Viewpoint: For everyone's sake, let the Twinkie die

Since getting her own show on Food Network in 2002, Paula Deen has become a household name, accumulating both critics and disciples of her savory — and often butter and sugar loaded — comfort food. She now commands an empire that includes merchandise from pots and pans to keychains raking in gobs of dollars.

This week, she touched off a firestorm after she announced she had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

Critics have labeled Deen a hypocrite for profiting from her unhealthy recipes, while secretly coping with her ailment for the past three years. Deen responds that she recommends her food only in moderation, and offers slightly healthier versions of her recipes for those with diabetes.

So, if Paula Deen, who once put a cheesburger between two glazed donuts, has modified her diet, why can’t the rest of us?

Obesity has long been a problem in the United States, and is a factor in 112,000 deaths every year. Although obesity rates seem to be stabilizing, they have hit a frightening level in all age demographics: Approximately one third (35.7%) of adults are obese, while another third are overweight, and nearly one third (31.8%) of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.

College students are of course not immune to this distressing trend. According to the American College Health Association, 3 in 10 college students are either overweight or obese. Even more troublesome, however, is the fact that many college students seem to deny their own weight gain.

In a study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Syracuse University researchers found that college students of all body mass indices maintained an “optimistic bias” about their own healthfulness in comparison to the “average college student,” which could potentially inhibit their desire to alter their habits.

The consequences of these rates are dire: Obesity can lead to a variety of health problems, including heart disease, cancer, respiratory problems, stroke and, of course, Type 2 diabetes.

Are we learning anything?

During the same week that Deen revealed her diagnosis, Hostess filed for bankruptcy, partly as a result of its inability to compete in an increasingly health-conscious culture. That should come as good news to many Americans, right?

Instead, it has inspired a “Save the Twinkie” campaign spearheaded by talk show host Wendy Williams. The campaign's Facebook page has 13,000 likes.

Hostess products have long been popular in American lunchboxes, and the Twinkie in particular has had a major cultural impact, spawning the Twinkie diet, the infamous Twinkie defense used in Dan White’s 1979 murder trial, even the myth that a Twinkie can survive a nuclear bomb (for the record, its shelf life is only 26 days).

While it’s understandable how this culturally significant product could garner such support from its nostalgic fans, we also need to consider the Twinkie in the context of the much bigger issue of obesity in the United States.

It’s fine to indulge once in a while, but the demise of one of the most unhealthy snacks of all time should be celebrated as a victory for a healthier America. The Twinkie may be an American icon, but now obesity is too. Can’t we sacrifice one in order to eradicate the other?

Paula Deen gave up her sweet tea — let’s follow her example and give up our Twinkies in favor of something a little more nutritious.

Haley Potter is a Spring 2012 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.