Kidney Disease Patients Get A Life-Saving Lesson On Food
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Children with life threatening diseases face many challenges, one being the need to eat healthy. Now there's a way to make that more fun.
This is a camp for teenagers who have kidney disease. It's helping them master what's called a renal diet. The experts at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia came up with a way to make life saving food lessons fun.
18-year-old Noon Williams is making a fruit smoothie. Learning how to cook and eat healthy is helping her stay alive.
"If I have salt, or drink too much, I get bloated and end up in the hospital," she said.
Noni has kidney disease, and needs a transplant. She's part of week-long cooking camp for teenagers with kidney disease.
Chiefs from the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College teach the kidney patients how things like herbs can be used for flavoring instead of salt. Sodium and other minerals can be dangerous for them.
Nina Foster is with the Nephrology Department at CHOP that organizes the camp for their young patients.
"They talk about who has what, get to know each other, being supportive of each other here and they have fun cooking and learning all the recipes toothier."
Since Noni can't eat chocolate she now has a special cup cake recipe that's her favorite.
14-year-old Samad Stevenson, had a kidney transplant 4 years ago, but he still needs to watch his diet.
"Vegetable I eat a lot of veg," he said.
This is the second year for the week long camp that's supported by the National Kidney Foundation.
