Holiday Food

Cookies

The holidays are upon us. If we aren’t careful they will be on top of us, in front of us, and adding to our girth. Instead plan on developing and following a healthy diet for 2012.

The Bacon meme has embedded itself in the Internet over the past few years. So instead of just bacon with your eggs (or turkey bacon if you want to pretend to be healthier) and bacon meatloaf, you can find veggie bacon or “fakon” if you look. But that doesn’t make for good fodder for the Internet.

So, we’ve found Chocoloate, Peanutbutter, Bacon cookies. Now, of course we don’t recommend this as a staple in your diet. But, it does make for a colorful looking cookie. I’m not sure exactly what flavor would dominate.

You’ll have to go far beyond the bacon meme to mix your exercise program with a healthy diet. You may start with the cake vs. pie question and make sure during the holiday season you go with one or the other and not both. And that it is a small portion at that!

The Source of Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Bacon Cookies

You may love Apple computers and their devices including the iPod, iPad, and iPhone. Or you may like Windows computers or perhaps Linux boxes. Whatever you like about your computer, whatever it may be, it was Steve Jobs and

Apple - The Rainbow

Steve Wozniak’s abilities, vision, and salesmanship that has put one in your home.

Without Wozniak the engineer, and Jobs the guy with the vision, your computer would weigh half a ton and probably only be at your office. Back in the Homebrew Computer years the vision of a home computer was something that could display lights which if you could decode the binary message you would know the answer to 2 + 2. Bill Gates during those Homebrew years came up with the bright idea of selling and owning software starting with Basic. Not long after – it was licensing rather than owning software.

But Jobs had an idea that a computer could be more, and could be in many houses, not only in the homes of those who read Popular Electronics. IBM jumped on the bandwagon, but did not consider their PC market particularly important for several years. The hype in those early days made it difficult to determine what was going to be the best machine for business purposes. In those early years it was clear that IBM and DOS was more suitable for business rather than the Apple II. But still, it was Jobs that forced IBM’s hand to even making those smaller machines. Gates was clever enough to license both a DOS (disk operating system) and a Basic interpreter to

Altair with Cool Lights

more than one computer manufacturer. He escaped an exclusive arrangement with IBM and every other hardware manufacturer that he dealt with.

In 1979 Jobs visited Xerox PARC and liked what he saw. He came away with the idea of creating a graphic user interface, a mouse for data input, fonts, an improved menu system, and an overall friendlier computer system.
Out of this came the overpriced and failed Lisa and the game changing Macintosh. With the advent of the graphic user interface, Gates saw that DOS had a finite life and worked on Windows. The first widely distributed Windows Beta showed it’s gaming strengths which led from Reversi to Solitaire. And later to Doom, Quake and Warcraft. OS X is still not a gaming platform, although a speedy iMac can run a number of game programs quite well.

Not long after the development of the Mac, the dapper soda pop expert, hired by Jobs as CEO, boasted he did not have a computer on his desk. He proceeded to force Steve Jobs out of his company. Steve Jobs then founded NEXT and purchased PIXAR which no one had a clue would ever amount to anything.

Macintosh

As Apple appeared headed to certain failure, Jobs returned as CEO and the operating system of NEXT grew into OS X. With innovations in portable devices in addition to a solid, crash “lite” operating system, Apple met with considerable success. Jobs always asked the near impossible of his engineers and designers. Smaller and smaller, thinner and thinner all things became. The Titanium Macbook Pro was the first Apple computer I used. Being less than 1 inch thick, with the first DVD drive, and OS X, which is an attractive shell over what is mostly BSD UNIX attracted me (after finding that I liked Linux as an alternative to dealing with the faults, flaws, and security weaknesses of Windows.) Using Intel processors brought Apple a long way and the ability to run Windows on the same machine was welcomed by many. Personally, I’ve decided I like my windows on it’s own machine.

The iPod changed the way we listen to music. In many ways the convenience is for the better. But in deference to the music geeks, I’ll admit that we find ourselves in a “low-fi” world. With the loss of the ability to hear all of the high tones, it matters less to me right now. After giving in to reason, allowing video on the small device was a big plus. The iPhone was a bold step and did work quite well the first day right out of the box. A fine interface, an attractive device, an interesting combination of apps that worked well was a different model than other companies had used. Yes, it was certainly and still is a relatively restrictive environment, closed, not user friendly to jailbreak and less friendly after being jail broken. But the trade off has been a reliable and fun to use device. The iPad is a good size for many older people and has caught on well as a tablet. It has caught on so well, that others, such as H-P have even given up trying to compete.

Starting with putting a friendlier face on computing and the concept of computers for everyone, Jobs thought different. Interface and design intersected in ways not before conceived of in the computing world. Computers, email, face-to-face communication via your cell phone or computer, ease of access to information, research, music, and software have changed the landscape of the world. Jobs played a role in this, as did many others. But I give Steve Jobs much credit for the role he played.

Since Jobs developed  pancreatic cancer, which is often deadly within a year or so, and later had a liver transplant, his health has been shaky. Somehow he has still managed to bring enthusiasm and new products regularly to Apple. A biography of Jobs written by Walter Isaacson was originally scheduled to be published in March, 2012 and was to be called iSteve: The Book of Jobs. Publication has been moved up to November, 2011 and the title is now the more serious “Steve Jobs: A Biography”. I didn’t take that as a good sign.

I’m not sure what Apple will be like after Jobs. I’m sure it will be a solid company and will continue to be competitive. But, it will miss the driving vision and uncompromising principles of Jobs. The engineers will be able to relax a bit, but I’m sure the next 15 years will be much different than they would be in the absence of a healthy, strong, and visionary Steve Jobs at the helm. I send thanks and wish Steve Jobs well and as pleasant a transition as possible.

Apple’s eyePhone or is it a spyPhone?

The big high tech scare story this week is that Apple is recording location data on it’s iPhone and iPad customers. The bigger scare story is that people are writing about high tech issues without having a clue about what they are writing. It is shocking that supposed specialists in high tech and publications that cover this field did not have a grasp on what a smart phone is and does. If one ever has used iPhone you can not miss the fact that every time you use an application enhanced for location services, a pop up dialog asks if you want to turn on or use location services for each and every application. The iPhone has an overall setting for location services to be off or on. One click and you can turn them all off or you can turn them on and then change them each individually.

Location Services Toggle Setting

This setting is easy to see, easy to find, and easy to set or change. Apple has clearly stated that if you turn the settings on, data will be recorded and used solely for the purpose of making the location services and relevant application use the data. Twitter, Facebook, Google Earth, Foursquare, and Yelp all like to use location to give you the information you need (and perhaps for other reasons) and this is one reason you have a smart phone. You may use location services to find the nearest Starbucks, pizza place or Sushi bar. You don’t need to broadcast your information to each application. Turn off the ones you don’t want to receive the data. Turn them all off if you don’t want any data recording and you don’t want to use location services. You control the data recording.

Of course if you are a serial killer or cheating on your partner you may not want your location services on. But it is likely there is a lot of other evidence that will have you found out sooner or later. If you think having your location stored on your phone is bad, just consider everything else on your smart phone. Contacts, your “A List” friends, recent emails, financial information, passwords, and embarrassing photos are often stored and all are likely to be much more of a problem if found. Take care that you know where your phone is at all times. Don’t lose it. And encrypt sensitive data.

Apple provides a program to locate your missing iPhone or iPad and have it make a sound, send a text or wipe out all of the data on the device from the comfort of home and your laptop (or other device). This is helpful and not malevolent. Use technology that you trust and understand. Write about things you know. Question the things you

Top Level Setting

don’t and ask someone else to write about them. David Pogue and Walter Mossberg are both thorough journalists who usually are right on target. Neither one swallowed this wrong and wrong headed story.

Two congressmen requested information from Apple and Steve Jobs in July of 2010. The reply from Apple revealed who location services worked, what was collected, and how to turn it off. Apple letter on Location Services and Privacy – PDF.

Note: Our last blog entry was about a smart phone that was smart enough to check your blood pressure. I’m looking for one that detects when a writer is blowing smoke at you.

Two oldie video selections follow: “Eyes Of The World” Grateful Dead and “1984″ David Bowie.

Eyes of the World

David Bowie – 1984

Micro NMR (Sci Trans Med)

Miniaturization of technology continues to bring new innovations in science and technology. The very latest innovation which you probably have not seen yet is a miniature NMR. On a larger scale this is the old familiar MRI machine. The micro-NMR is coupled to a Smart Phone and used to analyze cell surface proteins. A study published this week in Science Translational Medicine showed that this micro-NMR (μNMR) device run by a smart phone could be used to analyze a series of proteins/markers (pCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule), MUC-1 (mucin 1, cell surface associated), HER2, EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), B7-H3, CK18, Ki-67, p53, and vimentin]) showed a 10% to 20% improved diagnostic accuracy over traditional cell staining and other traditional techniques.

The current study analyzed needle aspiration biopsies. The study was limited to intra-abdominal cancers. The researchers found that 4 markers: MUC-1, HER2, EGFR, and EpCAM provided high diagnostic accuracy. These 4 markers used in conjunction gave the  correct diagnoses in 48 of the 50 initial patients examined and in 20 of 20 in the next round. For biology, science and technology geeks this was a fascinating article. I’ll link below to the Editor’s summary.

As we wonder what our Smart Phones can do besides play music surf the web, and track our running mileage, we see that forward thinkers are finding new ways to use the smart phone along with creative and new ways to use current technology. And yes, genomics and proteomics have a future.

Reference:
Sci Transl Med 23 February 2011: Vol. 3, Issue 71, p. 71ra16 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3002048. Micro-NMR for Rapid Molecular Analysis of Human Tumor Samples. Haun J. et. al.

“The Case Against Lance Armstrong” is the title of an article in the January 24, 2011 issue of Sports Illustrated. The case that is made within this article is based on in large part on what a few people with gripes against Lance have said. The other “hard” evidence is based on several tests detailing a very high Testosterone:Epitestosterone ratio. Before 2005 the tests normal was considered up to 6:1 and was then lowered to 4:1. Several tests over the years, which may have been Lance’s were considerably higher than this.

According to SI “Three results stand out: a 9.0-to-1 ratio from a sample collected on June 23, 1993; a 7.6-to-1 from July 7, 1994; and a 6.5-to-1 from June 4, 1996.”

Each time the ratio was found to be high, the “B” Sample was tested and found to not confirm the preliminary test. The second test is usually a carbon isotope test that is more specific to studying the makeup of the individual’s testosterone.

While the article goes on to say that one high number (of the T:E ratio) should be a once in a blue moon occurrence, there are significant genetic factors that can come into play.  A 2008 article published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism titled “Doping Test Results Dependent on Genotype of UGT2B17, the Major Enzyme for Testosterone Glucuronidation” showed that if an individual had two alleles for the UGT2B17 gene, there was a large chance that they would not test positive for cheating even after having taken a large dose of synthetic testosterone. The estimates were that 40% of individuals could pass the ratio examination just by virtue of having two copies of this gene. On the other hand with mixed alleles (ins/del) or in the absence of  this allele there was a fair chance that the ratio would always be abnormal. Estimates were that in a normal population, up to 9-14% of people would have a false positive result and fail the test.

It seems that if you have the del/del or ins/del variations of alleles, you are going to pretty consistently fail the test. The authors suggest that this gene should be tested and the results modified based upon the genotype of the individual.

Understanding the purpose of the Testosterone:Epitestosterone ratio testing and doing at least a brief look at  factors that might affect this test, not just once but repeatedly are important when an article such as the SI one is written. This specific gene and its implication on testing is widely known and has been covered in a variety of journal articles. The Canadian Medical Journal detailed, in an editorial titled “Doping, Sport, and the Community“, the difficulties in testing for Growth Hormone abuse and Testosterone. The editorial also mentioned research I came across elsewhere which indicated that many Asians (up to 40%) had the version of this gene that would give a false negative.

So, let’s get all the evidence out. And let’s make sure the public sees all the scientific information on the validity and the problems that exist with this particular test. For another perspective on heroes in American culture, you can seek out one of George Carlin’s last specials in which he expresses his opinion on hero worship and in particular on Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, and Dr. Phil.

The next test is to determine if the song “Bike” by Pink Floyd was written in a drug free state. In case you can’t make them out the lyrics begin:

I’ve got a bike
You can ride it if you like
It’s got a basket
A bell that rings
And things to make it look good
I’d give it to you if I could
But I borrowed it

Available video of Pink Floyd’s Bike (blocked currently at Youtube)

and if Pink Floyd is just not your cup of tea. Here is Queen performing their song “Bicycle Race”

The Diane Rehm Show will host Christopher McDougall (author of Born To Run), Amby Burfoot (winner of Boston Marathon, 1968, Editor at large: Runners World) and myself on Monday. The topic will be “Running In America. We should cover a lot of ground. Both Amby and Christopher are knowledgeable and entertaining. It should be an interesting show. The discussion will be on NPR starting at 11 am. If I’m early, according to the schedule, it appears I could stop in for a spot of tea.

You can tweet your questions to the show on twitter or ask via the show’s Facebook page. More information on calling and email is available at the show’s website.

The Diane Rehm Show is  archived online and is available as a podcast through iTunes or as an rss feed.. I highly recommend Diane’s intelligent discussions and diverse subjects as food for the brain.

Best Meme: Exercise is Medicine. Trademarked and owned by the American College of Sports Medicine

Best Public Domain Meme: Exercise is good for what ails you. It’s mine and probably someone else’s too. You can have it for free as an open source code for life.

Best Runner of The Year: Usain Bolt

Best Marathon Victory of The Year: Meb Keflezighi bringing it home at the New York Marathon.

Best Running Magazine: Runner’s World. (with Runner and Marathon & Beyond close by)

Best Secret of Success: Avoid over training and the terrible too’s. Too much, too soon, too fast,  too often, with too little rest. Khalid Khannouchi, says that rest is the secret ingredient for success for the aging runner. Of course, I’d guess good genetics, and a lot of hard work helps too! This past summer Khalid received the Golden Foot Award of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine. He is also deserves to be known as one of the nicest people of the year.

Best Running Politician: And controversial in this slot would is Sarah Palin. But as a marathoner, and one who isn’t sure what papers she reads daily, she did know that George Sheehan is one of her favorite authors and philosophers. Bonus points for that put her over the top.

Best Basketball Playing Politician: Barack Obama. Now, Barack needs to publicly announce he has given up cigarettes and taken up running and he has a chance at the position above this one.

Best Book: Born To Run, by Chris McDougall. Best running read for a long time and  clearly dominated in the running world.

Best Fitness Book For Nonrunners: The Body Fat Solution, by Tom Venuto. While I’m more of a fan of cardio, and cardio out of your comfort zone more than HIIT, Tom Venuto has much advice for those trying to lose weight. Motivation, often a weak point, is well covered here.

Best Quick Workout Book I Haven’t Read Yet: Cardio Strength Training by Robert Dos Remedios. It’s new and it’s on order. I’m sometimes forced to get a workout in with only 20-40 minutes available. Coach dos Remedios has written up a bunch of short plans including some 15 minute plans. That may be a bit short, but I like to see what others are thinking of and I’m sure there are plenty of fine ideas here for those who like to mix in strength training. His text on “Power Training” is incredibly thorough.

Best Humor Running Book: The Runner’s Rule Book by Mark Remy

Best Out of Print Running Book: Running and Being by George Sheehan

Best Vacation Spot: Hawaii. Clearly the choice on both the right, left, and center. Pick an island, any island. You can’t go wrong.

Best Publisher: Rodale Press. Rodale publishes Runner’s World, Runner Magazine, and tons of books on fitness and health topics.

Best Game To Quit: World of Warcraft. How many games could keep so many people playing for so many hours? 5 year anniversary just passed, time for a change and the rest of life. Besides, sitting still for 5 hours in front of a TV screen or computer monitor has serious adverse health effects.

Best Revealed Wisdom: Hip strength and core strength is important. Abductors help ITB syndrome and gluteal muscles can help Patellar tendinitis (tendinopathy) and resistant patellofemoral pain sydnrome.

Best New Thought On Exercise: Exercise isn’t only good for what ails you, but sustained movement may have driven evolution of the hominid brain.

Best Sports Medicine Publication: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Official publication of the ACSM

Best Science Magazine: Science Magazine. (Nature is right up there too.)

Best Must Read Running Humor Blog: Mark Remy’s Daily Views Mark occasionally takes some hits on his blog, but he is consistently funny and occasionally controversial. And this summer, he pointed out a new member of the running community: Eminem, seen on the Jonathan Ross show. Jonathan is occasionally involved in controversies himself.

Best Running Blogs: Runner’s World Blogs. There are others, but overall the blogs at runner’s world are a great assortment and worth reading. Read them all and pick your own favorites, if you haven’t already. There is something for everyone. If you’ve missed Amby Bufoot’s two blogs, put them on your list: Foot Loose and Peak Performance. General fitness blogs: Leigh Peele’s Diet, Fitness, Life is also worth a look. Leigh tells the truth about diet, fitness, and trends at her new and likely permanent domain.

Best Music Video of The Year: Ima let you finish, but Beyoncé’s “Put A Ring On It” is it. This, it should be noted, was also selected by that exemplar of fine taste, Kanye West.

Best New Music Act: Florence and the Machine.

Best Commitment: Work on fitness and health. Made by many, kept by many, and in line to be the best commitment for next year too!

Best Thing Avoided: The Tiger Woods/ Mark Sanford life style. Thanks to those who helped with this one. More reasons why working out, running, and staying home is better than golf and politics.

Best Connector: The Internet. Intertubes, interwebs and all!

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope your year gets off on the right foot! Make your plans and commitments and get off to a good start!

The New York Times has a short portrait of Dr. Eric Heiden. Dr. Heiden was the first athlete to win 5 gold medals in an Olympics. Eric is a fine sports orthopedist and he is still an inspiration to athletes and skaters around the world. He trained under Dr. James Andrews, another excellent sports medicine doc. Dr. Heiden’s patients have said he is straight forward, honest, and humble. The Times didn’t paint him entirely that way, but the story is still an interesting read. His performance in 1980 was riveting. Even if you had no interest in skating, you’d turn it on to watch him in those Olympics. And yes, 1980 was also the year of the miracle U.S. hockey team. (And 1980 was also the year of an unfortunate summer Olympics boycott in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.)

Way back then technology was so bad you’d actually have to watch the Olympics live instead of taped, cut, and canned the way we can now. But, wouldn’t it be nice to have an option to see the next Olympics live? The upcoming Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver, Canada this February. Vancouver is a fine venue with beautiful surroundings and friendly people. I was lucky enough to attend two meetings there. My last visit to Vancover was a few years ago as a participant with the Joint Commission on Sports Medicine and Sports Science. I’d be happy to visit Vancouver again. But, I’ll be watching the Olympics next year by satellite.

Sense and Sensibility

Note: There are several comments, but the interface on word press blogs will only show them if you click on the title and view only this blog entry.

The media seems to have decided that barefoot running is the trend that can’t be stopped, and should perhaps be encouraged. “Throw away your shoes” seems to be the dominant theme, if not the only thing we hear. And no one wants to stand against the tide and seek balance.  I’ve run barefoot on the beach for miles, and enjoyed it. And I’ve done that for years starting in middle school. During high school, I enjoyed barefoot running along the beach during the run up to soccer season. And, even at that time professional football teams were said to do the same. But the current persistent hyping of barefoot is as balanced as are the discussions on health care reform. Some years back, HMOs were touted as the solution to all of our health care needs. But, they aren’t singing that tune any more.

Now we are told that we evolved to run barefoot. Shoes are tiny coffins for feet and have stopped evolution. Tiny coffins that stopped evolution? Really? Evolved to run barefoot? Well, yes we did evolve to run barefoot. But we’ve had 30,000 years to develop body coverings and improved aids to motion, comfort and speed. We’ve made shoes – one shoe fits either foot, domesticated horses (and even tamed elephants) to catch  a ride, added lifts to our sandals to move faster in battle (Caesar), made steam and coal powered engines for trains, boats, sailboats, steam boats, shoes – designed for right or left foot, made cars, bicycles, airplanes and rocket ships that have carried us to the moon.

We’ve gone from eating nuts and greens to meat and back to nuts and greens. We’ve made other aids like glasses, robot flown drones, satellites to explore the rest of the solar system. But wait, did we evolve for this? Or is it wrong? Should we be barefoot and living in trees or in caves? Could we run faster without shoes?

It is said that shoes don’t help prevent injuries. But does running barefoot? Does wearing “unbalanced” shoes help? Do those shoes help you burn more calories? One person’s opinion quoted in the NY Times was that they did, they made her legs sore, so they must burn more calories. To me, that just shows that she overdid it and was a victim of the “terrible too’s” – too far, too fast, too soon, (too often and too little rest).

Could we run faster without shoes? Since 1960, only at the Mexico City Olympics,  has the Olympic marathon been won as slowly as Abebe Bikila ran it while winning in Rome in what was a world record time in 1960 (2:15:16, an impressive time). In 1964, Bikila wore (Puma running) shoes in Tokyo, ran faster, and set another world record. He took 3 minutes off of his previous world record, running 2:12:11. The current world record of 2:03:59 is held by Haile Gebrselassie, who does wear shoes while racing. Of course the shoes the elite runners wear during races are usually racing flats. During training, there will be some variety, and some elite runners incorporate barefoot drills into their regimen.

Running barefoot should strengthen the intrinsic muscles of the foot. Those are the muscles that start in the foot and end in the foot. It could also have a strengthening effect on muscles in the leg. And for those who do need more support, it could have these muscles working harder than they should and not feel very good. Running barefoot or with minimalist shoes helps balance and joint position sense. Over cushioned shoes are distinctly bad for joint position sense (proprioception).  So yes, running shoes can cause many problems through bad fit, bad design, mismatch of foot to shoe, and in many other ways. That has been the subject of many lectures and articles. Unfortunately, there no longer seems to be a balance in approach to shoes versus barefoot, when it should be shoes and barefoot.

Looking at 30,000 (ya) year old to 2 (mya) million year old bones will tell you where we’ve been, but won’t tell you where we are as a species now. Wired magazine had a recent article quoting a renowned anthropologist who felt that running barefoot was the way to go, and that evolution would have taken care of plantar fasciitis and runner’s knee. Unfortunately, that may be a nice hypothesis, but we are all built differently and have different needs. Some are knock kneed, some are bow legged, some legs are just right. Some people have high arches, some have low, and some are just right. Some of us have 20/15 vision and can fly jets, others could run barefoot and naked in the sun without sunscreen and never get a melanoma, but that is not wise for most of us. Some can run a marathon in 2:05, others in 3:05 or 5:05, but there are vast differences between them.

In evolution there are many expressions of genes called “phenotypes”. There is no one size fits all. Regarding melanoma, skin color and vitamin D, an excellent example of evolution is apparent. With Africa the presumed origin of the genus homo, migration from Africa led to genetic (genotype) changes in the genes that affected melanin. Putting it simply, the northerners had a mutation that led to less melanin in the skin and a lighter mutation. This allowed for better absorption of UV and production of Vitamin D in the northern climes (less light, less intense solar impact). It is another example of differences through evolution and adaptation to the environment with survival of those best suited to the environment.

While some wonder if human evolution has stopped, many believe it continues in many ways. Social relations, altruism, tribalism, and many things have deep roots, but also morph and change. There are differences between us and among us. We all aren’t prepared to comfortably run barefoot. But some of us are. Those who are and those who want to should start slowly with a few minutes and gradually build on that. Don’t look at it as necessarily a cure all for everything. It will feel great for some, and not so great for others. It may solve some problems in some, it may create problems or not solve problems in others. So, no, I am not claiming that barefoot is all good, all the time, for everyone. And I’m not claiming that barefoot is awful,  bad for everyone, something for everyone to avoid, always. (There is no simple answer, there are few informative studies. But, to quote Leigh Peele with her classic and often used statement “it depends“).

On the subject of barefoot running, my views have evolved. My first interview on this topic was with a journalist who wanted everything black and white and refused to accept the possibility that in my opinion some may have a foot better designed for barefoot running than others. There was a refusal to accept that while I didn’t think barefoot was all good, I didn’t think it was all bad. The quotes used in that article didn’t reflect a nuanced approach but were couched as a warning not to run barefoot. This was not what I felt was correct for all. Not long after that another journalist got it right. I pointed the second journalist to the same barefoot subject pictured in the first article. The runner was shown with beautiful “C” shaped, mud covered feet after completing his first marathon barefoot. She wrote about it in the Orlando Sentinel, along with suggestions on how to start barefoot running. (The Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post within the past few months had recent quotes on starting barefoot running slow and easy and a little at a time in the context of a review of “Born To Run”.)

But, as we look at the one size fits all solution, we see a trend in approaches to a variety of injuries. While many years ago, people were told to stop running, they then were told that almost all injuries came from foot problems. Now it is core weakness. No one solution fits all problems. Each problem is really solved only by a “total approach” that looks at the injury in a multi-faceted way, and looks for what changes can be made in training, equipment, muscle imbalances, stretching and strengthening. One “fix” is not enough to get it right.

Insulin is a nice medicine. We don’t all need to inject it though. L-Dopa is good for Parkinsons, but we all don’t need to take it as a supplement.  Prozac is helpful for many, running does it for others. One size doesn’t fit all, nor does one solution.

NY Times Article

Best quote:

“In 95 percent of the population or higher, running barefoot will land you in my office,” said Dr. Lewis G. Maharam, medical director for the New York Road Runners, the group that organizes the New York City Marathon. “A very small number of people are biomechanically perfect,” he said, so most need some sort of supportive or corrective footwear.”

Pithy quote:

“The shoe arguably got in the way of evolution,” said Galahad Clark, a seventh-generation shoemaker and chief executive of the shoemaker Terra Plana, based in London. “They’re like little foot coffins that stopped the foot from working the way it’s supposed to work.”

Related Posts:

Comments on Chris McDougall’s fine book at http://www.drpribut.com/blog/?p=325

Bipedal Beginnings: http://www.drpribut.com/blog/?p=331

Evolution and Exercise: What Made the Brain Get Bigger: http://www.drpribut.com/blog/?p=368

Walk This Way: Oldest Bare Footprints – 1.5+ Million Years Old: http://www.drpribut.com/blog/?p=215

For more information and to visit a community forum I recommend the Runner’s World Barefoot Runners Forum with links and discussions on all things barefoot.

Music: Barefoot by Ray Collins Hot Club

To view comments please click on the title of this entry. There are several comments, but we are currently having some interface issues. For more discussion visit the active Runner’s World Forum linked to above.

The Numbers You Can’t See

These are the hidden numbers. This is the truth from the recent Washington Post/ABC poll on opinions entitled “What Do Insured Think of Health Reform”. Three questions asked and three answered by a significant majority who clearly are positive on health care reform  in spite of all the negatives spun every hour on every station and in every newspaper. And we wonder why other polls have the papers dying, surviving only on life support.

Here are the numbers graphed from the poll.

Majority favors health care reform. Minority in panic mode.

Those are the real numbers which include those who believe their coverage, costs, and quality of care will be the same, no better, no worse, with the proposed health care reforms. A solid majority still believes that health care reform will not leave them worse off, not cost more, and will not provide worse quality of care. Every hour we hear and read more and more misleading information.

Today’s Washington Post quoted Robert J. Bendon of Harvard’s School of Public Health and Kennedy School of Government as saying “recent polls show most Americans do not anticipate any aspect of their health care improving if the president’s health-reform proposals were enacted.” This is not exactly the truth. It is as true as last weeks misleading graph shown on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. “This Week” was informed that their graph omitted significant numbers and declined to respond or correct their misinformation.

Here is an image of the misleading graph, missing those who felt that their care would remain as good as it is today. The numbers and missing numbers speak for themselves. No wonder people aren’t sure what to think. They are not being given reliable, accurate, and truthful information by those whose charge it is to do so. Anyone care to explain the constant “grin” by some of those delivering the misleading figures?

Misleading Graph, Missing Data