Sjogren's Chef: What's On The Menu

How I focus on global cuisine and ingredients to bring joy to my life, but also as a way to heal my autoimmune disease symptoms, even if it's just psychosomatic.

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A few weeks before my 32nd birthday, in between experimenting with a few new medications for my autoimmune disease, I finally figured out what I wanted Sjögren’s Chef to be. And thus this Substack was born.

I traveled to Australia in January 2024 to explore a continent's worth of cuisine.

Why Sjögren’s Chef now?

In 2022, I was officially diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Sjögren’s Syndrome. It wasn’t really a surprise. In fact, in 2020, my eye doctor suspected I might have it. Early in 2022, my dental hygienist asked me if I experienced dry mouth, to which I replied, “I don’t think so?” Because who really thinks about their mouth being dry? Well, it turns out my extreme eye pain, dry mouth, breathing issues, food sensitivities, joint pain, and rashes were all symptoms of Sjögren’s Syndrome. If you’ve never heard of Sjögren’s, that’s okay — it's in the Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus family. And if I’m being brutally honest, it’s a horrible disease to have. But now, my love of food brings me a huge amount of joy, helping to keep my mood elevated and encouraging me to push through the daily symptoms.

This came years after going to several doctors and specialists, trying different elimination diets, finding out I was allergic to a lot of foods, and then finding out I actually wasn’t allergic to them. I had so much anxiety around food. I used to travel full-time with an NHL team, which meant I spent a lot of meals at random restaurants or in arenas with dicey food options. By the time I went to bed, I was pretty used to feeling sick or having a stomachache. Truthfully, I became afraid of food unless I prepared it myself.

In 2021,

Danielle Walker

, a cookbook author, content creator, and fellow autoimmune disease patient whom I’d followed for years, released a book called “Food Saved Me.” In it, she writes about her experience with autoimmune disease and how she fought back against doctors who said you can’t heal or go into remission with food. Even though I knew her story of how she came to food, reading this book really opened my eyes to how truly healing food can be.

During the pandemic, I had already fallen in love with global cuisine. I began trying new things, watching cooking and food reality shows from around the world, and discovered that there’s a whole lot more out there than the Tex-Mex food I grew up on and the sushi I was obsessed with.

I’ve tried to start something food-related for well over 12 years, but it never felt right. Until now. I’ve developed a global appreciation for ingredients and how they can offer healing, and now I want to share all the nerdy things I discover about food with you.

Timing

I plan to send a newsletter once a week, but let’s be real: if you’ve ever met someone with a chronic illness, you know plans are tough to keep. So here’s my promise: I’m going to try my best to send something once a week. Some weeks, you'll get more in-depth looks at an ingredient I’m obsessed with (looking at you, Australian finger limes), while others might be shorter, with recipe recommendations or a cookbook review. And on some weeks, I just may not have it in me to send anything at all.

Let’s Try Something New Together

Whether you love to travel, try new foods, think of food in a new way, have a chronic illness, or simply want to escape the chaos of your week for a few minutes, I hope Sjögren’s Chef becomes your new home. I want this to be a place where you feel empowered to explore new ideas. I encourage you to share your food ideas, recipes, favorite ingredients, restaurants, and let’s discover how much joy you can find in food.

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