Paula Dean

I haven't found time to blog -- or write anything I would want to make public -- for ages, but the current situation with Food Maven Paula Dean makes me so mad!

I can understand why she didn't want to change her style of cooking. I used to get many of my positive strokes from cooking as well. It was my thing. I'm not crafty, don't sew or paint or sculpt. I can't dance or sing or play a musical instrument. I just cooked. It was instinctive for me (a talent encouraged and enhanced by my father, who was the cook at our house). I rarely followed recipes, although I was often asked for the recipe when people ate things I had prepared. I haven't had flour or sugar for nearly three years and I miss the attention far more than I miss the food. Paula Dean gets not only positive strokes, but a good deal of money because she is a good cook.

However, her fame and fortune make her the perfect person to affect change in our society. When she was diagnosed I feel she should have announced her diagnosis immediately and perhaps started to modify her recipes to meet a healthier lifestyle. With obesity one of the greatest health problems in our country today and the major contributor to our high health care costs, she might have made a difference. She could have been a role model. She could have made a sincere effort to influence people to adopt a healthier lifestyle. She could have said that fresh fruit makes a great dessert and you don't really have to eat deep fried chocolate chip brownies topped with caramel and whipped cream. She could have said that there are healthier ways to add flavor to mashed potatoes than with butter and cream.

Instead she chose to keep her mouth shut until offered even more money to act as a spokeswoman for a drug firm offering a diabetes control pill. My husband is a diabetic who elects to control his disease with drugs. His blood sugar is controlled with the medication, but he has had heart bypass surgery, carotid artery stents, and a renal artery stent. Several of my friends made radical changes to their diets and have been able to give up diabetic medications. It doesn't work for everyone, but it is certainly worth a try.

I still believe that along with the perks attendant to wealth and fame, one has an obligation to the greater good of society. I'm very disappointed in Paula Dean.