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

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(as of Mar 03, 2024 14:13:38 UTC – Details)


As highlighted on NPR, we use kitchen ergonomics to reinvent every step of the cooking process so you can cook well with less physical strain while enjoying delicious meals.
Written in collaboration with neurosurgeon Griffin Baum, M.D., this cookbook and guidebook teaches a simpler way of moving in the kitchen, with 225+ recipes designed to avoid prolonged standing and minimize exertion.
A bowl of pasta becomes easier when you ditch the big pot of boiling water and simmer everything in a skillet or Instant Pot. Comfort classics get reimagined as low-lift affairs: lasagna in a loaf pan, Parmesan risotto in your slow cooker, or beef pot pie for two in a skillet.
Working with Dr. Baum, we explore every part of cooking to improve accessibility, boost quality of life, and help you enjoy cooking.
Downsize and optimize: In “The Ergonomic Kitchen,” we’ll help you set up a functional work space, whether you’re standing or seated. (Do you know how to position your cutting board to enhance posture and minimize back strain?)
Everyone needs a good apron: The right apron brings the kitchen to you so you can keep certain tools close at hand and avoids unnecessary standing or reaching.
Prep ahead! These recipes have been carefully chosen to minimize prep time, and we also share tips for spacing out prep work, so time spent actually cooking is faster and more pleasurable. Why not start dinner with a do-ahead simmering sauce for chicken or fish?
Take a break: Recipes highlight breaks in the cooking process so you can see at a glance when you can sit down if you need to.
Shopping and entertaining tips: Cooking for friends and family should not be off limits even if you have back pain. These sections help you take the stress out of the process.
Simple excercises to keep you limber and safe: Dr. Baum provides exercises to do when you have a space 10 minutes as well as advice on the best ways to unpack groceries, bring serving dishes to the table, and bend down to put something in the oven.

From the Publisher

The Healthy Back

Move Easier, Cook Simpler

How to Enjoy Great Food While Managing Back Pain

Sizzling Garlic Shrimp

In this innovative collection, recipes are streamlined to reduce prep work, standing time, and the need to lift heavy pots or pans. So you can still make all your favorites as reimagined by America’s Test Kitchen and approved by neurosurgeon and avid home cook Dr. Griffin Baum.

Salad for Dinner Streamlined Comfort Classics Hearty Soups & Stews Skillet Meals Simple Mains That Won’t Strain Your Back Easy Sides to Round Out Your Meal Sauces That Jump-Start Dinner

How to Cook & Eat Well Despite Back Pain

“You are not alone. Back pain is the #1 reason people see the doctor in the United States.”

When you suffer from back pain, cooking can be especially difficult, as it requires all sorts of movements—just to get prep work done and a meal in the oven, skillet, or saucepan. In this book, we provide you with recipes designed to make prep work and the cooking process easier, with breaks strategically built into the recipes, prep-ahead strategies so that you can spread out the work, ideas for using pre-prepped ingredients, and even radically simplified tips.

Reboot Your Cooking Life The Ergonomic Kitchen Prep with Ease Cook with Ease Use Convenience Appliances to Make Cooking Easier Make Shopping Easier and More Pleasurable Get Inspired by the Produce at the Farmers’ Market Keep Entertaining Simple and Enjoy It

Meet Dr. Griffin Baum

Griffin R. Baum, M.D., is a fellowship-trained, board-certified spine surgeon and Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He treats pediatric and adult patients with scoliosis and spinal disorders at Lenox Hill Hospital located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. In addition to his clinical and research efforts, Dr. Baum is a passionate teacher and educator and serves as Associate Residency Program Director for the Neurosurgery Residency Training Program at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Baum lives in New York City with his wife, Sarah, and daughter, Frances, and spends all his free time cooking. He has been a passionate cook since his teens and loves to test the limits of what he can do in the kitchen

Don’t let back pain take the pleasure out of cooking

Reboot Your Cooking Life

Plan recipes and shopping lists ahead of the upcoming week.Store and organize ingredients, tools and supplies so that they are easy to find before prepping.Collect all knives, tools, and ingredients before starting to chop, dice, and prep.Before cooking, store prepped ingredients in lightweight trays or containers.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.

Gain control of a new way to cook despite back pain

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 menuShare the workKeep serving simple (and easy on your back)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ America’s Test Kitchen (May 2, 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 344 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1954210655
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1954210653
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.22 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.88 x 0.83 x 9.63 inches