The problem with Paula

Paula Deen, America’s number one advocate for butter awareness, took on a new cause last Tuesday. She began promoting the Danish pharmaceutical company that makes Victoza, a medication for Type 2 diabetes.

Surprising absolutely no one, Deen also revealed she had been living with and hiding the condition for three years.

Finding out a woman who replaced an English muffin with doughnuts on a breakfast sandwich has health problems is like when someone on “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant” turns out to be pregnant and has a baby in the toilet.

We all saw it coming.

Deen told reporters she doesn’t blame herself. More surprisingly, she hasn’t made and won’t be making any major lifestyle changes. She also claimed that, although she has always had a decadent disposition, she only ever ate her Southern cuisine in moderation.

It can be argued, however, that there is no level of moderation in which you can deep-fry a cheesecake and think about eating any of it without potentially sending yourself into a food-induced existential crisis.

A typical recipe of hers is Paula’s deep-fried lasagna. Said to serve 15, the meal contains eight cups of full-fat cheese, which — if you do the math — is about half a cup of cheese per person.

Deen’s glib dismissal of her own potentially life-threatening condition speaks to a distinctly American mindset — consume what you want when you want it and dismiss your unhealthy lifestyle until it becomes a problem.

Generally, when we talk about sustainability, we think of it in a global, environmental context. We also have to consider when our own lifestyles are literally not sustainable.
Nevertheless, as consumers, we have to take into consideration that Paula “deep-fried stuffing on a stick” Deen is more than a person.

She is a TV personality and a brand, and were she to dismiss her unhealthy lifestyle and 13 years on the Food Network, it would be detrimental to her brand’s sustainability, a business that will certainly outlive her and continue to support her family in years to come.

As a brand, Paul Deen is not going to switch from sugar to Splenda, but as a person managing a disease, she has probably made some significant changes to her diet she is choosing not to make public.

So, next time you’re making a lasagna sandwich or throwing a couple Twinkies in the deep fryer, pour one out for old Aunt Paula.