The Paula Deen Principle: Don't Worry, We Have a Pill for That
“...when ya’all sit down to a simple plate of crisp fried chicken; a fluffy, warm, just-buttered biscuit; a mess of greens cooked down with a bit of ham; and a tall, handsome banana cream pie topped with ice-cold whipped cream afterward, well, you’ll have to agree; there is just nothing better.” Paula Deen, Southern Cooking Bible
Don’t get me wrong, I like Paula Deen. Her down home genuineness is familiar to me, although, I have wondered on occasion if that southern drawl is drawn out just a little more for the cameras.
At my roots, I am a southern lady. I am a baby boomer who grew up in a small town in southwestern Oklahoma. I am a foodie, and I hail from a family that loves to eat. Even before Paula Deen became a household name, my mother used to say that she’d slip in an extra stick of butter into her cheese grits recipe when Dad wasn’t looking. Of course, back then we didn’t really completely understand the health dangers of some of the foods we were eating.
Just a few weeks ago, we enjoyed the holidays with some of Paula’s best recipes, including gooey pumpkin bars for Thanksgiving, chocolate pecan pie for Christmas, and brisket and cheese grits for New Year’s Day.
But the recipes that live on in our family traditions precede the advent of direct-to-consumer advertising by pharmaceutical companies. The Gen X and Gen Y kids have grown up being fed a steady diet of pharmaceutical company ads, sending the message that drugs are good and that a little pill will cure us of our ailments. We are being trained by these pharmaceutical companies and their Madison Avenue advertising agencies to eat whatever we want, including that high fat cheeseburger; after all, we have a pill to lower high cholesterol. And if you develop diabetes, it isn’t a death sentence. We have pills for that. Want to perform better in bed? We have pills for that. Want longer eyelashes? You guessed it…we’ve got a pharmaceutical solution.
Now, as I have said before, there are many good drugs on the market that actually cure disease. There are many drugs on the market that some people can’t live without. But, major pharmaceutical companies are also coming up with a whole new generation of drugs that are more like lifestyle drugs. They don’t cure anything, and they allow people to make really poor choices, thinking that a pill will make up for their bad decisions.
I wish a fraction of the money that was spent peddling drugs for chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and the like was spent on educating people about how to prevent themselves from getting these conditions in the first place.
What many people don’t know is the high risk and sometimes deadly toll some of these drugs can have on people. For example, the diabetes drug Avandia caused an estimated 83,000 heart attacks between 1999 and 2007, some of which resulted in death. The FDA finally pulled the drug from the market after trial lawyers had filed thousands of lawsuits against Avandia’s maker.
Another popular diabetes drug, Actos, has been pulled from the market in France and Germany after studies show it dramatically increases the risk of bladder cancer. But Actos remains on the market in the United States, putting patients in danger of developing the disease.
I won’t stop buying Paula Deen cookbooks, and I will still make some of her recipes on special occasions. But listen up y’all, I can’t help but wonder why she waited three years to make the announcement that she has type-2 diabetes. Three years Paula? Come on now. Did it take your lawyers and agents that long to strike a 7 figure deal with a pharmaceutical company to endorse its diabetes drug? Was the timing of your announcement pure coincidence when it coincided with the announcement of your endorsement deal with Novo Nordisk?
While I am truly sorry to hear about Paula’s diagnosis, I can’t help but be disappointed in the fact that she has teamed up with a pharmaceutical company to market drugs for people to rely upon, instead of focusing on helping people lead healthier lives. To learn more about how pharmaceutical companies get you to buy their drugs, download my free e-book Prescription Drug Safety: 7 Secrets the Pharmaceutical Industry Does NOT Want You to Know today at www.vanweylaw.com.
