@rosemarya, hello! Thanks for inquiring. Things have seemed fairly stable for the past couple of months. Labs are good, relatively speaking, and no need yet for a graft or access for dialysis since neph thinks it won't be necessary for awhile yet. Will know more when labs are drawn again at the end of this month. Pedal edema is slightly worse but we think that's more due to CHF than CKD and Coreg, support/compression stockings and elevating my feet a couple of times a day have helped to keep the edema from increasing even more

Have been quite busy this summer working on renal diets. Here's the latest I sent my docs for them to share as they see fit:

As you know, I rely on the NIH and the USDA as well as other sources for nutrient value assays. I do trust those values more than others and I trust my own research.. So I've concluded that at least SOME dietary recommendations/restrictions for renal patients are inaccurate.

For instance, many websites and kidney diet groups (some of which are affiliated with dialysis companies, go figure) tell patients to AVOID tomatoes, green peppers (but not red ones,) pumpkin and other hard-shelled squashes, as well as beans, etc. But many tomato varieties do NOT contain unreasonable amounts of the no-no minerals; values are so low for, say, one small Roma tomato, it barely moves the needle on a 1000 to 1500 mg daily potassium limit. Perhaps the recommendations of avoidance are faulty?

Furthermore, green peppers have nearly identical nutrient values to red ones! Green peppers are just that: green, as in not ripe. Red ones are merely ripe green ones with slightly more sugar content due to the ripening. Neither needs to be avoided completely. In fact, the no-no values are so low that bell or sweet peppers can be chopped or sliced and small amounts added to almost any dish for extra body and flavor.

Pumpkin and all other squashes, especially hard-shelled, are relatively high in potassium. Should they therefore be forbidden? Absolutely not! A cup of no-salt added pureed pumpkin is 16 tablespoons. Instead of using an entire cup, use 1/4 cup instead. You still get the function of binding and get healthy nutrients without excessive amounts of minerals kidney patients need to restrict. And if a renal cook measures carefully and uses maple sugar instead of refined sugar, egg whites and/or applesauce for less or no actual egg, almond or coconut milk sparingly instead of dairy milk, pumpkin pie is allowable on a flour/water/healthy oil crust IN SMALL PORTIONS.

Beans are high in phosphorus and potassium. Chickpeas are lower in those and 9 pecan halves are even lower. So are green beans. Therefore if I want meatless chili with beans, I can use an eighth of the amount of kidney beans the recipe calls for, a small number of chickpeas account for another eighth, 9 coarsely chopped pecan halves constitute another eighth, and no salt added green beans five eighths. Add half the amount of tomato sauce required, extend its volume with pureed green (or red) bell pepper, add spices, and sit down to a pretty tasty bowl of chili "analog."

Rosemary, I'm also working on a list of processed foods which actually are ok on a renal diet if one eats half-servings. Flavor often is as important as if not more important than portion size.

My work constitutes suggestions only and anyone using my information is free to do so as long as it's understood that I'm not a registered dietitian, just a very good cook with a background in physics and chemistry and good at math. In other words, I do not diagnose or prescribe, I merely share what has worked for me so far.

With this in mind, when my latest 2 diet papers have been edited and vetted, I'll be glad to share them here.

Peace and blessings to you and to all in the groups!