Who Is Paula Deen?

I had stated to another blogger that I was going to stay out of this discussion for now, but with the attacks and attention focused on the attacks, I feel the need to at least make my opinion heard.

Yes, just who is Paula Deen? Is she a celebrity chef? Or is she the celebrity that takes us for fools? I say she is neither. I cannot say she is confused either as she does know how to make money. She is just another person with type 2 diabetes that is still a novice about diabetes. She will make mistakes like all of us do, and she will learn from them.

Where she made her biggest mistake is in not having a doctor she can trust that will tell her like it is. If indeed the one doctor she mentions as being close to and that she trusts says “she puts all her patients on Victoza”, this doctor is not one she should trust. Yes, when it comes to diabetes, it is difficult to trust doctors particularly if they do not specialize in diabetes. Has she been sucked in by the American Diabetes Associations low fat, high carb mantra? Quite possibly, but she will learn.

Dr. Bill Quick is right in his blog here. Victoza is not the first medication people with type 2 diabetes should be considering. Dr. Quick also makes several other well-founded statements about Victoza. Paula Deen is obviously promoting it because of an agreement with Novo Nordisk; however, she has not done her research or learned the risk of the mistakes she is going to be asked to acknowledge.

For someone in her position, she needs an adviser to prep her for her statements in the future. She may get away with a few mistakes, but these will not be allowed by many of her critics.

Even if she has had diabetes for three years, she has not done her homework to be slugging it out with the media. They have been and will continue to hound her into making more mistakes. For a celebrity, she has much to learn both about diabetes and handling the press that is only looking for sensationalism.

Even a type 1 blogger took up the sensationalism idea here to carefully ask her some questions and then point out her mistakes. We do not know for a fact that Paula Deen is taking Victoza, but I am sure in the days and weeks ahead, she will need to say if she is using the medication she is advertising.

For those bloggers that are giving her space and realizing she is still learning – thank you. For the bloggers that are openly critical, how long did it take you to learn some of the lessons diabetes teaches you? I am willing to say that in eight plus years with type 2 diabetes – I am still learning – and making mistakes.

So I would like to thank Dr. Bill Quick for his insightful blog and David Mendosa for his blog. These are worth reading. Then take time to read this blog and remarks by another blogger here. While this is mild in comparison to many in the media, it still rubs me the wrong way. They make it sound like she could have prevented diabetes and that she is to blame for it, although it is not directly stated.

Ms. Torrey apparently does not even know how often a person using Victoza needs to inject it during the day. Where were her proofreaders? Two or three times per day – or more – I think not - the file here on Victoza clearly states it is for injection one (1) time per day. Go to “How Should I Use Victoza”, in the middle column, and the second point under it. Oh my, the mistakes a “Patient Advocate” will make for sensationalism.

I had respect for Ms. Torrey until her tirade about Paula Deen. I could even overlook a few comments that seemed out of line, but for me she crossed the line in her attack. She has lost her credibility as a patient advocate.