Paula Deen And The Epidemic Of Obesity

Every voice in the world of food has seen fit to add their two cents to the drama surrounding Paula Deen's decision to first hide her diabetes diagnosis, then capitalize on it, all the while pushing food that can directly lead to the diagnosis in the first place. So, being the opinionated person that I am, I decided to loft my pennies into the wishing well too.

The population of the United States is currently eating themselves to an early grave. This is the undeniable truth of what is happening in our country, and people seem to want to avoid the subject. Suddenly Paula Deen makes millions off of endorsing a medication to help people 'live with' diabetes, and the world comes down on her from the perch of their high horse. There are several things that are going on here, and I believe that all of them deserve attention. First off, if someone offered me millions to endorse a product, I would have a tough time turning that down. Barring some extreme examples, I wouldn't even think about it, the only response would be "where do I sign?" The difference between myself and many other people is that I have the capacity to be honest with you, and with myself. Paula Deen has diabetes, and someone offered her and her sons generational money to be celebrity spokespeople. She took it, essentially because she isn't an idiot. After all, money talks in a big way.

The stickier situation seems to arise when you begin to ponder the career of Ms. Deen, who has been instructing people in a form of cooking that could best be described as decadent, to put it mildly. She loves her butter, she loves her fat, and she damn sure loves her sugar. She has made her name being the self-proclaimed queen of a form of southern cooking that is neither authoritative, nor airtight in its authenticity. The legacy of southern cooking is about much more than just butter and deep frying everything in sight. Its roots are really that of an agrarian society that was shaped by the bounties of it's harvests. This is not the legacy Ms.  Deen has chosen to embrace, and unfortunately, millions of her fans have followed her down the dark path of overindulgence. With all this in my mind, I must admit that I am a huge fan of butter. I love fat, particularly the variety that comes from the pig. I have also been known to wallow in the joys of sugar, and the creation of desserts that feature luxury ingredient prominently. Yet this holy trinity is not always on display in the way I cook or eat. I practice moderation while recognizing that these things do not have to be at the forefront of every meal. Julia Child taught everyone, including me, about how beautiful butter could be, but the manner in which she did it was worlds away from the over the top decadence that Paula Deen has employed. She has used unhealthy foods as her calling card, only to find out the cost first hand. Ms. Deen has now claimed that she has "always encouraged moderation". I find this statement akin to a drug dealer uttering the same words, trying desperately to hide the grin that is brewing just below the surface.

I don't even have a problem with the fact that she has promoted and extolled the virtues of a diet that is undoubtedly unhealthy, she is free to do so. My problem lies in her refusal to own up to it in any convincing manner. Seeing Paula and her sons on a talk show doing damage control spin, all the while dancing around the subject with the finesse of ballerinas, is remarkable indeed. Ms. Deen has known of her diagnosis for the past three years. and during this time she continued to promote the same lifestyle that led to her own health problems. Now she felt that it was time to let the world know that she has diabetes. Oh yeah, it also coincides with the beginning of her endorsement of Norvo Nordisk's new diabetes medication. Anthony Bourdain summed it up best when he twittered the astute analogy, "Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later." This is sketchy to say the very least, but is Paula Deen really to blame for all this? Yes and no. She has certainly avoided any public responsibility, but do we not live in a country that is avoiding this reality at every turn?

The real problem is that we, as a nation, are refusing to admit and become proactive about the problem of obesity, diabetes, and poor food choices in our country. Not convinced that this statement is true? Well ask yourself, how comfortable do you feel in discussing the health issues associated with being overweight? How about talking directly to someone who is overweight? Ask anyone who smokes whether people have any problem with pointing out the dangers of smoking. If you are a smoker and you go to a dinner party with people you barely know, without fail, someone is going to bring up the fact that you should quit. If someone is overweight, will anyone at the party have the balls to say something to them? I think not. People try to rationalize this by saying that smoking is an unhealthy choice that people make, and being overweight is 'who someone is', and therefore it is discriminatory to say anything about it. Somehow, being overweight has become a special protected class that is strangely untouchable. How does someone become overweight? Barring the very rare cases of medical conditions, it is from the over-consumption of products that aren't healthy for you, usually combined with a sedentary lifestyle. Smoking is the over-consumption of a product that is unhealthy for you. Do you see where I'm going with this? So why have we turned on smoking, yet we remain strangely ambivalent towards the epidemic of obesity that is ravaging our nation?

I have empathy for Paula Deen and anyone else who is overweight or afflicted with diabetes. My own father is terribly overweight, and suffering the horrific health consequences that come along with it. It is heartbreaking to watch, and at times, even more heartbreaking to talk about. When I think of my father and what he is going through right now, I am often brought to tears. But I won't do is stand by silently as people I love are suffering. I smoked for years, and people who cared about me encouraged me to quit, supported me during the process of several attempts, and congratulated me when I got on the other side. I have known grandmothers who sent their smoking grandchildren newspaper clippings on the dangers of their habit for years on end. Would they have done the same if they were overweight? Doubtful. It is time for everyone to step up and speak the truth.

Being overweight does not make you a bad person, or weak, or second-rate in any way shape or form. It is a problem, and one that can be tackled and remedied both individually and as a community. While Paula Deen is busy promoting a drug to help 'manage' Diabetes, we all seem to forget that the disease is both preventable and treatable through two things, food and exercise. Unfortunately, large pharmaceutical companies won't make any money from those two options. Oh yeah, fast food companies would take a hit too. And the corporations that churn out thousands of new processed food options every year? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be happy either. It is no big secret that pharmaceutical companies have long dreamed of the day when they would find the mythical unicorn of a disease that is 'managed' by the consumption of one of their products each and every day. Unfortunately they have found the ailment in the growing waistlines of our population. Lipitor, which helps lower cholesterol, is the highest selling drug of all time, and new drugs to battle the effects of an unhealthy diet will continue to hit the market. These drugs will be a boon not only for the companies that sell them, but for the food industry as a whole. Because the effects of a poor diet can be 'treated' by a pill,  the same food that has made so many people sick, will continue to be the norm. It's time to take a stand on this issue, because it's not too late to turn the ship around.

The most unfortunate result of the the Paula Deen debacle is that it is a lost opportunity. Had Ms. Deen come forward to tell her story in the hopes of helping others not fall down the same hole, the world may have been changed for the better. Instead, she went the rout of spokesperson, with no accountability for past transgressions, rendering any hope for positive change futile. But maybe Ms. Deen knew something that the rest of us have failed to acknowledge--that we simply aren't ready to look at the problem. If you think that isn't true, I ask you to consider the way our First Lady Michelle Obama has been lambasted for her stance on better food and a healthier lifestyle, the issue she has chosen to champion. Forget any politics associated with her husband for one brief second and simply consider that Mrs. Obama has chosen to tackle the task of helping people to become healthier through the use of pure healthy ingredients, and the reliance on exercise to increase effective health. For this stance she has been lambasted. Is it not crazy that she has been attacked from all sides for the simple desire to help our nation be healthier? This is indicative of the real problem in our country when it comes to food and health--we don't want to hear it. Unfortunately the time has come where we can no longer claim ignorance. People are literally dying everywhere you look, long before their time. As a community we need to help each other, we need to stand together, and we need to stop pretending that this is just going to go away. It is time to listen, and it is time to speak. It's time for a change.