I am co-hosting an event symposium at the Sports Rehab Center Sandy Springs this Saturday from 11-1 on child & youth sports, focusing on injury prevention. I'll be giving a talk on the psychology of youth sports. My session will be entitled:

"How Sports & Exercise Can Change the Life of Your Child For the Better, Forever"

This could be a life-changing lecture for your kids. Please feel free to attend as my special guest. Just RSVP with me privately so we get a head count if you’d like to come.

​Space is limited.
​

I’ve identified what I think is the most prominent health concern in America.  I've written about it quite a lot in the last few years, mainly because I've lived it. It’s not cholesterol, BMI, or organic foods.  It’s not related to medicine, insurance, or doctors or hospitals.  Not that those things don’t matter.  The issue is a little bigger and deeper and even harder to solve than that.  It’s even related to all those issues, but it transcends them and involves crime, mental health, and physical activity levels and much, much more.  
 
It isn’t always easy and I’m sure many won’t sign up for the task, but I’ve come to believe that one thing we need to do is to make a home in the world.  Every epoch seems to offer its challenges- war, famine, conflict, change, or something else like infectious disease.  For example, more people died of the flu epidemic in the early 20thCentury than in all of World War I, which was by far the deadliest war ever.  
 
Most of human history’s primary challenge and focus was survival, because those needs were pressing and immediate.  This made compromise necessary so that the young could have enough to eat, shelter, and security.  Social arrangements now seen as harsh, repressive, and confining were at their very basic level about surviving, in that every person needed to do what the group expected so that the group would survive.  
 
So, a code was in place in pre-modern times for what people were expected to do for the survival of the collective.  What was rational was what helped the group survive.  People did mostly what they were supposed to do- sacrifice themselves for the group to live on.  In the past, home was a given, and if you survived you probably had a home by default. 
 
For many reasons- economic growth and technological growth and change being the two primary ones, modernity has a different problem.  We’re lucky. Survival is a given in our world. No one is starving in the USA, or without a roof.  We’re going to all survive from things like this.  But home is not a given in the modern age.  As a matter of fact, home is quaint, laughable, and sentimental to many, a thing of the past. To many more it’s something worth seeking and loving, but also hard to find.  It’s just the nature of the beast.  And a lack of home has a big impact on health.
 
Forces of modernity push us away from home.  Better jobs, unlimited choices, diversions, entertainments, sprawl, unlimited hobbies, and unlimited places beckon.  The exit ramps are always there.  My grandpa was a farmer, part-time.  He didn’t really have any hobbies, or a lot of options, but he did live a very good life. His generation was the last grounded generation in America, then came the baby boomers.  
 
The hipster, appropriating various other cultures but existing in none himself, and afraid to attach himself to anything, even a sports team, is the mascot for the modern world.  For many moderns, even if they aren’t hipsters, they can relate to this detached feeling.  We don’t necessarily hate, but we don’t love either.  We’re nice, usually.  But we don’t really care like we should.  And we know it.  We don’t feel embedded in a community.  Sporting events, some of which I attend personally, are one place we go to be alone together.  As are movies, the museum, or the shopping center.   Crowds and crowds of people, mostly all strangers engaged in banal activities.  Usually this is fine, but sometimes it isn’t.  We all still crave home.  And for many with less talent and less resources, the modern world can be particularly harsh and alienating.   
 
I love Walker Percy’s writing and his concept of the ‘sacrament of the ordinary’ as a path to take to deal with what Percy himself called “the malaise”.  The malaise for Percy was two divergent downfalls of humanity, both of which were distinct to modernity, and opposed to making a home in the world.  One is a human life (whether rich or poor) so consumed by materialismthat the human person is thrown back on nothing but his body and the will’s temporary needs, whether for food, sex, diversion, or material gain.   This person is the addict, the hedonist, the pleasure-seeker, checking out every chance possible, the attractive young female attention seeker on Instagram, as well as the Ivy League, BMW- driving country club golf course executive rushing from one fancy dinner to one meeting to one vacation repeatedly.  These to Percy, envy though they could be at opposite ends of the socioeconomic ladder, are exactly like each other in their complete oblivion to the transcendent, to eternal things.  None is a neighbor, none is a friend to the community.  None is a true citizen.  None has truly made a home in the world because both are caught up in daily distractions.  
 
The other extreme is the detached, represented by Percy in “The Moviegoer” (the title and main character of his Pulitzer prize winning novel), above it all, trapped in their head and objectivism, so removed, so far above it all (and at times smug and condescending) that they don’t engage in anything related to home either.  Just like the distracted, simpleton, and visceral pleasure-seekers, they haven’t made a home in the world, but theirs is the opposite path.  He or she goes to the other extreme and checks out in a different way, but the result is the same- the avoidance of all attachment to anything meaningful, especially home. If the materialist is flying too low for home, the detached is flying too high.  
 
Most of us can see glimpses of both caricatures in the way we are pushed to live, to consume, or on the other hand to distance ourselves from it all, rejecting meaningful but hard connections.  One day we want to escape in our books, our thoughts, our privacy, and the next day we want to just experience carnal pleasure and stop thinking beyond that instant gratification.   At some point though, the reality of what makes for a healthy life catches up with us. We all need a home, both physical and at the same time transcendent.  We need a daily home to live in and a home to go to.  We need to make a home, somewhere between the two unhealthy extremes.  And that takes work.  
 
Some things are eternal. Home is where meet each other eye to eye and face to face.  I like the Hebrew word “Shalom” when it comes to home, which means something like peace- and / or harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, hello, and goodbye. As the Jewish theologian, Martin Buber taught it is “I and Thou”, Not I-I, or I-It, or It-It.  Home forces us to deal with the eternal things about life that never change- love, loss, other people and all their flaws and ours, disappointment, and boredom.  The eternal is real and we need it, and one way or another we will meet it.  Home is about covenant relationships, about the physical world, and about the fact that our work should be ordered properly to the eternal things.  We all should make a home in the world. 
----
 
Like the blog? Sign up and pass it on
 
----

P.S.

I have several speaking engagements lined up for this fall.  I am trying to get more organized so that I can publicize my events ahead of time.  But for now....

For a speaking appearance, reply to this email.

* This is part of a year-long series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
​---
​
There are many things which can go wrong with inactivity and eating too much sugar.   Eating simple sugars raises your insulin levels, and high insulin can cause a chain reaction of other effects.   As a matter of fact, eating at all raises your insulin at least somewhat.  For a normal, healthy adult, this is not a problem as the insulin acts to help store your food in the liver and muscle cells, which you need.  Over time though, a poor diet and an inactive lifestyle can cause you to become resistant to insulin, which can cause a variety of possible problems.
 
It is often difficult to distinguish between high insulin (hyperinsulinemia) and Type 2 diabetes because the two are so closely related.  Having high insulin levels does not necessarily indicate a diabetic condition, but it still is a health concern.  Both are also related to obesity.  Insulin increases the production of fatty acids from glucose (blood sugar), and inhibits the breakdown of fat as an energy source.  Obesity is an increase in adipose tissue, thus can be at least partially caused by high insulin.  
 
Bottom line- high insulin levels and obesity feed each other.  
 
Keep in mind that:

• Simple carbs raise insulin levels, which promotes fat storage.
• Fat storage makes the body more insulin resistant.
• Insulin resistance forces the body to produce more insulin
• Yet again, fat storage is promoted.
• The cycle continues.

 
In general, it’s a good idea to:

1. Keep your body fat relatively low. (Men <15-20%) (Women <20-25%)
2. Eat foods that don’t cause big spikes in insulin.

 
High insulin levels can:

• Promote fat storage.
• Create problems with the liver, kidneys, and nerves.
• Possibly raise the proliferation of cancer cells.

 
The Three Rules of Thumb I recommend:

1. Fast once a week (skip a meal).
2. Avoid sugary things and simple carbs.
3. Exercise every day.  

 
*See you doctor if you think you have diabetic symptoms.  
 ---

Like the blog?  Pass it on!

I was listening to Victor David Hansen recently on Youtube deliver a speech about the future of America. Something he talked about resonated 100%.  Hansen is a superb historian, if you’ve never read his books or heard him speak, I highly recommend his work.  Hansen is a classicist, someone who specializes in Western classical learning, particularly in classic literature like Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey, Greek mythology and philosophy, Roman law and history, as well as the Bible and the history of the Church, and other subjects like Latin, Greek, and Rhetoric.   

In this talk, Hansen mentioned something that really caught my attention.  He mentioned that during a period of great upheaval in Athenian society, many people started practicing something called quietism.  And, that many people were practicing it in right now America, even if they aren’t aware of it. 
 
Quietism - Definition of quietism

1 : a passive withdrawn attitude or policy toward the world or worldly affairs 
2: a state of calmness or passivity
 
I find his observation on point.  He says that many Americans, perhaps a majority, aren’t interested in popular culture that much, or arguing about the latest identity politics issue, or addicted to the news and the outrage culture.  They are instead living their lives, seeking out quiet times with family and friends and avoiding contentious conversations, and importantly, arguments. Mainly, they just want to live their lives and be left alone.
 
These comments by Hansen immediately recalled the book “After Virtue”by Alisdair Macyntire, one of the most influential books of the previous century.  Macyntire makes the point in that book that modern culture is often like sitting down to play chess and the two players are using two different rule books and the game makes no sense. It’s better to agree on the “rules” ahead of time, if you want your life to make sense.  Otherwise, opt out of the particular game.  It doesn’t mean you can’t “play”, but be careful which “game” you sign up for. 
 
I think most people get this, from a common-sense perspective, and are practicing a form of quietism, like Hansen talks about. I know I do, some of the time, though I do enjoy friendly arguments at times. I don’t consume pop culture or many movies, and I’m just not that interested in what’s going on in the culture.  I just try to live my life for the most part.  Millions of other Americans don’t either, they just want to live a good life and do their thing and be left alone.   You don’t have to go live in a monastery in order to check out on the noise and silliness. 
 
When things don’t make a lot of sense, quietism could be a wise strategy. We only have so much time and energy, so it’s not worth wasting it.  Focus on your work, your hobbies, your community, your tradition, and enjoying life.  The craziness will pass eventually.  
 
P.S. IF you want to read an article Hansen wrote about the same topic, check this article out:
Confessions of a Cultural Drop- Out by Victor David Hansen
 
----
Like the blog?  Pass it on.

​Read Next: What About Carbs?