Sugar, Butter, & Lard…The 3 Deadly Sins

As a plus sized woman, I can honestly say that being fabulous and thick doesn’t bother me at all as long as I’m healthy. I will say that many of the stigmas and stereotypes that people have placed upon us are now being demolished and more and more plus size women and men are becoming more confident with their body and who they are. I’m glad to see more of us working out and taking on some form of physical activity, even if you bowl on the Wii at home, it’s still physical activity. When I started dieting about a year ago, I honestly didn’t have a set target weight in mind. I didn’t go on a diet to get skinny because I know that I will never be nor do I want to be. I believe that if everyone was meant to be a size 2 or 4 then we would’ve all simply been made that way. I’m not saying that it’s OK to be morbidly obese and unhealthy, but I am saying  that it’s OK to be confident in who you are and not let the world come down on you. I’m more for being healthy and I feel that you don’t have to be a size 0-4 to be healthy. It’s more in what you eat and as always everything in moderation.

This week, we learned that Food Network star Paula Deen has had diabetes for the last 3 years and is partnering or endorsing some new drug. Many diabetics, along with others, are sounding off calling her a fraud and a hypocrite for cooking all those fattening meals with a shit load of sugar, butter, and lard. The three deadly sins of food! So here’s my take on things, I’m a huge fan of the Food Network and I watch many of the shows on there, including Paula Deens. Although, I watch her show and love southern cooking, I don’t cook the stuff she prepares on a daily basis. Meaning no one held a gun to anybodies head and said “Cook your food in all that damn butter” “add 2 lbs of sugar” and “fry in 2 qts of lard”. It’s strictly your choice to use any recipe you see on her program.  We all know that sugar, butter, and lard is not healthy, at least I hope we do. Next, did anyone put Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, and Jennifer Hudson on blast? I mean when was Mariah Carey ever fat” even after giving birth. Janet Jackson has gone up and down in her weight but somehow she’s plump one week and skinny the next, and Jennifer Hudson who at one time was a plus size woman…well we all in the back of our head know that she possibly had the lap band but out of all three her weight lost would be the most believable. Would these women be considered a fraud?

So moral of this story, use sugar for exfoliating your face and keep it out your tummy , easier said than done, use butter to treat skin irritations and as a cuticle conditioner and as for lard, well who doesn’t love fried chicken so we may have to keep that, but in moderation of course. Last but not least, if you’re a celebrity somehow you can lose like 100 lbs in a month and then make millions endorsing weight lost programs……maybe I’m in the wrong business.

If you’re looking for a good cookbook of some great southern dishes try Patti Labelle’s Recipes for The Good Life (it’s one of my favorites), she’s been outta the closet about her diabetes for awhile.