All Dietitians

Quick ‘n’ Easy Cheese Dip by Kris from Michigan

A saucy little dip can turn food from blah to blast-off in one dunk! Kris from Michigan took a much-loved favorite from her files and turned it into protein-packed, low-phosphorus Quick ‘n’ Easy Cheese Dip. Kris says it’s a great idea to experiment with her versatile and simple recipe by adding your own favorite spices to taste, or substitute sharp cheddar for blue cheese.

Her initial career goal was to be a veterinarian, as she loves animals and science, especially biology. After taking a realistic view at the cost and years of education required, she changed to speech and language therapy, and later to home economics. “I attended Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois as an undergraduate. Then I acquired a master’s degree in community nutrition at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois,” says Kris.

 “I love to cook and initially desired a position in a county home extension office. I’ve always gravitated toward opportunities to work with people on a long-term basis, such as in weight management and personal and corporate wellness. My family planned to move to Michigan, and I interviewed for an opening with the nephrology department at a Grand Rapids hospital. The position presented a huge learning curve, as we worked with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 4 and early stage 5 outpatients, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis (PD) clients. We also followed our dialysis inpatients, including those newly transplanted, and worked with the transplants after discharge. It was exciting to see how people’s lives could change.”

The most challenging aspect of Kris’ job today is juggling the many priorities that come up. The most rewarding aspect is “seeing lives change for the better, or if that is not possible, knowing we teammates have enabled someone to spend more quality time with their families and friends. I truly enjoy getting to know patients, and I make a difference by seeing them as individuals with their own stories, versus taking a cookie cutter approach to dietetics.”

Practicality is the key to Kris’ approach. “I try to be as practical as possible.  Many years ago, we provided every patient with a structured menu plan.  But, surprise!  The majority of our patients do not pay much attention to this information — many of them are financially stressed and/or have low literacy skills. It’s more practical to meet them where they are, encourage change in the priority items, consider dosing binders accordingly, and nibble away at the other issues.”

The single most important thing patients can do to improve health, according to Kris, is realize they are personally responsible. They should be active members of their health care team and not feel dialysis is a short-term fix. “In order to feel better and make the most out of life, people should expect to work on lifestyle habits that contributed to kidney failure,” she adds.

An approach that has proven effective in at her center, is stocking the unit vending machine with renal friendly high protein bars. “Many of our staff like them,” says Kris,”and our patients are also regular purchasers. We had to bargain with our vending machine owner, but he could see that the product was the first to sell out, and eventually stocked two sections with the bar, instead of just one. It is a much more nutritious choice than junk food for teammates and patients alike.”

Kris has been with DaVita 4 years, and in renal dietetics for fifteen years. She enjoys the wealth of excellent teaching resources to meet the needs of a variety of patients/learning styles. Kris comments that the center has a colorful past history — it has been owned by four different corporations during Kris’ tenure. “We still have quite a few teammate ‘old timers’ who have stayed through the rough waters to see continual improvements made in patient care over those years. Some of our patients are also old friends, having been at our unit over the same period of time. One of our most beloved patients celebrated her 90th birthday with us! We are an inner city unit with a diverse population. Life is never boring here.”

Try Kris’ definitely-not-boring Quick ‘n’ Easy Cheese Dip for a dunkin’ good time. Crackers and veggies love to dive right in! This dip stores nicely, but please know, the garlic and cheese flavors get stronger with time, so if you’re storing it for longer than 3 days, you may want to reduce the amount of those ingredients.

Recipe

• Quick ‘n’ Easy Cheese Dip