Paula Deen is in unfamiliar territory: The Queen of Butter is feeling the heat after she revealed this week that she kept her Type-2 diabetes secret while continuing to serve up the rich foods that some say led to the disease.
Not helping matters? She disclosed her illness while simultaneously announcing she's repping a diabetes drug. Reaction was swift, and almost universally negative toward Deen, who's much more accustomed to a warm reaction from the fans who swarm her wherever she goes. Here's a sampling from Twitter:
--"the paula deen thing is horrible. she waits 3 yrs, now is a sponsor for her meds? the world needs better people to teach them how to cook"
--"After years of promoting unhealthy foods, Paula Deen has won a sweet gig as a pharmaceutical spokeswoman. Pass the butter."
Perhaps it's no surprise that celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain also got in a little dig. Although he denies calling Deen a "diabetic scam artist" as TMZ's headline screamed, he did offer up this tart Twitter take on Deen's actions:
"Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later."
Bourdain, of course, once famously called Deen the ''most dangerous person to America" for proudly serving up food that she knows is bad for viewers.
Deen, who will turn 65 on Thursday, said she kept her diagnosis private as she and her family figured out what to do, presumably about her health and a career built solidly on Southern cooking. Among her recipes: deep-fried cheesecake covered in chocolate and powdered sugar, and a quiche that calls for a pound of bacon.
“I really sat on this information for a few years because I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, what am I going to do about this? Is my life fixing to change? Am I no longer going to like my life?” she asked. “I had to have time to adjust and soak it all in and get up all the information that I could.”
While Deen, who lives in Savannah, Ga., has cut out the sweet tea she routinely drank straight through to bedtime and taken up treadmill walking, she plans few changes on the air.
Government doctors say that being overweight (as Deen is), over 45 (as Deen is) and inactive (as Deen was) increase the risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. Growth of the disease in the U.S. has been closely tied to escalating obesity rates. Roughly 23 million Americans are believed to have the most common Type 2 diabetes; patients’ bodies either do not produce enough insulin or do not use it efficiently, allowing excess sugar, or glucose, to accumulate in the blood.
Deen is the pitch person for Novo Nordisk’s new online program, Diabetes in a New Light, which offers tips on food preparation, stress management and working with doctors on treatment. She has contributed diabetes-friendly recipes to the website and takes the company’s drug Victoza, a once-daily noninsulin injection that had global sales of $734 million in the first nine months of 2011.
A recipe for Lady and Sons Lasagna, on her diabetes-conscious site, uses extra-lean ground beef and cans of unsalted tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, for a dish estimated at 260 calories a serving. Turn to Deen’s collection of recipes on The Food Network’s site and find Grandmother Paul’s fried chicken, with Crisco shortening for frying, or baked French Toast casserole, with two cups of half-and-half and a half-pound of butter. No calorie counts are estimated.
The Novo Nordisk site links to promotional materials for the drug Victoza. Company spokeswoman Ambre Morley and Deen declined to disclose how much she is being paid.
Deen said she had no help or advice to offer the public when she was first diagnosed, but feels she’s making a contribution now.
None of that matters much to outspoken chef Anthony Bourdain, who has never been a Deen fan. He told Eater.com of her diabetes announcement: “When your signature dish is hamburger in between a doughnut, and you’ve been cheerfully selling this stuff knowing all along that you’ve got Type 2 diabetes … it’s in bad taste if nothing else.”
In Yuba, Wis., Judd Dvorak watches Deen cook on TV all the time with his wife. He thinks Bourdain has the right idea. Dvorak said it’s wrong for Deen to accept money to become a paid spokeswoman for a diabetes drug after espousing a cooking style that helps lead to diabetes.
Not helping matters? She disclosed her illness while simultaneously announcing she's repping a diabetes drug. Reaction was swift, and almost universally negative toward Deen, who's much more accustomed to a warm reaction from the fans who swarm her wherever she goes. Here's a sampling from Twitter:
--"the paula deen thing is horrible. she waits 3 yrs, now is a sponsor for her meds? the world needs better people to teach them how to cook"
--"After years of promoting unhealthy foods, Paula Deen has won a sweet gig as a pharmaceutical spokeswoman. Pass the butter."
Perhaps it's no surprise that celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain also got in a little dig. Although he denies calling Deen a "diabetic scam artist" as TMZ's headline screamed, he did offer up this tart Twitter take on Deen's actions:
"Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later."
Bourdain, of course, once famously called Deen the ''most dangerous person to America" for proudly serving up food that she knows is bad for viewers.
Deen, who will turn 65 on Thursday, said she kept her diagnosis private as she and her family figured out what to do, presumably about her health and a career built solidly on Southern cooking. Among her recipes: deep-fried cheesecake covered in chocolate and powdered sugar, and a quiche that calls for a pound of bacon.
“I really sat on this information for a few years because I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, what am I going to do about this? Is my life fixing to change? Am I no longer going to like my life?” she asked. “I had to have time to adjust and soak it all in and get up all the information that I could.”
While Deen, who lives in Savannah, Ga., has cut out the sweet tea she routinely drank straight through to bedtime and taken up treadmill walking, she plans few changes on the air.
Government doctors say that being overweight (as Deen is), over 45 (as Deen is) and inactive (as Deen was) increase the risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. Growth of the disease in the U.S. has been closely tied to escalating obesity rates. Roughly 23 million Americans are believed to have the most common Type 2 diabetes; patients’ bodies either do not produce enough insulin or do not use it efficiently, allowing excess sugar, or glucose, to accumulate in the blood.
Deen is the pitch person for Novo Nordisk’s new online program, Diabetes in a New Light, which offers tips on food preparation, stress management and working with doctors on treatment. She has contributed diabetes-friendly recipes to the website and takes the company’s drug Victoza, a once-daily noninsulin injection that had global sales of $734 million in the first nine months of 2011.
A recipe for Lady and Sons Lasagna, on her diabetes-conscious site, uses extra-lean ground beef and cans of unsalted tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, for a dish estimated at 260 calories a serving. Turn to Deen’s collection of recipes on The Food Network’s site and find Grandmother Paul’s fried chicken, with Crisco shortening for frying, or baked French Toast casserole, with two cups of half-and-half and a half-pound of butter. No calorie counts are estimated.
The Novo Nordisk site links to promotional materials for the drug Victoza. Company spokeswoman Ambre Morley and Deen declined to disclose how much she is being paid.
Deen said she had no help or advice to offer the public when she was first diagnosed, but feels she’s making a contribution now.
None of that matters much to outspoken chef Anthony Bourdain, who has never been a Deen fan. He told Eater.com of her diabetes announcement: “When your signature dish is hamburger in between a doughnut, and you’ve been cheerfully selling this stuff knowing all along that you’ve got Type 2 diabetes … it’s in bad taste if nothing else.”
In Yuba, Wis., Judd Dvorak watches Deen cook on TV all the time with his wife. He thinks Bourdain has the right idea. Dvorak said it’s wrong for Deen to accept money to become a paid spokeswoman for a diabetes drug after espousing a cooking style that helps lead to diabetes.
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