Practical Boots

Although listed under a particular sub-ethnic group of Mongols, this seems to be the practical cheap version of the Mongol boot

BATA SHOE MUSEUM: Torguud Boots

Pretty Boots

I'm always looking for better alternatives for winter footwear.  I'm currently enamored with the Mongolian boot (Gutal)

Here's an interesting selection of Mongolian boots a museum employee saw while on a collection trip to Mongolia:  Bata Shoe Museum Mongol Boot Collecting Trip

I especially love this one, a royal consort's boot.  I'd leave the symbol in red off my pair.  The design is so intricate, I don't think I could really manage.  I'd want to do embroidery on felt rather than applique on leather as was probably original.  Although I might be able to do stamp and dye...

I worry a bit about the pointed toe.  I'm not sure how far beyond the foot the shoe extends.  If the toes rest near to the ground and the rest of the point is decorative, I think I could wear these.  If the ball of the foot is the last part resting on the ground and the toes are pointing up, that wouldn't work too well for me.

How to Change

I struggle with my lifestyle changes, sticking to them.  I love the shoes, would never go back to the old ones, but I slack off on the exercise, I cheat on the diet.

For my birthday I whipped up some apple crumble a little too quickly.  In my attempt to use less flour, I used way too much sugar, and once added to the cookies my co-worker brought, I was in sugar shock most of the day.  At the end of the day was my birthday feast at a Chinese restaurant, which included a bit too much sweet and sour to appeal to my less adventurous friends.  The next day I was hungry all day long, eating a snack every couple hours like in the old days.  I think I'm mostly re-balanced now, but it was a reminder of how important it is to stick with the changes and not backslide.

A couple articles of interest in this area have come up lately.  The first is How Exercise Can Prime the Brain for Addiction.  In the related study, mice were given exercise wheels then exposed to addictive substances and withdrawal.  The mice introduced to exercise just prior to the addictive substance learned really well about the addictive substance and had a hard time quitting later.  Those first given exercise wheels during the withdrawal period learned very quickly that the addictive behavior was no longer profitable and got over it the fastest of all groups.  The the mice also had brain scans showing increased brain cell growth when exercising, explaining why they learned more quickly after beginning to exercise.

The second article sounds a bit more ominous: Change or Die.  But the point of the article is not to fear what will happen if you don't change, but look for positive benefits if you do.  Nine in ten heart surgery patients don't make the lifestyle changes their doctors suggest, and most suffer from the exact same problems again after surgery.  Find support in your change, make drastic changes that will have bigger effects on your life rather than small ones, and re-frame your options in a positive light.

I'm not sure what this means for me today.  I'm crazy busy with work right now, and have little excess energy for more radical changes or joining any support groups.  I am making my changes in light of better function and happiness rather than out of fear of diseases that killed my mother despite her healthy* life choices.

* what is healthy was not agreed upon between Mother and I.

It does give me some hope though about becoming a farmer.  My biggest fear is that I won't be able to hack it.  I'll buy the farm, and let it grow up with weeds, and spend my free time in the farmhouse in front of my computer just like I do in my city house.  But how much more radical, more exercise, and more immediate benefits can I package into one change?  It can be done, I just have to have to finish saving up my down-payment, get a little more time in my schedule, and push that ball up the crest of the hill before I can see if it really will roll down the other side.

What is Health?

Spring has sprung, and I'm not really getting outside much more than I did in the depths of winter.  However, I'm working ~10 hours of overtime a week and giving my house more cleaning than it has in a long time.

My coaches on my journey with minimal shoes are real athletes.  But do I even ever want to be an athlete?  Sure it would be great to show off to doubters my Boston marathon entry, but I'm really not interested in spending hours and hours of my life to exercise just to exercise or to get shiny medals.  My neighborhood is a dump, I take no pleasure in walking through it, and my life is already too busy to manage to schedule trips to the park.

We are getting financially closer to being able to move to the country.  I'm hoping that will help my exercise levels.  Gardening season is getting underway sooner, which will definitely eat up a good share of my free daylight hours.

I am pretty happy with my new normal for activity.  I've given up on the local endurance race due to lack of true interest.  (I may still go photograph runners for them.)  I'm still slow, but my activity is rarely limited by my ability, I live with much less pain.  But am I healthy yet?  No, not really.  I feel 90% better, but there are still nagging occasional pains, I may still throw out a shoulder next harvest.  What should be my next move towards health?