Diabetes, Paula Deen? Did Her High Fat High Carb Diet Contribute?
Rich Southern cooking. What could be more delectable! And Paula Deen's recipes? She is an iconic industry unto herself, with books, website, restaurants down south and of course, her TV program syndication on the Food Network. I sometimes watch her program on the TV sets in the salon afternoons, when I get my nails done. Six years ago when I was 110 pounds heavier than I am today (now BMI 20) my mouth would have been watering. Today, I'm like, yuk! I must admit though over these years, I was seriously perplexed watching her slop in the extra fats, sugars and fried dishes to produce such high carbed menus. And I did wonder at the fact that she wasn't as heavy as Mario Batali. So when I heard she admitted to her Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis, my curiosity was satisfied. We can only rely on our genes so much until our food intake gets us. It's not what we don't eat, it's what we do eat that can kill us and it surely makes us fat IF we eat too much.
What is ironic, though, was Deen's apparent inability to deal with her diagnosis, not for herself, but for her eating and watching public. What is the message she is sending by not having disclosed her diabetes to her wide followership? Do as I do and eat as I eat and the hell with getting Type 2 Diabetes? Of course, it can't be proven that her eating and cooking habits have contributed to her contracting diabetes. But then again it can't be proven that they haven't.
It's a controversial topic. But amidst this controversy is something that is unmistakable: her lie of omission and her inflexibility in making her recipes more diet conscious or health conscious during these years of her illness. Now, that is egregious because the omission has served her own self-interest. Sadly, her iconic status as a role model with this recent admission has been greatly injured. Too bad she didn't come clean three years ago and benefit herself and her eating/watching public with more health conscious meals. She could have increased her empire exponentially! Tweaked it, reinvented herself, lost weight become healthier?
But when it comes to food and health and weight and disease, the situation becomes skewed and twisted and right behaviors become inverted. Take for instance Deen's response to the hoopla. She defends her behavior and her recipes and her cooking style. And she she says it won't stop her from eating the way she wants.
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