OK, I just followed up my experiment and I can see a grain of truth in the article...but only a grain.
Heels are better for feet like mine (totally flat and overpronating) because they force the foot into an arched position. But this comes at the expense of other parts of the foot, so it isn't really worth it.
I grabbed the highest heels I own (around 3.25" high with a 1" platform...absolute suburban sitting shoes for me). While they gave me a better arch, my feet still pronated a bit. So to somewhat emulate the height of a 5" heel, I took off one shoe and placed the heel of my other foot (with the shoe still on it) on the platform of the shoe I removed. That brought me up to 4.25". This made my foot almost normal, so I can see why a 5" incline would be best for my total lack of a natural arch.
The flipside is that my already wide-set bones splay out even more, making the shoe even more painfully tight, and the balls of my feet are carrying far too much weight.
I maintain that the best thing is to simply get some Superfeet black insoles and stick them in a pair of padded flats, or up to 2" heels. I wonder why I didn't become a podiatrist.
Oh yeah, I hate looking at other people's gnarly feet (much less touching them...ewww!).
So I guess I have Barbie feet too...but I'll stick with my Skipper shoes!
