What are your biggest goals as a person living with kidney disease or as a family member of someone with kidney disease? If you are not at the stage of kidney disease that requires dialysis, you and I probably have similar aims: (1) find a way to improve or maintain kidney…
You probably know someone who developed health problems from drinking too much alcohol. Alcohol can impact many different parts of the body, but most commonly it damages the liver and can lead to a condition called cirrhosis. This often comes up when I am evaluating someone for kidney disease. Because the…
For many children, Halloween is one of the most exciting days of the year. Dressed in their favorite costumes, they parade around the neighborhood with friends and family, seeking sweets and treats that may be limited on all other days of the year. Of course, Halloween also brings a host of…
What happens when you start to eat healthy and why is it so darn hard? Ever wonder what would happen if you were to start eating healthy? If you’re like most people, making a commitment to eating healthy and sticking with it can lead to some dramatic changes even if you…
If you have kidney disease, holiday parties and family meals are not always carefree events. While other friends and family celebrate without a second thought towards healthy eating or restraint, you may feel the stress of your dietary restrictions and know that you can’t afford to forget to pay attention to…
As a kidney doctor, I prescribe a lot of medications. My goal is to protect my patients’ kidneys through every way I know how. I also know that a lot of people want to protect their kidneys without using medications. That’s where these steps come into play. How many of these…
Many of my favorite foods just so happen to be among the highest potassium foods you can eat: ripe bananas; sweet potatoes that are perfectly slow-baked until their inside melts like butter and tastes like honey; butternut squash soups of any variety; and just-ripened avocados, whether they’re sliced up in a…
Rail thin, pale and a little grumpy, Dean was my first introduction to veganism. We lived together as college sophomores in 1995, in a communal living space called the Environmental House at Tufts University. As empty pizza boxes, sub wraps and chicken wing bones piled up in my room, Dean subsisted…
People often ask me what changes they should make to their diet in order to improve their health or to help them lose weight. Sometimes they are looking for a quick and easy solution to a complicated problem. The answer I give them is often simple, but not in the way…
