Table 5 Examples of quotes from the qualitative interview scripts that illustrate the awareness about dietary recommendations and appropriate cooking methods. The information in brackets ( ) represent the respondent’s gender, whether patient or caregiver, age, and home county

“For food, I take rice, indigenous vegetables, beans, dengu (green grams). Beans and ndengu are soaked in water before cooking. I also eat very little meat like fish, chicken but the top layer is removed because it contains fat. The meat should be lean. The meat should be boiled then fried. I also take black beans which are prepared in the same manner. …. I don’t take maize because of the husk. For tomatoes you put them in hot water, then remove the top peel, then use it to cook. …To get rid of the potassium.” (Male Patient, 56, Nyandarua County)

“Vegetables we boil for almost 15 minutes, we pour that water then we rinse. We use boiled water to rinse, then we pour the water and we put a small onion and small oil and the tomatoes. You have to remove the outer cover of the tomatoes.” (Female Caregiver, 45, Nyamira).

“For fruits we give something like pawpaw and apples. We were told not to give high acid fruits like oranges and lemons because they are not good for the kidneys. They said such fruits increase the level of potassium in the body.” (Female Caregiver, 21, Nandi).