For a disease that is totally reversible in 95% of the cases. Disgusting for sure, but not that surprising.
From the video below, Paula and her friend create a doughnut burger with two doughnuts, a beef burger, a fried egg and 4 or 5 slices of bacon.
Last week we learned that celebrity chef Paula Deen has type 2 diabetes and that she has found a way to make money off of it—without changing her horrible eating habits. She now has an endorsement deal with a Danish pharmaceutical firm that makes medications for her disease—drugs that cost about $500/month.
So, do you think she might be planning to change her eating habits and perhaps try to help some of her viewers avoid developing diabetes in the first place? Not. From the New York Times article (see link below)…
All the same, Ms. Deen said she would not change her own lifestyle or cooking style drastically, other than to reduce portion sizes of unhealthful foods. “I’ve always preached moderation,” she said. “I don’t blame myself.”
According to the Times article, Paula Deen for the past ten years has been “wielding slabs of cream cheese and mounds of mayonnaise and has become television’s self-crowned queen of Southern cuisine and one of the country’s most popular chefs, with an empire built on layers of gooey butter cake, fried chicken and sheer force of personality.” (See video below of her disgusting creativity in action—her doughnut burger.)
As with heart disease, Dr. Dean Ornish states on the cover of our book, type 2 diabetes is almost completely reversible with an optimal diet.
Not that surprising. While her behavior appears to be extreme as it ignores the future health of her viewers, should we be surprised? She has just decided to focus on what the “health care industry” tells us every single day,
Type 2 diabetes is not your fault. And, with the right combination of insulin and drugs, you can “manage” your disease for the rest of your life.
Although many physicians have completely reversed type 2 diabetes in 95% of their patients with diet change only, try to find that piece of information on the American Diabetes Association website. It’s not there.
No, Paula Deen is not the villain here; she’s just taking financial advantage of our extended f00d-healthcare-pharmaceutical-government-media “system” of maintaining the status quo and making money. You see, there’s not a lot of money to be made if millions Americans suddenly start getting healthy.
My colleague Dr. Greger posted an article on VegSource.com earlier this week (See link below.) He contrasted Paula’s behavior with that of Yul Brynner, who taped a commercial for the American Cancer Society the year before he died…
“Now that I’m gone,” he pleaded into the camera, “I tell you: Don’t smoke, whatever you do, just don’t smoke.”
Dr. Greger continued. Celebrity chef Paula Deen, known for using doughnuts to bun her bacon-and-egg burgers, could have used her diabetes diagnosis in the same way, in hopes that others wouldn’t make the same mistakes.
Instead, she announced yesterday, she is partnering “with a reputable pharmaceutical company” as spokesperson for a $500-a-month diabetes drug (with side-effects that may include pancreatitis and thyroid cancer). Instead of withdrawing her endorsements for Smithfield ham and Philadelphia cream cheese, Paula Deen just added another to the list. It would be as if Yul Brynner’s last breaths were instead spent hawking chemo.
Welcome to the Paula Deen Show
Before you watch, you may want to make sure your will is up to date.
So what do her fans think about her new role as a drug endorser? Mixed, as you might expect. From the Times article,
“Thousands of Ms. Deen’s fans tweeted their support and posted messages of sympathy on her Facebook wall Tuesday.
But many others questioned her motives in concealing the condition for so long, or said they spotted hypocrisy in her decision to profit from an illness that they believe she had abetted. On Facebook, Dolly Furst of Pennsylvania posted: “Sorry Paula. I think you hid the disease because the network thought people would dump your show.”
The Bottom Line. Our “system” is broken and can only be fixed with a grassroots revolution of people like us. As we spread the word about plant-based nutrition, gradually people everywhere will eventually have their own “blinding flash of the obvious” and start making better food choices.
Then, our free market system will deliver those healthy foods, and the former healthcare and pharmaceutical companies will slowly shrink to virtual insignificance. No, Sal, it may not happen during our lifetimes, but it will happen. In the meantime, eat more broccoli. Here are a few of my recent blogs on the topic of type 2 diabetes.
J. Morris Hicks, author and activist. Working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.
The GEICO health promotion project — without the little gecko.
Got Type 2 Diabetes? “Get rid of it,” says Dr. Ornish
American Hangnail “Association.” Do we need one?
One more thing. A shot in the arm for our revolution would be for Paula Deen to accept the “bet” from Dr. John McDougall about reversing her diabetes instead of just managing it. Click here for all the details.
If you’d like to order our book on Amazon, visit our BookStore now.
Want to receive some occasional special news from us? You may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page.
And if you like what 4-Leaf eating is doing for you and your family, you might enjoy visiting our new “4-Leaf Gear” store. From the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.
—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com
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J. Morris Hicks, engineer. writer. big picture guy. 
I think you have it right when you say “blinding flash of the obvious” and Paula Deen just hasn’t had that flash yet. I believe I did and I often try to recall just what did it for me. Maybe reading The China Study did it for me, maybe a combination of a number of books or articles, talking to experts, not sure. It just seems so obvious when you finally look at the Standard American Diet from ‘the other side’- that side being the whole foods plant based diet. The ‘grassroots revolution’ needs to find out what the ‘trigger’ is that will convince people like Paula Deen to stand back and take a ‘big picture’ look at the diet she promotes and uses herself.
Enjoyed your book!
J.
If you really think about it, Paula is leading by example. If you want to look like her and have poor health then follow her diet. As I am sure you agree, she is not being deceptive just ill-educated on health.
And Radioman: The world is only miserable for those who make it that way. I feel sorry for the “Paula Deens” of the World who are eating themselves into misery.
Bill
..in some way i’m thankful for these people, they show me how to avoid such troubles, indirectly ;} ..to bad there is too many examples, therefore leading right life in such jungles is not always easier, paradox ;]
;} what a miserable world
I’ve seen first hand that a diabetes diagnosis doesn’t have the impact on people as, let’s say, a cancer or heart disease diagnosis (although it should). Perhaps, most have been collectively lulled into thinking that it is a “manageable” disease. In reality, diabetes medication only slightly slows down the inevitable decline into really disastrous outcomes.
Promoting obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, drugs, ill health and early death.
Way to go Paula!!!
(Oh. I meant to say there’s nothing wrong with raw nuts and seeds either.)
Barbara
I agree, Sal. The Mercola article begins with a mishmash of a few possibly true but overly exaggerated facts about statins, and then goes on with a mishmash of diet advice. They make the astonishing claim that as long as you keep your cholesterol below 330 and follow the rest of their diet, you’ll be fine. Interesting. They also recommend eliminating grains and sugars, replacing them with mostly whole, fresh vegetable carbs; eating a good portion of your food raw, and using olive oil, coconut and coconut oil, organic raw dairy products and eggs, avocados, raw nuts and seeds, and organic grass-fed meats as appropriate for your nutritional type. Yikes. Nothing wrong with whole fresh vegetables, but Mercola sure makes them keep company with lots of strange bedfellows.
Here is T. Colin Campbell’s excellent response to Mercola. http://www.vegsource.com/news/2009/09/dr-campbell-responds-to-dr-mercola.html
Video clip: Two fat blobs extolling the virtues of the super SAD…how pathetic the hypocrisy. They will get what they deserve as will the their gullible disciples…what price for their corruption (?)
Glazed doughnuts…Not!
Eat more broccoli.
Sal Liggieri
I listened to a show on WNYC or NPR about Paula Deen and diabetes. It featured Marion Nestle – the nutrition expert at NYU who’s generally very reputable. She said some interesting things about the evils of the soda industry, but when it came to the cause of diabetes, she insisted that it has nothing to do with what you eat – just how many calories you take in. I had thought, for sure, a show on public radio would be presenting more up-to-date information, and they’d talk about the work of Neal Barnard at PCRM or Joel Fuhrman or any of the other doctors who are successfully reversing diabetes with a whole foods plant-based diet. But no. The only thing I can think of is that even though they don’t accept advertising, they may have some big donors who don’t stand to profit off the sale of broccoli.
(By the way, just to confirm I had heard Marion Nestle right, and hadn’t missed the minute where she screamed “LOW FAT PLANT BASED” into her mike, I checked online. Here’s an essay she wrote, the final sentence of which is: “Mrs. Deen’s food is best eaten in moderation.” Moderation? Does that mean half a donut and a 4oz cheeseburger?)
http://www.foodpolitics.com/tag/diabetes/
Another very informative article. The videos added always give one a chance to learn more about the subject. Many people are resorting to statins because of their eating habits in the hope of lowering blood cholesterol. Here is an interesting video which shows additional harm people may experience when using statins.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/28/are-statin-drugs-harmful-to-health.aspx
The 4Leaf program is a better way to solve the problem or keep it from developing in the first place.