In Defense of Paula Deen

Yes, I’m going there. And it would seem as if it goes against what I believe in as far as eating healthy and all that  jazz, but hear me out. Recently, Miss Paula(as I affectionately call her) was embroiled in a scandal involving her and Diabetus. She recently announced that she has Type 2 diabetus and felt the need to share that information with the world. There’s just one problem. Miss Deen is arguably the Queen of Southern Cooking. And everyone knows how those Southerners eat right? Fried, buttered, and greasy everything. She was even the one to create the first ever heart attack burger otherwise known as The Luther(btw, that sound you hear in the background is coming from her aorta). She has been known to promote southern cuisine in it’s finest, everything from shrimp and grits, fried chicken, green, cornbread(pronounced KONE-bred), pineapple upside down cake, and fried macaroni and has been unapologetic until now.

That’s why I’m defending her. Because at the end of the day, we are all responsible for what we do and what goes into our bodies. It’s almost like blaming your pusher for getting you high. This has been her bread and butter since she came onto the scene in 2001 on the Food Network with Afternoon Tea and eventually got her own show in 2002, called Paula’s Home Cooking. And lets face it, we all knew her food was bad for you. The only person who has to contend to that is Miss Deen, because now, she has a disease that affects her health like millions of Americans. Now even though she is not ultimately responsible for what goes in your body, she can be considered an enabler. Oh, yes, we all have those. The people around you who let you do what you do and don’t say anything, not necessarily because of the money or because they don’t care, but why mess up a good thing? Southern food is often called comfort food because it fills you up, makes you feel good and puts you to sleep. Aaaahhhhhhh, that good ole ITIS.

Another reason why I’m defending her is because its big business to market sh*tty food to people. She found her niche and went for it. For someone to come from nothing and turn it into something is remarkable and we Americans love a rags to riches, comeback story. She did something she knew and, with a great marketing team, did it quite well. She never claimed to be a fitness guru, maybe once or twice offered healthier food on her show to spice it up a bit, and as always, remained a down to earth, fried chicken loving redneck even black people seemed to like. I bet the ones that complain about her food the most smoke, drink, rarely exercise, and eat processed food – which is actually quite worse.

Maybe Miss Deen wants to show people the affects of what her food, and others have done and ways to watch what you eat now. Or maybe she likes that nice, fat check she gets from Novo Nordisk, a diabetic supplier, for being their spokesperson. Either way,  she certainly isn’t the only one to have her come-to-Jesus moment when it comes to Diabetus, Heart Disease and Hypertension. We should all be calling our relatives, big mommas, and Unca Petes hypocrites because of the choices they have made but we don’t.

But still, I ain’t mad at her