Letter: Deen's a bad role model
Celebrity chef Paula Deen unmolds something decadent on the Food Network. Credit: AP Photo/Food Network/File
We have a worldwide epidemic of diabetes. I read with great displeasure that the "Southern belle of butter and heavy cream," Paula Deen, is now a spokeswoman for a diabetes drug ["Deen dishes on her diabetes," News, Jan. 18].
After learning she had Type 2 diabetes, possibly from the foods she eats and cooks, she chose not to stop making her high-calorie, high-fat recipes and downplayed that nutrition is key to controlling obesity and Type 2 diabetes. She said she isn't changing the comfort cooking that has made her a star.
It's no problem if she wants to make money off her great Southern recipes, but she shouldn't become a person who is trying to spread the word about this horrible, costly disease. It seems she is just coming forward because she has a deal with Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company. It's all about the money.
What we really need is a dedicated spokesperson who knows about nutrition and self-management of diabetes, and is dedicated to living a healthy life with the disease. It is an everyday, hour-by-hour ordeal that takes a good understanding of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. It requires activity, multiple pin pricks to find your blood sugar, and knowledge about managing high and low blood sugars.
Maybe the spokesperson should be an everyday Joe diabetic who works hard at staying healthy.
Robert Parant, Westbury
Editor's note: The writer has Type 1 diabetes.
