Kidney RD Favorites and Recommended Resources
Click on any of the categories below to find any of our great resources.
Lucky Iron Fish
The Lucky Iron Fish and the Lucky Shakti Leaf are simple health innovations designed to help combat iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia. The efficacy of the Fish/Leaf has been tested in eleven clinical trials and six laboratory/hospital trials. We love using these to proactively address iron-deficiency anemia common in CKD.
Gut health is an important part of kidney health. Learning to ferment your own vegetables (think sauerkraut!) is easy and adds a great source of probiotic bacteria to your diet. PLUS it is tasty and inexpensive compared to buying probiotics. Just 1-2 tablespoons/day of your own fermented vegetables can give you more probiotic power than most probiotics you can purchase.
Many people with CKD are iron deficient or at risk for developing iron deficiency. As you cook in a cast iron skillet, some of the iron from the skillet will leach into your food. We recommend our patients learn how to use a cast iron skillet and use it on a daily basis. Once you learn how to use it, you will love how completely indestructible this essential cooking supply is.
Most store tortillas are loaded with salt and/or phosphate additives. A tortilla press can be a fun kitchen tool to make fresh tortillas on a regular basis to fill with kidney healthy beans and vegetables.
Smoothies are one of our favorite ways to include more fruits and vegetables and healthy fats. We love the Ninja bullet because it can make a smaller smoothie and then you cap it and take it on the go! Jess, one of our expert dietitians at the KidneyRD basically uses it every single day in her family! (Psst...some of our favorite smoothies include Pina Colada and Blueberry Mint!)
Immersion blenders are useful for creating think, creamy soups! Rather than dumping the soup contents into a blender and then dumping back into your pan, you can simply pop in the immersion blender for a whirl. Also useful for mashing your potatoes (double-boiled or not!), blending hummus dishes, or making a quick smoothie or iced coffee.