Review of renal cookbooks: Tools to creative cooking

Abstract

Good nutrition is the key to good health for everyone. This is especially true for patients with kidney disease. Disease often dictates change in one’s usual dietary intake. Kidney disease calls for diet changes that require attention to protein intake, lower sodium, potassium, and phosphorus foods, and limited liquids. These changes often include restriction of whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables. Although these dietary restrictions are important in minimizing dangerous complications, it often results in unpalatable diets for our patients. Displeasure with the renal diet often leads to dietary noncompliance, and this can lead to increased health risks. The dialysis care regimen can be complex and demanding, often extending into nearly all aspects of a patient’s life. For many of our patients, adapting to these changes are challenging, but many patients agree that the most challenging change is their diet. These changes often lead to fear of eating, and the patients are left to ask that common question we all hear, so what CAN I eat? Food in many cases is more than just nourishment for our bodies. There are so many family routines and cultural connections to food. Many of these diet limitations may be confusing and seem impossible to balance, leaving the patient feeling helpless. As dietitians, we do our best in educating our patients about the foods that are “forbidden.” We provide them with initial lists of foods that they can eat frequently, moderately, and rarely. This helps our patients make the initial dietary choices. Simply knowing what to do is not enough; actually following, or adhering to, the dietary regulations remains one of the greatest challenges for dialysis patients and professionals alike. To overcome these challenges, patients and professionals need to first set realistic goals. Goals for our patients should be achieving a healthy lifestyle that can be maintained rather than a short-term “diet” that will most likely not be followed. As dialysis professionals, one of our goals is to encourage our patients to be an active participant in their care. Renal dietitians can accomplish this by involving the patients and their families in menu planning. A planned regimented diet must be learned and followed to maintain health. Meal plans are important in that they can be integrated into the patient’s daily routine. One frequent complaint often heard from our patients is that the diet can be bland and quite boring. We use many tools to help boost our patients’ menu plans; one important tool is renal cookbooks. Cookbooks provide patients and professionals with more of a variety of foods to choose from. These renal-friendly recipes allow for creative cooking. The patient or family member can often integrate some individual taste and cultural preferences while sticking to the diet plan. Renal cookbooks expand the pleasurable possibilities of the diet and demonstrate ways to add interest and variety to meals. Many of the available renal cookbooks teach patients and family members about proper food selection, food preparation, and accurate portioning of foods, all of which are important in the success of any renal dialysis diet. It is important to encourage our patients to use cookbooks and be more creative with their cook*Renal Clinical Specialist. Address reprint requests to Timitra Young, RD, LD, Renal Clinical Specialist, 8707 W. 86th Street, Justice, Illinois 60458. © 2003 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc. 1532-8503/03/1302-0023$30.00/0 doi:10.1053/jren.2003.50031