TL;DR

Find a position that feels the most comfortable while cutting vegetables. If you are in pain while cutting vegetables, you are much more likely to cut yourself. So, if that means sit on a chair, sit on a chair, if that means standing, stand, if that means doing yogic poses, then try, but be very careful while doing them. Sometime this week, cut something that you are about to consume, it might be during a meal or in preparation for a meal.

Intro

When I made the Schweddy Balls several weeks ago, I cut the whole sweet potatoes into cubes. I started by standing, but my anhidrosis started getting really bad.

My Anhidrosis Story (You can skip this section of the post if you want to since this isn’t the tip)

For those of you who don’t know, anhidrosis means that I don’t sweat. They did a Quantitative Sudomotor Axon Reflex Test (QSART), which is a standardized test, meaning they give you a percentile based on how you tested. The best way I understand percentile is that if you are at the 20th percentile of something, then in a room full of 100 people, each representing a percentile, it’s either 79 or 80 that are better than you (21st percentile, 22nd percentile, etc.). I’m not good at math, so that might end up being 79 or 80.

So, back to the QSART test, they put these electrodes on you and put in a gel that stimulates a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, which usually gives the message to sweat. Then, they attach a hose to suck out all of the sweat that comes out of those electrodes during a 20 minute period. 5 minutes of baseline, 10 minutes of tiny shocks that feel like pin pricks, and then another 5 minutes after that. They suck up all of the sweat.

So they did this on me. The 5th percentile test result for QSART is 5 (that is pretty low, it means that 95 people have higher things than you.). For all parts except for my upper leg, .1 with my upper leg at .4. I didn’t even make it to the 5th percentile. So, that test can tell the doctors several possible things: 1) the neurotransmitter acetycholine isn’t working appropriately, 2) nerves aren’t working appropriately, or 3) the sweat glands aren’t working appropriately. Then, they have to do things after that.

So technically, yes, that means that I do sweat, but it is so minimal that it doesn’t even register as being on the 1st percentile on a standardized test. My doctor told me that I have anhidrosis. In case your curious, they found I have small fiber peripheral neuropathy, which is what they think is causing my anhidrosis. However, the neuropathy isn’t likely to be caused by my diabetes because it has been well controlled since I was first diagnosed.

And Finally: The Tip

Now that that is out of the way, so I was making the Schweddy Balls Recipe trying to stand while cutting up the sweet potatoes when my anhidrosis started acting up. That meant that I was experiencing needle-stabbing pains radiating throughout my back into my shoulders, neck, and forehead. Well, being in pain while holding a sharp knife trying to cut slippery vegetables is not a good idea.

I was cutting them on a pull-out cutting board that our kitchen has, which is a little shorter than counter-height. So, I pulled up the chair I sit on at the table and put it right in front of the kitchen cutting board. I proceeded to cut the vegetables while sitting, I went slow because I was at a different angle than I was used to for cutting, but it worked.

If you don’t have a pullout kitchen cutting board, then try cutting the vegetables on the kitchen table, you should invest in a cutting board so you don’t accidentally cut chunks out of the table and then eat wood in the end. Just know that as you are cutting, take your time, you are not in any rush. On Monday, I’m going to give another tip for cutting that is even easier than this.

Call to Action

Yep, I’m gonna get really direct about this and try and engage with you. That’s what all the marketing things say is important, end it with a call to action. So, here’s your homework assignment, try cutting a vegetable while sitting down sometime this week. Even if it is just one vegetable, like a baby carrot. I’ve found that for me, even just starting with tiny, easy things can help. If, after you cut up the first thing, you want to keep going, try cutting up another.

Send me a comment or picture of you cutting it up and we will celebrate because sometimes with a chronic illness, one minuscule thing (like cutting one single baby carrot) is all that’s all you can do, but you might feel amazing after doing it. It doesn’t have to be pretty. In fact, you could just break a baby carrot in half, that’s a simple way of cutting it if you are worries about cutting yourself.