Tired of hearing "You are going to pick up some disease"

Bikegiant

Barefooters
Sep 17, 2011
2
0
0
#1
I hear so many people make comments about how I am going to cut my feet, pick up some kind of infection or disease or some other wild claim.

I really don't have a great response to this, other than it is better than running in shoes and my injuries have gone down significantly.

Do any of you have any thoughts on these comments? I can't be the only one who hears this.
 
#2
BG, i get comments about

BG,



i get comments about forgetting my shoes, hurting myself, how can i do that, but never diseases. i'm a big time smart arse so i know i usually come up with something on the fly and always different, no matter how many times i practice a come back. i guess if your headed in opposite directions or at opposing speeds is something like this.



"a life lived in fear is no life lived at all."



best i could do at this time. if you stand there and have a conversation then you can get medical on them. you have the largest organ on the outside of your body called skin. it has an acidic level of about five so that it doesn't get invaded by foreign organisms by killing most of them. it has hair on it to first alert you of danger and it is also quite thick to keep it from being punctured. if it is punctured it has this amazing system called blood. blood will flood to the area and send out chemical messengers to send whatever troops necessary to defend itself. by that time though you are more than likely to just wash it out first.



you are also bf so unlike someone in shoes you actually pay attention to where you're stepping. if you don't see something you will feel it. you are learning to trust in God's technology more than man's. his has stood the test of time while man's needs to be remade constantly.



practice all that. feel free to adapt it to your needs as its not copyrighted. oh, if you're in the portland area join us for a group run. i think the next planned one is the run like hell race.



Mike
 
#3
You could tell them that

You could tell them that you're hoping to pick up a parasite to protect you from autoimune syndromes like Crone's disease and asthma. It's a real upside possibility.

I did hear "Where are your shoes!?" from a little kid on his bike this morning. I grabbed my head and said "Oh my! I knew I forgot something!" His parents were hooting with laughter as they came by behind him.

It's all good! There's really no harm in any of the people who comment, no matter what they say. If it feels like it might be getting to you just pretend that you've run 5,000 miles barefoot and heard it all many times before. The best response is sometimes just a big smile and a friendly wave. It's not clever, but goes right to the heart of things.
 
#4
"2 more diseases and I win a

"2 more diseases and I win a free transfusion!"

I told a lady yesterday, "No...I had shoes on, but I'm just that fast! Someone said they saw them sitting at the starting line...smoking and melted!!"

I just try not to let people rent space in my head. You can't have a logical conversation with an alarmist anyway.

Stay naked and run free!

-Jonny
 
#6
I had an older guy ask me if

I had an older guy ask me if I had heard of Bob Marley (a raggae performer from years ago) and did I know he was a barefooter who died of foot cancer. Yes! Foot cancer! My only thought to this non-sense is that if that were the case, "foot cancer" would be a "third world" epidemic! Seriously. Can people be so stupid?
 
#7
Bob Marley died of a brain

Bob Marley died of a brain tumor that was metastatic from a melanoma under his toenail.

It was first diagnosed after he sought medical care for a soccer injury to his foot, and the docs realized that amputation of his toe was neccesary because the melanoma was that advanced at the time.

Bob refused treatment, citing rastafarian beliefs that he should not alter his body in any way.

He paid the price since when he sought treatment at Sloan Kettering for the metastatic brain tumor it was way too late.

His album "Rastaman Vibration" came out in the mid 70's, but still no reggae artist has come close to him IMHO.

One irony of his life is that he sang of the white man's persecution of Africans, yet it was his white father's genes that most likely led to his melanoma and subsequent brain tumor and death.

No, not "foot cancer", but skin cancer in his foot ultimatly causing the brain cancer that killed him.

Ganja probably had nothing to do with it except for maybe easing the pain near the end.

Then again it might have helped him convince himself that the surgical treatment for the melanoma was'nt neccesary, and that "Jah" would take care of him.

Either way, another musical genius gone way to early.
 
#8
There you go again, Board.  I

There you go again, Board. I knew you would know more about the story. That's why I keep you around. You are my walking encyclopedia. ;-) Only love here!
 
#9
TJ you could have sung this

TJ you could have sung this to the guy:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdB-8eLEW8g

One Love, One Heart

Let's get together and feel all right

Hear the children crying (One Love)

Hear the children crying (One Heart)

Sayin' give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right

Sayin' let's get together and feel all right



Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One Love)

There is one question I'd really like to ask (One Heart)

Is there a place for the hopeless sinner

Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own?

Believe me



One Love, One Heart

Let's get together and feel all right

As it was in the beginning (One Love)

So shall it be in the end (One Heart)

Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right

One more thing



Let's get together to fight this Holy Armageddon (One Love)

So when the Man comes there will be no no doom (One Song)

Have pity on those whose chances grove thinner

There ain't no hiding place from the Father of Creation



Sayin' One Love, One Heart

Let's get together and feel all right

I'm pleading to mankind (One Love)

Oh Lord (One Heart)



Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right

Let's get together and feel all right
 
#10
Nice, Board!

Nice, Board!
 
#11
I honestly believe I get

I honestly believe I get fewer infections now compared to when I was constantly wearing shoes. Unfortunately I sometime over cut my toenails and I would get infections as a result. The treatment was to disinfect and use bandaids. I just do not get these infections anymore.

I would like to know if anyone else has seen similar results with going barefoot.
 
#12
I don't think I've had but

I don't think I've had but maybe one or two colds over the last three years, definitely not the flu.
 
#13
PB, I've been noticeably

PB, I've been noticeably healthier over the last year, though I can't say if it's the sweet running or the BF aspect. I am in the midst of the most wicked episode of athelete's foot around one toe that I've ever had. I attribute that to walking around in wet work shoes for the last 10 days. We've had a LOT of rain here of late.
 
#14
I got this question on

I got this question on hygiene last week when I was presenting my gait analysis and minimalist/barefoot info to mostly international docs at a conference in Bordeaux, France. It is a tough question to answer because I don't think there is much "scientific evidence" out there on the subject. We know that in 3rd world countries you may get something like hookworm from walking barefoot, and sure the same thing can happen here if you were to step in some dog sh@t at the park, but those are the risks. Small pieces of glass will not go through your skin. You just have to be smart where you run. Perhaps the nastiest place you can go barefoot today where most have to go barefoot - airport security.
 
#15
+1 airport security. ha! if i

+1 airport security. ha! if i was drunk or a complete idiot i'd walk through it naked. i'm sure they'd still want search me though.
 
#16
Dr. G., you have to have a

Dr. G., you have to have a cut on your foot in order to get hookworm from stepping in dog poop, right? And that's only if that particular dog had hookworm, right?
 
#17
TJ, hookworm does not need a

TJ, hookworm does not need a cut. It burrows in through the soft skin in the middle of your toes.

It has a cycle, you have to stand in poop for a long time (like squatting while you poop where everyone else already did).

It's only found where communal latrines are used.

You don't get it by walking or running barefoot, but by standing (squatting) in other human's poop.

The dog poop to human cycle is a rare fluke.
 
#18
Wow!  TMI, but necessary, I

Wow! TMI, but necessary, I guess. Not all poop laying around wherever has hookworm in it, right?
 
#19
Right, it needs the cycle of

Right, it needs the cycle of human host.

Poop only has hookworm if it came from an infected host.

Ahcuah has some great stuff detailing the cycle but I can't find it right now.

Maybe he'll see this and post his material here.
 
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