I am going to be writing these mini-tips in roman numerals because I hope I will eventually have a lot of them. I guess it depends on how long my energy holds.
When you can, sit, sit, sit.
Cooking can be grueling, even for those who don’t have a chronic illness. It sometimes uses muscles that even the gods didn’t know they created. For me, I have to sit whenever possible because I can’t stand for very long. If I do, my body flips a coin where I can get dizzy (not good while chopping things or holding a mixing bowl) or I start getting back stabbing pain that feels like thousands of needles are being visciously stabbed into me like a certain scene (I originally thought about the Psycho shower scene, but the Saw II needle pit scene also works as well – I’m cringing just thinking about it). Most of the time, however, the coin lands on its edge and I end up experiencing both dizziness and the back stabbing pain.
Needless to say, or maybe it is needful to say (even though needful is not a word; UPDATE: needful apparently is a word, that’s right, I am a wordy genius), neither of those sensations are a good thing to have. So, sit.
You might have to cut more carefully in the beginning when using a knife or get a shorter, but wider bowl for mixing. But cooking when chronically ill is all about making the accommodations that you need, no matter how weird it may look to others.
The Chronically Ill Chef 