Private Chef, Writer & Podcaster
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but cigarette smoke is not an air freshener. For those of us living with sarcoidosis or any lung condition, your “right to smoke” feels like my right to suffocate. Here’s one chef’s not-so-gentle reminder that public air is shared property—so stop blowing toxins in my direction and pretending it’s perfume.
Living with sarcoidosis means managing symptoms, medications, and side effects that can turn your body into a science experiment. When prednisone turned my metabolism into a full-blown sugar-addicted monster, I went hunting for sweeteners that wouldn’t kill me faster than the disease. Here’s how I learned that everything—yes, even the stuff labeled “natural”—comes with fine print.
After years of battling sarcoidosis and heart failure, I’ve realized that “sick” is just a word—and it doesn’t define me. Between migraines, acupuncture needles, and medical humor that borders on dark roast, I’m still standing, breathing, and occasionally brisk-walking on flat ground.
Before my MRI next week, a simple online check-in turned into a bizarre quiz about my private life, sprinkled with the usual sarcoidosis-related precautions—but what came next left me blinking at the screen and wondering who exactly was getting scanned here. Let’s just say the questions took a turn I did not see coming.
Growing up with childhood trauma and overwhelming guilt after witnessing my step-father’s heart attack shaped everything—from how I curse, to how I cook, to how I manage chronic illness today. While emotional suppression can increase stress, inflammation, and heart risk, meditation, humor, cooking, and selective profanity helped me survive. If you’ve ever carried guilt, wrestled with grief, or learned to cope quietly, this story will remind you that you’re not the villain—you’re surviving with heart.
Tate Basildon 