Food Network star Sunny Anderson is known for her big smile and her delicious recipes showcased on her cooking show. But recently, Sunny revealed that there is some pain behind her smile.
The chef shared on her blog and on the Rachel Ray Show that for the past 20 years, she’s suffered from ulcerative colitis — a chronic disease that affects the large intestine and doesn’t allow her body to absorb nutrients as it should. Unfortunately, greens, along with vegetable and fruit skins, can trigger flare-ups.
“I can’t just have a big salad because my body doesn’t break it down,” she explained to ABC News. “If you get my cookbook, there are only four vegetable recipes. Everything else is meat and potatoes!”
Anderson, 39, has since teamed up with the the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America to raise awareness of the disease and develop recipes to help others who have it.
Sunny’s diagnosis came at age 19, after suffering from cramps “worse than that time of the month” and bloody stools for a month.
Food Network Star Sunny Anderson: “I Feel Really Lucky” was originally published on blackdoctor.org