Why Paula Deen Has Diabetes

The Lady's Brunch Burger (also known as a Luther)

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:

Ham Fried Rice, Pineapple and Fried Egg

Krispy Kreme Doughnut Bread Pudding

Sausage Pancake Egg Sandwich

Twinkie Pie

Cheese Fudge (this fudge actually has Velveeta in it)

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.

Sodas Make Kids Aggressive? This Study Sure Makes ME More Aggressive

If you've turned on the news tonight, everyone is talking about a study that says soda makes kids go crazy!  It actually says 15 percent of teens who drank little or no soda reported violent behavior toward a partner, compared to almost twice that number among those who drank 14 or more cans per week.

This means soda is making kids go crazy, right?  Not really.  I think this study is really flawed.

First of all, the kids who drank the most soda drank five can per week or more.  That's almost every person I know.  Secondly, they only asked minority kids and the data was collected via a survey given to the kids:

“The new study was based on answers to questionnaires filled out by 1,878 public-school students aged 14 to 18 in the inner Boston area, where Hemenway said crime rates were much higher than in the wealthier suburbs. The overwhelming majority of respondents were Hispanic, African-American or mixed; few were Asian or white.”

I don't understand why they didn't have a more robust sample, which included rich, white soda drinkers.  Would the data be the same?  How can it be a "marker" if they didn't even sample a random group?  I also wonder how well kids keep track of how much soda they drink.  It would have been slightly better designed if they asked the kids to record what they drank instead of recalling their past consumption. 

Scientists flash around "correlation doesn't equal causation" a lot.  That's akin to asking, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"  Does soda cause kids to become violent or do violent kids drink more soda for other reasons?  The study doesn't tell us that. 

For example, maybe kids with overall poor diets also drink more soda and it's their overall diet that causes them to be aggressive.  Even poor sleeping habits can cause kids to be aggressive and pick up caffeine.  Maybe kids with less educated parents (who allow them to drink more soda) are more violent.  Maybe kids with less parental supervision (who wouldn't be there to tell them not to drink soda) are more violent.  Maybe kids who are already depressed and bullied drink soda to self-medicate.   You see where I'm going?  Is the soda the cause or a result?

I hate when poor studies like this get picked up by the media.  It's a pet peeve of mine.  This study shows us nothing.  It's cocktail party trivia.  Yet the media touts, "sodas cause kids to be aggressive."


What could be bad about the media getting people to drink less soda?  I believe that sugar and caffeine are bad for kids (they're bad for adults too), but this study doesn't prove it.  Would getting rid of soda make America healthier? Probably.  However, I don't think we should aggrandize claims that aren't true, even if the end result is positive.  That's why the true things get ignored so much.  The media hops on this and that, and then when something real comes up, people ignore it.

I always say that if it comes from the media (or Dr. Oz), it's probably not true.  If it is true, it's probably only 10% true.  The media either doesn't know how to read journal results or, the reality, likes to report the most sensationalized version of journal results.

It just makes me mad, so I guess sodas make me more aggressive too.

What's the Deal with Potatoes?

Bad to the Bone

There is a recent report a lot of people are talking about that found that potatoes are "bad."  The more potatoes you eat, the fatter you are.  I've had several friends comment that they are dropping potatoes from their diet because of it.  I've always said: when you hear science in the media, you're probably only hearing half of it.

According to the study in the New England Journal of Medicine, french fries and potato chips cause the most long-term weight gain.  However, they also say that boiled, baked or mashed potatoes contribute to more weight gain than sugary foods like desserts.   This was a prospective study done by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.  They studied (by survey) more than 120,000 U.S. health professionals over at least 12 years (emphasis mine):

 On the basis of increased daily servings of individual dietary components, 4-year weight change was most strongly associated with the intake of:

• french fries (3.35 lbs)
• potato chips (1.69 lb),
• potatoes (1.28 lb),
• sugar-sweetened beverages (1.00 lb),
• unprocessed red meats (0.95 lb), and
• processed meats (0.93 lb)

Also:

• boiled, mashed and baked potatoes themselves caused 0.57 lb weight gain

The study showed that people who increased their daily intake of vegetables, whole grains, fruits and nuts during a four-year period lost an average of 0.22 pounds, 0.37 pounds, 0.49 pounds and 0.57 pounds, respectively.

Maybe you should just eat more nuts (for a -0.57 weight gain) and enjoy your baked potato (for a +0.57 gain) and call it even.

Or, should we ditch the potato? Not so fast here.  Is it really the potato (or the nuts)?   You'll notice that it was increased daily servings of foods like fries, chips, etc. that caused the most weight gain.  In my experience, people who eat things like fries and chips will also often snack on other things that cause weight gain (packaged snacks, cereals, restaurant meals).  People who eat vegetables, nuts and fruits are generally more health conscious.  They are eating the nuts and fruits instead of something like candy or packaged snacks.  They also tend to be more active and health conscious overall.  So, is it the overall lifestyle?  Studies like this one don't give us that information.  This study does say that active people gain less weight, but it doesn't tell if the ones who ate potatoes were also the most active.

The fact that the boiled, baked and mashed potato group also caused weight gain doesn't convince me either.  Don't most health conscious people you know already avoid potatoes?  It's been bastardized as being one of the worst foods you can eat.  So, I wonder if those who increase their intake of boiled, baked of mashed potatoes are also less health conscious, or less active.  Obesity is not "one thing."  That's a mistake the media often makes.  There is no magic bullet.

The potato is actually a great vegetable.  It's full of fiber, vitamin C, and potassium.  I'm not saying to eat them every day, but I think they can be part of a healthy diet.  A medium baked potato has almost 40 carbs (which is about what some low carbers like to get in an entire day) and about 7 grams of fiber.  Compared to the SAD, that's a healthy meal.  If you eat potatoes as part of a whole food, healthy lifestyle, an extra 40 carbs probably isn't going to make you fat.  Potatoes can cause blood sugar spikes.  I'm not convinced that after-meal spikes alone cause weight gain, but spikes aren't ideal for diabetics.

The researchers said, “Our results demonstrate that the quality of the diet, the types of foods and beverages that one consumed, is strongly linked to weight gain.”   I totally agree with this.  That's why some people go on low-carb diets and don't succeed, or vegetarian diets and don't succeed.  You can pig out on Atkins bars and other fakey low carb foods and actually gain weight.  It's because you're not getting high quality foods (and I think calories do matter, it's just that some foods, like meat, are more satiating and you feel full longer).  That's also why there are vegetarians who weigh 200 lbs.  They eat garbage.

Give the potato a break. He never did anything to anyone, except taste a little too delicious when fried.