Deen Paula - Paula Deen Cuts the Fat: 250 Favorite Recipes All Lightened Up

W ow, hows that for an opener? I look at this photo of me and I think, how did I not realize that I was so fat? Truth is, like many folks, I was busy and content, and of course I never stepped on a scale.

Growing up in Albany, Georgia, I was fearless. I liked roller skatin, swimmin, and eatin, and I had lots of friends. In high school, I was the pretty cheerleader with the handsome boyfriend. I entered beauty pageants and weighed 118 pounds with a 36-23-36 figure. I had a steady boyfriend when I was a high-school senior, but it took only one look at my future husband, Jimmy Deen, who had graduated the year before, and I was a goner. With his dark eyes and hair, he was a heartthrob. The minute I graduated from high school we got engaged, and my parents were devastated. They had misgivings about Jimmy; they picked up on the fact that he was controlling and not very directed in terms of what he was going to do for a job. But I had my heart set on being his wife. We got married in the fall of 1965, and my daddy gave me the choice of having either a big wedding or a stove and refrigerator, because he couldnt afford both. Needless to say, I took the stove and refrigerator, and thats probably when my destiny was set.

The following year, my son Jamie was born, and two years later Bobby came along. At age twenty-three, I had just begun to cope with my daddys death when my mother passed away. I had a sixteen-year-old brother to finish raising, two babies under the age of three, and a husband who really liked his cold beer.

For years I remained in an unhappy marriage. The only place I felt happy was in my kitchen. I spent a lot of time bellied up to my stove, and I came to realize that I was good at cookin; I had a knack for knowing what ingredients would go together and how to make things taste good. Cookin became a source of comfort to me.

At age forty-two, I started my own catering company, The Bag Lady. That name was not the most complimentary thing to call myself, was it, yall? But I think it indicates how I felt about myself at the time. I was working sixteen- and sometimes even twenty-hour days, because my life was all about building a business and being able to buy groceries. I knew I wasnt capable of fixing Jimmy and me, so I finally told him it was over, and he moved out.

Over the years, I slowly put on weight. By the time Jamie, Bobby, and I opened our first restaurant, The Lady & Sons, I was comfortable with who I was. What I weighed was the last thing on my mind; my thoughts were only on scratchin out a livin. We were so busy that we never had time to sit down and eat; whatever was convenient, wed grab. One of our staples in the restaurant was a handle sandwich: a chicken leg on a slice of white bread, drizzled with hot sauce. You could keep stirring a pot with one hand and eat the sandwich with the other until all you had left was the handlethe chicken bone. My days as a shapely girl were long gone at that point. I knew I was getting way too heavy, but I was focused on building up the business.

I worked hard to compile many of my favorite recipes, and with the support of friends and family, I published Favorite Recipes of The Lady & Her Friends and sold copies in the restaurant. I was so proud of this little cookbook, which I printed at the local copy shop. One rainy afternoon, an editor from a large New York City publishing house came into the restaurant and offered to publish the book. I had been discovered, and every day I thank God for this blessing. The book led to cooking shows, and soon I was juggling two full-time jobs in addition to running what was now a very successful restaurant. My weight continued to creep up.

In 2009, during a routine physical, my doctor told me I had type 2 diabetes. It took me such a long time to come to grips with that fact. My gosh, I loved my life, and I loved that it was centered around down-home Southern cookin. I didnt want to change; I really fought that idea tooth and nail. But change is one thing were guaranteed in life, although most of us dont like itespecially if were in a place that were happy with. My recipes and cooking shows were all about decadent, delicious foods, even though I didnt eat the way I cooked on the shows all the time. Some folks think that what they see in a twenty-two-minute show is what it must really be like in my everyday life. But I dont go around lickin sticks of butter and munchin cake all day long. Even so, I had definitely built my whole life and my career around indulgent food. I knew I needed to lose weight and get healthy. I just couldnt wrap my mind around it.