Deen, Diabetes and Debacles

So what we all suspected is finally out – Paula Deen, the Butter Queen, has Type-2 Diabetes.

There has been some pretty harsh backlash against the southern cook since she went public with this information. Deen has been “hiding” this disease for the past three years and has decided to come forward about her health, presumably for marketing reasons, with her son's new “healthy” cookbook and her role as the new face of Diabetes in a New Light.

Deen is known for packing her dishes with as much lard and butter as she can – she even has a quiche recipe that calls for a whole pound of bacon! But the thing is, Deen has been cooking this way for years. She's Southern, y'all!

But people have been outraged since she came clean about her blood sugar levels, saying that even though she knew she had diabetes, she still went on her show and cooked unhealthy, fat-laden foods. She's what people like to call hypocritical.

Anthony Bourdain, food enthusiast and travel writer tweeted, “Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later.”

Bourdain is known for his brass and bold comments, but come on. No one is forced to make her cuisine. And she's cooking how she was raised to cook. Does butter make everything taste better? Yes. Is it good for you? In moderation, yes. Did she purposefuly cook this way to get diabetes and make money off of it? No.

My dad was diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes a few years back and I can say that, with 100-percent honesty, his diet was nowhere near that of Deen's cooking. In fact, my mother never even used real butter growing up, but rather the more “healthy” option of vegetable spread with calcium. We never owned a deep-fryer and bacon was only used on weekend breakfasts.

My point here is that anyone can get diabetes. It's hereditary, like in my dad's case, but can also be reversed with a good diet. If you watch Deen's show and read her recipe for her Gooey Butter Cake, common sense will tell you to not recreate the dishes she makes.

Her unhealthy cooking isn't news. Do people really believe it's only wrong to promote that kind of cooking if you have diabetes??

But it seems that the real problem people have is her million-dollar contract for diabetes awareness. Yes, it's a bit nauseating when people make money off a self-inflicted problem, but let's focus on the good and celebrate the fact that Deen's unhealthy cooking might finally come to an end. An important issue is being brought to light.

Workout guru Bob Harper from Biggest Loser said, “Her food is just entirely too decadent. If you eat like that, it's going to come back and bite you. She's going to have to get in the kitchen and find a way to get creative with the foods she loves to eat, make them healthier.”

Sounds like a winning situation to me. If Ms. Deen can get into the kitchen and make a gooey butter cake that tastes good and isn't unhealthy, but is actually a diabetic alternative, I'm all for it.