Yes, there's turkey. And stuffing, gravy and pie.
Cooking Thanksgiving for someone with kidney disease can feel like walking through a list of things they can't have: salt, potassium, phosphorus, too much protein, and on dialysis, too much liquid. This book turns that list into a plate. Find your guest's stage, look up their weight, and the plate is there, with turkey on it.
For a guest at stage 3 or 4 who weighs about 154 pounds, the kidney guideline works out to about 12.8 to 14 grams of protein at this meal. Here are both plates:
Both plates fit the protein share and stay low in salt, and neither has a higher-potassium dish on it.
You might be wondering
The same dinner as everyone else, in amounts that fit their stage and weight. Every dish in this book is low in salt and fits the kidney sodium line at a normal serving. What changes from guest to guest is mostly the turkey, because protein is where the kidney guidelines differ most by stage, and the potassium in a few of the vegetable dishes.
It depends on the stage and the person's weight, which is why the book sets the plates out by weight. At stages 3 to 5, the "More turkey" plates run from 3/4 ounce for a guest of about 99 pounds to 2 ounces from about 198 pounds, and a little more with diabetes. At stages 1 to 2, most guests from about 154 pounds get the full 3 ounces. On dialysis, protein needs go up, and the "More turkey" plates carry 2 to 3 ounces.
In a traditional dinner, the big ones are the mashed potatoes, at about 390 milligrams per half cup, and the sweet potato casserole, at about 306. Our potato and cauliflower mash, made with soaked potatoes, is about 177 milligrams per half cup, under the National Kidney Foundation's 200-milligram line. Several other dishes, including the turkey, the green beans and the glazed carrots, sit a little over the 200-milligram line at a full serving and drop under it at a smaller one. Every plate marks them.
This is the one place we'll be firm: leave it off the table. Most salt substitutes are made with potassium chloride, and the National Kidney Foundation advises anyone limiting potassium to be very cautious with them. The book's salt-free herb blend has about 1 milligram of sodium and 21 of potassium per teaspoon, and it does the same job.
Dialysis has its own plates. Protein needs go up on dialysis, so there's more turkey, and every liquid counts toward the day's fluid limit, including gravy and soup. A quarter cup of gravy is 60 milliliters, and the plate pages count it for you. For a guest of about 154 pounds, the "More turkey" plate has 3 ounces of turkey with gravy, cranberry sauce and salad.
The full book as a PDF you can download right away, in two editions (phone and print), with every recipe, every plate for every stage and weight, and the game plan, plus one month of MedMenu Pro, free. The free sampler has the menu at a glance, the salt-substitute answer and three recipes.
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General information based on published guidelines. Your care team sets personal targets.