I do have some healthy eating posts waiting to be written. For now, I want to talk about Paula Deen. She's trending on Twitter right now because she's announced she has diabetes. I for one am shocked! I mean she created such dishes as these:
How can the woman that created Twinkie Pie have diabetes? Ok, seriously, the bigger shock to me is that people didn't think she already had diabetes.
I do believe her when she says that she doesn't eat this way everyday. She has always said on her shows that people should eat her dishes in moderation (and yes, I watch. I point to that Krispy Kreme Bread pudding every time someone mentions Paula Deen). Obviously, "moderation" isn't working. That being said, I don't think the problem is that she literally shovels butter into her face 24/7 and is literally always chomping down on sugar coated pancakes topped in fried eggs. I think the problem, as it is with most of us, is those sinister sneaky calories that we tell ourselves don't count or don't even think about.
I know it's hard for southerners, like myself, to eat healthy foods even when we try. My mom is vegetarian and she has never eaten large portion sizes, but she still has coronary artery disease. It's because we eat bread with every meal here. We like our sweet tea, and we like our desserts with every meal. We add a few extra dashes of oil here and there. Even individual portion sizes add up, especially as we age. We loose some of our basal metabolic rate every year. As we continue to eat the same (and often move less), those extra 200 calories a day add up (and some southern women drink way more than 200 calories of sweet tea every day).
The dirty little secret about moderation is that most of us, apparently Deen included, don't understand what moderation is. Moderation isn't having fried chicken once a week, having dessert with just one meal or having Krispy Kreme bread pudding, well, ever. Those once a weeks add up. They don't add much if they are just 100 or 200 calories above what you normally eat, but I know most people's "only in moderation" meals are more like 1000 or 2000 calories above what they normally eat. Eating out one meal a week can easily add 1000-2000 calories to your weekly calorie intake. I've heard dietitians say just 100 extra calories a day will add 10 lbs of weight to most people in one year. So, 1000 calories a week? You're looking at bad news, and most of us who get diabetes won't be sponsored by Novo Nordisk.
Wow...the very idea of a Krispy Kreme donut bread pudding is just appalling.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think I'm in the minority because the thought of a Krispy Kreme doughnut is appalling to me. I guess I'm lucky because I've never really liked those kinds of sweets (ok, a chocolate filled doughnut sounds pretty good, but really the dough part is just a receptacle for the filling there).
ReplyDeleteNever in my life have I had a Twinkie. I had a bite once. Yuck. I did used to eat those Hostess fried pies (hmm, maybe I see a trend of puddingy fillings).
To me, Glazed doughnuts taste just like eating straight sugar. I also remember, as I'm choking that sugar down, that a Krispy Kreme has about 300 calories, 40 grams of carbs. I have to run almost a WHOLE HOUR to burn off that amount of calories. If I'm going to run an hour, I want something good. I could have a whole baked potato or an entire veggie burger instead of that sugary nastiness.
I can't even imagine the amount of calories when they're covered in sweetened condensed milk. I could probably eat a pizza or an entire plate of spaghetti for one serving.