A Wealth of Information

This fall, I had the opportunity to travel to Winnipeg for the Manitoba Renal Program conference. It’s always a pleasure to learn about practices and resources that are available across the country. I was very impressed by the resources available on their website (www.kidneyhealth.ca) including a kidney-friendly cookbook! Take a look at their website, the recipes and resources. Congratulations to the Manitoba dietitians for putting together such a fantastic resource.

There is a wealth of information these days on the Internet. Unfortunately, there seems to be an almost equal amount of misinformation. I rarely see someone these days who hasn’t at least googled “kidney diet” before coming to a dietitian appointment. Most of the time this is a great thing since it generates good questions and discussion, but occasionally the information found on line doesn’t apply, is wrong, or actually dangerous. A few things to watch for while you surf online:

• Beware of websites or people that are selling you something. The information on the site is designed to get you to purchase a product, NOT to educate you. Herbals or vitamin supplements are not necessarily safe and are often very expensive. These are businesses whose primary goal is to stay in business. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

• Be sceptical of websites that claim to know a “secret” that your doctor doesn’t want you to know or that talks about “ancient” cures. If people knew how to cure kidney disease hundreds of years ago that knowledge would not have been lost!

• Watch out for websites that are based purely on anecdotal information. One person’s story is not necessarily going to hold true for all people. Diet and nutrition are way too complex to come down to a single “superfood”.

So who do you trust?

Well a good rule of thumb is to choose websites that are associated with a national organization (like The Kidney Foundation of Canada of course), or a provincial entity (like the Manitoba Renal Program above). Hospitals and universities are also safe and reputable sources of information. But, no matter where or from whom you get your information, ask questions and make sure that the advice you receive is tailored to your particular needs because, as I may have mentioned before, there is no standard renal diet!

Check out the recipes on kidneyhealth.ca and enjoy!