Kidney School™—a program of Medical Education Institute, Inc.

Module 9—Nutrition and Fluids for People on Dialysis :: More Reading

Additional Resources

The sources below may help you learn more about nutrition and kidney disease.

PLEASE NOTE: The non-profit Medical Education Institute does not endorse these resources. We believe you are the best person to choose what will meet your needs. Please check with your library, bookstore, or the internet to find these items.

Kidney disease cookbooks and recipes:

  1. Positive Beginnings: The Dialysis Breakfast Cookbook (Dialysis with Comfort,
    Book 1).
    Recipes for breakfast and brunch include sodium, potassium, and phosphorus. 2014, by Mrs. Mathea A. Ford, RD/LD. On Amazon at: https://smile.amazon.com/Positive-Beginnings-Dialysis-Breakfast-Cookbook/dp/069227958X/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1521214493&sr=8-8&keywords=dialysis+cookbook
  2. Kidney Cooking: A Family Cookbook for Kidney Patients. Updated in 2013. Recipes for main dishes, sides, sauces, desserts, beverages, and special occasions. Nutrition lists include sodi- um, potassium, and phosphorus. Free PDF from the NKF of Georgia: https://www.kidney.org/sites/default/files/docs/kidney_cookbook_lr.pdf
  3. Multiple free dialysis cookbook downloads - https://www.davita.com/diet-nutrition/kidney-friendly-cookbooks. Find up-to- date cookbooks for each season, breakfast, holidays, game day, slow cookers, restaurant favorites, and more. NOTE: You must register on the site to download, so you may get many emails.

Food value and nutrition guides:

  1. Bowes & Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used (19th Ed.),
    by Jean A. T. Pennington, PhD, RD and Judith Spungen
    (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2010, ISBN-13: 978-0781781343)
    This classic guide to nutrition has been around since 1937. It tells you the nutritional value of foods and lists more than 8,500 common foods.
  2. Food Data Central, by the USDA. This database lets you look for calcium,
    phosphorus, thiamine, B vitamins, etc. Lists are in alphabetical order or by the nutrient content from highest to lowest. Visit https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/.

Websites and apps:

  1. Carb Manager. This app lets you track MUCH more than carbs. Look up foods and find phosphorus, potassium, sodium, protein, etc. Enter your own recipes and see their nutrients per serving. Snap a photo of a food or scan its label to learn more. Track sleep and exercise, too. Free in the Apple and Android app stores, or the paid version has more features. https://www.carbmanager.com or in the App stores.
  2. The DaVita Diet Helper will let you plan meals for a day or a week on any type of dialysis. Easy and powerful—and free at www.davita.com/diethelper.
  3. Fresenius Kidney Care has lots of dialysis recipes from celebrity chef Aaron McCargo. https://www.freseniuskidneycare.com/eating-well/recipes/breakfasts
  4. The National Kidney Foundation has diet and nutrition info at https://www.kidney.org/category/diet-nutrition-exercise, including the Kidney Kitchen with recipes for diabetic, CKD, and dialysis diets.

Other resources:

  1. Help, I Need Dialysis! by Dori Schatell, MS, and Dr. John Agar
    (Medical Education Institute, 2012, http://www.lifeoptions.org/help_book, ISBN-13: 978-1937886004) Easy to read, fully referenced book covers the lifestyle impact of each type of dialysis–including diet and fluid limits.
  2. AAKP Nutrition Counter: A Reference for the Kidney Patient, by the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP). If you would like more information, call (800) 749-2257 or download a copy from their website at https://aakp.org/product/download-aakp-nutrition-counter-reference-kidney-patient-electronic-download/.
  3. Eating and Nutrition for Hemodialysis, by the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC). If you would like more information, please call toll-free (800) 891-5390, e-mail nkudic@info.niddk.nih.gov, or visit their website at https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/kidney-failure/hemodialysis/eating-nutrition. (Also available in Spanish.)

Module 9—Nutrition and Fluids for People on Dialysis :: More Reading