SNAP #22
Food Network’s Shining Star, Paula Deen. mepunky.com
We discovered yesterday what has been rumored since 2008, that popular Food Network chef Paula Deen, the doyenne of southern-ness, has Type 2 diabetes. While I love watching Paula, am captivated by her “bouffant” personality and applaud her rags-to-riches personal tale, I’m not a foodie-fan nor follower. Her most recent cookbook, “Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible,” was chosen one of the five unhealthiest cookbooks of 2011 by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Why? Read on. Elizabeth Kelly, a Knoxville, Tennessee, health writer cites five recipes (the titles hint at the finished product) that represent everything that is askew with Deen’s repertoire:
- Deep-Fried Lasagna
- The Krispy Kreme Burger
- Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding
- Deep Fried Stuffing on a Stick
- Savannah Sloppy Joes
(My Cholesterol just shot up twenty points while typing this!)
Who Doesn’t Love Krispie Kremes??????
Who Doesn’t Love Krispie Kremes??????? stylezink.hubpages.com
According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 25 million Americans (8.3% of the population) are believed to have Type 2 diabetes. Throw into the mix our concerns about colon cancer, heart disease, cholesterol, Alzheimer’s and obesity, all ailments that play hell and havoc with we aging Baby Boomers. Deen, by the way, is 64 years old. Maybe her humiliating admission, tardy though it may be and laden with a tacky drug endor$ement, will make us less anxious to substitute glazed donuts for hamburger buns (her Lady’s Brunch Burger).
So, here’s the SNAP. Every week, choose ONE, just ONE healthy recipe, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, to make and serve to those who sit at your table. Some, you will like, others you will discard, but, by the end of the year, you will have tried 52 new healthy ideas for feeding your friends, family and self.
This month I’ve made Sausage Sandwiches (Apple & Gouda Cheese, Chicken Sausage) with Roasted Veggies; Turkey Burgers with the Works, served on Whole Wheat Buns; and M. Jacques‘ Armagnac Roasted Chicken & Vegetables. All three nutritious, low-calorie recipes are “keepers” although each had to be tweaked-and-twisted to taste.
Remember, don’t be unnecessarily ambitious, the goal is one new meal a week.
And, good luck to Paula and the 25 million other Americans who are managing this disease. But, let’s not join their Ranks.
Well said friend! I could not agree with you more! We are what we eat and it starts to show about age 60 !
Agreed. I like that you encourage folks to take some action too. There are so many healthy whole foods out there, and while they are not available to everyone everywhere (I did a lot of work on food security and nutrition dead zones in poor urban areas when I was younger) where they are available folks should start working them into their weekly meals. Kids learn what to eat from their parents and families. You know my mantra already, dump the “white” foods, but the other side is eat a new colorful veggie -without any added sugar. 🙂