Photo Credit: ABC News

It’s no secret that Paula Deen likes to load up her cooking with large amounts of fat, salt, and sugar.  In fact, the TV chef, famous for the recipes she promotes on television and in her lifestyle magazine “Cooking with Paula Deen”, has faced harsh criticism – mostly notably from Barbara Walters, who questioned the health risks inherent in a book Deen published that was aimed at children – for the ingredients she loves to load up with.

So it should be no real surprise that Deen announced recently on “The Today Show” that she has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.  Though the diagnosis came three years ago, she has been sitting on the news until now, ostensibly because she needed to let it sink in, but also because she wanted time to speak with her physician so she had something to offer fellow sufferers.

She also announced that she is now the spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical company with a focus on diabetes care.

While speaking to weather anchor Al Roker, famous for his own battle with his weight and who had a successful gastric bypass surgery ten years ago, Deen emphasized that diabetes is not necessarily fatal.  She and Novo Nordisk are working together on a website called DiabetesInANewLight.com that will offer visitors information as well as recipes to help them in their own lives.  Deen was purposefully upbeat during her interview, and spoke about her goal to help out other people who have been diagnosed with diabetes even as she helps herself.

But Deen was also called upon to speak to rumors that she is being forced to defend her reputation as a Southern-style chef who is often overly fond of butter.  Her response involved her belief that people have to eat, and that, instead of being known for bringing lots of fatty foods to the table, she wants to be known as someone who stands for hope.

She also urged her audience to be responsible with their eating, as she realizes that she is mostly perceived as a woman who eats far too much fattening Southern cooking herself.  But she insists that she eats in moderation, and that the Paula Deen on television is also a figure of entertainment, not necessarily a reflection of who she really is.

Deen has recently been interviewed about the ways she tries to combat health problems, including one of her biggest sacrifices:  giving up sweet tea, which is loaded with sugar.  She has also given up smoking, a habit she maintained for half a century.

More than twenty-five million Americans suffer from diabetes, most commonly Type 2, where the victim’s body is unable to produce enough insulin to sustain their level of glucose.

Deen continues to encourage moderation from everyone so that you don’t necessarily need to cut out sweets and fatty foods from your diet.  She also begged viewers to get tested for diabetes and to take their medication as instructed by a doctor.

If Deen’s audience doesn’t cut back on the sugar, they may have to look into new dental plans.