Kidney-friendly kitchen
What business does someone trained as a physician-scientist have, talking about “Tools necessary for a Kidney-friendly kitchen”, you may ask?
Well, it’s my own decade-long Experience navigating life as a Kidney Warrior (currently post-kidney transplant) and the frustrating lack of organized information on this matter in the medical literature or public domain, that has motivated me to help fellow members in the Kidney Community in this regard.
As soon as you are diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease, dietary modifications take the centre-stage along with necessary medicines for your root cause & stage of kidney disease. Team ATK has constantly stressed the importance of consulting a Registered Renal Dietitian to help you prepare a Renal Diet Plan tailored to your individual health status. To make your food choices easier, we have also shared “Kidney-Friendly Grocery Lists” and their daily kidney-safe portions to serve as a basic guide for your reference.
However, going by personal experience, applying all of the above advice in your daily lives also needs you to do the following:
Streamline your work-flow in your kidney kitchen based on certain criteria
Add some SMART TOOLS to your kitchen inventory to make it truly kidney-friendly and turn you into a more efficient Kidney Warrior.
These are precisely what our article today aims to walk you through.
There are 4 basic criteria that you should bear in mind to turn your Kitchen into a Kidney-Fortress as given below.
(Read on or click on the “bubbles” below to jump to the criteria directly)
TIP #1
HYGIENE IN A KIDNEY FRIENDLY KITCHEN
Cleanliness is essential for everything that enters your body, whether you eat it, drink it, breathe it or inject it. This is more so if a major, essential organ of the body like your kidneys are unwell. That’s because, in normal health, kidneys efficiently eliminate ALL excess metabolic wastes and impurities in blood via urine. However, Chronic Kidney Disease progressively diminishes this blood-cleansing ability of kidneys and blunts our body’s immune defenses with time.
Hence, Kidney-friendly Kitchens must focus on maintaining the 3 things as below:
Presenting, the kitchen equipment that adhere to these three components & can hand-hold you to a truly hygienic kidney-friendly kitchen.
TIP #2
NUTRIENT RESTRICTION: MUST-HAVE TOOLS!
Renal Dietitians help kidney patients identify which nutrients to restrict or increase in their daily diets, and by how much. Their advice is based on our individual kidney health status. However, these lists often mention vague quantities such as “1 Cup” or “2 Teaspoons” or “1/2 Tablespoon”.
So, when it comes to incorporating these revised nutrient allowances in our daily Diet, we encounter a very practical problem. Look around your kitchen and you will probably find your kitchen shelves lined with Cups, Spoons & Ladles of various shapes & sizes!
Which one size is the right fit after all?!
TIP #3
PORTION CONTROL FOR YOUR KIDNEY HEALTH
Once you cook your food from your Renal Diet recommendations, Portion Control is another humble but helpful step towards both kidney health & body-weight management. While admittedly, this may sound like “lynching” your food freedom further, it is completely logical and definitely worth your effort!
So why is that?
TIP #4
BATCH STORAGE: REMAINING KIDNEY FRIENDLY WITH TIME CONSTRAINTS
Are you are a kidney patient or the primary caregiver of one and also hold a job? Then you’re probably stressing over how to apply all the “advice” that comes rolling in for managing a kidney-friendly lifestyle. Where’s the time beyond managing to gulp the prescribed medicines, after all? But then, home cooking is always preferable for all Kidney Patients over eating ready-made food. So, what do you do?
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