WebMD Community Talk Show

I think she would be the idea person to speak out and let others know that unhealthy eating has repercussions that we need to be aware of.

I think she is a wonderful person and now she has been given an opportunity to speak out and try to help others before they become diabetic from what they eat. It is sad that things like this could be controlled and prevented if we only watched what we put into our bodies, there are so many things that are out of our control but we can control what we eat.

But, we need to remember that are many people born with disease including diabetes that our eating habits did not cause but can contribute to the way our bodies react to these diseases by eating properly.

How long as she been taking this medicine and has she been on it long enough to make the call of endorsing. I am a diabetic with very real active symptoms of MS (not yet diagnosed) and I took one of the non-insulin injectable medications and at first I did great but after about two weeks became very ill (nausea, vomitting..etc) and had to stop it and go back to the pill so if she has just started the medicine I think she should wait awhile but then again she may have been on it long enough to make that call. I don't like to see celebrities making money off of something we all have to deal with but they get paid to endorse because of who they are.

Just saying....

Paula Deen has never come to my house and spoon-fed me anything, so I can't hold her responsible for what I've eaten.

And really, if you're adding a stick of butter to a recipe and don't understand that that's a "sometimes" food, I think a cooking show is the least of your health problems. It's up to the individual to learn about food, not up to an entertainer. She's not a doctor, she's not a personal trainer, she's an entertainer. I don't understand why people have this expectation of an entertainer to speak publicly about their health issues, or about nutrition in general.

I think her making a medication to treat this disease that she has makes sense. Who among us hasn't gotten more involved with something once it's personal? Is it a little tacky? Yeah, but so what? She's not forcing you to buy it. If someone finds it distasteful, they don't have to support it.

I never watched her programs but I still have a problem with Deen...


If Tony Hawk promoted a revolutionary, two-wheeled skateboard and, then, eventually started a new line of footwear that prevented torn ankle cartilage, I'd have a similar problem, too. Tony wouldn't do that because he's a savvy businessman, and...

its never good practice to "bite the hand that feeds you."



Yes, Deen was not obligated to make this announcement but she knew it was only a matter of time. So, she made a sound business decision and let her secret known. Good for her!

But, to start pitchin' diabetes medications at the same press conference???

Perfectly, within her right, yes...


but, does she honestly think that everyone that eats bbq are hillbillies?

Sure, why not? Diabetes isn't always acquired by improper eating habits. It can be genetic, too. She will need to change the way she eats, but not necessarily the way she instructs people to cook.

I can't predict the future, but it would not surprise me that a gourmet diabetic cookbook may be in her future.

To me it seems very hypocritical. The very food she likes to cook and touts on her show contributes to her condition. It seems wrong that she is getting paid to promote a medication for a disease that she might be able to control better if she changed her diet and the way she cooked. She may or may not preach moderation on her show, I'm not a cook so I don't know. I was diagnosed with diabetes 10 years ago and had to go on insulin 18 months ago because I didn't control what I ate. Going on insulin was a wake-up call for me and I made it my goal to get off. It took taking the attitude that sugar is evil. I dropped 70 pounds and left insulin in the wake. I think if in the three years since she was diagnosed if she started changing up her recipes, offering more healthy choices, which she could have done without coming out about her diabetes, then I could respect her advocating for a certain medication a lot more easily.

hell no..i have had it for 12 years now and i am sure millions and millions of other people have too....every time some rich person get sick they want to make them a spokes person...what about the rest of the world that has it...why try too keep it a secret..only one that can change it is her..we need too stop putting these rich people up on a high horse because they get sick like the rest of us....goes too show that they are the same as us...no matter how much money they got if you dont have good health you really got nothing.......just being str8 up about this.....

I LOVE PAULA'S DISHES & I TOO AM DIABETIC BUT WE ALL HAVE CHOICES & KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE OR NOT HAVE SO HER NOT SHARING HER PRIVATE MEDICAL PROBLEM TIL NOW IS HER BUSINESS BUT NOW THAT SHE HAS WE SHOULD WISH HER WELL AND IF SHE FEEL THAT NOW SHE CAN HELP OTHERS SO BE IT,YOU CAN ALWAYS CHANGE THE RECIPE TO YOUR NEEDS, IT'S NOT TO LATE TIL ITS OVER AND IT'S NOT OVER FOR HER IT'S THE BEGANING OF A NEW WAY OF LIFE SO KEEP COOKING AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF YOUR FAN HEATHER FROM VICTORVILLE,CA.

If all is true on the web, she has known about her diabetes since 2008. So, contract or not, she continued to dish out her form of 'entertainment' to the gullible and misled who might think that it is okay to eat like a pig, have fun making it and place it on your table often. That she knew that food can lead to long-term ill health costing the masses billions in insurance increases and continued care, as no doubt she was talked to by a doctor and more than likely a dietitian, yet she continued spewing forth cookable death for her viewers, where is her conscience? In a contract? Could she in all these years amended her recipes and made them eatable for the masses? Apparently, her way is to obtain a drug manufacturer backing first, then made her announcement. She didn't even have to announce her diagnosis, rather begin to make subtle changes in her recipes and still make some downhome southern food. If WebMd continues to reference her as an example or spokesperson, I won't stay with this account. There are plenty of databases on the net, its just that I like WebMd. However, it would seem crystal clear, should she be a spoksperson here, that they-the starlet, the channel producing the shows, the drug mfg, and WebMD are only in it for the money and if that is the case, where do the thousands of health conscious people want to be? A place that puts their health first and foremost when addressing issues, or where the dollar flows?

Remember that there is a difference between juvenile diabetes and adult onset diabetes. Adult onset diabetes, perhaps go to the webmd articles for references, is treatable, sometimes with medication, othertimes with weight loss and diet alone. if, as the articles have stated, she has the latter. What you make to put into your mouth makes a difference. There was one article that said that her hometown has a rate of 11 % diabetes where the national average is 8 %. This could mean that the town's more obese, eats things not healthy enough for them, or that there is a pocket of people more predisposed to it than other people.(And one other thing. It also could be that the doctors, knowing that 1 in 10 have it are more likely to track people closer and have more hits diagnosis-wise.

She may not be a doctor, but she's a temptress with such a public spotlight. I'd never eat her stuff, although I might make something with a stick of butter, it will be portioned out to smaller calorie sizes, will be amended with substitutes and still taste fantastic.

Hello Everyone - Newbie here.

Re: Paula Deen - It will be interesting to observe what she chooses to do regarding food and diet and the type o food she promotes from here on forward.

She's going to have to make some very big changes in the way she eats. I sincerely hope she shares her new personally adjusted recipes with us and gradually moves away from touting the kinds of food that she can no longer eat. ... or better yet ... do a "side by side" cookbook with one ppage with a recipe for people with no health issues and the mirror page for those those with diabetes and or heart problems.

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"...do a "side by side" cookbook with one ppage with a recipe for people with no health issues and the mirror page for those those with diabetes and or heart problems..."


That's a wonderful idea, lalo...That way, the ones who've yet to become diabetic can "catch up"!

Interesting statistics, AwesomelyDAFT. I would imagine that the South (I'm a Southerner) has a higher incidence of diabetes than the rest of the country in general. Most of us were reared on just the kind of cooking that Paula Deen does. I don't eat fried chicken anymore, but I remember my grandmother's chicken fried in pure lard. It was heaven and we had it with homemade bisuits, beans cooked with salt pork, etc., etc. It was a way of life back then and some continue the food traditions. I love Paula Deen and wish the best of health to her. Hopefully, she will change some of her recipes or at the very least, not be eating that way anymore. Do I BLAME her or think she's in anyway responsible for health issues in the U.S?. - never, but then I think I'm one of the few left that believe in personal responsibility and not blaming the rest of the world for my problems or anyone else's.

I think her cooking gives her the perfect platform and makes her the ideal person to act as Spokesperson, as long as she takes full advantage of the opportunity given her. I have one word for you - REFORM.

Think in these terms... who are you going to listen to with greater intent? A squeeky clean librarian who hasn't seen a dark cloud in her life trying to speak of the ills of drugs, trying to warn of the traps that could that could lead you to the gutter? Or the rehabilitated junkie who has pulled himself from the gutter?

I know I am more prone to listen to the voice of experience. Now, let's see if Paula Deen can pull herself from the gutter of fatty, cholesterol-laden comfort foods.