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

Once more please: Na =, K =, and P =. Thank you so much. Nancy

Na is sodium, K stands for potassium, P is for phosphorus. Other abbreviations and other info can be found in my free recipe collections in several kidney disease support threads here. Please know some values have changed since I first shared my recipes. Also, just to clarify, technically I am no longer a vegan since I needed to add free-range eggs to my renal diet for the protein. Since I am currently "under the weather," I can't answer more fully but the moderator in this thread can guide you to other pages with answers to your questions. Peace and blessings!

kamama94, thanks so much. I do read my labels and I do watch out for these three. Also caffeine, protein, so many things. My best to you and thank you for the info. Nancy

Here is a recipe book that @kamama94 had created a while back. It has been posted in other kidney discussions here, and I for one am very grateful to have her guidance on what has worked for her!

draft without sample meals DIABETIC AND RENAL FRIENDLY VEGETARIAN (draft-without-sample-meals-DIABETIC-AND-RENAL-FRIENDLY-VEGETARIAN-1.pdf) https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/597991/

Like others, I watch labels carefully, and avoid over-processed foods as much as possible. I have been following a renal diet for over 10 years, and things become a habit. You can imagine my surprise, when there was a medication change several months ago, I had to suddenly switch to add potassium [via supplements and diet change] to my daily habits. I went out and bought a half-gallon of orange juice!

As for weight loss and what to do. Many smaller meals during the course of a day may help. Eat even if you aren't hungry, even if the taste buds are cooperating with you. I will snack on Ginger Snap cookies [not too sweet but a light taste], celery or carrots with peanut butter, unsalted tortilla chips with hummus. Iceberg lettuce wedge with low fat dressing. Also, in an effort to increase my albumin [need a good level to have a positive dialysis experience], I do a protein shake most days. Greek yoghurt, frozen fruit thawed out, almond milk, and a scoop of protein powder mixed together. The protein powder I use is pea-protein based, not whey protein which can cause issue for kidney patients. I do find the protein drink fills me up, and makes me want to not eat a meal for several hours. But I also have other health issues going on that add to the weight loss issues.

@marlinhampton Let me add my welcome, also, to Mayo Clinic Connect. You will find us to be a helpful group who wants to help others along their own journey. Have you spoken to your medical care team about your weight loss, and gotten their thoughts? Have any of these ideas helped you?
Ginger

@marlinhampton I am Cheryl or @cehunt57 that Colleen Young referred to in a post regarding diet and CKD. I have stage 4 CKD mainly due to diabetes and hypertension. My local healthcare team consists of my primary adult internal medicine doc, endocrinologist, nephrologist plus a few others. My endocrinologist referred me to a dietician who was diabetic herself and had additional training/expertise in renal nutrition. That was very helpful. My nephrologist basically told me that I need to “eat for the labs”. By this he meant that he monitors things like sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, glucose, protein, fat … etc. that can be problematic for CKD. Theoretically he can make dietary/nutrition change recommendations based on lab results (but he really hasn’t). Most doctors don’t have extensive training/expertise in nutrition. A more practical and realistic approach to eating well occurred when I went to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for evaluation for simultaneous pancreas kidney transplant (SPK). As part of the comprehensive evaluation I saw nutrition/dietary providers. They evaluated me in terms of my health conditions, family history, gender, size, activities, fitness, lifestyle, food preferences … etc. They made nutrition recommendations regarding carbohydrates, proteins, fats, dairy, produce … etc. and explained how these related to lab values that my local nephrologist said I “need to eat for”. They confirmed what he said but also gave me information on how to do so. A nutritionist/dietician that has training in renal nutrition should be able to help you customize an eating plan that is beneficial and doable for you.

From a person who did not originally know this fact, make sure you pass it along. I have had bowel issues my entire life and I’m 78. I probably learned this fact maybe 20 years ago and never had heartburn again. For those who just snack on something, crackers,
Chips, any kind of food, you’ll most likely end up with heartburn. The reason why you ask, “your stomach does not know how much acid it needs, so it produces enough acid each time to dissolve a full meal!” You give it just a pack of crackers to dissolve and bingo you have heartburn. I use to eat Tums when I had heartburn, that gave me kidney stones ( the number one reason why, all the calcium in tums and calcium is the #1 reason for kidney stones
#2, the sediment in the bottom of a bottle of tea drinks. At one point, I had GERD, no more tho since I started to follow my own advice.

I eat 2MAD only. NO snacks or other garbage.
1st meal = 4 jumbo eggs over easy, 2 Tbsp butter
2nd meal = 30g protein (chicken/turkey/fish) and 12g low carb veggies

I would suggest finding a kidney-specialist nutritionist. The two nephrologists I have seen never mentioned diet, but I have read extensively since day one of surprise diagnosis, have met with the hospital nutritionist, but not sure she is a specialist in kidneys. Read, read, read. . Everything.

Thank you very much. This disease seems baffling to some GP's.

Would love to have help of renal dietician at Mayo. How did you hook up with her? Here, no
help when it comes to food. Also, no more acupuncturists. All left town. Think they are very
helpful in assorted areas. In addition, person who says X-Ray equipment is outdated is correct.
All kidneys should have scans, MRI's. Part of the problem with that, though, is people with
kidney disease can't have contrast material. That's why equipment should be the best.
Thanks for your insights.