Dietary restrictions issues - Kidney Disorders Message Board

flowergirl2day · 07-07-2009, 10:42 PM

I am having a difficult time designing a diet that meets daily nutritional requirements. The various dietary restrictions (sodium, potassium, protein and phosphorus) leave little to work with. I contacted my dietician with a few nutrition-related questions. While she was very helpful in answering my questions, it is still up to me to come up with a workable diet plan. What would be the best way to go about it? I have spent all day trying to make some sense of it all.

The dietitian says that many or the recipes in the renal cookbook supplied by the hospital have a high potassium content, making them unsuitable for people not on dialysis. She is editing the book, which will reduce the number of acceptable recipes. Any suggestions you may have would be much appreciated.

thank you,
flowergirl

Cora1003 · 07-08-2009, 07:30 AM

I know how hard it is. I was pre-dialysis for a number of years and even when on hemo I had a lot of restrictions. What I found worked best for me was to take my normal diet and recipes and then try to adapt them as best I could. I would make adjustments based on my blood work. Unfortunately, it is often difficult, sometimes impossible to get a completely balanced diet. Talk to the doctor about an acceptable supplement. There are renal friendly supplements out there and they can help too. I ended up eating a very simple diet. Plain chicken, white rice, overly cooked green beans or peas for dinner. On rare occasions I would double or triple boil the potatoes if my potassium level was ok. Rice cakes aren't bad for a snack with a little bit of applesauce. Not too much K in that either. I found that as things progressed there were foods that bit by bit were banished from my diet entirely, but I got used to that (even though I was never too happy about it).

Sorry I can't be more help.

flowergirl2day · 07-08-2009, 05:24 PM

Thank you so much for your response, Cora!

The dietician herself admits that this is a pretty tough and complicated diet. Too bad they only provide the dietary guidelines, which tend to contradict each other at times. As far as meal planning, I think what you suggest makes more sense than trying to create menus, given the limitations. We can use less meat and fewer veggies in our cooking, skip the cheese etc. I am sure I will learn some shortcuts as I go. When I first started a low sodium diet three years ago, I thought I'd never be able to stick with it for long. I was wrong. I learned that I actually enjoyed eating foods not enhanced with artificial flavoring, chemicals and a lot of salt. Food tastes so much better in its natural state. So, like you and many others, I know I will get used to these restrictions and learn to work with them.

I have the cookbooks now. It is surprising how ordinary the finished meals in them look. There are a few good recipes for desserts and cookies that I will be able to use. I like the very handy nutritional analysis of each meal. Perhaps there is even a better book available with the nutritional breakdown of each recipe within- I'll definitely have to look into it.

I like rice cakes - I ate them for a while when trying to lose weight. And, chicken with rice sounds good! The only problem I see with all this is that our husbands still demand "normal" food. How does one work around that? I will not have the time to cook two separate meals.

flowergirl

Cora1003 · 07-08-2009, 08:27 PM

I sometimes used to wish that they just had some sort of kibble for people that you could eat when on a renal diet. Oh well. My Mom had a tough time for a while when I was living at home. There was my diet (some protein, few veggies, low fibre due to potassium), then there was my Dad's diet (Pritikin program - high fibre, low animal protein & fats, lots of veg) and then there was what Mom liked - somewhere in the middle. She ended up making 3 meals sometimes. Depending on what your guy likes, maybe you can just prepare one meal that is ok for you, and nice enough for him. Just try to keep the quantities at a minimum.

yoda1257 · 07-08-2009, 09:41 PM

Flowergirl2-

You might want to check out DaVita, one of the main provider's of dialysis.
They have a wealth of information regarding recipes, menu planning and the DaVita diet planner for kidney pts.

Leea