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Paula Deen Type 2 Diabetes

February 25, 2012 by · Comments Off on Paula Deen Type 2 Diabetes 

Paula Deen Type 2 Diabetes, When Matilde Arango got the chance Friday to meet Food Network’s Paula Deen at Miami Children’s Hospital, one of the first things she asked was about her idol’s health.

Since the star who made her name from Southern comfort cooking announced last month that she has Type 2 diabetes, Arango is one of many fans that have been concerned about Deen. But others in the culinary and health worlds have criticized Deen for waiting nearly three years to go public with her diagnosis.

Arango couldn’t believe her good fortune when she had the chance to meet Deen up close at Miami Children’s Hospital. Deen, who is in town for the South Beach Food & Wine Festival, came to tour the hospital Friday along with her husband Michael Groover and son Bobby Deen.

“I don’t want her cooking with a lot of butter,” said Arango, whose granddaughter, Laura Berry, was at Miami Children’s for appendicitis. “I want her to focus on taking care of herself. We all love her. Look at how well she looks.”

Deen, who acknowledges she has lost weight, said she has made changes in her lifestyle including walking a half hour a day on a treadmill, cutting sweet tea out of her diet and adjusting her portions. But she’s not giving up the Southern food she loves or cooking brunch for her family on Sundays.

“Will I stop eating fried chicken? No,” said Deen, who enjoyed a tuna tartare dinner Thursday night. “I will choose the time when I eat it and how much. My goal is to get better at moderation. Type 2 diabetes is not a death sentence. You do have to make small changes. Small changes can bring about big results.”

To that end, Deen is working on lightening up her famous recipes, known for their abundance of butter and fat. She’s already come up with new versions of fried chicken, lasagna and gooey butter cake.

And she thinks it’s unfair that she has been criticized for waiting to disclose her illness, along with her role as paid pitch person for drug maker Novo Nordisk’s new online program, Diabetes in a New Light, and its drug, Victoza.

“We all have to work for a living,” said Deen, who is donating a portion of her salary to the American Diabetes Association. “I couldn’t imagine people could be so mean. Your health is something very personal. It’s something I didn’t have to share and something I wasn’t prepared to share.”

Now, Deen is also an active participant in her son Bobby Deen’s new show,“Not My Mama’s Meals,” which debuted last month on Cooking Channel. The recipes seek to modify fat and sugar content.

Paula Deen Diabetes

January 15, 2012 by · Comments Off on Paula Deen Diabetes 

Paula Deen DiabetesPaula Deen Diabetes, Rumors of Deen’s diabetes first started to swirl in April, when The National Enquirer and The Daily Mail both reported that the TV chef was hiding her disease for fear that it would endanger her credibility as a chef.

There’s no doubt that fans would be upset to learn that Deen had been keeping such a major disease, and a major consequence of heavy eating, from their knowledge. It would certainly cast an alarming pall over the reckless abandon with which she endorses delicacies like turducken. And it would lend support to rival Anthony Bourdain’s much-ballyhooed critique of Deen’s culinary style.

It’s worth noting, though, that in the past nine months, Deen has diversified her activities away from her old monomaniacal focus on fatty foods. She’s been selling flavored lip balms and announced plans for a clothing line. She wrote a best-selling cookbook and ink a contract for two more, at a new publisher. And her son Bobby recently debuted his Cooking Channel show “Not My Mama’s Meals,” which showcases healthy versions of Southern classics.

Deen has also been slowly moving toward greater candor in recent months: she admitted to smoking cigarettes on a recent episode of the Dr. Oz show. And Deen will soon be appearing, in her own home, on an episode of Oprah’s new OWN show, Oprah’s Next Chapter. Given the timing, the latter could even be a perfect venue for the diabetes confession.

But if Deen has successfully hidden her diabetes so far, why change tack now?

The Daily has a potentially convincing answer: she’s in it for the money. According to the rumors the iPad publication has heard, Deen has signed a deal to endorse a diabetes medication from major pharmaceuticals company Novartis (see Update II below). Leave it up to Deen to turn what could have been a career-wrecking scandal into a financial windfall.

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