What are you giving up for Lent?
I’m not really a practicing Catholic, but I still try to uphold the traditions of lent. This year I am going to give up wearing shoes. There are going to be some stipulations to this. I am required to wear proper footwear at work so at least one day a week I will have to wear shoes. I also snowboard so I will be wearing my boots for that. So, that’s what I’m giving up. What are you giving up? Leave a comment!
Winter Camping
I am way over due for a new post. I have been extremely busy these last 3 weeks. Wow…It’s been almost a month since my last post.
The Paleo challenge I have set for myself has had it’s ups and downs, but for the most part it has been a very Paleo diet. I must say that I enjoy eating Paleo and living this lifestyle. That is the main thing I have learned in the last month of doing this challenge. It has also driven me to dislike winter. Not hate it, just dislike it. If I didn’t have a snowboarding pass I would be chomping at the bit for spring to come. I miss being outside barefoot all the time, wearing shorts and just enjoying nature. I still enjoy nature, but it’s not the same.
Nicky and I went camping a month ago. Not cabin camping, not tent camping, TARP camping. We took a big blue tarp that we bought at Home Depot, some cooking supplies and some wood cutting supplies and we set out. We went to Phillips Creek in Allegany County NY. It’s a nice little area designed for hiking, snowshoeing and horseback riding. We didn’t want to walk far in case something happened and we needed to get back to the truck but we wanted to be far enough in that we couldn’t see the road. We ended up walking roughly 200 yards down the trail and went about 200 feet into the woods and began to set up camp.
The first thing we did was find an area that was large enough to accommodate the TeePee we planned on building. After we found a suitable area it was time to look for some sturdy poles. We lucked out. The area we chose had plenty of down trees that were just the right size for what we needed. We used a saw to cut 5 nice poles and then lashed 3 together and set the other 2 in place. After wrapping the tarp around the poles and staking it all down we found that we had a pretty nice living space.
The original plan was to have the fire inside the teepee with us but we found that it would be a little too crowded for our safety.
We placed our fire outside and had some nice meals, relaxed and enjoyed the company of some friends who stopped by to see us.
Overall I had a very nice day being away from civilization for a while. Being away from the hustle and bustle for a while can really relax you.
With it being winter the sun set early (around 5:00) and that meant that it was time for us to go to bed. We had set down more tarps to keep us dry inside the teepee. On these tarps we placed a blanket down then we had our sleeping bags with another blanket for extra warmth. Nicky was smart and purchased a bunch of hand/body warmers. We placed these inside the sleeping bags with us to keep us warm. They really worked out well. At one point I was actually too hot in the 5*F weather. Going to bathroom in the middle of the night is hard though. Getting out of the warm sleeping bag and stepping out into the cold night is a shock to the system. But it was all right. Falling back to sleep was no problem. But staying asleep was hard for me…
Around 4:30 am I started to hear the tree branches in the forest start to creak and crack under the bitter cold. It was frightening to hear large branches slamming into the ground nearby. After about an hour of this I heard the beeping of a truck backing up. I was afraid that it was a tow truck taking away my dads pickup. I decided to wake Nicky up and head out to the truck to warm up and await the sunrise. She was reluctant to say the least but I didn’t want to wait and find that our truck was gone or find a tree branch in the teepee with us. It turns out that it was just a snowplow turning around in an intersection nearby and we waited for morning in the truck.
When it was light enough to see without the aid of flashlights we went back to tear down camp and head home. After we loaded everything into the truck we met my parents at a nearby restaurant for breakfast. We ate like champions that morning. After conquering the great outdoors for a night in the middle of winter you are a champion. But a tired champion at that. When we got back to the great city of Buffalo we passed out…hard. For about another 3 hours. It is very physically draining being out in the cold. You don’t realize how much energy you burn just staying warm.
Overall it was an amazing experience and I would love to do it again. Being outside is essential to happiness no matter what season it may be.
photo from the NYSDEC website.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this extra long post today and I hope you try this sometime. Leave a comment if you have ever gone camping in the winter, or if you haven’t, what is the craziest thing you have ever done in the winter.
Long days and Pleasant nights,
Shoeless Joe
What to expect this week
I’m sorry for not posting in a while. With winter camping all weekend and snowboarding all last night I haven’t had the time. But! I have invented a caveman cake and possibly even shake and bake so watch for those posts!
Shoeless Joe
Camping Trip
It’s winter. It’s cold. I’m going camping. Today when Nicky gets out of work we are heading down to near the PA border and doing some fun winter camping. Of course we are not camping tonight at is it already getting dark and we have a 2 hour drive. We will be staying at my Parents house tonight and departing in the morning. Please check back for an update. Hopefully we will have some video of this trip!
Safe travels,
Shoeless (who will be wearing boots for this trip) Joe
It’s My Birthday!
Today I turn 25, the last achievement age. 25 is how old you must be to rent a car. After this…the only thing you can do is gain more Experience Points. What a game life is. Well, I am going to try to be as paleo as possible today and Nicky was supposed to make some paleo deserts but didn’t get around to it. We will just have to do without. The plan for the celebration is a nice night of bowling! AND… we are planning on a camping trip this weekend. It’s going to be cold and hopefully fun. Watch for a post about it next week.
Mark it a ZERO!!!!
Thank you all!
Long Days and Pleasant Nights,
Shoeless Joe
A New Year A New Beginning
Happy New Year to everyone!
I regret to inform you that I have fallen victim to the evils of holiday traditions. Yes, I failed to go completely paleo this holiday season. It is hard to not eat what a little old Irish Grandmother tells you to eat. She is a sweet lady, I couldn’t make her upset. But! This is a new year and there are a lot of people how have committed to eating paleo for the month of January. Check out hunter-gatherer.com John Durant is going to be doing this as well.
So after falling extremely short of my 6 month goal, I will push forward again and go until July of this year. I hope to be announcing something very big in February that the Paleo Diet will help me with. But this is a secret!
So please, if you have any words of encouragement they would be very VERY helpful. This is going to be tough, but with the holidays done this should be much easier!
Long days and pleasant nights,
Shoeless Joe
Live Your Life To The Fullest
Whatever comes your way, you can get through it. Live your life as if today was your last, because it just might be.
Are You Too Clean?
I don’t understand the big deal behind the “handless” Lysol soap dispensers. It kills 99.9% of germs so what does it matter if you touch the darn soap dispenser! You’re already going to be killing germs, what will a couple more do. We should not be using anti-microbial sanitizers as often as our society does. We need to have some exposure so that we can fight it. Check out this link to learn more.
Eating Bugs
Since I am embarking on a 6 month paleo challenge I will be needing to find some new foods that will break up the monotony. Solution: BUGS! I will probably start with meal worms since they are readily available (pet stores) and easy to prepare (they won’t hop around like crickets). After defeating the meal worms I will delve into the wonderful world of crickets. I will post pictures, videos, recipes and reactions to my new food source. Watch out insect kingdom…here I come!
Long days and pleasant nights,
Shoeless Joe
Hot Apple Cider
I am pleased to give you “Hot Apple Cider” by Shoeless Joe and the Philosophical Kid. This is a live performance done at Daemen College for their Musicale.
Winter is Coming
There is no denying it anymore. Winter is right around the corner. With cold weather comes some barefoot issues. You can’t really walk around outside barefoot when there is 2 feet of snow everywhere. Don’t be afraid to wear boots this winter. You can’t be barefoot all year long when you live in Buffalo, NY. I do plan on purchasing a pair of Vibram Five Finger Flows for this upcoming winter. I know that they won’t keep my feet completely safe and warm but they should work better than the KSO’s I’ve been using this summer/fall.
This winter season expect to see posts about fighting cabin fever, more recipes and the adventures of Shoeless Joe.
Long days and pleasant nights,
SJ
FRIGGIN AWESOME PALEO CHILI
This is the recipe for some pretty good Slow Cooked Paleo Chili. Because this recipe does not include beans I add the green peppers and one of the onions in towards the end to give it a little more heartiness. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
2 lbs Grass-Fed Beef
2 Large Onions
2 Green Peppers
3 Garlic Cloves (Pressed)
2 T Chili Powder
2 T Crushed Red Pepper
1/2 t Cumin
1/2 t Garlic Powder
1 t Cayanne Pepper
2 14oz Cans of Diced Tomatos
1 Can of Tomato Paste (for a slightly thicker chili use a 14 oz can)
Steps:
1) Brown the beef and drain
2) Put everything in the slow cooker EXCEPT the 2 green peppers and the extra onion. (They get added later)
3) Cook for 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 on low
4) when you have roughly 1 hour left add the green peppers and other onion.
That’s it. It’s a simple, great tasting dinner!
Late Night MovNat
Imagine this. It’s 10:30 at night. You are barefoot walking with a friend through a forest path. Then…you come across a group of people. What a perfect opportunity to do some MovNat stalking! It was so much fun creeping around on all fours trying to be as quiet as possible to get around people without being seen. Sadly…I need some more practice. Well, maybe I just need to do it again without a 25 pound backpack on. I love walking through the nature trail at Daemen College. It is a little sanctuary in a hectic city setting. If anyone would be interested in practicing MovNat with Nicky, Josh, Rich or I, leave a comment and we’ll get in touch. It is always nice to find more people to play with.
Long days and pleasant nights,
Shoeless Joe
Barefoot Buffalo now in Google Search!
I am extremely excited to announce that BarefootBuffalo.com can now be searched in Google! I know this isn’t that big of a deal to some people, but to me…it’s AWESOME!!!!
A Successful First Barefoot Run
We did it! We had a successful first barefoot run. I want to thank Rich and Nicky Sciolino for attending. It was a nice little run. Due to time restrictions Nicky and I only ran about a mile and a half, while Rich ran for much more. I was having so much fun that I forgot to stop at the meeting point and ran another block.
Rich and I are planning on running an Ultra-Marathon in late spring/early summer next year. That’s 50 MILES!!! I hope we can figure out a place to run during the harsh winter of Buffalo.
Paleo in a Nutshell
The Paleo Diet is not a fad. It is the way the human bodies are designed to take in energy. Try to imagine the first humans for a minute. They didn’t have processed foods, added sugars and all the chemical preservatives that the modern human ingests on a daily basis. They didn’t eat grains or tubers like potatoes. They were hunters and gatherers. They ate natural food. Animals, vegetables, fruits, nuts and berries. Things that didn’t contain toxins that made people sick. Our bodies are designed to eat natural foods; foods that do not require you to cook them to become edible. So why do we do that today? The answer is simple. It is because of agriculture and population rising. When the population grew the human race needed to find ways to feed more and more people. That is when we decided to stay in one place and grow food. We didn’t want to have to follow the herds and depend on gathering the random apples anymore. The human body hasn’t evolved hardly at all since our hunter-gatherer ancestors so why should our diet evolve?
The Paleo Diet is a very simple one. It can be broken down into two sections: 1 What you can eat and 2 What you shouldn’t eat.
1) What you can eat
Meat
- Beef, Pork, Chicken and Fish
- Grass fed/free range is best
Vegetables
- Roots such as carrots and turnips
- Lettuce
- Cucumbers
- you get the point
Fruits
- All fruits are fair game.
- Try to not go overboard with fruits each day.
Oils
- Use oils in moderation
- Coconut/Olive/Uncured Bacon Grease all work.
Nuts and Berries
- This doesn’t include peanuts
You can also have honey in small amounts.
What you Shouldn’t Eat
Beans
- Peanuts
- Green Beans
- Peas
- Kidney Beans
Potatoes
Salt
Sugar
Dairy Products
All Grains
- Bread, Pasta, etc.
The diet is simple. Summarized it is this: Do not eat anything processed. No dairy, bread, pasta, potatoes, beans, legumes or added sugar.
There is only one beverage that can honestly be called “Paleo”. Water. That doesn’t mean you can’t have other drinks. Tea and coffee are alright to drink as long as you drink them black. Remember, no added sugar and no dairy.
To get all the benefits of this diet you only need to follow it 80% of the time. My challenge to you is to try this diet for 3 weeks. That’s not even a month. See how you feel after those 3 weeks. If you want to feel how bad grains and dairy are making you feel try eating mac and cheese after your challenge. Trust me, you’ll feel the difference.
Buy “The Paleo Solution” by Robb Wolf for a more detailed description of the diet.
NYC Barefoot Run 2010
Good Morning!
I just got back from New York City. What a weekend I had. I wish I could tell you all the interesting things I learned and experienced this weekend, but this is just a blog. It would take an entire book to thoroughly describe what an amazing trip this was.
My trip began with a bus ride from Buffalo to NYC at midnight. It was very promising. It wasn’t very crowded and I thought I would get some quality sleep. This was true until Syracuse when the bus became overcrowded. I was up the rest of the trip. We were dropped off in the middle of China Town at 6:30 am and had no clue where we were going…
We ended up finding our hotel and had a great free breakfast. We then proceeded to make our way to Central Park. We walked around a little and then found a great place to take a nap.
That evening I had the privilege of attending a lecture by Dan Liberman at Terra Plana. The lecture was very informative. It was nice to see so much science and evidence supporting the barefoot movement.
The Run on Governor’s Island. 2.1 mile loops. As many loops as you wanted to complete. I had so much fun running at this. Being able to run, play and MovNat at a “race”. My favorite part was the scenery. Running while having the Statue of Liberty watching over you is such a rush!
I didn’t want to leave New York City after the race. It was nice sitting around talking with Barefoot Ted, Erwan LeCorre and many other awesome people. But that time did eventually came so it was time to go back to China Town and get back on the bus.
2 hours into the drive the bus pulls over and the driver didn’t tell us why. Another 2 hours later someone (not the driver) told us that our bus had broken down and another bus was on its way to pick us up in another hour. So after being delayed for 3 hours we are on our way again! HURRAY! Then, we needed to get some gas. They just had to pick the gas station that had a Subway attached. 25 people decided that they would like a $5 footlong and we had to wait more time for all of them to get their food. Getting home at 3:00 am instead of midnight was not that much fun.
The weekend was so much fun. I can’t wait until the race next year. Will you be going?
Barefoot Buffalo 