Five Cooking Tips for People With Rheumatoid Arthritis

The holiday season is a perfect time for families to gather together. But unfortunately, daily activities like cooking can be uncomfortable. The famous chef, Seamus Mullen, known for his appearance in the “The Next Iron Chef”, recently offered some advices to make people with arthritis more productive in the kitchen. Mullen said that he started to feel signs of exhaustions all the time about 8 years ago. He generally felt uncomfortable and his body ached with acute pain in the shoulder. The hospital typically treated him with pain medication or steroid. One day, Mullen was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis where his own immune system attacks the joint linings. Mulen began to wonder whether he should continue his culinary career, but over time he started to take steps to care for himself. He is now an active participant of various campaigns associated with rheumatoid arthritis that aim to assist people with the condition to better manage their life. Here are five kitchen tips that Mullen uses in his daily cooking activities:

  1. Improve accessibility in the kitchen: People should make a list of ingredients and utensils they frequently use in the kitchen. Place them in locations that are easy to reach, so it isn’t necessary to bend or stretch too often. People planning to buy a new fridge should choose the one with the side-by-side freezer. They should stoop down to see and grab something in their fridge.
  2. Distribute loads: It may save money to buy ingredients in bulk, but people with rheumatoid arthritis shouldn’t lift large containers whenever possible.
  3. Use good knife and food processor: Slicing vegetables and meat can be painful and uncomfortable. For people dealing with inflammatory diseases, repetitive motions are quite challenging. Goof knife and food processor can certainly make cooking easier to do. Dull and heavy knives require a good deal more effort to use; they could contribute to more pain and in some cases, accidents.
  4. Don’t let the cutting board slides: In normal kitchens, it can be troublesome to hold foods in place while we cut them. To prevent everything from sliding, Mullen advised that people with rheumatoid arthritis should place damp towel underneath the cutting board.
  5. Use kitchen mats: People suffering from rheumatoid arthritis find that the experience back pain after standing for hours on a hard surface. This could be solved by placing a few cushioned mats at specific locations in the kitchen. Good anti-fatigue mats lessen stress on our legs, redistribute body weight and absorb some shock.