Shamefully, it has taken the famous deep-frying, sugar-loving Food Network star Paula Deen three years to announce, or rather admit, she has Type 2 Diabetes and is ready to help others with diabetes manage their lives by eating healthy and exercising.
Why the three-year wait? “I made the choice at the time to keep it close to me, to keep it close to my chest,” Deen said in her first interview discussing her diagnosis with USA Today. Coincidentally, her announcement of Type 2 Diabetes paired nicely with her new endorsement deal with Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Victoza, the Type 2 Diabetes drug Deen uses.
Many of Deen’s fans and her employer, Food Network, which sky-rocketed her career, were shocked by her delayed announcement and disappointed she hadn’t come forward in 2008 after her initial diagnosis. According to her website, Deen is “adored by millions of fans, [and] is seemingly everywhere in American media and culture.” One would think with her kind of fame she would use it to bring awareness to the disease, its causes and ways to prevent it. It’s frustrating for her millions of fans that she hid her health problems instead of addressing them, and now she’s trying to make up for it.
Deen was reportedly shocked by the lack of support from her fans following her announcement. Understandably, fans don’t want to be eating and serving food to their family that may have contributed to her Type 2 Diabetes. Deen’s recipes are available to re-create off her website, television or On-Demand.
Deen is admitting her food is an unhealthy choice, so she’s changing some of her most popular recipes to be healthier, or “lightened up” as she calls it. The butter-abusing food queen launched “Diabetes in a New Light,” sponsored (no surprise) by the new drug company Novo Nordisk.
The “Diabetes in a New Light” website (www.diabetesinanewlight.com) has Deen’s story, recipes, Diabetes basics, events and of course, information on the non-insulin drug Deen, injects daily on the home page. Deen’s sons Bobby and Jamie have paired with their mom and Novo Nordisk to create family campaigns about Diabetes and Victoza.
Type 2 Diabetes can develop from an array of factors. There is a higher risk of developing the disease if you are obese, over 45 or if Diabetes runs in your family. Those with high blood pressure, low cholesterol or an impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) are also at high risk. “Certain racial and ethnic groups (e.g., Non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanic/Latino Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and American Indians and Alaska Natives),” are at a higher risk of getting the disease, according to the American Diabetes Association’s website.
Deen has put out 14 cookbooks that have sold more than eight million copies, none of which are meant specifically for diabetics. Her 14 books should be pulled off the shelves since they are jammed pack with unhealthy recipes that have contributed to her Type 2 Diabetes and her curvier figure. Deen needs to put out a cookbook with her “lightened up” recipes as well as an exercise book if she is really serious about helping and encouraging her millions of fans to eat and live better.
It’s important to maintain a healthy lifestyle by not doing what Deen has done for years. Start eating well, hold a healthy weight and exercise regularly so you don’t become a high risk factor for developing Type 2 Diabetes. Avoid Deen’s mistakes and her style of cooking if you are trying to eat healthy. If you plan to cook one of Paula Deen’s meals, make sure it’s from her “lightened up” recipes!
Thank you, Paula Deen, for your contributions to diabetes and obesity in America.