When Cooking And Chronic Illness Collide



healthblogI read a blog this morning from another chronically ill lady who was discussing what it means to be thankful with a life limiting illness. Moreover, how do we express our gratitude to our family when we are often too sick to show our appreciation? Lots of food for thought … only small pun intended as we approach the biggest eating holiday of the year.

Cooking means the world to me. It is a source of creativity, esteem, generosity and medicinal wellspring. I’ve made adaptions throughout my dysautonomic journey, from rotation and elimination diets to changing my pantry and pots around so that I could do all my prep work on the floor. Its my way of not only being good to myself, but also giving back to my family and friends who sit at my table.

So for those friends and strangers that walk in my shoes, here are a few tips and cheats that can help prepare a holiday meal:

 

IGNORE THE CALENDAR

Everyone who eats at my house knows that a rain check or meal voucher IOU is a distinct possibility. Even if I was feeling “well” the day before, my body could easily decide to become uncooperative on the “big day”. So we all agree to be flexible, not only with my schedule but everyone elses. One year, we actually had thanksgiving dinner at midnight, because THAT was when all of my children could make it home. Once you let go of the notion that something HAS to happen at a particular time or date, there is a world of possibility that becomes available to you.

GRILL, CROCK & FREEZE

If you are planning to cook a bird, why not find one of the easy BBQ recipes that are really popular right now on the web. Men love to grill. One less thing you don’t need to be standing up in the kitchen for. We made a test run this week of a split whole turkey with a bacon lattice on top. The 10 pound bird took just over two hours and I hear it was AMAZING. I put some baked potatoes in the BBQ while it was cooking, which I and my vegetarian daughter ate and it was an easy no fuss awesome meal.

Think of thing you can make in the crock pot for your holiday. Like traditional bean casserole, candied yams, or even stuffing can be made easy in your slow cooker.

Anything I can cook in advance, like home made lasagna, gets frozen. Then even if I can’t do anything else for the holiday, I can have someone take the tray out of the freezer and place it in the oven. Lots of dishes taste great re-heated, some like stews and chili even taste BETTER.

STORE BOUGHT

If you are eating it in my home .. I consider it home made. Done. There’s absolutely NO SHAME in buying pre-cooked holiday preparations. There are even places that can deliver food right to your door. I can buy a cooked chicken at my local Vons (Safeway.com) and have free home delivery with any order over $150. I’ve been buying all of my groceries on line for at least 15 years. It was a godsend when I was working, and a necessity now, as a housebound disabled woman.

PIZZA

At some homes, pizza IS the traditional thanksgiving meal. Find out in advance who is open for deliveries on the holiday and make sure you have that phone number handy. Its good to know that you have back up if you burn, drop, spoil or your health challenges get in the way of your best made plans.

 

And of course keep in mind, its not about making the “perfect” meal. Its about understanding that everything IS perfect, even when it looks very different from what you thought it would. Being thankful for what IS instead of what isn’t in your life can sometimes be a far reach. But as I’ve said before … Life isn’t what you make of it, it’s what you MAKE UP about it. So even if your special day didn’t go as you had hoped, it can still turn in to one heck of a story to remember … or in my case one byte-ing blog.

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