Barefoot and Paleo-meet the crew!

Barefoot Heidi was introduced to you last week. It's great to have a positive person to give a good image to barefooting's many real benefits. And it's great to have a woman as positive, energetic leader.

Almost Barefoot would like to introduce the rest of the crew from Barefoot and Paleo. I, personally, am barefoot an vegan, but I am compelled to recognize that long-term planetary sustainability requires the contributions of many people who have different perspectives. 

While some differences exist between the vegan and paleo philosophy, there is a common bond evident here with Barefoot and Paleo, which makes frugality and sustainability high priorities of life. My compliments! 

So, without further adieu, I'd like to introduce the rest of Heidi;s crew at Barefoot and Paleo-three more beautiful people who care about making our world a better place!

In the background is Barefoot Heidi (left) and her husband "Semi Barefoot" James, her ardent supporter who also works with Heide in the real estate and design business, and their sons, Barefoot Tynan and Barefoot Indio. They spend a lot of time outside and enjoy a diet of natural foods.

James explains how clean, natural eating, and the natural body detox that it provides people, changed his life, and that he lost 50 pounds over the course of a year by making the change, and he described his weight loss as "effortless".

A natural diet for our planet will help it be healthier, too. But that can only happen with our doing.

Thank you to Barefoot Heidi and her family, and Happy New Year to All!

A successful woman isn't defined by her shoes!

Heidi goes barefoot for the Green Gala at the Ritz

Powerful women are frequently portrayed as women who wear high heels. But we should look beyond this.

OK. As a straight man, I really don't mind seeing a woman in heels, especially if she has chosen those shoes for herself and if she likes how she looks when wearing the and loves who she is.

I also know heels aren't "practical", but sometimes we humans need to have some impractical thing because they're fun. I like lots of things that aren't practical but which bring me enjoyment. And women still like to wear them for fun and because they like them with an outfit. More power to them!

I'm not picking on successful women who wear heels, either. But as women become increasingly successful, and more women achieve success, the definition of successful, empowered women becomes more diverse.

OK-I'll cut to the chase. A successful, empowered woman need not be defined by her shoes.
Heidi Fiscus is a business executive and design consultant who is successful and empowered in every way. She is VP of Marketing at Vireo Corp. IN Charlotte, NC Almost Barefoot has cyber adopted her as "Barefoot Heidi". And Heidi doesn't wear high heels even though she fits the definition of high-powered. In fact, she doesn't wear shoes at all. More power to her! She started going barefoot more often for health reasons and cured her own joint pain, and about five months ago, she decided to start going barefoot in public.

Heidi takes good care of her feet, keeps them clean and well-pedicured. In November, attended the Green Gala at the Ritz Carlton, complete with fancy dress-and no shoes. Well, she wore beautiful barefoot sandals-essentially ornaments that attach to your toes and ankles and provide ornate decoration for the feet while leaving the soles bare. Barefooting in public may be a bit of an oddity but in almost every case, it is not illegal.

You can read about barefooting in public at Barefoot and Paleo, the wonderful website we recently found where Heidi is one of a number of cool authors that Almost Barefoot will be introducing to you in our upcoming publications. Many of the alleged risks of barefooting in public are unsubstantiated. Rules are rules where they exist, so plan accordingly and don't start fights about it. Barefooters want to set positive examples if understanding of the benefits of barefooting anywhere is to increase.

Almost Barefoot encourages you to check out Barefoot and Paleo's many great publications, including Heidi's.

The barefoot woman is becoming a symbol of empowerment in our society today-and Almost Barefoot salutes Barefoot Heidi for helping make it happen!  It's often said that "the clothes don't make the man", and it's been said, today, that the shoes don't make the woman!

Empowered Woman and Barefooter Extraordinaire-meet Barefoot Heidi

Meet Barefoot Heidi, Barefooter Extraordinaire.....much more to come soon!

Heidi Fiscus: A successful executive, an attentive mother and a devoted wife...who does it all while always barefoot.

Almost Barefoot would like to introduce Heidi Fiscus, who will be known around here as Barefoot Heidi.

There are a lot of reasons why Heidi is our barefoot celebrity of focus now.

She’s an all-around cool person and an amazing woman. 

Almost Barefoot strongly supports the empowerment of women and likes to profile strong, female role models who are successful, powerful and positive.

Heidi is all these things and more. She’s an entrepreneur, both businesswise and socially speaking, and she’s co-organizer of an awesome group of very positive barefooters who will be introduced on the Almost Barefoot site in the coming days.

Heidii also presents a very positive, constructive view of barefooting that is shared by her cohorts who will also be introduced soon!

Blessings!

Barefoot in Britain with Tracy Mercaldo Davenport

Almost Barefoot would like to introduce Tracy Mercaldo Davenport and the Barefoot Britain blog. Tracy is the UK distributor of Sockwa brand minimalist running shoes that are said to be excellent for those times when a runner can't be completely barefoot. Barefoot Britain is a fantastic running resource and Almost Barefoot will be adding a link. Barefoot runners in Britain have a great resource here.

Tracy Mercaldo Davenport.

I'm sure some of our British readers can tell me much more about it. But for Brits who want to run sans shoes and might be new to this most-awesome way to run, do check out this most-awesome blog that helps you find events, new barefoot trends, running routes, new products and much more. For established barefooters, it is just as useful. If I'm lucky enough to take a trip across the pond, I know where to read up on the latest goings on!

Thank you, Tracy!  And blessings to all our readers in Britain, and beyond!

New Barefoot Runner Says He's a New Man

Barefoot runner Paul Beales

Paul Beales had been running with shoes for 40 years. Then he decided to try running barefoot.

"I kicked off my shoes and I ran-like kicking off 40 years!" 

Beales told the writers at Barefoot Beginner. 

When it comes to barefoot running, I'm not exactly a beginner. I was fortunate enough to start four years ago when Michael Sandler was still teaching lessons in Colorado. At that time, I was as much a newbie to barefoot running as Michael's girlfriend, Jessica Lee. Micheal Married Jessica a year later and they have since published two books-Barefoot Running and Barefoot Walking. Jessica is president of the Runbare Company, one of the original barefoot running training resources in the US. I've had the privilege of attending almost all of their local lectures.

Jessie taught us both a lot about ourselves and offered a fresh perspective on what was soon to be rapidly-growing trend. Michael was already a very well-established professional athlete. I was an ex-third-stringer who had run high school track decades before and never knew I had any ability as a runner-until I took my shoes off. She outruns us both.

Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee-Sandler

No matter how much you know, there is more to learn. Barefoot Beginner is an excellent resource for runners looking to start barefooting, and also for experienced barefooters who seek fresh perspectives. It's important to hear what newbies have to say-their fresh perspective helps widen the tunnel vision that experience can create for someone set in certain ways.

Check out Barefoot Beginner for links to coaching, events and resources as well as new posts from regular contributors. Connect on Facebook and chat with members of the group!

Barefoot in Poland

I'm still looking for good stuff to report about barefooting in Poland.

Certainly, barefoot running is well established there. This past May, a barefoot 10K was held in the famed Polish capital of Warsaw, on May 5-Interantional Barefoot Running Day, to be exact.

There were positive comments about the event, but not too much was said.

Barefoot models are plentiful and photographed in good taste, as we can see from the photo below by Alksander Kurganov although "Kurga"as the photographer calls himself, is based in Russia, so we ca't verify if this shot came from Russia or Poland. We encountered an ad by the popular shoe maker Mizuno that is aimed at a Polish audience which hits the popular points of ht barefoot running debate, such as fear of broken glass and splinters and the need to change one's stride once the running shoes come off and the runner starts to run naturally.

Mizuno makes quite a few different shoes, most of which are of the typical design, with a thick, padded heel and a sole shaped like a banana. Famous barefoot runner Michael Sandler, author of Barefoot Running and Barefoot Walking (co-authored by Jessica Lee-Sandler) says 75% of shoe buyers are unsatisfied with this typical design, regardless of the maker.

Michael Sandler with Jessica Lee-Sandler

Sandler said that shoe company marketing representatives blatantly admitted to him that they are fully aware that 75% of their customers are unsatisfied with the current design of most running shoes. Sander is rather critical of the current attempts by most shoe companies to make barefoot running shoes, but then again, Sandler is the ultimate barefooter-when he's not running his usual 100 miles a week sans shoes, he's going barefoot wherever else he is going and so is his barefoot running wife, Jessica.

Barefoot living-new stuff we found from Germany

Living barefoot means different things-for those who aren't doing it for lack of shoes, it seems most favored in Germany and in central Europe. Almost Barefoot's latest stats show visits from Poland have increase five fold. Our German readership also remains strong.

There will be more to come about living barefoot in Poland, and what barefoot living means to Poland's remarkably resilient culture that was first to flush communism out of Europe; I fondly remember that day-news of Soviet officials who called Mikhail Gorbachev and asked what they should do about Poland and it's intent to break connection with the USSR-and he told them: [do] "nothing". It was a done deal.

And I remember watching, with exuberance, as the people of Germany started tearing down the Berlin Wall with sledge hammers, and reading how East Germans ran from their cars-left running for anyone to take as the border opened. Soon after, there was no more East Germany and West Germany-one country's aweful separation had finally begun to heal.

Maybe the people of both cultures dig barefooting because they really love their freedom. I'm not sure. I just know I'm grateful to their readers for stopping by and for the contributions they are making to barefoot fitness that can help us heal the injuries that come from our cultural bad habits that constrain us despite our freedom!

But I promise, I'll step-barefoot-OFF of my soap box and get back to business!

Almost Barefoot would like to introduce a German barefooter who because a recent connection-Burkhard Reinberg, His website, Barfuss Trend is celebrating its tenth-year anniversary and it is yet another great resource for barefooters who seek to learn more, and for those runners who are still in shoes but are barefoot curious. The website is posted in German, but translates easily on most PCs.

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Barefoot running has found a permanent niche in the global running community. It is debatable whether shoes manufacturers and the rest of the established world will make barefoot running remain a niche as opposed to the preferred approach for future runners. But barefoot living, or living Almost Barefoot is more than barefoot running.

Burkhard Reinberg

Burkhard Reinberg's book, "BigFoot", which he published in 2011, emphasizes working out barefoot for health in general. I is well known that exercising barefoot increases blood circulation in the feet and helps keep the feet from getting cold-the net result is better blood flow through the legs and better circulation in the whole body.

Barefoot workouts are all about allowing the natural bio-mechanics of the body to function and that makes the body function better-properly may be a much better word here. Burkhard is active in fitness training in Germany where barefoot training, also known increasingly as "natural fitness" of all types is becoming ever more popular.

Burkhard Reinberg himself suffered from numerous foot issues that plague the western world and cause sever back issues and other, numerous injuries. He helped coin the term "natural fitness" by establishing a company by the same name in 2010. The Natural Fitness approach also pays attention to diet, self-hypnosis and more. Check out the website for lots of great information and remember to have barefoot time even as winter is setting in.

Auf Wiedersehen!  ..........und Blessings!