Blog

2025-05-03

My first blog post for the Heart-Mind-Body Health Initiative is a TED Talk about how our diets have changed from have meat as a rare treat and to having meat as part of each meal, three times a day. This is unsustainable and not good for the planet or for our bodies.

This is an appropriate post since most people are unaware how much our diets influence not only our physical health, but our mental and spiritual health as well. Ultra-processed food, excessive sugar and even the lack of soil nutrients all contribute to how we feel in almost every aspect of our lives.

Sarah Lake, delivered this TED Talk in June 2024, “The Hidden Forces Behind Our Food Choices.” She is the CEO of the Tilt Collective, a global movement for a sustainable, healthy food system for all. She is a leader of climate change solutions, and focuses her efforts on sustainable food systems, diet shifts, agriculture and commodity supply chains.

2025-05-04

Today’s post is from a New York Times Newsletter titled “People Want to Belong – They’re looking for it in faith — and in one writer’s inbox.” by Lauren Jackson. I included it since social connections and belonging are important to our health. We are, after all, social creatures.

Last week, Dwight from “The Office” called me to talk about God.

Almost. It was the actor who played Dwight, Rainn Wilson. He’d read my essay that launched “Believing,” a project on how people find meaning in their lives — in religion, spirituality or anywhere. He’d written a best-selling book on the topic, one that was so self-aware and funny I actually laughed out loud. He just wanted to connect.

That seems to be a theme.

Since I published “Believing,” I’ve heard from thousands of Morning readers. Everyone has a story to share about belief, no matter how they come at the topic. My inbox is now a microcosm of the internet: MAGA bros, professors, wellness influencers, theologians, climate activists, pop psychologists, grandmothers and a source who sent me an unpublished letter from Pope Francis. I heard from people across America and around the world, including Brazil, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia. In the messages, a clear trend emerged that unites this very disparate group: People crave meaningful connection.

In “Believing,” I explained that religion offers people three B’s: beliefs about the world, behaviors to follow and belonging in a community or culture. Readers seized on the last one. They said they wanted to belong — in rich, profound and sustained ways.

It makes sense. A major, global study recently released by Harvard and Baylor universities affirmed what so much other data has shown: People flourish — they live happier, healthier and better lives — if they have strong social connections. It also found that religions, for all their reputational baggage, can provide people with robust communities.