Sometimes you just gotta laugh…
Let’s face it. When you have Lupus, Cancer, or any invisible illness you have days (or months) where eating is the last thing you want to do. Of course our families still insist on having a decent meal, so what do you do? 🙂

Here is my plan of action for any days you face this issue. Starting early and setting the ground rules now will be helpful far into the future. Should they ever falter in carrying out the plan as you have set out for them, simply wash, rinse and repeat until the desired effect is reached.
Step One:
Pull out as many pots and pans as you can. Fill a few with water and melt some butter in a few others. Allow water to boil and create steam and the butter to start to brown. (If it burns, that is ok, too.) Fill one pot with cold water and set on burner, but do not heat.
Step Two:
Pull out that plastic wrapped mystery meat everyone has in the back of their freezer from who knows when and place in one of the hot pans with butter. Allow to cook, charring the outside while drying it out to the texture of shoe leather. In the cold water pot drop in pasta and then bring to a boil to cook. Make lima beans.
Step Three:
Make sure your family realizes how hard you are working and how sick you feel. (Optional: Reminding kids how they ruined your body, bank account, etc.)
Step Four:
Serve your meal with love and apologize that it’s not up to standards, but you really tried so hard. (And it would be easier without stretch marks.) Worry out loud about the quality of the slimy pasta, dried and burn meat and lima beans which were just easier to grab. Sigh a bit. Sniffle. Get a sad look in your eyes. Gosh you try SO hard.
Step Five:
Suggest that if it is too horrible, that you would be more then happy to suggest a few take-out, pick-up or sit down restaurants that might be more palatable. Slip in a seed of a suggestion that this is the way to go.
Step Six:
When feeling sick the next night, start talking about pasta, meat and whatever veggie you can grab from the fridge. Pull the menus out as you look for a utensils and maybe even drop a few for someone else to pick up for you. Let the connection sink in. Every night after these first two, simply make mention of how sick you feel and watch them skip the steps between you and the menus.
This foolproof plan in no way reflects the ideals of anyone associated with it, however if it works we will take full responsibility.
Jennifer Altherr, Butyoudontlooksick.com, © 2007