Stage 3 Kidney Disease and Diet: What can I eat?

Just found out last week that I have stage 3BCKD doing some research on it and dieting anybody has any tips on dieting or vitamins. The doctor put me on calcium and D3. I also have biosis and very bad back problems and help or concerns or advice On the diet part would be helpful thank you Carol

@margarethill Yep, when I was told to basically stay away from bananas due to the potassium, I was thrilled to have a slice when my husband cut one up for his cereal. While my mine will crave something, by the time it is in my mouth, just a bite or two is enough!
Ginger

Kidney diets are not easy…I have several conditions, none too bad now, so I have to balance them all in respect to diet, and to also not forget about maintaining overall health…I did a lot of research, trying to see what were common threads in all that info…my primary doc said that I don’t need the strictest diet yet..her concern is overall health….so I did a carefully modified kidney diet…in about 3 months, i got my GFR up 10 points and creatinine down …it’s doable, just takes good daily focus…maintaining it is my goal now…..

@carousel50rose Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I asked our moderator @colleenyoung to move your post over to this existing thread of discussion. You will find a lot of information from fellow members about renal [kidney] diets, and what we have found works for us. The general rule is lowered/no sodium, calcium, phosphorous, potassium, processed foods, red meat, sugar. And don't forget to consider if you have additional health concerns that need food plan modifications! No one said it will be easy, but we need to be strong and remember it is to our best health to figure out what works for us!

What is biosis?
Ginger

@nycmusic Your own diet sounds interesting. Once I was released from the hospital last June, and my eGFR was all over the place, and I felt like everything was out of control, so I finally set up a meeting with a nutritionist, who specializes in renal and diabetic diets.

Although, I initially felt like a load had been lifted from my shoulders, a few days later, I realized that I'm going to have to research things myself because I'm a picky eater, and like strange combinations.

But, in the meantime, last night, I think I must have spent hours dreaming about desserts, which were never that important to me, until my diabetic and kidney diagnoses.

When I awakened, all I could think of was my favorite French pastry: an almond croissant. But, I had a scrambled egg on sourdough toast instead. And, I ate four small pieces of watermelon.

And, while I won't pretend it was as satisfying as a croissant, it was delicious. While it's high on the glycemic index, it's low on the glycemic load, because it's 90% water, and low in total carboydrates per cup.

@cosettina What an extraordinary post, and so very helpful for me at this particular time. I was diagnosed with diabetes and CKD 3A in 2023. I didn't do nearly as much as I should have about either, because I had been my late husband's medical researcher, patient advocate, caregiver and everything else, and was physically and emotionally exhausted.

But, now I am because my CKD rose to 3B, and my eGFR has been all over the place. So, I am taking the responsibility I should have taken all along!

Thanks for your comment, and the information you shared.

I'm having difficulty finding recipes for kidney disease. The several I've looked at on DaVita seem to have a lot of protein. I've had only 1 visit with my nutrionist and she recommended 1/4 of my diet should be protein. Suggestions for recipes or eating out anyone?

Looking specifically for casseroles right now.

@lb0530 There are literally hundreds of kidney kind cook books. I recently purchased a Lee Hull cookbook titled Stopping Kidney Disease Food Guide. It is popular enough that there were no copies at Half Price Books, so I purchased one off of Amazon. Much of the book is informational and not just recipes. I believe that following one person makes more sense than trying to integrate the teachings of several experts. His recipes seem reasonably easy to follow and adjustable as needed. I have only been using it for about 2 weeks, so not a lot of experience with it.

@hatetocook when I got colon cancer, my diets were all over the place, trying to deal with what my system could handle…appetite went way down, weight followed…then docs were on me to eat anything to gain weight, including heavy sugar/fat options…then the long slow slog with post-surgery low fiber diet….then a bit more normal as I very slowly added veggies/fruits….then the osteoporosis diet—high protein, high dairy…blood test #s all over the place….finally figuring out a kidney friendly diet to get those #s better…and normalizing my diet for overall health and blood #s—that feels like such a ‘’win’’ at last…took trial and error, research, patience—the lesson is that we can help ourselves to better health even with multiple conditions. didn’t require drugs so far…due to frequent cancer surveillance blood testing, I could monitor my numbers..hang in there and be proactive !