7 Ways to Spring Clean Your Kitchen

As the weather begins to warm up, now is the perfect time to give your kitchen—and your diet—a kidney-friendly makeover. The first step is to take inventory of what you have. After that, follow these steps:

1. Check expiration dates and throw away anything that has expired.

2. Donate anything that’s still safe for those not following a kidney diet and isn’t expired to your local food bank. Find one near you by visiting FeedingAmerica.org.

3. Replace high-sodium versions of foods, such as broths, condiments and dressings, with lower sodium ones.

4. Fill up your produce bowl with seasonal fruits and veggies.

5. Swap unhealthy fats, such as shortening, for healthy fats, such as olive oil.

6. Remove any store-bought sauces and gravies with ingredients you don’t recognize.

7. Get rid of canned soups, many of which have more than 800 mg sodium per serving, and learn how to make fresh soup instead with the help of DaVita recipes.

For more kidney-friendly diet tips and delicious recipes, download a free Today's Kidney Diet cookbook.