Have you heard? Paula Deen, a popular chef on the Food Network who is famous for the food she adds to her pots of butter has Type 2 diabetes. I don't know if I was more shocked by her diagnosis or the fact that there were people out there that DIDN'T know who she was!
Her show focuses on Southern Cooking which isn't exactly competing with the Mediterranean diet that's best known for being one of the healthiest diets. As a (somewhat southern gal...as they say) I can tell you that fried chicken, fried catfish, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, pot pies, country fried steak, biscuits with sausage gravy and on and on are loooooooved! It's comfort food for God's sake! Who would have thought that comfort food would be so bad for you?
I'd like to say she "shared" her diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. We here in the D.O.C. know that this is about as personal as it gets. To share, or not to share? That IS the question. People in the media, tweeters, and commenters on news articles have been vicious and ruthless in their opinions and attacks on Ms. Deen. It's stunning to say the least.
Sure, maybe it is complicated by the fact that Paula Deen is a chef with a reputation for foods that are well known to be unhealthy. So I am sure it is fair to have a discussion how this all plays together. What I DON'T understand is how people are almost treating her like she has broken the law.
Gwen Ifill tweeted:
Interesting that - 3 yrs after diagnosis - Paula Deen admitted her diabetes only after she had a drug co. deal. #professionalskeptic
— gwen ifill (@pbsgwen) January 17, 2012
Admitted? As someone on twitter said...it's not a crime, so I recycled that notion.
As a frequent Morning Joe viewer, I was waiting to hear Mika bring up Paula Deen. I had watched her tweets start chatter about Deen leading me to believe that she would mention this on the show. What I was not expecting is what Joe Scarborough said that left my mouth agape. What seemed as a very casual side note, he admitted he personally believed his son's Type 1 diabetes was caused by poor eating habits. As a Type 1 diabetic I think my first thought was "WTF!!!???"
I took to Twitter...(which I am usually just a Twitter Voyer as I know I don't have a lot of followers. Basically, I am tweeting myself. Pathetic...I know. But a great way to follow news and be active.) I tweeted a couple of things, but this is the tweet he responded to followed by his response.
@Morning_Joe @morningmika @JoeNBCType 1 diabetes not caused by poor eating habits. I'm a T1, my dad a T1.My house was healthy growing up
— Christine (@motherforpeace) January 23, 2012
@motherforpeace @Morning_Joe @morningmika That is the science of it all. As I said this morning, that is not open to debate medically.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 23, 2012
@motherforpeace @Morning_Joe @morningmika I was not clear on this matter.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 23, 2012
I am not looking to silence Joe. He has the right to his own opinions. I would never venture to get personal as it is his son and a line I would never cross. However, I would love to ask him: "How do you explain babies who have Type 1?" Guess the mom gave her 2 month old too much Hershey's Syrup in her breast milk! I can't tell you how many times I would find my infant in the cupboard hopped up on Sour Punch Straws. I worried incessantly about her getting Type 1 like me, her mother. But you know these types of infants. They bring it on themselves from the horrible lifestyles that they have.
The conversations I would LOVE, actually BEG to see, is an examination of Paula Deen's treatment by society and the media after she shared her diagnosis and the impact that it has on the diabetes community. Weren't many of us who are diabetic sent reeling wondering how this disease was going to impact our lives? Weren't those who didn't know anything about diabetes and it's impact on your way of living feel like they were sideswiped the day they were diagnosed? And don't forget, there are many of us who were very ill at the time of diagnosis. It is a lot to absorb. Some things were obvious and upfront, other ways this disease touches our lives that doesn't show up until later. How long did it take you to get on track and adjust? Now, imagine your line of work is cooking food. I think those in the media and who have criticized Deen for keeping her diagnosis under wraps have proven the WHY she hid it.
Having said all of that, what remains is the bitter taste that people have after hearing she is being paid by a drug company and that this is the presumed "WHY" in why she has "come forward". They feel she hid it when it was beneficial to her and revealed her disease when she is to profit from it. Good Greif! I'd scream it from the highest mountain or the tallest skyscraper if I profited from it. So I guess people have more of a problem that she has made her diagnosis profitable after selling her recipes that are unhealthy. In the campaign to combat obesity, it's tag lines and simple synopses have led many people to believe she is solely responsible for her disease. It's a factor that contributes to the risks increasing, but no one can say for certain that it was the single cause. So the question then becomes, why is the media and society pouncing on Deen?
Now, there is an article in the Huffington Post that she is shocked at the lack of support from her peers in the cooking community. A top food publicist states, "To only tell the truth when you have locked in a paid spokesperson deal for a non-insulin medication is just too toxic for anyone to want to be involved with." Toxic?!! Last time I checked my diabetes supplies, I didn't need a hazmat suit. It's freakin' diabetes not nuclear waste!
Were we this way about Jennifer Hudson, Jenny McCarthy, or Janet Jackson when they became paid representatives for weight loss systems? Or how about that guy Jared who lost weight eating Subway sandwiches? They all profit. Paula Deen is not the sole overweight individual on the Food Network who is cooking and serving up unhealthy cuisine. She is just the first to share she is a person living with diabetes. I am guessing, but this seems like the FoodNetwork's biggest fear. You can peddle unhealthy food but as long as you "cop" to the diagnosis of diabetes in a prescribed amount of time. And certainly not promote a "non-insulin" product in combination with a delayed revelation. Now that's just toxic.
So many are pointing fingers. But the old saying goes, when you point your finger at someone, there are three pointing back at you. I can identify with Deen. It's a tough crowd out here. Not everyone is understanding and informed when they first hear I am a diabetic. Downright cruel at times. So the way I figure it is this...I'll support her even if I don't really like the fact that she is moving on to promoting and profiting from a drug. This disease is hard enough with the amount of guilt we can lay on ourselves on a daily basis. There is a reason I sought out a place like TuDiabetes...support. Shaming is not going to do a thing but hurt us all...sometimes quite literally.
As a side note: I have realized a pattern in all of this that is the likely reason that propelled me to get opinionated and determined enough to write this dissertation on Paula Deen's diabetes. There are some hot button words that irk me. Feel free to add yours.
hid, admit, cop to, toxic, come forward, expected
(Just after finishing this blog, I looked at the news and saw that Deen's publicist quit. Jeepers!)