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Becoming an Artist

When I finished reading The Writing Life by Annie Dillard I realized my writing will never achieve the level of the great ones. But I am OK with this just as I was OK with deciding not to pursue writing for a living. Too hard, too demanding, too much time spent writing words into the universe where no one reads what you’ve written. Maybe if I took this writing thing seriously I could have gotten a lot better. Maybe if I had become a better writer the angels above would have tossed me a bit of luck. Maybe it’s not too late to start writing better. It’s always easier to work tirelessly on your art when you don’t depend upon it to put a roof over your head, food on the table, clothes on your back. The Artist must start somewhere.

Mimi and Papa by Madelyn. I’m the one on the right.

“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”

Steven Pressfield from The War of Art – https://stevenpressfield.com/2020/10/the-unlived-life/

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Protein Bars Anyone?

Participants with the highest intake averaged 9.3 servings of ultra-processed foods per day, while those with the lowest intake averaged 1.1 servings. Compared with the lowest group, those in the highest group had a 67% greater risk of dying from coronary heart disease or stroke, or experiencing non-fatal heart attacks, strokes or resuscitated cardiac arrest.

American College of Cardiology. “Ultra-processed foods linked to 67% higher risk of heart attack and stroke.” ScienceDaily https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260319074604.htm (accessed March 19, 2026).

I need to add a few more things to my How I Got Fat list of foods I don’t eat anymore.

Like protein bars.

Fetter says that low-calorie, high-protein bars shouldn’t be treated as wholesale replacements for other sources of protein, especially given their use of processed or artificial ingredients. “[I understand] using tools like different bars or meal replacements that could come in handy when someone is on the go, but consuming products like that just isn’t inherently healthier for you,” Debbie Fetter, a professor in nutrition at UC Davis.

Everything You Need to Know About the David Protein Bar Class-Action Lawsuit https://www.gq.com/story/david-protein-bar-lawsuit

Why would anyone want to eat a collection of concocted ingredients like this with hardly any of them recognizable as food? These bars are quintessential ultra-processed products.

Marion Nestle https://www.foodpolitics.com/2026/03/lawsuit-1-davids-protein-bars/

I’m guilty of having eaten several of those plant based burgers that bleed . Impossible Foods https://impossiblefoods.com/ marketed their burgers with a message the burgers “bleed” just like beef burgers. I no longer eat any fake meats because they are highly ultra processed.

I do miss my tofu dogs with sauerkraut though.

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Food Inflation in America – Scary Charts 03.14.26

Food Inflation in America – https://wolfstreet.com/2026/03/11/food-inflation-in-america/

As one reader commented “learn to grow your own veggies and do community chickens
otherwise learn to eat soy products.”

I Googled “community chickens” and found this:

Must be getting rough out there. Health insurance companies are offering mental health counseling to their customers free of charge.

Funny thing is my health insurance company isn’t Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma but somehow I’m on their email mailing list.

These services are probably useful but you have to have health insurance to use them.

One-Third of Americans Cut Back to Cover Healthcare Expenses – https://news.gallup.com/poll/702596/one-third-americans-cut-back-cover-healthcare-expenses.aspx

I’ve noticed some food blogs I follow are posting recipes focusing on using up leftovers. https://www.budgetbytes.com/leftover-rice-recipes/

Maybe I need to start a struggle meal post series.

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FOOD FIGHT!

Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat. In that book, I review research on the “funding effect,” the strong correlations between who pays for food and nutrition research and its outcome.  Industry-funded research tends to produce results favorable to the funder’s interests (otherwise it wouldn’t be funded).  But recipients of funding typically did not intend to be influenced and do not recognize the influence. The MAHA Dietary Guidelines III: Conflicts of Interest – https://www.foodpolitics.com/2026/01/the-maha-dietary-guidelines-iii-conflicts-of-interest/

Understanding the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans – https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/understanding-the-new-dietary-guidelines-for-americans/

Good luck.

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Scary Charts 01.11.26

Source: Food Inflation: The Price Spikes of Beef, Coffee, Eggs, and Dairy – https://wolfstreet.com/2025/10/24/food-inflation-the-price-spikes-of-beef-coffee-eggs-and-dairy/

I decided I would try to collect data online from the largest supermarkets in the country, and I pretty soon realized that the numbers I was getting were two or three times higher than the official numbers for inflation. Alberto Cavallo, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School – What happens when no one trusts a country’s economic data – https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/what-happens-when-no-one-trusts-a-countrys-economic-data

I do the food shopping in my two person half retired household and my eyeballs tell me weekly our government inflation statistics do not match reality.

Aldi was very busy today.

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Common Food Preservatives Linked to Higher DM2 Risk

Over the study period, 1,131 cases of type 2 diabetes were identified among the 108,723 participants. Compared with people who consumed the lowest levels of preservatives, those with higher intake showed a markedly increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Overall preservative consumption was linked to a 47% higher risk. Non-antioxidant preservatives were associated with a 49% increase, while antioxidant additives were linked to a 40% higher risk.

INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale). “Common food preservatives linked to higher risk of type 2 diabetes.” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260109080211.htm (accessed January 10, 2026).

Type 2 diabetes has a stronger link to family history and lineage than type 1, and studies of twins have shown that genetics play a very strong role in the development of type 2 diabetes. Race can also play a role. Yet it also depends on environmental factors. Lifestyle also influences the development of type 2 diabetes. Obesity tends to run in families, and families often have similar eating and exercise habits. Genetics of Diabetes – https://diabetes.org/about-diabetes/genetics-diabetes

Remember this:

Stay as thin as you can as long as you can – https://lifeunderwriter.net/2022/04/05/stay-as-thin-as-you-can-as-long-as-you-can/

And watch out for those preservatives.

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