"Sounds Gross, Works Great: Fecal Transplants Cure Nasty C. Diff Infections"

Given the predelictions of the medical profession, it's only used as a last resort:

"A new review of more than two dozen scientific reports involving 317 patients, some dating back 50 years, finds that fecal bacteriotherapy, commonly known as fecal transplant, cured the problem in 92 percent of the cases. Nearly all got better after just one treatment. That's a better record than other treatments, including probiotics, toxin-binding molecules and an experimental vaccine."

The bacteria from the healthy donor out-compete the bad bugs, and you get better without using antibiotics to destroy your symbiotic biome. 

Which is what causes C. Diff infections in the first place.

"Advice For Novice Marathoners by Arthur Lydiard"

Read the whole thing:

"Eat normal meals during race week. People who have been training thousands of miles have a greater ability to lift their blood-sugar levels than the untrained. You've been hearing alot about carbo-loading these days, take my advice, forget about the carbohydrate-loading and eat your normal meals. Don't overeat on race day. If you have eaten well the week before a race and lightened the training workload, you should not require very much food on the day of the race. If you are racing early, a light breakfast of cereal with some toast and honey, tea or coffee should be sufficient---and the less the better. On race day and the day before, do not eat foods that will form gas in your stomach. Gas can cause pain and cramps throughout the large intestine."

Does A Healthy Diet Cause Distress?

I don't think it should. 

"Too Many Vegetables? How To Prevent Gas and Digestive Problems Caused By Healthy Eating":

"The number of questions I get from people about bloating, gas and other digestive problems is not small, and since it is a sensitive subject I’m sure the questions I get represent just a fraction of those of you with concerns."

One of the real joys of adopting a "paleo-style" diet has been a great reduction in gas and digestive upset.  "Elimination" is a better way to put it, in fact.  (I originally wrote "near-elimination", but that is not correct, in my experience.) So my inclination is that if you're suffering, that's prima facie evidence that you're not eating a healthy diet.

Ms. Pino has a number of good suggestions, but I think the best one would be to follow a program like the Primal Blueprint or the Perfect Health Diet for 30 days, and see if you can't just eliminate your digestive upset entirely.  It worked for me and for my family.

In my experience, grains, vegetable oils, beans, and starch are the main offenders, in that order.  (Vegetable oils are typically produced from grains or beans, so that's not too surprising.)  Another note: "lactose intolerance" is a typical side-effect of wheat poisoning, and often goes away once wheat is eliminated.  I consider "lactose intolerance" to be a symptom of wheat poisoning, in fact.

So skip the Beano, and skip the beans.  You just might feel a whole lot better.

Ms. Pino's of a similar opinion.

Sneaker-Related Injuries

I've surely had this happen when shod:

"Back to that barefoot trail runner I mentioned earlier. We were running a 5K trail race at a similar pace. Every time the course opened up to a field, he was way ahead of me, and then back in the woods, he slowed considerably and I caught up with him. So I figured that I would pass him in the woods. And I did, while he carefully placed his bare feet on the uneven trail, I roared ahead. Until I caught my foot on a root and landed directly on my knee. Barefoot Man politely asked if I was ok as he glided past. Was it my unnatural, un-sensing shoes that caught on that root, or am I just uncoordinated? I'm not sure, but he crossed the finish a minute ahead of me and my bloody knee."

Shoes cause all sorts of injuries that we don't think of as being caused by shoes.  Sprained ankles are another one, as are blisters.

More Fitzgerald On Barefoot Running

Not very compelling:

"As the number of barefoot experimenters who tear Achilles tendons, strain calves, fracture calcaneal bones,* and mutilate plantar fascia accumulates, fear of injury may prevent more and more runners from trying the same experiment, despite their evident curiosity."

I participate in an active barefoot running forum (See "Links" to the right).  I've not heard of any torn achilles tendons, fractured calcaneal bones, or mutilated plantar fascia from people in that forum.  Strained calves, yes, but so what?  I have heard of a lot of people who've cured plantar fasciitis with barefoot-style running, and loads of people, myself included, who've seen shin splints vanish for good. 

Fitzgerald doesn't have *any* evidence that there is a "barefoot running injury epidemic", just a few unlikely anecdotes.

I don't believe that these doctors are seeing that many barefoot running injuries because there simply aren't that many people running in their bare feet in the United States.

* I did break both my heel bones in high school, btw.  Oddly enough the heels on my shoes did not protect my heel bones when I jumped off a stair case and landed on the heels.

Merrell Barefoot Road Glove Review

Christian's right on this:

"In fact, I think there are a ton of people out there who are looking for a Trail Glove, but for roads. So much in fact, that unless something really drastic happens this shoe is very likely going to be the biggest minimal shoe of 2012."

Famed Barefoot Runner Tegla Loroupe Running On Clouds

On Cloudsurfer, with CloudTec™!

I have no interest in these, but it is interesting that Ms. Loroupe will be running the NY Marathon in them.

I wish her luck. 

I also wonder if she'd wear these if there were no money in it...  Less is more when it comes to shoes, but one still needs to eat.