The National Enquirer has an exclusive this week that cooking queen Paula Deen has had type 2 diabetes, also known as adult onset diabetes, for “several years” and that she’s kept it secret. Paula of course loves to cook with butter, fat and sugar, a diet high in which is known to increase the risk of contracting diabetes. Even after her diagnosis, Paula hasn’t changed her recipes from what I can tell and has churned out insanely unhealthy recipes like a “Brunch Burger” with two different meats and a fried egg served on a Krispy Kreme donut, deep fried lasagna, and deep fried stuffing on a stick.
Paula Deen… has been diagnosed with diabetes, the Enquirer has learned exclusively.
Despite her condition, Paula continues to tout butter-rich recipes with high fat ingredients that experts say can lead to diabetes – even though sources say she’s under doctors’ orders to steer clear of those foods.
“Diabetes can be deadly because it increases her risk of heart disease, kidney failure and stroke,” Dr. Daniel Lorder, a leading endocrinologist from Flushing, NY, told the Enquirer.
“And type 2 diabetes can be directly related to obesity, which is reaching epidemic proportions in this country.”
Paula, 64, was diagnosed with diabetes several years ago, says a family friend, but she continues to plug artery-clogging dishes….
“When Paula was diagnosed with diabetes, I think she worried that if the secret got out it would make her look like a hypocrite,” a family friend told the Enquirer.
[From The National Enquirer, print edition, May 9, 2011]
The Enquirer usually gets it right when it comes to minor celebrities and I would bet this story is true. If it’s true, what is Paula going to do to explain this? Like if she came clean on her own and admitted that she’s had diabetes and is going to make healthier recipes it would be one thing and people would laud her for being honest. Instead she’s been cooking the same and now the Enquirer is outing her. The Enquirer reports that Paula herself has been “cutting the large portions of high-fat, high-calorie foods from her diet” and has “even dropped quite a bit of weight.” I don’t follow her show and it’s possible Paula has subtly changed the way she cooks without making an announcement, but this makes it sound as if she’s cooking differently for herself, but not for the public. As Kaiser told me about Paula, “She’s a lovely woman and she loves her butter,” so maybe she’s just stuck cooking the way she knows and has personally paid the price for it. I’d love to see her switch gears though and tout recipes that are better for you.
Paula Deen is shown on 5/16/10 (blue shirt) and 11/16/10 (black shirt with blue ruffle scarf). Credit: WENN.com
There are plenty of chefs touting healthy recipes – not sure she really needs to change what she does. Most of us just watch her cook (I love to watch and be shocked by what she puts into her food) – I’ve certainly never followed any of her recipes and nor would I!!!
I don’t think she should change her recipes. She is one of the only ones out there not doing healthy recipes. It is her nich.
Of course she can eat healthier. And maybe talk about how her foods are sometimes foods.
I’ve made a few of her recipes, but none more than once. I’m also in my last year (praise be) of a nutrition degree. Paula’s got no sense of moderation whatsoever in terms of her public cooking persona, it doesn’t shock me to learn she’s been living with DMT2 for years. Guy Fieri is next.
And after guy fieri, its a toss up between ann burrell and ina garten!
We had lunch @ Paula Deen’s Buffet in Tunica, Miss & the only sound that could be heard was the sound of people’s arteries clogging.
Ina would never do anything so “low class” as type 2 diabetes!
She may be a diabetic, but she can still have small portions of high-fat, high-sugar foods occasionally. I personally love every butter-drenched calorie she makes, and to change this ingredient would change the essence of the Butter Queen.
As she appears to have all appendages and blood in her veins instead of gravy, I’m thinking her diabetes is under control…she has obviously learned the rule about moderation in real life. Now if America would do the same, we could stop blaming any sizable bums and thighs on TV personalities.
Well if she has diabetes she should be honest with her fans and say look at what eating this way is doing to me (and you). But denial and greed win out of course.
Yeah, Ina’s on her way too…
Gosh, I love her but that face *haunts* me…
and if this news is true, it makes me question the many, many times we’ve seen her sample her own cooking over the years. Are those televised bites the only ones she takes of her notoriously unhealthy recipes? I find it difficult to believe that.
I think people forget there is a place in nutrition for all types of food. Obviously one would not want to use her recipes on a daily basis. But for a special meal, or special occasion, they are fun to try. Moderation, as always, is the key. You can eat healthy all week, and the have a Paula Deen type meal on the weekend and you will not develop Type II diabetes. Perhaps she needs to learn that lesson herself.
Give me a break, Enquirer. I love her cooking from time to time. I’m from Georgia and it is comfort food and nice to have every once in a while. When you make one of her recipes, it doesn’t mean you have to eat that way every day. It’s who she is. I don’t see her changing. She just needs to eat healthier a certain amount of days a week for herself. It doesn’t mean she has to change her cookbooks.
she reminds me of my mother. down to the very good, very unhealthy foods and type 2 diabetes.
She obviously doesn’t give a shit about her condition since she’s still eating like that.
I guess she loves what she eats, even if it is a health risk factor, it’s clearly one she’s willing to take. Everyone knows she cooks unhealthy food, but it’s probably delicious on a “once in a while” basis.
That lady scares the F$&% out of me, her teeth, eyes, voice and recipes
I love the woman, always have. I have southern roots as well, and her recipes remind me of my grandmothers. I have made a few and loved them (seriousy, her grits souffle is killer-ha, unintended pun).
Just because she cooks like she does on TV doesn’t mean A) that her health is anyone’s business or B) that a rationale adult would watch her show and think that it’s OK to eat that way every day.
Cooking shows are as much about entertainment as the actual food. Watching Paula, and Ina is kind of like food porn for me. I’m not going to eat that stuff regularly, but dang it’s fun to watch!
Her “thing” is super tasty super bad for you comfort food, that doesn’t mean that she indulges in it all day, every day.
Why is this some big exclusive anyway? Is anyone really surprised by it?
‘kin I just say, I love this woman – y’all! 😀
I don’t see what’s so hypocritical about what she’s doing, even if she has Type II diabetes. She’s never touted her food as being healthy, or had some fake “conversion” to healthy living.
She’s the opposite of Sandra Lee, whose attempts to “dawl up” convenience foods mainly consist of adding a metric f*ck-ton of butter, sugar, “pun’kin pie” spice and vanilla vodka. They’re just as unhealthy as Paula Deen’s, as they’re chock-full of monosodium glutemate and every additive known to Christendom.
On having Type II diabetes, I know a lot of older people can be predisposed to it, despite having a fairly healthy diet. I’d be her size and my blood sugars are normal and my cholestrol, above 5, is actually the same as the way thinner women I work with and many of my thin friends. Mind you, I don’t eat meat and amn’t a huge fan of very high-fat foods – sugar is my kryptonite.
…with some LARD on it, Y’ALL! 😉
I don’t want to hate on Paula she seems like a nice lady but if you have Type II Diabetes the time for moderate splurges is over (if they ever did exist). Once you have that kind of diagnosis your body has basically said it can’t handle that kind of food anymore end of story and continuing to eat that way will kill you with the risk of loss of limbs, blindness along the way.
I don’t understand how she has some sort of responsibility to change or advise her fans that she has this condition. It is her choice. If she wants to eat like that, she is going to pay the price. Same as everyone else. Any functioning human over the age of about 12 should either know or be able to figure out very quickly that eating butter and sugar in extreme quantities is an unhealthy way to live, and there will be reprecussions.
Hey, here’s another news flash: Smoking is bad for you.
She’s only giving the American people what they want…which is why you’ll be hard-pressed to find a person over the age of 50 not suffering from heart disease. I speak as someone whose stepfather is having triple bypass surgery this very morning. It’s all good until it isn’t and you’re faced with serious health problems. Our diets are killing us.
As an aside, what’s the perpetual crazy eyes, Paula?
Fair point, Brandy. I hope your stepfather does well; fingers crossed for him and your family.
Yes Brandy! Is them crazy eyes and toothy “Imo eat you” smile that haunts me
I agree with several of you above – Paula has never said she makes healthy food, and in fact I’ve heard her say specifically it’s for not every day eating (or, to be honest, at least the dish she was making right then). If she ate what she cooks 24/7, it’s likely ol’ Paul-er would’ve dropped dead long ago, in a big buttery swoon. As she says though: “Honey, I’m your cook, not your nurse!”
It’s classic Southern comfort food, most of which you can find a lower-fat, lower-calorie way to cook once you decide you like the recipe.
Bah, this just makes me sad. She presents an image of enjoying her food and her style of cooking but never appeared to be particularly unhealthy. I always assumed she was very good about eating that stuff in moderation. Julia Child once said “We don’t eat like this every day!”
I do enjoy her show and just don’t see how she could start halving the butter or not frying stuff to make it healthier – it would ruin the Paula Brand. I’m sure that’s why this is a secret.
Despite the crazy eyes, I love her and hope she’s taking care of her health.
She looks like Tara Reid in 5 yrs. It’s spooky
With Type 2 diabetes, you still can eat any type of food, the key is eating it in the PROPER, small quantity (and not excessive on the carbs overall) portion of food. In other words, it’s important not to overeat.
I’m not surprised she has it; I was surprised when I thought she didn’t have it.
Also, while I hope she has it under control, she wouldn’t lose her limbs so quick if it weren’t, it takes years first to develop DMT2, then for the internal damage. And even well-controlled diabetes causes damage.
There is room for any type of food in a diabetic’s diet. We don’t know that she eats that junk for every meal, every day.
Also, it’s none of our business!! We know that the food she cooks on her show is not healthy (she knows it, too–she’s not pretending to sell health food); we don’t need her diabetes as a big ITOLDYOUSO!! And lastly, HIPPA. They had NO right revealing her medical information. That is illegal. And she has no obligation to give us information on her medical condition, especially not just because she cooks unhealthy food.
Ridiculous.
I’m 5’3″, 109 lbs, have never been overweight or unfit a day in my life and I have type II diabetes. I’m a health food NUT. It’s not just for unhealthy overweight people. There is a genetic component, too. Obviously her diet likely contributed, but we don’t know her whole story and shouldn’t make assumptions.
@Brittney -” Gosh, I love her but that face *haunts* me…”
I know…. That blank ‘no one’s home’ stare, & odd obnoxiously white teeth… 0_0 Makes me immediately think of the muppets, or when the pods take over your brain… Fucking creepy.
I have all Southern roots myself, my family is from Alabama. So they do all the comfort-kill-you foods too. Most of my family has an accent, but I just can’t STAND this woman’s. So exaggerated, totally grates on my nerves…
@ meg:
She looks like Tara Reid in 5 yrs. It’s spooky
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BWAGHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAQHAHAHAHAAAA!
you are SO on the money with that one it’s SCARY! awesome. 😆
It’s sad, but a high-fat diet has replaced smoking as a socially acceptable form of suicide.
that weird face paula makes with her head tilted to the side is the same face my mother’s poodle makes shen she has to go out.
why in the world would she change a thing or need to or feel she needs to? there are certain recipes that taste should in NO WAY be compromised for health reasons. you don’t eat those ever second of every day but why make cheese soup with skim milk and fat free fake cheese and no bacon? she’s healthy weight, beautiful and happy. she’s chosing to manage diabetes (I don’t know a lot about it, I’m simply assuming that eating like that contributes to it) and it’s no body’s business. I’ll take eating what I want and it tasting damned good and having a health problem over tofu and sprouts all the time. Because, I’d kill someone.
I was behind Paula Deen at the DMV (I’m from Savannah)- she looks even CRAZIER up close, and whoever does her magazine cover airbrushing should be paid double. Woman looks like a catcher’s mit, like she’s been smoking 4 packs a day for 30 years.
her son Jamie is very sweet- he was judging a cake fundraiser I was volunteering in. Gay as a hat, but very nice. All I know is that when she got hit in the face with that frozen ham, that was played on a loop on the local news for DAYS.
Diabetes unchecked is a heartless killer.
Type 2 is the diabetes you earn with lifestyle so her diet and activity are the most likely factors.
It’s irresponsible to her kids to not make changes now and yet she’s frying lasagne and eating donut burgers? That is like taking heroine in front of your family once you get diagnosed. It’s a new ballgame now.
Yes, how great if she could use her cooking skills to make lighter foods that fit her very American tastes. She really could pave the way to get so many people eating like she does more healthy and lower on the doc bills so their families can have them healthier longer. Don’t be selfish to your family for fried lasagne, and a burger made with donuts and two kinds of meat plus an egg. It doesn’t sound that good. Sound like she’s gotten addicted to food because that is a sickening sounding combo to any moderately healthy person.
High fat isn’t the problem. Fat is burned as energy without sending blood glucose soaring. Fat does not require insulin to be burned. It is a high fat/high carb combo like chips, cookies, cakes, burgers, and fries that wreaks havoc on our metabolisms. The right combination of fat, simple carb, and salt is hyperpalatable, overriding our natural appetite regulation hormones and causing us to overeat. A high carb/low fat diet isn’t a problem for people with normal metabolisms but it is for people like Paula whose body either does not respond to insulin or does not make enough to metabolize the glucose in the bloodstream. Keep the butter and lose the flour and sugar!
“Type 2 is the diabetes you earn” – that’s pretty harsh, not to mention of uncertain veracity. As JennJenn said, it’s partly due to too many carbs, and probably partly due to too many processed foods, and my personal belief about someone I know and love with it is that DMT2 is in great part due to not nearly enough exercise for some people. Exercise improves insulin sensitivity. But there is no one cause that has been proven.
Did you know that the incidence of Type 1 DM is increasing, for unknown reasons?
Don’t get me wrong, an unhealthy diet is bad for lots of health reasons. But we probably all “earn” our cardiovascular disease, our cancer, our DM, to some degree or another. I think heavy people get more crap about it because you can see the weight gain. I don’t see anyone condemning heart patients who happen to be thin.
“Type 2 is the diabetes you earn with lifestyle so her diet and activity are the most likely factors.”
Not true. About 75% of the risk for type II diabetes is genetic. People assume that overweight people first overeat and then develop diabetes when in fact it might be the other way around: mitochondrial disfunction causes some people either not to make enough insulin or to be less sensitive. Without enough properly functioning insulin, glucose remains in the bloodstream instead of getting into cells for energy. People feel hungry even though they ate just a few hours ago. Scientists have been able to make obese rats starve to death while remaining obese by disrupting the action of insulin. As obesity expert Gary Taubes notes, saying people get fat because they overeat is like saying people become alcoholics because they drink too much. The $64,000 questions is WHY people overeat. It’s not a simple matter of food abundance because the Japanese manage to maintain the lowest obesity rates in the OECD in spite of having been a developed country for decades.
Besides, type II diabetes is not one but several related diseases. One type, MODY, is a combination of type I and II. The pancreas eventually makes less and less insulin despite changes in lifestyle, but the loss is gradual over many years, even decades, rather than suddenly or within a few years as in type I. Thin type II diabetics often have MODY.
@JennJenn – “It’s not a simple matter of food abundance because the Japanese manage to maintain the lowest obesity rates in the OECD in spite of having been a developed country for decades.”
The best I can figure… it’s a combination of the abundance of food (including the sheer MASS of choices we have in the junk food department) paired with a serious lack of activity. We’re hitting ourselves on both ends, in our food choices, & in our sedentary lifestyle.
Granted there are a lot genetic factors that contribute as well, & some people are subject to metabolism problems as a result. I try not to judge based on appearence alone for that reason.
Ooh, the diabetic police are gonna be on her ass for her recipes. How many more famous cooks are gonna come out of the diabetic closet?????? Sad part is they don’t need to be in the closet. I work with a diabetic and she has the worst eating habits. But it’s not my place to scold her or manage her health. The public always wants celebs to be spokespersons for causes. I’m sorry a person’s health is a private matter and doesn’t need to be commented on by other people.
About that southern accent – I lived in Atlanta for 3 years and observed the following: The educated Georgia accent is a soft drawl, barely discernable except for a few y’alls in sentence structure. However, there is also a redneck accent, which is unfortunately what Paula has and what we see parodied as a southern accent in TV and movies. I used to entertain my granddaughter with the Paula Dean show. The way she pronounces “oil” like “all” is hilarious.
First of all some of you are ill informed about Type 2 diabetes. You don’t have to be overweight to get diabetes. Eating a high fat diet does not give you diabetes, but eating a high carbohydrate diet will, and having relatives with the diabetes gene increases your chances of becoming a diabetic. Looking at Paula, it’s not surprise that she’s Type 2. Many of the dishes she makes are high in carbohydrates are are high on the glycemic scale. The one chef I think also has diabetes is the Barefoot Contessa;. She has that look around the middle that most diabetics have.
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