Celebrity Chef Paula Deen Has Type-2 Diabetes

by Susan Cross | Posted: January 24th, 2012 | No Comments »

Friends often ask me which cooking shows are my favorite. They often look surprised to learn that I don’t watch any of them. How could someone who loves food so much not watch them? Here’s the thing about food magazines and cooking shows: our minds are very suggestive, and we’re visual beings, so what do you think happens when we tune in to these shows? We are all of a sudden very, very hungry. We are being hypnotized by gastronomic pleasures.

Whenever I have watched a few, like when Mario Batali had his show on a few years back, there was never anything I would really cook. Most of the recipes call for pounds of butter, cream, heavy meats, breading and a deep fryer! All yummy, but we can’t really eat that way every day.

Enter, Paula Deen. Deen is a celebrity chef. Most people know her for her bubbly personality and her two greatest loves – her sons and fried food. Both usually appear on every show. Deen has recently revealed that she has type 2 diabetes. I’m truly sorry to hear whenever anyone has a health problem. However, I also want to share that this is often what happens if your diet is mostly fried, fatty foods. We have to stop acting surprised when we fall ill if we don’t better manage our lifestyle.

There are two main types of diabetes; type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is often referred to as juvenile diabetes because it’s usually diagnosed during childhood and it has nothing to do with obesity. In fact, most children with type 1 are thin. With type 1, the pancreas, which secretes insulin, doesn’t have the correct antibodies to make insulin, and these children/adults then need insulin shots every day.

Type 2 diabetes is often referred to as adult-onset diabetes, but please know it is spreading amongst children as well. Type 2 is caused from insulin resistance and is associated with metabolic syndrome, heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It is brought on almost always by poor nutrition and lifestyle choices. It is usually treated by replacing bad nutrition and a sedentary lifestyle, with healthy food and exercise. The vast majority of diabetics in the United States have type 2 (or the type that can be reversed). Only about 10-15% of people have type 1.

I know there is a lot of talk on this subject and it is often confusing. I am writing this to remind everyone that each choice we make, each and every day, can yield big health rewards. Please think of food as an investment in your future health. Often when celebrities get an illness it does shine a light on that illness and then research and development money is raised and cures are often found. For example Michael J. Fox and his remarkable work with Parkinson’s disease.

In Deen’s case she has been asked to be the spokesperson of a new type 2 diabetes drug! The reason this makes me so annoyed is because type-2 is very curable. Prescription drugs do not promote health. This really sends the wrong message – that you can eat whatever you want and just pop a pill. If you do have type-2 diabetes and change your lifestyle you will most likely not need to take drugs. Why bombard your body even further when you can make better choices all by yourself?

I will go into this in further detail, but to get you started on balancing your blood sugar, better food choices must be made. Sugar has a glycemic index of 100. To keep blood sugar low, which is your goal, you need to choose foods that are low on the glycemic index. For example, a white flour bagel scores an 85, whereas a piece of stoneground whole wheat toast is a 45. That is almost half. These numbers add up quickly.

It’s a New Year. Let’s turn off the television – especially those bad cooking shows and reality television, and take responsibility for our own reality, our health!

By the way, if you just have to have fried chicken every now and then, visit my recipe section for high-protein baked chicken. You won’t believe what the bread crumbs are made from. It’s delicious ya’ll!