Book Review: THE COOKING DOC'S KIDNEY-HEALTHY COOKING, A Modern 10-Step Guide to Preventing & Managing Kidney Disease

 Book Review and Summary of Dr Blake Shusterman's Appearance on Kidney Stories 2: THE COOKING DOC'S KIDNEY-HEALTHY COOKING, A Modern 10-Step Guide to Preventing & Managing Kidney Disease

Written by: Dr Blake Shusterman
Reviewed by: Jim Myers

Published by: Cooking Doc, LLC, The (October 12, 2020)

Website: https://www.thecookingdoc.co

Book Design: Danielle Foster
Photography: Andrew Meade
Food and People Styling: Clair Perez
ISBN: 978-1-7356793-0-3 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-7356793-1-0 (e-book)
ISBN: 978-1-7356793-2-7 (Adobe PDF version)

Disclaimer: This book is for reference only and it is not a medical manuel. Always consult your physician before making changes to your diet.

To purchase: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735679305/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_i_K2yHFb8281DJ0 (Amazon )

https://payhip.com/b/Lq6u. (Digital Copy)

Introduction
On Friday, February 5th, 2021, I had the pleasure of interviewing Blake Shusterman, M.D. concerning his new book and his philosophy on Kidney Healthy Cooking for Kidney Patients. https://www.facebook.com/UrbanHealthOutreachmedia/videos/2489057124736073/.

I read the following introduction:

"Dr. Blake Shusterman is President and Physician Partner at Carolina Nephrology, a twenty-two provider practice in Greenville, SC. He is also the creator and host of The Cooking Doc (www.thecookingdoc.co), and author of the book The Cooking Doc’s Kidney-Healthy Cooking: A Modern 10-Step Guide to Preventing and Managing Kidney Disease.
A board certified nephrologist, Dr. Shusterman serves as the medical director at multiple dialysis units. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the USC School of Medicine in Greenville and oversees the medical student nephrology rotations.
In the past he has served on the Medical Advisory Board for US Renal Care and currently he is a board member of the Carolina Kidney Alliance. He is passionate about home dialysis, patient education and the importance of diet in the management of chronic kidney disease. His interest in diet and kidney disease led him to his role as an ambassador for the American Kidney Fund’s Kidney Kitchen.
Dr. Shusterman earned his medical degree from The Ohio State University and went on to complete his internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at the University of Virginia where he served as chief fellow. He holds a BA in Anthropology from Tufts University.

"I love food. I love eating it, making it, sharing it and eating it again as leftovers. In my family, many of our daily decisions revolve around food. We plan day trips, vacations and nightly excursions around what foods we wish to experience. We spend lots of time—sometimes too much time according to my wife–identifying which restaurants we want to go to and what things we need to buy at the grocery store to prepare our meals. To my family food is not only sacred but also downright fun. To me it is a beautiful blend of art and science.

During my years of practice, I have come to realize that many of my patients and their families live equally food-focused lives. So, I understand the furious looks I get from my patients when I tell them to give up their favorite foods.

Many of you may be in that same position, hearing similar pleas from your doctor advising you to stop eating your favorite foods because they are damaging to your kidneys, making your diabetes more difficult to control or preventing you from losing weight.

Thus was born The Cooking Doc. Can you imagine having your doctor right next to you in the kitchen, telling you what delicious foods you need to try? Well, that’s me. I won’t tell you what tasty foods you need to give up, instead I’ll help you find creative ways to use new ingredients and together we’ll make them taste amazing. (Check out this summer squash soup with white wine and leeks)

We will have special guests, outings to your favorite restaurants and entertaining cooking videos featuring fresh and healthy ingredients, all cooked up by a doctor.

During our training as doctors,we don’t receive a lot of education on nutrition and diet, and so this often translates into specialists that can give generic advice like, “eat a healthier diet,” “eat less food” or “eat a low sodium diet” but can’t tell patients exactly how to make this happen. I am hopeful that I can inspire a new generations of doctors that know how to provide recipes, cooking lessons and practical advice to their patients.

Join me and let’s #ChangeYourBuds!"

He tells a story in his book that explains why he became the Cooking Doc. On his first day at his new job at a rural dialysis clinic. He arrived early to your the facility before his patients arrived. The last stop on the tour was the lobby, where there were two large vending machines containing salty snacks and sugary drinks, "the same foods that likely contributed to many patients' kidney failure were presented as food options in the lobby of the health-care facility providing them with lifesaving treatment! "

He told us about story about his patient, "Clara," a stage 3A chronic kidney disease patient, who asked him about staying healthy with a good kidney diet. He told her what he had been taught, that her kidneys were in good shape and she needed worry about diet. She fired him on the spot. He wrote the book and because the Cooking Doc, in large part, because of these two events. He now wants Kidney Patients in all stages of the disease, including post-transplant to take control of the situation and protect their kidneys with a unique diet suitable to their kidney situation.

10 Steps: The Fundementals of the Cooking Doc's Kidney Diet

To help us achieve proper kidney diet goals, the Doc has outlined 10 basic steps:

1. Understand Your Kidneys
2. Choose Your Beverages Wisely
3. Uncover Hidden Salt and #Change Your Buds to Prefer Less Salt
4. Embrace Plant-based Eating
5. Get Potassium Right
6. Avoid High-Protein Pitfalls
7. Discover Alkaline-Rich Foods
8. Identify and Eliminate Sneaky Phosphorus
9. Integrate the DASH, Mediterranean and Diabetic Diets Into Your Routine
10. If You Are Starting Dialysis, Forget Everything You Learned and Start From Scratch

Understand Your Kidneys

This chapter is the essential foundation to understanding your Kidney Diet needs. The Kidney Doc points out here that in order to help a doctor or dietitian advise you, you first have to be familiar with your kidney numbers like:
• Your eGFR
• Stage of CKD
• Potassium level
• Protein in Urine
• Blood Pressure
• Phosphorus level
• Fluid limitations/ Fluid consumption
• Diabetes
During our interview, we specifically discussed why Polycystic Kidney Disease is different than other forms of kidney disease for diet concerns. Drinking extra water may slow the growth of cysts. Please consult with your physician before drinking a few extra glasses of water every day.

Choose Your Beverages Wisely

What we learn in this chapter is that it is the choices you make for your beverages, not just the amounts that you drink. Many of us when we chose beverages that are not water, choose sugary drinks that are not healthy for our kidneys. Doc told us that flavored water is much better for us and in the book, he lists flavored beverages you can make at home or water with fizz we can use as a substitute. Many types of beverages are discussed in this chapter and there is even a weekly-monthly-annual chart to help week yourself off of canned soda.

There is a very interesting seaction on coffee. When I was first diagnosed with PKD at the age of 25, I was told to drop all caffeine products, because caffeine raises your blood pressure which in turn enlarges your cysts. Interestingly, the Cooking Doc says, "keep the coffee." Many studies have shown coffee is safe for your kidneys and may provide some protections, including decreasing the risk of kidney disease while slowing it's progression. Coffee is safe even if you have chronic kidney disease.

There are some restrictions however:

• Only 3 6-ounce cups of coffee each day
• Make it black, no sugars, sweeteners or creams
• If you have high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat, the caffeine may make these conditions hard to control
• Maintain your fluid restrictions while on dialysis.
Other areas of discussion here include smoothies and avoiding kidney cleanses. There is even a recommended beverage schedule for patients with stages 1-3 CKD.

Uncover Hidden Salt and #Change Your Buds

Many kidney patients do not realize how much salt they consume every day because salt is hidden in processed foods, fast foods, and restaurant food. What we learn in this chapter is how to avoid those hidden sources, what is helpful sodium vs harmful sodium and how to find the correct balance to best protect your kidneys. Doc recommends many flavorful substitute for salt that we can use in our home cooking.

Embrace Plant-Based Eating

This chapter emphasizes that a diet that highlights fruits and vegetables is good for the body while protecting your kidneys.

Cooking vegetables can be tricky. During the broadcast, The Cooking Doc suggested roasting vegetables. Almost any vegetable can be roasted, & this helps to maintain their nutrients over and above boiling them. Additionally, roasting deepens their flavor, making them
delicious. It also makes them last and become very versatile. If you roast vegetables over the weekend, you can then use them all week in pastas, salads and side dishes.

Getting Potassium Right

Did you know there is helpful potassium vs harmful potassium? For example if you have high blood pressure or are a high stroke risk, a high-potassium diet may help you lower your blood pressure and add to the alkaline in your diet. It may reduce your risk of kidney stones and reduce water in the body.

Harmful potassium may cause the kidneys to have problems filtering blood, particularly if you are between stage 4 & 5 CKD and your filtration rate drops below 30%. This could affect your heart.

Doc told us in the broadcast, that because of the personal nature of potassium, the one size fits all "everyone with kidney disease needs to limit their potassium, " may be inappropriate for your actual needs. Dr. Schusterman strongly recommend you consult with a dietitian and/or your physician to help you with this potassium diet issue.

Avoid High-Protein Pitfalls

Doc's advice here was simple: avoid high- protein diets and substitute plant-based protein for animal proteins whenever you can. According to Dr Blake, you can only learn what the idea protein intake for your kidneys and your body only from a dietitian. One of the big themes for the Cooking Doc is that having a relationship with a dietitian is vital for your individual kidney diet needs.

Discover Alkaline-Rich Foods

Foods that are high in alkaline and lower in animal protein or processed foods are feature in the Cooking Doc's Kidney Diet Requirements. Diets with higher amounts of fruits and vegetables fit the bill here. They are just better for your kidneys. Alkaline foods benefit kidney health by keeping the body running smoothly and in balance which in turn helps your kidneys maintain their balance.

Identify & Eliminate Sneaky Phosphorus

Dr Shusterman tells us that there are some hidden sources of phosphorus are additives contained in sodas, processed and fast foods. Particularly in Stages 4-5 CKD, you have to be very aware of these additives and hidden sources. The Cooking Doc does not reccomend to avoid all high-phosphorus foods, but to use a priority scale to determine what phosphorus foods to avoid & to consult with a dietitian or physician for what adjustments if any are needed in your case.

Integrate the Dash, Mediterranean & Diabetic Diets Into Your Routine

You do not need to settle on any one of these unique diets. That could adversely affect your other medical conditions, particularly if you suffer from diabetes, kidney disease, heart failure, coronary artery disease or high blood pressure. The Doc recommends we use the best parts of each diet for us to reach our correct individual balance. He reccomend that we focus on the similarities the diets share.

Keep An Open Mind If You Start Dialysis

This may be the most surprising chapter in the book. Doc advises, "Remember everything you were told about healthy eating when you had early-stage kidney disease? Now you can forget most of it."

Here are the keys:
• The moderate/low protein diet you've been following will now focus on eating as much protein as you can;
• You may now have to avoid a lot of fruits and vegetables;
• You are no longer permitted to drink all the water or fluid you want;
• You doctor or dietitian may tell you to avoid whole grain.
Your best bet is to follow your doctor's or dietitian's advice!

Conclusion

This is the best kidney diet book I have ever read! It is written in big print, understable language with lots of practice pointers, charts and photographs that really help. It is a very up-to-date scientific approach to kidney cooking. With The Cooking Doc's Website you get new recipes, blogs and cooking demonstrations that actually show you how to prepare food. The combination of the two make Dr Shusterman's 10 Step approach unbeatable. I highly recommend this book!