After Paula Deen’s Today show appearance, the queen of Southern cuisine has been under fire from everyone looking to comment on her heavy cooking techniques and recent diabetes illness announcement.
Give Paula a break. We all know she cooks with butter and loves to fry everything including her Ugg boots. If you don’t like it, don’t eat her food. We would all probably plotz if we knew what these restaurants put in our food.
She talked to Parade.com about going public with her diabetes diagnosis, the steps she’s taking to improve her health, and why she won’t be saying goodbye to butter.
Highlights:
What was your biggest fear in opening up about your Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis?
“My biggest fear was people expecting too much out of me, more than I could possibly give. And that my life was going to have to change so drastically that I wouldn’t want to hop out of bed every morning loving life. That the pleasure was going to be taken away from me. I think that was probably my biggest fear.”
How has your diagnosis changed your lifestyle?
“The first thing I did was give up sweet tea because I drank so much. I’d start drinking at lunchtime and wouldn’t set it down until I went to bed. When you calculate how much empty calories and how much sugar I was consuming, it was staggering. So I haven’t had a glass of sweet tea in three years.
What’s your response to your critics?
“I understand that there’s going to be some negative conversation, but that’s all right. I’ve had to face many obstacles in my life and my concern is more for people out there that need the hope, the help, and the encouragement. They’re more important to me than the haters or the naysayers.”
We all know that you love butter. Will you use a substitute now?
“No, I will never use a substitute for butter. Margarine is one molecule away from eating plastic. If I’m going to eat that type of food, it’s going to be the real deal. There is a good chance that I can cut down on the amount of butter now that I’m aware, but will I cut butter out of my life completely? No. I will take measurements to manage it.”
Paula reveals how her sons first reacted to the news, the healthy foods she’s enjoying now and
her new diabetes-friendly spinach and artichoke recipe:
http://www.parade.com/