So Paula Deen has diabetes. Had it for a while, I am told. But once the news leaked to the press (and by “leaked” I mean she signed a freaking contract to be a highly paid spokesperson for a diabetes drug), the “foodie” world went into asshole overdrive.
Now, let me be clear about this. I strongly dislike Paula Deen and everything she stands for. Her food is shit, her restaurants suck, she’s genuinely annoying, gives us Southerners a bad name, and she is a parasite on the beauty that is culinary arts. She is a commercial sellout whose “products” are overpriced and underwhelming. She is, in short, not someone I’d spend an evening cooking with or whose food I’d want to eat.
But she has diabetes. And, suddenly, everyone sees an “in” to assail her. As if she hadn’t given us enough reasons to dislike her, this is the big one, the one we supposedly can all agree on. Butter and fat and lard and boxes of sugar and beer battered bacon made her sick.
Bullshit. Unless you’re the very physician who got her diagnosis and knows her story there’s nothing to reasonably suggest why she has diabetes. Tens of thousands of Americans, living healthy and abstaining from pounds of butter and sugar, every year are diagnosed with this illness. Sure, there’s some ways to speed up or even cause diabetes and weight, diet, and lifestyle in general are not rarely a cause. But we do not know this. We don’t know the medical backstory. And unless you do, unless you’re looking at a chart and an anamnesis and her blood work and more it’s best to shut the hell up and work with things we know.
We know she’s a bad cook. We know she’s as fake as a three dollar bill. We know her food is crap. We know she employs more ghost writers and message massagers than cooks. We know that. All that makes her a bad role model and an even worse cook. Isn’t that enough?
Steve Jobs lived a mostly vegetarian, often fruititarian, life. So, does this mean his diet caused his cancer and killed him? Jay Hewitt has diabetes and is one of the healthiest people on the planet, otherwise. Billy Mills, Marine and world class Olympic runner, has diabetes. Surely he must have wrecked himself with bad food. Halle Berry is a vegan. She has diabetes. The list goes on.
Don’t assume. Assumptions are for idiots and schmucks. There’s more than enough on this buttered plate of Paula Deen’s to dislike her, there’s no need to attack her on something she may, or may not, be completely not in control of.
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You are so right. I don’t agree with your vitriol about Paula, but people need to lay off the “diabetes” assault.
Jesus. They rip on her for being diabetic and you rip on her for so much more! have a heart, Jonas! :)
I do. I don’t assault people over their illnesses. Their actions and sell-out tactics, on the other hand, that’s their doing. And, especially for someone who puts themselves front and center and holds up her hand for cashola in the process, that’s fair game :)
There is a huge difference between type I and type II. This point needs to be made. My understanding is that people like Ms. Berry have type I, but I could be wrong. Type I can happen to anyone and comes on with genetics. Type II can also happen to anyone, and does, with the right combination of bad habits, but also with another set of bad genes. If you’re a woman, your ovaries can turn on you and you’ll be in great risk of heart disease and type II. I’ve seen thinner than paper women with type II, and my MIL is rolly polly and has to deal with type I which came on in her late 70s.
Let’s get real here. Only one of the two types is preventable, and moreso with exercising than diet, while the other just happens no matter what. Paula, as far as I know, never told anyone what type she has. If she has type I, she only has genetics and aging to blame and will be on meds for life. If she has type II, she will need to start moving her fat southern ass while taking insulin till she loses enough weight to ween herself off for life.
And not one diabetic specialist has told me food is the only contributor, but rather is one of many, and not even the #1 offender. Lack of exercising and moving is.
Completely agreed with you. When I wrote this piece we knew nothing about her, not even which type she has. It seems to be rather clear, now, that she has Type 2, but even then – as you say – it’s not always the food and not always preventable.
Thank you for a great response and reality check :)
But, is it clear now? I mean, really? My MIL is huge but has type I. Her daughter is only slightly smaller and has type II. My point is we can’t tell just by looking.
Apparently, yes, it’s clear that she’s Type 2. She said as much on telly. On the other hand my ex girlfriend was a vegetarian and underweight and got Type 2 as a 35th birthday present a while back…
I stand corrected. My husband reminded me that his mother is round all over and his sister is round in the gut. I remember my doctor saying the more you have a large Buddah belly, the better the chance of heart disease and type II diabetes. Paula is round all over like my MIL, not gut heavy like my SIL. My money is on type I.
Also, her partnering up with a drug company leads me to believe she knows she’ll be taking meds for life, not exercising with insulin till she loses a lot of weight to stabilize her hormones and sugar levels.
Oh, there’s NO doubt in my mind that she’s an opportunist and a greedy, greedy, woman :)