Ken Jennings says “Remove the shoes!”

What if the smartest man in the world told you to go barefoot?

Well, all-time Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings is doing just that in his new book, Because I Said So!

Ken’s book tackles over 100 time-honored parental cliches, searching for the truth (or lack thereof) in everything from “Don’t run with scissors!” to “Wait an hour after eating before going swimming!”

One of the other bits of hand-me-down advice that he looks at: Don’t run around barefoot, you’ll get worms!

I’m not going to reprint the entire debunking of this bit of folklore because I don’t want to spare you the laugh-out-loud fun of reading Ken’s book (in addition to being freakishly smart, Ken is a very funny writer). The gist about the worms part is that you’re safe if you’re not hanging out in places that are full of human feces). Here are some other highlights:

Ken’s childhood was like most of ours…

I spent a much of my elementary-school summer vacation sans footwear.

Happily, Ken’s research points to…

A 1991 overview by Lynn Staheli in the journal Pediatrics found that barefoot kids had stronger, healthier, more flexible feet than than their shod compatriots.

This seems true for adults, too. I was at a chiropractic conference where dozens of chiropractors were poking, prodding, and checking out my feet. They were surprised by the strength and flexibility I had (I was surprised by their surprise since my feet seem normal to me 😉 )

And Ken acknowledges that barefoot kids have a bit of risk for…

…scrapes, blisters, and broken-glass encounters that could easily be prevented by a pair of Keds.

Uh… or Xero Shoes, Ken, which will let their feet MOVE naturally, unlike Keds.

Further…

A 2007 podiatry study found that two-thousand-year-old skeletons had better feet than modern shoe-wearers. We’re devolving, people!

And even further back, those people were wearing sandals like ours!

I can’t agree more with Ken than when he says..

For the fitness of the species, don’t make your kids wear shoes during summer vacation until you’ve walked a mile without their moccasins.

Join the barefoot revolution!