May Bulletin Board – Featuring foods for Cinco de Mayo

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo!   The title can be changed for Cinco de Mayo or kept the same and used at other times of the year.

There are Mexican restaurants across the streets from my unit.  Yes, streets, as in multiple Mexican restaurants surrounding my unit (since we happen to be on a corner).  For a dialysis patient navigating past the cheese, beans, red tomatoes, etc… can be discouraging.  I’m in Texas with many Hispanic patients who love their traditional Mexican food so this is an especially important topic for my unit.  The good news, there is plenty to eat at Mexican restaurants for a dialysis patient.  We feature fajitas, chicken tacos, arroz con pollo, tilapia ceviche, beef burrito, taco salad (sans cheese), and green salsa.  You could also include low sodium corn chips, carne asada, shrimp tacos, and a sopapilla.   I do take time during monthly labs to talk about green salsa (~150mg per 1/4 c serving  per NCCDB database) since sometimes it can be made with green tomatoes instead of tomatillos and chiles.  The above pictured salsa is a local brand that is lower in sodium and made with tomatillos.

It is hard to see in the picture, but my “Ay Caramba!” sheet on the lower right hand corner lists avocado, cheese, guacamole, guava, mango, papaya, quesadilla, queso dip, red salsa, refried beans, and tomatoes.

I generally have a lot of comments on this board from patients.   It  makes for a great conversation piece about what they can have or maybe what is a struggle for them personally.  This also can be enlightening to gain some more understanding as far as which patients frequent these establishments.

Board created by Sarah Bermudez, Texas A&M Dietetic Intern and Jessianna Saville, MS, RDN, LD

Report Card created by Jessianna Saville, MS, RDN, LD

Please comment below or join our RenalRD facebook group to request the file for this board!