Staggering as it is, according to the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 133 million Americans struggle with chronic illness and that number is set to rise to 157 million by 2020 with 80% of those people having multiple conditions.

Due to that sad statistic, chances are either you suffer from chronic illness or you have a family member or friend that does.

With Chronic Illness Food is Often Quite a Hot Spot

However, I know very well that a person who is enduring some form of chronic illness will be greatly blessed by a thoughtful gift centered around safe, anti-inflammatory food – especially if they’re a foodie!

Growing up, I was a foodie from the minute my neighbor taught me to gourmet cook when I turned double digits and when I would spend hours in the kitchen with my grandma learning her southern cooking skills.

When I got diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, that didn’t stop me from continuing my foodie journey. I still travel for food and I still love to cook and bake. I just had to learn different ways to create tasty food with healthier, less inflammatory ingredients and I had to utilize a few different tools.

For that foodie suffering with chronic illness in your life, I wanted to share with you a bundle of gift ideas that will bless their socks off and help them to feel satisfied despite their struggle.

Chronic Illness Foodie Gift Guide

Paleo and AIP Food Services

Meal Delivery Service, Subscriptions Boxes & Meal Plans

1 | On the days that chronic illness wrecks the entire body, a person is certainly not going to want to cook. Purchasing a few months of a meal delivery service like Paleo on The Go can bring much-needed rest. You just choose the meals you want to bless them with and then pay. If you don’t know what meals to choose, you can give them a gift card so they can choose their own meals. You can get $15 off your first order by clicking this link and using the coupon code: FeastingOnJoy15

2 | Sometimes snacks are hard to find when you are following a strict anti-inflammatory diet which is why I love Simply AIP. You can choose one to twelve-month subscriptions and your friend will get a box a month full of AIP snacks and goodies shipped to their house. This fun mail will bring them so much joy!

3 | Meal Planning can be extremely daunting for someone with chronic illness. That’s where this service called Real Plans will come in handy. Paid for monthly or yearly, the person has access to personalized plans for virtually any diet out there including Keto, GAPS, AIP, Paleo, Whole-30 and more! Portion size can be adjusted, timelines and grocery lists are included too. I can’t tell you how easy this has made meal planning for me! The possibilities seem endless for me to put health meals on our table.

Simplify meal planning and shopping for that special someone with chronic illness by gifting them a monthly, quarterly or yearly membership by clicking this link.

If you want to get a 4 week Paleo meal plan for free right now, click here.

Buying Food for Chronic Illness Online

4 | Often times it is hard for a person with chronic illness to get out of the house to grocery shop. That’s why a prepaid membership to Amazon Fresh is a blessing. Prime members in select cities can shop for groceries, everyday essentials, favorites from local shops and restaurants, and more with AmazonFresh. AmazonFresh offers Attended Delivery and Unattended Delivery, with Pickup options in select cities.

5 | You can also give the gift of Amazon Prime because it allows the person to order anything on Amazon and get free two-day shipping as well as ad-free access to tons of music and free streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows.

6 | Sometimes the food a person with chronic illness has to eat is hard to find and it’s really expensive. That’s why Thrive Market is another wonderful gift to give a friend or family member who needs to get anti-inflammatory food at low cost, delivered for free and that’s easily accessible. A yearly membership to shop at Thrive is only $59.95 and includes a 30-day free trial. I was gifted this one year and it made things so much easier for me! {For every paid membership, Thrive also gives one membership to a family in need!} Click here to gift a membership.

7 | Drinking high-quality, organic bone broth is a crucial facet of healing chronic illness. A great gift idea is to purchase an on-going 30-day subscription for the absolute best, slow-simmered boxed broth and soup available on the market today. You can choose how many cartons per month are delivered which meet your gift budget or you could just bless them with a couple of boxes to try. Kettle and Fire makes a wonderfully healing gift! You can get 20% off your first order using this link and the coupon code: Feasting20

8 | An Amazon Gift Card always makes a nice gift for your loved one with chronic illness too because they will be able to get anything they need.

9 | Eating high quality, organic meat is vital to those healing from chronic illness. We have used U.S Wellness Meats to purchase our pastured, grass-fed and wild caught meats online. Giving a gift card to this store would be a very welcomed gift for anyone with a chronic illness.

10 | Coconut is a staple food for someone healing from chronic illness. The problem is that coconut can often be tainted with glyphosate which can hinder healing. Giving a gift card to this glyphosate free store so they can buy organic coconut oil, organic shredded coconut, organic coconut flakes, organic unscented coconut lotion, organic palm shortening or organic coconut butter can be an excellent gift. *They can even get soy-free eggs here!

Food Gifts for Someone with Chronic Illness

11 | Organic Chocolate not everyone with chronic illness can tolerate chocolate but for someone you know who can, these are such fun chocolate gifts to give. What I love is that most of them are sweetened with honey or coconut sugar.

12 | Dr. Cowans Blends are superfood powdered blends that can be added to smoothies, eggs, or other dishes. They make a great gift for someone with chronic illness because it’s a simple way to add a mega dose of nutrients to food without the need to prep all the veggies. There are so many blends to choose from too! The low oxalate blend is perfect for someone who has a propensity to kidney stones.

13 | Kefirko fermented foods are a mainstay for those with chronic illness and this little gadget makes it simple to make water kefir, milk kefir or even sprouted foods which are ultra high in nutrition. You can pick up one to give as a gift (and get one for yourself!)

14 | Kombucha Starter Kit is another way your friend or family member can get fermented foods into their diet. Making kombucha at home is easy with this starter kit which contains all they’ll need. You can also direct them to my comprehensive article with downloadable instructions about how to make your own kombucha as well as learn the health benefits.

15 | Organic Tea is always a nice gift for someone. It’s relaxing and has many health advantages. This is the least expensive place I have found to purchase it with lots of options to choose from.

16 | Collagen Peptides anyone with chronic illness would absolutely love a container of collagen peptides. It helps with skin health, gut health, muscle health and hair and nails. This is my favorite kind.

17 | Raw Honey makes such a sweet gift for a friend or family member, Raw honey is a natural antibiotic and a monosaccharide so it doesn’t damage gut health. Plus, it tastes amazing! There are several varieties to choose from here.

18 | Manuka Honey is a premium, super-powered honey in that it has increased antibiotic properties in it and can help fend off sickness and sore throats. We swear by it in our house and know this would make a great gift for someone healing from chronic illness. This is the only brand of Manuka Honey I recommend.

19 | Hand Rendered Lard is a tasty and healthy animal fat to use for cooking. Rendering it yourself can be a bit time consuming which is why someone who is healing would love to have a jar ready made to use. This is a great choice.

20 | Goji Berries are a super nutrient-dense food that can give your loved one with chronic illness an antioxidant boost and help make them feel better. These make a great gift because they are such a rare treat.

21 | Red Palm Oil help add a variety of flavor in cooking whole-food. It is high in vitamin A and can help a person with chronic illness heal. It makes a unique gift. You can get some here or here.

22 | A Jar of Ghee is a special treat for that person you know who can’t tolerate dairy. Ghee is clarified butter where the casein and lactose are removed and a rich buttery semi-solid oil is left behind. It’s delicious and will bless someone as a gift. This is my favorite brand.

23 | Elderberry Syrup, of course, this can be made at home but when someone is suffering from chronic illness, the last thing they are going to want to do is to make an immune boosting syrup. They’d rather receive it as a gift! This is a healthy, healing choice for a gift.

Cookbooks Gifts for a Person with Chronic Illness

The person you know with chronic illness is dying to have more of a variety in their diet and cookbooks can help with that. As they heal, they will desire to cook a variety of foods that they can eat and give them a deep satisfaction. I own a lot of cookbooks but there are only certain ones I recommend – especially for foodies. Here are my favorite cookbooks for a foodie with chronic illness:

24 | Nourishing Traditions

25 | Healing Kitchen

26 | Meals Made Simple

27 | Eat What You Love

28 | Celebrations

29 | Nom Nom Paleo

30 | Gather

31 | Dairy-Free Ice Cream

32 | Paleo Magazine

Foodie Tools for Those with Chronic Illness

33 | Stainless Steel Lined Crock Pot this is a beautiful and helpful gift for the person with chronic illness trying to get away from toxic coatings on cookware.

34 | 8 Quart Pressure Cooker is one of the best kitchen tools to make bone broth, entire healthy meals, soups, stews, dairy-free yogurt and more.

35 | Pressure Cooker Accessories Kit has all the fun gadgets to make using a pressure cooker even more rewarding.

36 | High Powered Blender is a crucial kitchen tool for someone with chronic illness because it makes the creamiest smoothies and soups. No chunks remain!

37 | Jar Opener is a wonderful gadget because those with chronic illness can get very sore and achy. Trying to open a sealed tight jar without this tool is tough. You can choose a wall mounted version or a handheld.

38 | Non-Toxic Lunch Containers are really important since most lunch containers are plastic and increase chronic illness symptoms and disease. Gifting a non-toxic lunch box set will be well received.

39 | Enameled Cast Iron are great cookware pieces that are free of the toxic coating Teflon. They are heirloom kitchen pieces. This is my favorite brand and I have owned pieces from them for over 14 years.

40 | Fermentation Crock is the perfect gift for someone with chronic illness who is trying to heal their gut. Probiotic rich foods are vitally important in their diet. Pair this crock with a beautiful book on fermenting foods and you have a very thoughtful gift for the foodie.

41 | Continuous Brew Kombucha Container also make a great gift for someone who loves Kombucha but doesn’t want to spend the expensive prices to buy it. Using a continuous brew container saves the person time too.

42 | Glass Automatic, One-Touch Tea Maker I received this as a gift one year and use all the time. It’s great for heating hot water and steeping the perfect cup of tea. It even has different settings for different tea types.

43 | Stainless Steel Straws are such a fun and practical gift to help your person with chronic illness get the plastic out of their life. I love the sets that come with the straw cleaners too. We use our set all the time!

44 | Glass Straws are a beautiful gift to give an adult with chronic illness who is ditching plastic. A set of these makes a very thoughtful gift.

45 | Chemical Free, Reusable Food Storing Cloths are also a fun yet helpful gift for the person struggling with chronic illness who wants to stop using plastic wrap.

46 | Airbnb gift card for the foodie that is able to travel {plus get $40 off your first Aibnb stay by using my link.} When traveling with chronic illness, it’s important to have a place to stay that has a kitchen so the person can cook their own food most of the time. Using Airbnb to find the perfect place for a great travel experience is priceless.

47 | Knife Set a good knife set for the foodie is imperative for prepping wholesome, healthy food. This would bless someone tremendously.

48 | Cast Iron Pans are excellent for helping your struggling friend or family member get more iron into their diet. They are beautiful heirloom pieces of kitchen cookware.

49 | Food Processor this gadget is so important for quick veggie prep in the kitchen. I was gifted mine for Christmas one year and it has become a mainstay in my kitchen. I don’t know what I did without it before.

50 | Immersion Blender is helpful for making dressings, dips, mayonnaise and pureeing soups. I use mine all the time and I know the foodie in your life would enjoy receiving one of these.

51 | The Best Fruit and Veggie Peelers with chronic illness can come a lot of food prep and these peelers are hands down the best peelers I have ever used. I have only owned one set in over 12 years and it’s these. The fun part is that they have so many different choices from julienne cut to shavings to ridges and more!

52 | Set of Stainless Steel Pots with chronic illness, it’s important for the person to get away from coated pans. Stainless steel pans are a great alternative. We’ve owned this set over five years and it still looks like brand new.

53 | Stainless Steel Popsicle Molds I absolutely LOVE these popsicle molds. They make a nice size popsicle and they aren’t sitting in a plastic mold. These are so fun and easy to use.

54 | Easy to Clean Juicer during my healing journey, I was gifted this juicer. I have used it almost every single day since. It is easy to clean and does a great job juicing. The bonus is that it makes ice cream and nut butter too!

55 | Yogurt Maker is a great way to save money and make no sugar, dairy-free yogurt which will help heal the gut. We own this yogurt maker and love adding in our own fixins. It’s a fun foodie tool and I love that it comes with the cute small glass jars but has the room for a bit quart jar too!

56 | Glass Coffee Maker is not only beautiful but a great way to reduce the plastic in someone’s life. We love ours.

57 | Cute Coffee/Tea Mug these always make fun gifts for the person who needs a little encouragement. Words are powerful.

58 | Set of Stainless Steel Bowls are the perfect kitchen tool for the foodie who will be mixing a lot of ingredients but shouldn’t be using plastic. The different sized bowls really come in handy.

59 | Cute Ceramic Mini Loaf Pans can be really useful for making small batches of grain-free bread.

60 | Cute Ceramic Baking Dish makes a sweet and thoughtful gift to encourage your friend or family member who is struggling.

61 | Set of Stainless Steel Sheet Pans are excellent for the foodie who needs to roast lots of veggies and even bake anti-inflammatory cookies. I have owned this set for over a decade and use it almost every single day.

62 | SilPats are a great replacement for toxic tin foil. The person with chronic illness will need to eliminate aluminum out of their life and these are helpful for that. They are easy to clean and reusable too.