Paula Deen expected to reveal she has Type 2 diabetes — Page 2

I loved Paula years ago, but she's become a caricature of herself. No one uses the word "y'all" in every single sentence. She's a brand. I don't think this situation would bother me with the old Paula. Paula Deen, Inc. on the other hand, annoys the hell out of me.

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The problem does not rest solely with Paula. The Food Network is going to have to have their PR people think about this. Does Paula necessarily influence people-not on her own. However, Paula and the network chef's influence the collective subconscious of their viewers. So if viewers see all non-healthy dishes they subconsciously believe how they eat is ok. If all the chefs are gaining weight or are obese, people at home think, "this is how people look and cook and they look like me so I am ok." It does have rmaifications and we do have a national health crisis on our hands. Obesity is nothing to sneeze at. It needs to be addressed.

I read Paula's autobiography and she opened it up by saying she smokes and would never let her viewers know that because she felt they would reject her. Paula has a very shamed based way of thinking so I understand her desire to keep her health under raps. I just hope she gets honest and healthy.

As an aside, I saw a local reporter do an interview with an obese Guy Fieri when he was visiting their city for his show. They asked him how he eats all that food and stays fit. He actually answered the question and referred to himself as fit. He said he limits portions. Ok.

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I'm sure Paul influenced people to some degree - but ultimately people are responsible for their own lives. Shame all the people stuffing their faces couldn't have been influenced by Jamie Oliver.

(No judgement on my part, btw!)

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All of that stuff BetttyBoy says is probably true, and I have no interest in shaming her or judging her. However, I can't feel too bad, since she timed the announcement of her disease to coincide with the the launch of a campaign she's doing selling diabetes-related drugs.

I agree with what you said, Jane. I do that, too. But I think the general public at large (pun intended) does not, as you say.

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She's vulgar. I've always disliked her.

I don't personally hate her or dislike her (I know you weren't addressing me, but "hate" is such a strong word, I thought I'd respond). I do think she brought this disease on herself by her lifestyle choices, which she indirectly promotes every day on her cooking show. She leads by example, not by actually preaching, "eat lots of fat and sugar, y'all!"

Still, she should take full responsibility for her past actions now, and she isn't. Instead of paying the piper, she, like so many other Americans, would rather stay the "innocent victim of a terrible disease" and take a pill to fix the symptoms of it, rather than address the problem of her piss-poor, unhealthy diet head-on.

EDIT: And from a business standpoint, it's pretty evil. "We'll sell you the disease first, then sell you the cure!"

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Updated On: 1/19/12 at 07:31 AM

I feel differently about this because I'm hearing more info than what I already knew.

She knew she had diabetes 3 years ago. Plus, I heard about certain recipes that she made- such as hamburgers fried between donuts, fried cheesecake, etc. Excuse me-I had no idea she was cooking such $hit (since I don't watch her show. Her accent turns me off). Those recipes sound like bad jokes, let alone actual food to eat.

And now I heard she's hawking a pill for diabetes. Is this true? Give me some of those, lol!

Seriously, I changed my mind on this topic. A girl can change her mind, right?

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She's outlived Euell Gibbons.


It was his own fault for eating all those vegetables, Y'all

Updated On: 1/19/12 at 12:18 PM

Exactly, Borstal, and this post of mine is going to be my personal experience, but maybe others can relate.

I have type 2 diabetes, and when my dr. first told me, he said let's see what happens in 3 months of my watching my diet and working out at the gym frequently.

I did that, and after 3 months I had lost 8 lbs. My numbers had gone down to the normal range and my dr. said no medication is necessary because I had it under control.

Well, unfortunately, I turned stupid after that. Because I didn't feel any symptoms and found it hard to accept that I was ill in any way, I slipped back into some bad habits. I know intellectually that I have this condition which could cause grave consequences and even death but because I feel fine, I don't eat as if I have anything wrong and I don't go to the gym often enough. And to make matters worse, I haven't been back to the dr. because I know he'll be disappointed in me and perhaps prescribe meds.

I wish I knew how to remain motivated and scared of this condition enough to take care of myself.

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Jane, I know that the kind of lifestyle changes like something like a diabetes that are hard. When I got cancer, I tried really hard to mend a lot of bad habits I'd developed, but it can be a real struggle. I don't think there's any magic solution.

Finally, this is just kind of funny. Yesterday I did a search for Dawn French and Terry's Chocolate Orange on YouTube and this video came up as one of the related links. Since it was so timely to this discussion, I watched it. It just starts getting weird about 50 seconds in. And I have no idea what it has to do with Dawn French.


Paula Deen

Updated On: 1/19/12 at 01:59 PM

Phyllis, you are right. There are no easy answers. Here I am looking for a substitute for plain old strength and determination. I remember your long and tough struggle with cancer as you kept us informed on how it was going. I should use you as a role model.

Joe, eating a lot of fat makes a person fat, and being overweight is one of the main causes of type 2. Especially if one has fat around the middle.

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No Jane. Read the article.

"After eight years, there was no statistically significant difference in the rate at which type 2 diabetes occurred among women in the two groups. (The women who reduced their caloric intake weighed an average of four pounds less than they did at the beginning of the trial.) This study is the most powerful evidence yet that there simply is no causal relationship between dietary fat intake and developing type 2 diabetes.

When confronted with this evidence, anti-fat crusaders claim that while dietary fat doesn’t cause diabetes, eating a high-fat diet causes people to become fat, which in turn causes diabetes. The problem with this modified theory is that it, too, is unsupported by the medical and scientific literature. Consider that the French, who consume the high-fat cuisine that Bourdain has spent his life cooking in restaurants and celebrating in print, have one third the obesity rate of Americans, despite eating four times as much butter, three times as much pork, and 60 percent more cheese than we do. Just as there’s no good evidence that a high-fat diet causes diabetes, there’s no good evidence that a high-fat diet causes people to be fatter than they would otherwise be."