a monk. Grab life by the balls and live it!

Mark has a notion of 80% - strive to live 100% primal, but do not shrink from those occasions which will bring you joy where you might have to sacrifice your principles for a short while. Seeing friends and family, where paleo/primal is not altogether on the menu, days when it is unavoidable but to compromise your diet, days which you are not going to get the very best of sleep, or might miss a workout for whatever reason.

Mark also has a great chapter in his book devoted to "sensible indulgences" - alcohol and chocolate, largely. And therein lies the other side of the coin - eat and drink on one side, play and rest on the other; indulgences welcome!

Grab a copy of Mark's 'The Primal Blueprint'

... while you're there, if you need some inspiration about how to get primal in your kitchen:

In Mark's words, "miss a meal ... that's an intermittent fast" ... "miss a workout ... that's recovery".

In terms of life balance, anything out of normality should be done occasionally and infrequently, and there is a healthy benefit to be had from that; keeping the body on its toes! That goes for high carbohydrate intake, IF and overindulgence in sensible indulgences!

The final pieces of the picture are coming together. Having increased activity and play, removed the foods which biochemically damage my body, levelled my insulin response and started on the path to healing my damaged gut, the next significant focus is upon cortisol response - that's the stress hormone.

Cortisol is higher in the morning than the evening - the graph should take a dive down throughout the day. Cortisol is the fight/flight hormone and no surprise, is stimulated by stress - largely, work stress! Limiting stress at work, at home, on the daily commute and throughout the day is a challenge. Properly winding down in the evening and ensuring a reviving sleep is possibly the most important thing in leading a healthy life.

I walk in the evenings - whatever the weather, I walk. I delight in evening sunlight with clear views, savour lashing rain and howling wind and hope to thoroughly enjoy blizzards and those beautiful clear winter days when the land is under a clean blanket of snow. I walk; I see horizons - this is important.

Reducing stimulants for the hour before going to bed is critical - this means finishing reading e-mails, forums and feeds, not going to sleep with the TV on, not relying on a drink to wind down ... even, not exciting the mind with factual books. Escaping into a novel and sparking the mind to dream is good. Furthermore, sleeping in a dark room - blackout curtains, no digital lights from TVs, DVD players or alarm clocks; pure darkness and whichever side of the house is away from traffic.

Understanding how to rest and focussing on ensuring quality rest is as important, if not more important, than activity ... and activity which is "play" is more important than activity which is "exercise".

While we're pushing books, check out J Stanton's 'The Gnoll Credo' for some gripping fiction - I have been reading it a chapter at a time while I have been out enjoying my evening and weekend walks.

"We are born and we die.
No one cares, no one remembers,
and it doesn't matter.
This is why we laugh."
There are no such things as gnolls, they never kill and eat people, and they can't read or write -- much less write something so stark, so raw, so beautifully bleak.
Right?
Because if there were, someone might have risked a violent and painful death to find them, study them, and bring back this book.
Then you might read it.
And then you might have a joyous and bloody and terribly strange adventure, and you might find yourself laughing with the gnolls.
And then what?

I have "revolved" ... Viva la evolucion!

Living in the Ice Age

2011-06-24T08:01:00.000+01:00

Living in the Ice Age - Joy Division

Two weeks of paleo ... pure.

Continuing my personal journey into paleo from The Logistics of Going Paleo which, when re-reading, seems so full of compromise and concession that I feel I should put the record straight. In a word, I was in a little panic about what exactly to cook - I was quite set in my ways and to be absolutely frank, paleo food often did not look appetising to me; I believe the first bite is with the eyes.

Potatoes, beans and pasta featured a few times in my weekly meals prior to going paleo, as did flour-based sauces. Immediately after writing that entry and with a good overnight sleep, I felt challenged and energised to meet the task in hand - making tasty, nutritious and good looking food.

How good does this look?

Belly pork over tenderstem broccoli with celeriac mash and cabbage

Sugar and processed foods were never in, so they're still not in. High carbohydrate vegetables are gone - potatoes and sweet potatoes. Oil is out - I reserve cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil for a drizzle over salads maybe once or twice a week and a gourmet cold-pressed extra virgin rapeseed oil with a beautiful yellow colour for the same purposes. Vegetable oils were never really in my diet anyway, but oils have been and they're only in my diet as garnish and not for cooking with; the exception being coconut oil and avocado oil.
Snacking is out - I didn't snack much prior to going paleo, but I don't at all now. I go from good meal to good meal and savour any hunger in between.

Inadvertently, I have also been engaged in intermittent fasting, or IF, where my feeding times have been compressed into an eight hour period from noon to evening. Maybe once a week, I surprise my body and partake of breakfast - it all goes together to help with metabolic flexibility, of MF, but IF and MF are a couple of things I am still working through, understanding and will no doubt write about in due course.

Green vegetables have been boosted, as has meat from ruminating animals; oily fish and wild fish, too. Tenderstem broccoli and asparagus feature regularly. Avocado is featuring more. Pork and chicken are limited to once or twice a week due to higher omega-6 and omega-3 initially boosted with a cod liver oil capsule which also gives me my recommended daily allowance of vitamin A and D. As I work more oily fish into my diet I will be able to drop that supplementation. Potatoes have been supplanted with cubes of butternut squash, turnip and swede in stews, and celeriac with a little coconut milk, mashed when it comes to "Bangers & Mash". I may bring potatoes back in every so often once my excess weight has dropped off. Dairy is still in - milk, with little consumption but sour cream, full fat cream and probiotic yoghurt are the main areas of dairy that I continue with. Alcohol is still in, but dramatically reduced ... read on.

In essence, my diet is not vastly different to pre-paleo (erm, neolithic, if that makes sense?) but the edges have been refined. The last parts of the neolithic diet which are not great for me have been removed, while the paleo-friendly aspects have been boosted. That, coupled with daily activity and fasting is giving me some amazing rewards in terms of weight loss.

Activity is regular and daily with an irregular day of rest every so often ... just to keep the body guessing; a few miles of outdoor walking and running over all manner of terrain with occasional and impromtu outright sprint.

Other benefits are increased alertness, better sleep, improved taste and smell senses, and most importantly, a general feeling of wellbeing and happiness - I smile more!

Furthermore, I noticed that I had missed a couple of days of medication for a lifelong gastric reflux condition - I decided to go with it! Keeping myself level with an intake of cider vinegar shortly before eating, I have managed over 10 days; prior to paleo, I might have managed one or two days off the pills before violent and continued vomiting after eating. The change in intake is most likely responsible - increased greens, particularly, but the complete removal of heavy carbohydrates coupled with an increase in probiotics will allow my digestive system to recover in time. Alcohol intake has naturally reduced.

Meanwhile, I am coping without PPIs!

I have read a tremendous amount in the last month and must say, since joining a couple of forums I am a little confuzzled ... what exactly is paleo?

I sit back on my instincts from what I learned initially:

Can the food be hunted or gathered in the wild?
Can the food be eaten raw?
Is the food for grazing prey?

I started out with the notion that measuring, counting and recording is not necessary, nor desireable (a notion which Harris holds central to his approach) and that is something I have stuck to. I am interested in the biochemical science behind the scenes and the following resources have been really useful:

Robb Wolf (of The Paleo Solution)
http://www.robbwolf.com
Mark Sisson (of The Primal Blueprint)
http://www.marksdailyapple.com
Kurt Harris (of Archevore and Paleo 2.0)
http://www.archevore.com
Finally, J Stanton (of The Gnoll Credo)
http://www.gnolls.org

My three principles have been drawn from these guys ... and as you read through them, Wolf is quite a hardliner; uncompromising. Sisson, at least, understands that life is to be lived and to be enjoyed and has a notion of 80% - that is not a low bar or an intention to satisfy with a less than optimal grade, but an understanding that things might slip, circumstance might dictate, or for the sake of friendship, socialisation and so on you may imbibe or ingest non-paleo food and drink. These two guys are both from fitness backgrounds.

Harris meanwhile, a Medical Doctor, takes things a step further and on the face of it seems so full of compromise and concession that you wonder why the word paleo is attached to what he writes, but when really reading what it is he has to say you realise that paleo might need some modification, hence "Paleo 2.0":
http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/3/30/paleo-20-a-diet-manifesto.html

I find more common ground with Harris and an affinity with what he writes, not because I am most comfortable with it, but because I am most challenged by his writing; challenged to think it through, fully. It is all very well moving the anchor point that secures paleo, but there is also much merit in taking time to consider why it was placed there initially, and that is the key theme in the following essay from J Stanton:
http://www.gnolls.org/2226/the-paleo-identity-crisis-what-is-the-paleo-diet-anyway/

Stanton perfectly distills paleo as:

Eating foods that best support the biochemistry of human animals with a multi-million year history of hunting and foraging, primarily on the African savanna.
Avoiding foods, such as grains, grain oils, and refined sweeteners, that actively disrupt the biochemistry of these human animals.

This definition strikes an accord with Harris' notion of "neolithic agents of disease" (NADs) and so, Archevore puts a little more meat on those bones, for people who enjoy the detail. Of course, Wolf and Sisson make some, most or all of those points, too.

Going paleo is not a diet - it is a change of lifestyle, encompassing both how we feed and energise our bodies with how we exert them; how we spend that energy.

The Logistics of Going Paleo

2011-06-10T08:01:00.000+01:00

My mantra when it comes to food is: local, fresh, pure and balanced.

Smoked reindeer heart

With a newfound interest in paleo and primal approaches to nutrition I have taken a good look at the food I eat and ... I'm most of the way there already. Just as the principle aim of barefooting is to bring back the natural biomechanics to the foot, to walking and running, the focus of paleo is to allow the body to eat, digest and absorb naturally and in tune with its evolution.

There are a few aspects which need looking at to align "balance" into a natural balance, in tune with my body.

First, let's look at the food which is advocated by paleo people: meat (especially grass fed ruminators), fish, shellfish, eggs, vegetables (especially green and leafy), fruit, nuts and seeds in small quantities, and animal fats (high in SFA) although cold-pressed oils (high in MUFA) are fine as garnishes.

Next, food which is eschewed by paleo people: trans-fats, processed food, oils (high in PUFA), refined sugars, alcohol, starches, grains and legumes, and dairy although dairy is an area which is tolerated in primal and to some extent paleo, so long as there are no allergic contraditictions; fermented dairy, like soured cream and yoghurt are quite paleo-friendly.

Simple principles as to whether food is paleo are useful - the most useful to me are the "hunter/gatherer principle" and the "raw principle".

Can the food be hunted or gathered in the wild? Yes? It's paleo.
Can the food be eaten raw? Yes? It's paleo.

One further principle which helps me so often is the "predator principle".

Coined by J Stanton (of gnolls.org) in his motivational guide, 'Eat Like A Predator, Not Like Prey: Paleo In Six Easy Steps' this principle has helped me more with the what not to eat part, rather than the what to eat. Predators have a natural sense of what is right to eat but often need some help not to just wolf down something poisonous. Prey graze. Fact.

Is the food for grazing prey? Yes? It's NOT paleo.

Contra-paleo
From the contra-paleo list I can cross out a good number: trans-fats and processed food are straight out. I don't eat any. Refined sugars are out. Again, I don't eat any - I don't drink soft drinks, I don't add sugar to anything and the very rare occasion that I add sweetener to anything, it will be a small amount of honey. Honey is natural, pure, fresh and local to me; the apiary within a couple of miles from my house.

Alcohol is an issue. I love to drink alcohol, be it Guinness, fine French wine, Champagne, Scandinavian and Russian standard vodkas, single malt whiskies and Gin & Tonic. Hmmm ... this is going to be a tough one for me and so, I'm going to ignore it. I'll call this my big cheat/treat. Phew! It's not like I drink soft drinks or eat chocolate. I'm allowed one vice.

Legumes have been in my diet as an alternative to meat. I was of the misguided opinion that eating meat all the time is not a good thing and so substituted some meals with dishes based on beans or heavily on pasta. Beans can go. I do like green beans, runner beans and peas; can't stand sugar snaps. Soya beans are out! Straight out! As is my brief and misguided flirtation with tofu. Weeding out the green beans and peas will happen naturally, I think ... although my favourite curry, Mutter Paneer will not be the same!

There are two dishes I cook often which might be problematic: Chilli con Carne and the Traditional English Breakfast. Red kidney beans used in Chilli con Carne could be substituted with something similar in colour such as cubes of aubergine. Baked Beans, that's Heinz Baked Beans, are a key part of the Traditional English Breakfast - I'll leave them off my plate, but I am sure I will not be allowed to leave them off my wife's plate. This is a breakfast that we have once or twice a week, at the weekends and not always the full monty.

Grains in the form of flour, pasta, cous cous have been in my diet but often in small amounts. I might have a pasty once a week, a pastry pie or pudding once a month, cous cous a couple of times a month, but pasta at least once a week. Also, bechamel sauce ... which is flour-based. I am sure I will eat the occasional pasty, plate of pasta and a pudding every so often, but I can make that choice at the time.

I rarely eat bread, pastries or buns. Where I do eat bread is as pitta or tortilla. I guess my fajitas and burgers can be eaten using structurally sound crisp lettuce instead, with a good blob of guacamole to keep the meat in place.

Nut flours may well provide the answer for white sauces and I might actually begin to partake of paleo cakes and scones with a cup of tea. Almond flour drop scones do sound delicious!

Grains are not a big deal until it comes to pasta, which has been a substitute for meat at least once a week. Limiting pasta and cous cous to an occasional meal is going to be okay; timed well as a precursor to some activity, it should be okay. Many of my favourite pasta dishes can easily be converted to paleo by the addition of some green vegetables, asparagus and samphire being two that seem to completely negate the need for pasta, leaving the dish looking and tasting whole without looking like something has been missed out.

Rice is something I eat very rarely, maybe once or twice a month and again ... this can easily be dropped out entirely, or just enjoyed as a cheat/treat if that's the choice I make. I wonder ... is there a paleo version of Creamed Rice Pudding?

Starches are an issue. I love potatoes, I love carrots, turnips, swede and parsnips. In fact, it's probably the only sweet food I eat. Peeled and cooked, these can continue to form part of my diet but I will significantly limit them to maybe once a week, or less ... instead, beefing up the amount of meat and green vegetables in my food.

The occasional baked potato as a cheat/treat will satisfy me, I'm sure. The problem around starchy vegetable is that they feature so heavily in English cuisine and maybe it will be a seasonal thing where intake is more frequent through the colder months and infrequent during the warmer months; the same with pastry. Again, timed well as a precursor to some activity, it should be okay. That, or paleo-remix classic recipes like Meat & Potato Pie to use chunks of aubergine and a nut crust, or celeriac mash in Bangers & Mash.
Finally, dairy. I drink so little milk, only in tea and I am in no way intolerant to dairy. I'll carry on with that low intake. Cream is a feature in my diet, but again, only a small portion in a small number of meals through the month.

Soured cream and yoghurt is more frequently eaten and often used regularly through the week. Dairy is a grey area for paleologists and all but the most strict regard dairy as something which is okay in the paleo diet so long as you are not intolerant. Fermented dairy seems to be more readily accepted, so soured cream, yoghurt and some tangy cheeses - feta being a prime example.

I'm happy with dairy as it is, although as the things which are paleo-friendly are increased intake of dairy may just drop naturally. I do need to try coconut milk!

Paleo-friendly
Fruit is infrequent in my diet, maybe only a few items a month. Nuts and seeds are almost non-existent in my diet, and unlikely as a paleo-snack - snacking is for prey! This is fine for the paleo eater as these form such a small part of the paleo diet anyway. In fact, paleo puddings look quite delicious! I am not a great fan of flour-based puddings but may well make more puddings and desserts using nuts, nut flours and fruit.

Meat is the key part which has been boosted and which I am now trying to find all sorts of varied recipes to keep it interesting. When meat is not on the plate, fish is. Prior to becoming paleo-focussed, fish was the main ingredient and focus on the plate in most of my meals.

This will continue - white fish, wild salmon and smoked fish; also oily fish, like sardines, mackerel and herring are great favourites of mine, fresh, canned or smoked. Other seafood, prawns, mussels, cockles, winkles, whelks, scallop, octopus, squid and so forth feature regularly and often as small portions in starters - these stay and will become more regular.

Pickled fish, especially Scandinavian herring is also a regular feature in my weekly diet, often with eggs. The eggs I like are from any number of local farms, assuming they have any left by the time I get there; the hens I see pecking away at the countryside on my evening walks. When I'm too late, I like to buy from a company called 'Happy Eggs' who raise their chickens outside, encourage them to roam, play, scratch, peck and generally be natural giving us the most gorgeous yolked eggs. We eat a lot of these!

Meat will be beefed up! More red meat, beef, lamb and venison, principally, but mixing in meats which are more exotic to me here up in northern England, so bison, elk, moose, bock, and even ostrich when possible. White meat from outdoor reared, natural chicken is a feature in my diet and consumed in perhaps a couple of meals a week. Pork, occasional other than bacon, which is regular ... and when it is on the plate, it's usually slow-cooked belly pork.

Green, leafy Vegetables already feature as a second key ingredient in my food and will be beefed up in proportion to the meal filling in for the root vegetables which I love, but will be dropped in proportion ... or altogether. Finding large quantities and finding new ways of cooking the many varieties of cabbage and kale is going to be a lot of fun. Salted butters or a pinch of sea salt really bring out the great flavours in these vegetables.

Finally, fats. I've always used butter, lard and fat collected by rendering from bacon and sausages. The only oils I use are cold-pressed and extra virgin - olive oil 'Il Casolare' and rapeseed oil from 'Yorkshire Original'. Don't get hot under the collar about my use of rapeseed - it's not like the really evil stuff. I use oils as garnish and intake is small - both oils are high in MUFA, so the lesser of the evil fats. It's probably another grey area, like dairy. Either way, oils are less stable than animal fats when it comes to cooking and so they will be reserved for use cold, as garnishes.

My food could now be called paleo-focussed, rather than paleo-pure. It is transitional.

Already, I feel energised, able to work, able to engage in activity afterwards and not left feeling full or lethargic, certainly not waking up feeling full. I can get from meal to meal without having to graze on snacks and look forward to my next meal, allowing the prior hunger to focus me into creating a really good looking and nutritional meal - that is the fun of cooking for me. There are so many paleo recipe books out there, I don't think I will have a problem finding inspiration - the key thing for me is that the food tastes great and as important, looks great on the plate.

The first bite is with the eyes!

Welsh Laver Bread with bacon, eggs, mushrooms and broccoli

Walk like a Monkey, Eat like a Caveman!

2011-06-04T08:01:00.000+01:00

So, you've bought your monkey feet ... now what? Well, get out there and have some fun. Walk, run, climb ... most important, have fun!

But what about energy? What about food? Having regressed our footwear, it's time to regress our diet - time to get primal.

As it happens, I am already a caveman; a modern caveman.

Image CC: Stefan Kloo

My diet is fresh, local and almost entirely without processed food or refined sugars. I have always favoured animal fats over oils, always eaten butter, always bought the fattier cuts of meat - fat is where the flavour is; it's also where the energy is. I do eat beans, though ... I do eat cereal products, like bread, pasta, cous cous and pastry in pasties and puddings.

Should I be cutting these out?

Let me link to one of the best introductions to paleo that I have read: http://www.fitbomb.com/p/why-i-eat-paleo.html ... please take the time to read it and to read it through. You may not agree with all of it - I don't, but do consider what is being written and mull over some of the finer points, particularly where your energy comes from. Similar, there is the Primal Blueprint.

There are a number of contributors to primal and paleo approaches to diet and lifestyle and while similar, so far as I can glean the key difference is that the paleo approach errs on the side of lower fat and a rejection of dairy, while primal permits dairy as long as it is tolerated and higher fat is perfectly acceptable.

Furthermore, if drawn as a pyramid, the paleo approach focusses on meat, fish and eggs as the foundation of the diet with vegetables and foraged foods like berries less, but significant; whereas the primal approach has vegetables and fruit as the foundation with meat and fish as the less, but significant part of the diet.

As with all diets, they are diets - they can be taken verbatim and adhered to without question, or you can be inspired by them.

My key points are: balance, fresh, local and pure.

Life in moderation is better than following a diet. Some diets are fine for people who lead sedentary lives, lower in fat and so on ... but they do not question the lifestyle; they are an answer to a bad lifestyle and not the answer to good health. Becoming more active is always better than reducing carbohydrate and calorie intake.

These approaches stipulate a reliance upon animal fats as the primary source of energy, meat as the primary source of protein, increasing fish and shellfish in the diet, cutting out dairy, beans, cereals and refined sugars.

Okay ... but I like milk! I like bread! I like beans! I am happy carrying on with them, but in moderation and in scale with the main concepts of the diet. I don't like refined sugars, rarely drink "soda" ... but I do like a little sweetening every so often if the dish warrants it. For this, I use honey.

The diet should be the guidelines, not a set of Holy commandments!

Here's a really fun take and one which I am very much in agreement with: http://www.gnolls.org/1141/eat-like-a-predator-not-like-prey-paleo-in-six-easy-steps-a-motivational-guide

Eat like a predator!

I like how the author takes the guidelines and accepts that cheating is allowed. I also fully agree with the author's stance on activity and exercise - in fact the primary motivating factor behind me NOT taking up jogging is: "... not shuffling down the road in running shoes, with that vacant look of resigned suffering usually seen on wildebeest being eaten alive by hyenas!"; actually, I have overtaken such joggers while out walking! In my monkey feet!

Play! I have often called my usual walking ground my "playground" - it is a green valley littered with farms, tracks and all manner of interesting derelict and disused farmsteads, hamlets, quarries and countryside opulence. I can walk, I can run, I can sprint, I can climb. The valley floor is some 600 feet lower than any entrance you might make into it, so getting back out is always a climb. I get off trail, I get soaked, caked in mud ... but most importantly, I have a huge amount of fun.

Slightly off-topic, but you can see how your diet and your activity are linked - they must be.

What is fundamental to 'Eat Like a Predator' is ... what are you? Are you a predator or are you prey? If you are not especially active, leading a sedentary lifestyle then these approaches are NOT going to be right - you will get fat. Bring activity into the equation and your diet must match it. I like also, that it is called activity ... not exercise.

In exactly the same way as the goal of minimalist footwear is about getting your body to be able to run naturally, with bio-mechanical purity, primal and paleo approaches are about allowing your body to function naturally, energising itself with nutritional purity. And, just as minimalist footwear is about protecting your bare foot as minimally as it can, from modern dangers and modern landscapes, these approaches can be compromised at times with intake that is from the modern world - daily, cereals, beans and refined sugars ... but in moderation and in scale with the main principles of the diet.

The great thing for me is ... I'm already most of the way there, unwittingly already following most of the guidelines and enjoying the balance of fresh, local and pure food.

First steps? They're all there in 'Eat Like a Predator' and the single-most useful hint within that article I believe is, "don't drink your food". Drink water - clean, pure or mineralised water. Beyond that, eat what you need, don't overeat and don't snack.

Finally, from my perspective ... enjoy what you eat.

Get Primal! Go Paleo!

Here's some inspiration from my galleries:
http://picasaweb.google.com/pjgh93/Cuisine

Protected/Barefoot ... the Science

2011-05-25T06:30:00.000+01:00

I am not a scientific man.

I took up walking as a means of getting in control of my increasing weight and declining fitness and set out with three goals:

To gain fitness and stamina
To lose weight
To have fun doing it

Very rapidly I found myself naturally inclined towards low/zero differential footwear and then towards minimalist footwear - huaraches and Vibram Five Fingers, this last category I call protected barefoot.

I do not have the engineering or bio-mechanical credentials myself to show how minimalist, protected barefoot and barefoot walking is good, but I do know it feels good ... I am not tired after a good walk, recovery is very rapid, I am not in any kind of pain ... in fact, quite the contrary; minimalist, protected barefoot and barefoot walking removes the pain I get from wearing shoes through the day. It liberates the foot and allows it to function as it should.

Let's take a moment to consider a quotation from a man who was both an artist and a visionary engineer:

“The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.” Leonardo da Vinci

Walking and running are two entirely different bio-mechanical exercises - you will find a lot of articles about barefoot running, but little written about walking. Running can have both feet off the ground at the same time whereas walking has one foot on the ground at all times. Technique is therefore entirely different and while barefoot adherents will advocate mid-sole landing, they are speaking about the running cycle.

When walking, the heel might well meet the ground first, but let's take a moment to understand that phrase - "meet the ground". The heel should not "strike" the ground, as it might if you were running in cushioned trainers and a long stride, but be touched to the ground and then as your body moves over the foot, the action will roll around the outside of the foot, onto the ball and finally gently push off from the larger toes. By this point, the next foot is in place and ready to do the same ... and this is only possible when the stride is shorter; just as it would be when running and landing on the mid-sole. The landing force should be gentle, movement should be soft and the pace almost silent.

Focussing on quieter walking will help a lot, as will focussing on the rolling action of the foot. If there is too much pressure on the larger toes at the end of the action, the next foot is not in place ... shorten the stride. If the pace is noisy ... slow down, shorten the stride and focus on relaxing the leg and placing the foot naturally and without much force. The action is not at all dissimilar to how you walk in shoes or trainers - just shorter, softer and completing the whole action.

I found the following articles and resources to be most useful in explaining the bio-mechanics behind barefoot walking:

You Walk Wrong!
http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/index4.html

Some Abstracts and Studies About Moving Barefoot
http://www.feelmax.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=243&Itemid=138

Prioperception: Making Sense of Barefoot
http://trainingclinic.vivobarefoot.com/step-by-step
http://trainingclinic.vivobarefoot.com/Proprioception-MakingSenseofBarefootRunning.pdf

Finally, Society for Barefoot Living
http://barefooters.org

There is a joy in being barefoot - to feel the landscape you are a part of rather than just walking over it, the comfort of good posture and the sparking in the brain as you stimulate your senses.

Okay ... barefoot is not for everybody. I guess I am lucky in that I have never been particularly inclined towards sports and so have avoided sports footwear, wearing mostly low/zero differential fashion trainers and low heeled shoes with thin soles. Moreover, I am barefoot when at home and in the garden and spend maybe half of my waking hours barefoot.

Let's finish with another quotation from our visionary engineer; an enticement to have a go:

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” Leonardo da Vinci

... from Sofa to Barefoot

2011-05-23T02:00:00.000+01:00

Like many guys my age fast approaching 40, I have enjoyed my 30s ... probably too much; the best food, the best drink ... and lots of it. Once svelt, now blurred ... very blurred!

I finished my smoking days at 30 and so have decided to get on top of my weight and fitness for my 40th. The catalyst was a short break to North Wales where I mused that if I lived down there I'd walk up my nearest mountain once a day ... laughter from my wife.

It occurred to me that we actually live at the top of a mountain, so to speak, and all around the elevation drops impressively; not to mention the moorland and woodland right there ... THERE ... on my doorstep.

No point procrastinating ... just get on with it.

I set out with three goals - a holy trinity, if you like:

To gain fitness and stamina
To lose weight
To have fun doing it

I decided that I would begin by walking and maybe in a few months I might have the stamina and fitness to be able to run sections of a regular walk. I began with a short walk of just over half a mile over farmland on public right of way and bridleway - the route took in a serious drop of around 400 feet and a similar ascent although more gradual. I was shattered! My calves hurt, my shins hurt, I was out of breath ... but felt invigorated! I had crossed the first hurdle. Okay ... more of that ... several more days of that short route and maybe then start to think about a longer route.

Footwear? I wore some safety boots. Don't laugh! I didn't have any dedicated walking footwear and was not putting this off until I had some ... so I used what I thought was the most suitable. It has been a couple of decades since I last properly exercised and the last time I even thought about what the right footwear might be was probably back in school. I'm walking ... I need boots. By the second and third day the pain was too much and I'd found another route I liked which was more on the road with a good return up a track. I switched to some trainers.

As it happens, these trainers had a very flat sole and I found myself walking slightly differently with shorter steps ... it hurt less to do this ... and, I thought, I'd get more exercise with shorter steps. Able to push a mile now without pain it was clear that I needed to do some research and find suitable footwear for the routes I'd found - some road, mostly track and some moorland.

Gosh! Things have moved on since I last bought trainers or boots!

Whether right or wrong, I was immediately attracted to the whole minimalist thing.

I love the offbeat style of footwear and I love the ethic; more so, I found out about huaraches which appealed very much to my DIY attitude from my punk days. Steven Sashen's website at http://www.invisibleshoe.com and Ted McDonald's (Barefoot Ted, or BFT) at http://www.lunasandals.com inspired me. Before showing you my first steps into protected barefoot walking I should show you the minimalist shoes I actually owned and began to walk in ... with great ease and to great effect.

Reebok Travel Trainers

So, to huaraches ... I was intrigued ... surely you could feel the laces ... surely they felt odd. Without hesitation I cut up a car mat as a proof of concept:

Gallery: http://www.pjgh.co.uk/gallery/huaraches_poc

The laces did not catch, did not rub or dig in ... in fact, they felt quite good. Both Steven and Ted use Vibram soling and the Cherry sole at 4mm or 6mm was prescribed as "known good" and "the right one" ... but, I could not find this soling anywhere in the UK. Importing from the US was largely as expensive as the material itself and so I looked for alternatives and a brief experiment with gasket rubber pushed me towards biting the bullet and importing a sheet of this Vibram soling.

More on that in a minute ... first, my own huaraches cut from 6mm natural rubber:

Gallery: http://www.pjgh.co.uk/gallery/rubber_6mm

Huaraches work so well! I am able to walk and even run down steep hills which have my toes jammed against the front of boots and I'm able to walk up those same hills. Mechanically, they work ... and it feels fantastic! Utterly liberating ... and curiously, not at all tiring.

I'm not saying the protected barefoot thing is for everyone - it might take some training, but I am lucky. Lucky? I am not a runner. I do not own running shoes. I do not own walking boots. I am barefoot around the house and garden almost all the time and wear flat, thin soles shoes for work. Fashion footwear is often flat or low soled, also. Taking on protected barefoot was easy for me and after the natural revelation that adjusting my walking style meant the pain went away I later found out that bio-mechanically that is what I should be looking to move towards.

Joy! My Vibram Cherry soling arrived from Steven at Invisible Shoe. Having made a proof of concept and made my first pair I was happy with the drill and more aware of cutting a more suitable shape, not to mention understanding that the recommended hole punch was the best tool for pushing the holes through - I am just waiting on the punch:

Gallery: http://www.pjgh.co.uk/gallery/invisible_shoe

Gallery: http://www.pjgh.co.uk/gallery/invisible_shoe

I live in the North of England - high up. It is often colder, windier and wetter than most and so huaraches are reserved for fairer weather until I am more confident in them for muddy, windy and rainy walks. Sticking with Vibram I have a pair of Treksport which are now my daily walking shoes:

Gallery: http://www.pjgh.co.uk/gallery/vibram_treksport

It takes only a couple of minutes to acclimatise to spread toes and when out walking you fast forget that you are wearing them. Another few minutes and you get a jolt when you realise that you are walking over terrain which your brain tells you that you need boots or heavier shoes ... and you can feel the earth beneath you ... connected! The sensation is utterly liberating.

Within a month I am now walking 2 to 3 miles a day during the week and 3 to 5 miles each day of the weekend ... and running sections of my routes!

So, "Sofa to Barefoot"? Yes, I lifted the title in respect to David Csonka, author of 'Couch to Barefoot' and blogger at Naturally Engineered.

You can read all about it at ... and download a PDF at:
http://naturallyengineered.com/blog/couch-to-barefoot/
http://naturallyengineered.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CouchToBarefoot.pdf

David tells us all about why barefoot and protected barefoot running is good.

I love it! It feels comfortable, it feels right, it feels natural and ... I'm gaining in fitness and stamina, losing weight and ... having a lot of fun!