It is an awful diet, to be sure, but not because of what’s in it (fat) but because of what is not (healthy vegetables). It has a reasonable balance of protein and carbs (though it would be better if the carbs weren’t a batter, and could be a little lower). It’s the lack of nutrients that is killing her, not the fat.
You don’t get diabetes from fatty foods, or the Inuit, who traditionally lived on whale blubber and seal fat, would all be diabetic. Well, actually they are now, but they never were until they started eating flour and sugar, which is the problem with Paula Deen’s cooking as well.
But most of the criticisms I’ve seen have focused on the fat, rather than the carbs, so this is just a battle in the overall ignorant (and deadly) war on dietary fat. Not that there isn’t some anti-southern bigotry involved as well, of course. Like that against Christians, it’s the only other acceptable form of bigotry among the politically correct elite.
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.
Nutritional ignorance. You don’t get diabetes from fatty foods, or the Inuit, who traditionally lived on whale blubber and seal fat, would all be diabetic. Well, actually they are now, but they never were until they started eating flour and sugar, which is the problem with Paula Deen’s cooking as well.
I hated them when I was a kid, but now that I’ve gone paleo, I’ve actually acquired a taste for them. And Trader Joe’s sells them on the stalk (quite a few for three bucks), which keeps them fresh for quite a while (just pull them off when you want to cook some).