The Food Network's reigning queen of butter recently announced she has had type 2 diabetes for three years.

The next thing we knew, people were bashing her for hiding it and some even said it was no surprise given the way she loves her fattening fare.

I guess I was the only one who was surprised.

Now, if she had announced she had cholesterol levels out the roof I would have nodded and said it was her continual ode to butter. But diabetes? I never saw it coming.

Before Paula Deen graced the small screen with her "Hey Ya'll," my Granny was frying up everything but the kitchen towel and serving it with a side of gravy. Real butter, real sugar and lard were staples of anything made in Granny's kitchen.

When a health report claimed not to eat more than two whole eggs a week, Granny ignored it and just added more eggs beside her sausage.

When Granny saw Paula Deen's cooking show for the first time, she snorted. "I don't know why they gave her a show. I've been cooking like that for 80 years - no one put me on television."

Granny's right. She has been, and whether it's just pure luck or great genes, the old gal has dodged a bullet health-wise. Her tickers stronger than a purebreds and her cholesterol's fine. The only ailments she has are not diet related but more due to the fact she's in her 90s.

So how did Paula Deen develop diabetes, and Granny - who's diet has been just as fattening - didn't?

"We worked in the cotton field, from sun up to sun down," Granny has told me, her excuse for her rich diet. "We labored all day. We worked hard."

"Granny, that was 70 years ago. You haven't worked in a cotton field since you were a child."

Of course, that's Granny's excuse for anything.

She claims ‘back in the old days' they could eat fatback with a biscuit every day and no one had the health problems then that they do now. Maybe she's right. Or maybe she has some built up resistance to the grease, the fat and the sugar from all those years of hard physical labor.

Not sure, but she has defied the typical medical findings.

I argue the growing health concerns have to do with the fact that half the time, we can't read all the ingredients on the label and the preservatives and additives are what's causing a lot of the problems. But I'm not a doctor, so what do I know?

Paula Deen, I hope this doesn't change the way you do your show, or your recipes.

It just won't be the same if you have to leave out your generous dollops of butter and cream; but I understand if you do.

And my Granny will be using enough for the both of you.

Sudie Crouch is an award-winning humor columnist and certified life coach. She lives in the north Georgia mountains with her family and four insane, but fairly well behaved dogs.