Cooking improved my quality of life as a CKD patient1, 2

EXPLORATIONS OF CULINARY STRATEGIES to support optimal health of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) has arisen from my career of teaching culinary arts while coping with my own diagnosis of nephrotic syndrome caused by Minimal Change Disease, 3 years ago. My teaching and department chair roles had provided interactions with many faculty members, including Erin Clason, RD, a clinical nutrition instructor.

My physician, a nephrologist, suggested that limiting dietary protein, especially from animal meats, could be helpful to reduce the kidney damage and amount of protein I was losing in my urine. Erin also followed my medical case and laboratory reports, and soon proposed that I experiment by removing all animal protein from my diet for 3 months. If I did not see an improvement in that time, I could return to my previous eating style. I told her I was willing to try anything. Erin began this experiment by instructing me to eat anything I wanted during the weekend and start Monday morning with a diet free of animal protein. I somehow interpreted her instructions as a “Weekend of Indulgence” and gorged myself with pizza on Friday night. It shouldn’t have been a big surprise when I awoke at 2 am, sick, miserable, and swollen for 2 days after consuming pizza. When Monday morning arrived, I was very motivated to become a vegan.

I appreciate Erin’s wisdom to this day. After 2 weeks on this new diet, I noticed for the first time in 18 months that I was feeling better: I could control my diet and improve my quality of life!

This trend continued and sold me on the idea of helping kidney patients make appropriate dietary choices. What I did not realize is how difficult it is to change your diet overnight. With all of my culinary expertise, I thought it would be simple. Instead, I found it difficult to locate adequate resources to make the change to a diet free of animal protein while maintaining a high level of flavor and variety in my diet. I realized that if it were challenging for me, even with my professional training, experience, and professional chef contacts, it must be very intimidating for an average cook.

My research and personal experience have culminated into a work-in-progress to create a cookbook specifically for CKD patients. Combining my culinary and health interests with ideas from a talented team of dieticians, physicians, and homemakers, I hope to create a useful resource that facilitates preparation of great-tasting foods which help preserve kidney function.

I would like to acknowledge Joan E. Milton, MS, RD, CD, and Diane P. Packard, MS, RD, CD, research dietitians, for completing the nutrition analysis using Nutritionist Pro version 2.1 from First Data Bank, 2003.

Appearing here as an invited Patient Education feature are 2 recipes, “Wild Rice with Vegan Sausage” and “Italian Pita Sandwich.” I have elected to share these recipes because I have found them to be flavorful and easy to prepare ahead of time. I am interested in receiving feedback, so kindly send any results that you hear.

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