Cheers To A Delicious Life, America! Pass The Butter and the Novo Nordisk, Please.

Perhaps this batter was for a cake...where everyone was having just one slice...right?

Only a week later, this blog has already been overwritten. But it is such a huge issue in the media and nutrition world, I wanted to touch on it as well. Most of us who follow news know by now, famed cookbook author and television personality Paula Deen came out last week. Known for her Southern drawl and enthusiasm for high-fat and fried foods, Deen has been a closet type 2 diabetic for three years. Having seduced us with unhealthful, butter filled recipes on the one hand while she secretly checked her blood sugar with the other, Deen is now under some major scrutiny in the media.

The media craze surrounding the news of her illness is exactly the sort of publicity camraderie the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk must have been dreaming of when it hired Deen to be the spokesperson for its latest marketing campaign. Deen, along with her two sons, have been hired to to help the rest of us, see “Diabetes in a New Light,” according to one of many links to the Novo Nordisk website. Paula Deen also wants you to “live a life that is delicious.” Hopefully that’s also portion controlled and low sugar based.

Surely Deen fans with the disease will start asking their doctors if the $500-a-month Novo Nordisk drug she takes could be right for them, not because they need a new medication but because it will bring them closer to being like Deen. Which is what celebrity endorsements are all about, right? Like when Jillian Michaels was endorsing diet supplements. Like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant endorsing VitaminWater. I mean…if we take whatever supplement/medication/sports drink a celebrity claims to take, it brings us that much closer to being like them…right? I am not saying that is a good thing, I am just saying…this is what happens.

There is much debate in the blog world, also the nutrition world, over what Deen knew, when she knew it, and the amount of sugar, fat (butter!!) and calories she dished out in the meantime. But truthfully, the worst thing she might be guilty of is being a savvy entrepreneur. The woman has a famous face and people who like her will listen to what she has to say, be it about biscuits or diabetes medication.

I can recall a few years back when I was still in school, my younger brother, who probably doesn’t cook much more than chicken in a stir fry pan, was talking to me about a television cooking show he was addicted to, and he started mimicking her drawl and saying how she cooked everything with butter. Paula Deen is a character. She is loud and boisterous and puts on a good show. My brother thought the gluttony of her recipes was funny. He was smart enough to know that obviously he should not eat that sort of food on a regular basis. But she was entertaining, and thus he paid attention to her.

I do recall the original USA Today article with Deen saying that T.V food is not for every day. She says she suspects she will “…stick to my roots but will say a little louder, 'Eat this in moderation. You don't want to make a steady diet of just lettuce. You don't want to make a steady diet of fried chicken." That, my friends, is reality. Paula Deen never told anyone to eat fried eggs, fried chicken, cheesy grits, and butter cake on a daily basis. Most people I know with Type 2 Diabetes, including my father, do still eat a slice of chocolate cake, or a burger and fries every now and then. But not every day. 

Unfortunately, you probably won’t see Paula Deen discussing the complications of this disease. The National Institute of Health lists the life-threatening complications: Heart disease, stroke, hypertension, blindness, kidney disease, nervous system disease, amputations, dental problems, pregnancy complications. Other devastating complications  include coma, greater risk of death from pneumonia, trouble with physical activity for those over 60 and (surprise!) depression. 

Like I said earlier, my father has Type 2 Diabetes, so I have seen some of the damages this disease can do over time. I can say with some jurisdiction that while a diabetic’s life is manageable, it is certainly not always delicious and if they don’t watch themselves, there are dire consequences. A diabetic better not skip a meal, or wait too long between meals, or eat too much or too little at a meal, or eat too much fruit, or consume too much alcohol…the list seems to go on and on of the can’s and can not’s. Doesn’t sound like a delicious life now, does it?

I am not sure that even Paula Deen can make this disease seem better, even with her cheery grin and hospitable persona. But she can try and put a band-aid over the issue…because this is America--and we love a familiar television face and an opportunity for a quick fix.