The Healthy Back Kitchen: Move Easier, Cook SimplerHow to Enjoy Great Food While Managing Back Pain

Reboot Your Cooking Life

1. Plan recipes and shopping lists ahead of the upcoming week.
2. Store and organize ingredients, tools and supplies so that they are easy to find before prepping.
3. Collect all knives, tools, and ingredients before starting to chop, dice, and prep.
4. Before cooking, store prepped ingredients in lightweight trays or containers.
5. While cooking, take advantage of any unattended cooking times to rest or take a break.

The Ergonomic Kitchen

You can have the simplest recipe in the world, but if you aren’t equipped with the right tools, and your kitchen isn’t well organized, cooking will be harder and will put unnecessary strain on your back and tax your energy. In this section we will be asking you to think hard about your kitchen and everything in it to optimize your workstation.

Prep with Ease

In addition to standing and lifting, the biggest complaint about cooking that I hear from my patients is related to the amount of prep work. Prep for every recipe in this book takes no more than 25 minutes, and most are less. In this section you'll also find tips and info on equipment that will make this process more efficient, along with easier ways to prep common ingredients, suggestions for buying prepped ingredients that work well, and more.

Cook with Ease

Pots and Pans and More:

Just like it’s not necessary to have a lot of knives, there is no need to have a huge arsenal of pots and pans. Case in point, all of the ergonomically designed and back-friendly recipes in this book use just the equipment in this section.

Use Convenience Appliances to Make Cooking Easier

Many of our favorite dinner recipes require standing for long stretches of time between prepping ingredients and adding them to a skillet or pot while cooking in increments. This is where the Instant Pot and the slow cooker are especially helpful and the ultimate ergonomic tools. The air fryer has its place for entirely different reasons. Learn about how to use these appliances in the healthy back kitchen.

Make Shopping Easier and More Pleasurable

Sometimes, if your pain is stealing your energy and motivation, using food shopping as a reason to get out of the house and to be active can be the jump start you need to get back on track. Learn strategies that will lessen the amount of time you need to spend walking around a grocery store and will limit the amount of heavy lifting on any given trip. You'll be less exhausted by the entire process and motivated to keep cooking.

Get Inspired by the Produce at the Farmers’ Market

I encourage my patients to keep moving and to get out of the house. And going to a local farmers’ market is a great way to be outside, do a little walking, and buy some height-of-the-season produce.

Keep Entertaining Simple and Enjoy It

Two of my core principles are to establish a routine and to be resilient, which can be hard to do. Gain some tips to entertain with ease without hurting your back such as:

• Be strategic about your menu
• Share the work
• Keep serving simple (and easy on your back)