Leave Paula Deen Alone

Twice a year - on Thanksgiving and Christmas - my daughter and I have indulge ourselves at breakfast by whipping up Paula Deen's french toast recipe. It is, bar none, the best french toast recipe EVER. French bread, eight eggs, and two cups of half-and-half comprise a small part of the recipe. As if that weren't decadent enough, there's a praline topping, utilizing 2 sticks of butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup, to name a few of the ingredients.

But, hey, this is a recipe from Paula Deen. Good grief, when Paula cooks, one fully expects lavish quantities of butter, sugar, eggs, cream, and fat to turn up in her recipes. I have never watched one of her shows, while thinking to myself, "Self, let's see what low-cal meals Paula's got for us today." I expect to salivate, all the while thinking that a steady diet of such rich meals would certainly add to my (already) fat ass, or clog my arteries. It's not rocket science.

The other day, Paula let it be known that she has type-two diabetes. Since her announcement, there's been a flurry of commentary. Paula should've told everyone! How dare she continue to cook all those rich meals with such awful ingredients? Oh, yeah, make some money promoting a pill and not change your lifestyle! She's being verbally tarred and feathered in some columns as a concious perpetrator of heart disease and obesity.

Get over it, people.

Paula Deen is a typical American success story. Once a struggling single mother suffering from agoraphobia, she started selling her homemade sandwiches to bring in some money to support her family. From that humble start, she was able to open a restaurant, specializing in homemade, and, yes, fattening, Southern fare. She was able to parlay that success into a TV career, and author numerous cookbooks.

Okay, she has diabetes. Paula has the right, as we all do, to choose to disclose her health issues - or not. No one knows what circumstances contributed to her diabetes. Her dietary choices could have been a factor - yes. There could also be a history of diabetes in her family. Ms. Deen is, I am sure, armed with the knowledge and tools to manage her diabetes. How she does so is none of my business - or anyone's business, for that matter.

She is under no obligation to become a national spokesperson for diabetes. She is also, having disclosed her condition, under any obligation to raise diabetes awareness or to choose to do fundraising for the cause. Should she choose to do so is great - and her choice alone.

The media flap, and subsequent, often derisive commentary, that has followed her announcement is ridiculous. Ms. Deen has certainly not contributed to the obesity of many Americans. We all know that a poor diet and lack of exercise can lead to many health issues. Yet too many people continue to make poor food choices and lead sedentary lives.

So, let Anthony Bourdain raise his nose in the air and prattle about the joy of consuming raw gecko anuses in the Amazon. while he continues to bash Ms. Deen - and smoke (hypocrite, much?). As for me, I'll continue to enjoy Paula's shows and cookbooks, and wish her nothing but the best with her health and life.