Silver Spoons: Hemodialysis Cookbook
It is estimated that there are over 350,000 dialysis patients in America. That number is believed t triple in the next few years. With the baby boomers coming of age, their kidneys are failing and the need for treatment and diet changes is going to change as well.If you, or someone you know, has kidney failure, please remember that diet is a very important part of any treatment plan. This is not a one size fits all cook book. The recipes that work best for you today may not be the same ones that work best for you next week or next month. The right recipes for you will likely change as your body's needs change.With kidney failure, you will find the blood tests that are performed at the dialysis center change. Those test results will determine your diet. One month you may need more or less potassium, for example. As your needs change, so should your diet. The foods you eat and the way you prepare them will make a difference in those test results. Your dietitian can explain more about this to you.I have friend and family who take dialysis treatments and some are permitted certain foods and others are restricted. The foods or restrictions on the diet are based on the individual and their own blood test results and so for any person to write a book that meets the needs of everyone on any given day is just not possible. As you read the book, and find recipes you like, always check with your dietitian to determine your own needs at that time. Be safe in trying these, or any, recipes.When writing this book, I wanted to write not only recipes, but information about the kidneys and dialysis. It was very confusing when a loved one learned they would require dialysis. It was a life changing decision. Making the information available to those who are faced with the decision of what to do now that their kidneys have failed was important. I thought the book itself would be a great way to introduce them to kidney failure, dialysis, and diet changes all in one. It would be my hope that this book, and others like it, would make its way to the hands of those who are facing the same challenges my loved one faced. And that by giving it to them at the time they are going through this same thing would help them to understand dialysis and treatment options and that their love of food is not something in the past.That is a pretty big order, I must admit, but it is one that I believe would benefit kidney dialysis patients, those who care for their friends and loved ones and those about to become dialysis patitents.