We are living through a time now where the definition of “celebrity” has been dramatically changed with the onset of all the celebrity chefs…Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Iron’s Chef’s Mario Batali.. and Paula Deen y’all. News broke today that Paula was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes 3 years ago but hasn’t come out and made it public, carrying on cooking her famously rich Southern food.
I’m a Food Network fan (I know it’s sometimes not the coolest thing to admit) but I have watched all the celebrity chefs at one stage or another. Paula’s show isn’t my favorite but a lot of people really like her and find her motherly cooking and southern drawl comforting and lovable. We found out her news today via People Magazine and it is bitter sweet. Of course hearing about anyone being diagnosed with Diabetes or another life threatening condition is awful, but the reason Paula says she kept the news to herself and didn’t tell the public is because she wanted to be in a place where she would be “armed to be able to help others.”
For Paula Deen, it was just another doctor’s appointment. She was going into the office for a regular physical exam, just like she does every six months. But that day, she left with a diagnosis: Deen, the celebrity chef with a knack for buttery recipes, had Type 2 Diabetes.That was three years ago. Now, as news of her condition breaks, the Food Network personality, who turns 65 Thursday, is also revealing why she kept it a secret for so long.
Paula has had her share of health issues (she has previously been open about her struggle with acute agoraphobia) and to be honest, maybe the real reason she didn’t publicize her Diabetes diagnosis was because it wouldn’t be good for her cooking show’s ratings… Diabetes doesn’t really go well with buttery cream sauces and fried chicken!? still… she says that she has “given myself time to work with my family, talk with my family, now I feel like I have something to bring to the table” so we may soon see some new show or book… I can see it now… Cooking Delicious Food Still with Type 2 Diabetes: It Can Be Done.
She is 65 and on the plus size so of course she is going to get diabetes. I was reading earlier today where people were all up in arms because she didn’t disclose this info early. I am sure these are the same people who tried to sue Mc. Donalds over their unhealthy food and portion sizes or the same people who thought smoking was healthy until a DR had to tell them otherwise. Get some brains people!! I love Paula and her food…IN MODERATION!!
I’m from the South and Paula’s show is my favorite. I have a few of the cookbooks. If I am bringing the dessert to the party, odds are it’s a Paula Deen recipe. They are so yummy! The trick is not to eat that way all day every day. I’m sure most people don’t but there probably are a few crazy people that will come out and blame their diabetes on her now.
She makes me absolutely sick. She’s coming out with her illness now not to raise public awareness about the dangers of unhealthy eating and diabetes, but because she has a lucrative deal with a pharmaceutical company.
Thank you, Jay! I have Type 1 diabetes and find the fact that Paula Deen has for so long promoted such unhealthy foods and now will be promoting a medication for diabetes absolutely appalling. I do not believe she would have come forward about her diabetes without the pharmaceutical deal.
I’d also like everyone to take some time out of their day to read about both types of diabetes (1&2). It is unfortunate that they have the same name, because they are very different.
However, people saying Type 2 is only caused by eating unhealthy food or being lazy is plan wrong, it’s A LOT more than that. Please educate yourselves! A lot of what is being said about diabetes is very hurtful to those who have to live with it.
Thanks!
Thats not what I was saying as I have very good friends and family who have type 1 and 2. I was just saying it doesn’t surprise me if she did have type 2.
“The first treatment for Type 2 diabetes is almost always a change in diet, exercise habits, and weight loss. Type 2 diabetes disproportionately affects the sedentary, obese, and elderly. And while it, too, is incurable, it can usually be controlled without insulin therapy. ”
Read above and simmer down Nelle81. I am sorry to hear you suffer from type 1 but that is no reason to be rude to others! If you think someone doesn’t know the difference you should really educate them instead of yelling at them.
Whoa, now, darlin’! I apologize if you thought I was yelling at you. In actuality I wasn’t responding to you.
However, most people (not saying you)are extremely uneducated regarding diabetes. I was trying to point out that before anyone, again not you specifically, comments on how someone got diabetes due to their eating habits and or lack of activity that maybe they should take the time to read up on it. There are many contributing factors. There are some very skinny, active, and young people who suffer from Type 2. There are also some older “unhealthy” folks who don’t have Type 2. Genetics plays a large part in all of this.
Really, all I was trying to do was stop the spread of hurtful stereotype.
If I was being rude to you or anyone else by asking people not jump to assumptions about those with Type 2 diabetes, my bad!
Well all those butter in her food are not helping. I am a pretty healthy person, but I know I have the potential to have diabetic, since my father, aunts and uncles have it.
Butter is not a carb. Diabetics have to regulate their intake of carbohydrates, things like sugar, rice, breads, pastas, etc. fall into this category. However, butter, although unhealthy if not eaten in moderation will not cause your glucose (blood sugar) to go up, probably your cholesterol.
that’s not really fair… if she didn’t publish her private medical condition because she thought it would damage her career, who are we to judge?
I don’t think the judgement is really coming from her keeping her condition private. It is that she decided to tell everyone once she got paid for it.
It’s her personal business-if she didn’t want to share that she has diabetes-she didn’t have to. It’s not required. It might have been hard for her to accept.
When people are given such news as this they will either accept it and find out how to live with it or be stubborn and try to fight against it. Living as they always have. I’m not saying she is doing the latter, but most people don’t like change. If she brought this up and tried to alter her recipes to go better for people with diabetes-people might not take kindly to it.
She might have kept it to herself for business reasons or personal reasons-either one doesn’t really matter to me.
My father has diabetes. I don’t know what type all I know is that his blood sugar(think this is the right thing) is in between 300-400 daily. It’s bad. But he is, unfortunately, very stubborn. He’s not in the best health to begin with(he has had two heart attacks, three heart surgeries, has one kidney and his lungs are in bad shape because he has been smoking since he was nine-and still is smoking, and he has some slipped disks in his back and bad hips) Yet, he won’t change his eating habits or lifestyle. He doesn’t want food that tastes ‘bad’ and anything that looks healthy, to him, will taste bad. >.< I have to add though that my father is from Belgium, he grew up on my grandmother's cooking until he got married so he grew up with everything having to be smothered in butter or heavy cream.
Basically, Diabetes can be hard to adjust to for all. Whether they are recognized in the public eye or not.
Er..Yeah. (laughs) Sorry, I kind of got side tracked. So basically, first part of my comment has more to do with the article while the second part is me rambling about diabetes.
This news is about as shocking as if I heard kevin federline is spawning again….
i cooked butter garlic shrimp last month and it made me almost throw up coz of the butter. and imagine paula cooking with a lot of butter. it’s crazy! she should focus on food that’s healthier.
In response to your headline “Why didn’t She Tell Anyone For 3 Years?” I have to ask why so tabloidistic? Who cares if she makes fattening foods with sticks of butter and now has diabetes? It was not our business to know until she wanted the public to know. When you are diagnosed with a disease you don’t go running out to tell everyone.
@Shanny — “Who cares if she makes fattening foods with sticks of butter and now has diabetes?” Who cares? How about the people who watch her shows and use her recipes to unwittingly give themselves and their families the same disease she gave herself? I mean … c’mon. The woman has made a fortune off of unhealthy cooking … some may argue it’s her brand of cooking that ultimately led to her illness. The people who watch her shows and follow her lead might care a little.
Paula’s notoriety for her excessive use of butter and other fattening ingredients precedes her. One could say that such fame comes with responsibility- using it help people move along a happier, healthier trajectory. On the other hand, she is not forcing the viewers to consume her loaded dishes on a daily basis. It’s also likely that those viewers watch other show on the Food Channel and receive an array of cooking approaches to choose from. That being said, these are individuals making their own decisions, whether it be to over-indulge or to make one of those rich, home-cooked meals once a week.
@Jas — What really KILLS me about this is now Paula is going to endorse pharmaceutical drugs that treat diabetes. So, first she teaches people how to eat unhealthily (and makes money from doing so) and then she promotes drugs to diabetics (and, again, makes money from doing so). I mean, how gross is that?
I agree with you Trent 100% !!! People in the public eye like her should take responsibility and lead by example! Americans are sicker than they have ever been and it’s largely because of over-eating bad food and not exercising!
I have to agree with you. What I had failed to mention was that she had tactically become an extortionist with this pharmaceutical business deal. The image of the affable doughy grandmother figure I had watched for years has definitely become tainted. I hope limit the syndication of her show.
She’s scary looking. I don’t care for her at all.
ugh. her cooking turns me off. i basically live off the food network and i turn it when her show comes on. literally makes me sick!! and instantly wanna go for a 5 hour run :P
She is absolutely gross in every way there is to be gross. From the first time I heard her rediculous cackle on a food network commerical, it just was so annoying for the 30 seconds I heard it. And to see what she promoted, are you kidding me? Deep fried bacon? She is a cheap marketing ploy for every and any thing nonsensible when it comes to food and eating. YUCK.