Are you someone suffering from kidney disease? If yes, then the first thing you need is a kidney-friendly diet. The right kinds of foods will help you stay relatively healthy.
What Are The Special Diet For Kidney Disease?
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Your meal plan should be designed in such a way as to help you maintain the standard body weight. You also need to keep your blood pressure and sugar levels in mind.
Doing this ensures that your condition does not worsen. Meals that fall in this category assist in your efforts to prevent minerals from getting reserved in your body.
Here is a step by step guide to help you prepare a diet plan ideal for your kidney problem:
Go for foods that are low in sodium or salt
Lowering your sodium intake lowers your blood pressure. See to it that you are not having more than 2,300MG of salt a day.
- Avoid buying prepared foods. Instead, go for their fresh alternatives. Prepared foods contain more salt than you can have.
- Prepare food from scratch. Canned foods contain more sodium than a person generally needs. When you prepare your own food, you decide what goes into your mouth.
- Replace sodium with spices herbs and other seasonings.
- Read the label of every single package you buy from the store. Doing this will help you determine the amount of salt contained it.
- Try low-sodium alternatives of frozen items.
- Thoroughly wash canned foods like meat before using them.
Lower your potassium intake
Potassium helps your heart maintain its rhythm. But consuming too much of it may lead to its build-up in the body. This causes problems especially if your kidney does not function normally. Irregular heart rhythm, if left unchecked, may even become fatal. Your doctor may recommend a low-potassium diet if its level is too high in your blood. Do the following to regulate the amount of potassium in your diet:
- Try to avoid fruits like orange, banana, cantaloupe melon and nectarines. Instead, consume fruits like peaches, grapes, pears, cherries, apples, berries, pineapple, plums, tangerines, watermelon, cranberries and strawberries.
- Among vegetables, go for broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, aubergine, green and wax beans, lettuce, onion, peppers, watercress, courgette, bean sprouts, sweetcorn and mushrooms. Try to avoid asparagus, avocado, potatoes, tomatoes or tomato sauce, butternut squash, pumpkin, artichoke, sweet potato, beetroot, Brussels sprouts and cooked spinach.
- When having other food items, try to include pitta, tortillas and white breads, white rice, beef and chicken in your diet. Try to minimize the food items like high-fiber whole grains, beans etc.
Regulate your consumption of Phosphorus
Phosphorus too is a mineral, if consumed in excess, builds up in your blood. This may create a situation when your body starts absorbing calcium from your bones. It then deposits the substance under your skin. This may lead to bone breakage and other health issues.
- Dairy products are high in Phosphorus. Don’t have more than one cup of milk per day.
- Limit the vegetables like dried beans, greens, broccoli, mushrooms, and Brussels sprouts. These should be limited to one cup per week.
- Regulate the intake of the serials like bran, wheat cereals, oatmeal, and granola. It should not exceed more than one serving a week.
- Prefer white bread to whole grains.
- Almost all soft drinks contain more phosphorus than one requires. Try to minimize them.
Stay well hydrated
Unless your doctor advises otherwise, drink lots of water.
Consult your doctor before taking any mineral supplements.
They can build up in your blood and create problems for you.
Regulate your protein intake
The nutrient is a must for your bones to grow. But too much of it will do more harm than good for someone with chronic kidney disease.
Remember, your doctor is the most reliable source of information here. Discuss your requirements with a health professional. The expert will help you outline a meal plan that best suits your body. Every individual is unique, so are his dietary requirements.
Dietary restrictions will vary based on the stage of the disease and your lifestyle. If your doctor recommends, talk to a renal dietician and modify your meal plan accordingly.
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Amanda Wingfield is a certified Diabetes Management Specialist who also holds an MD in Endocrinology, with certifications from ABIM and AACE. She has a decade of experience serving thousands of patients through her independent practice and has been working in the capacity of an expert diabetes consultant for the past 4 years. Ms. Wingfield is revered by her regular readers for her in-depth research and evidence-based analysis of diabetes medications, supplements, and treatments, and her highly critical style of writing.