Help with meal planning with Chronic Kidney Disease

Welcome @ana1966. I think you'll find this related discussion helpful
- Confused About Diet for Stage 3 or 4 Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/confused-about-stage-3-ckd-diet/

Members like @gingerw @kamama94 and many others have shared wise advice, great resources, recipes and more. I suggest reading through the discussion.

I kept your discussion separate rather than moving it over to the other discussion to focus specifically on meal planning. What do you find challenging about meal planning?

@ana1966 Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect! As @colleenyoung mentioned, there are several discussions about diet and CKD.

While I agree with your doctor about less protein [make sure what you do eat is quality protein!] and sodium, there is also potassium, calcium, and phosphorous to be mindful of. Eat as few processed foods as you can. Try to stay away from cold cuts and processed meats due to their sodium!

Going to the National Kidney Foundation website, you can find information about healthy diets and meal plans: https://www.kidney.org/nutrition

DaVita Kidney Care is one of the two major players here in the US for dialysis and care. They offer an excellent resource for recipes and tips: https://www.davita.com/diet-nutrition

It's really a challenge to change things around when you have spent many years eating whatever you want. Ask me how I know! And if you are in a multi-person household, you may feel you need to have two separate meal plans. Gently start tweaking things around, don't try to do it all at once. Otherwise, it can be discouraging. Experiment. Get creative with spices. My latest "find" is paprika!

I will be curious to read your discoveries!
Ginger

As usual, Ginger comes through with great ideas for sources on meal preparations and guidance. I might add that you may wish to have a "buddy" help you in the form of a renal dietitian. Mine has "personalized" a well thought out plan, and you can see the results of your plan through lab work and dietitian followup. It works for me as I look forward to my next appointment in 2 weeks.

Hi @ana1966

Several years ago I concocted a collection of kidney-friendly variations of recipes and as I'm not feeling well right now due to gastroparesis, I hope Colleen or Ginger can find my book for you (totally free of charge) in pdf form somewhere in one of the Kidney & Bladder groups.

Please bear in mind that the USDA and others have changed some of the parameters and values since my recipe collection was written so you might want to check some of my "old" values and parameters with the various websites mentioned here.

For example, the daily value recommended for potassium is higher. Also, manufacturers frequently change ingredients and/or amounts of same so I always read labels each time I purchase something just to make sure the contents are appropriate for my CKD.

Although I'm not necessarily advising anyone to do so, right after I was diagnosed with CKD I went on a vegetarian diet with limited dairy and no meat. At that point my renal status improved. Next, it was an easy transition for me to become "almost vegan" and eat no animal products whatsoever other than local free-range eggs and small amounts of dairy "cooked" into certain commercial breads.

Other illnesses occurred after that and I was on dialysis for 6 months because of the strain on my partial remaining kidney but stuck with my almost-vegan meal plan and was able to stop dialysis.

Since then my kidney function has continued to improve slowly and I'm back to Stage IV instead of Stage V. I have every reason to expect improvement to continue as long as I limit sodium, watch potassium and phosphorus intakes, and protein amounts on a daily basis. This will be a challenge as I also am diabetic and newly diagnosed with gastroparesis, the diets for which are somewhat in conflict with a renal diet, but I'm hoping to achieve a good compromise utilizing all three diets with modifications.

I wish you well! And Kudos to Colleen and Ginger.

Do you have a nutritionist and a Nephrologist?

Colleen - Thanks to the Mayo group for providing me additional access to other groups that address my urge incontinence, ibs-C, swallowing issues, osteoporosis, and isolation. I want to post timely on the bladder/kidney group about an apparently now defunct issue - urge incontinence. How do I find the most recent post on this specific issue?

Were there written directions about how the groups work emailed to me, but lost in my attention to my many medical issues with Kaiser?

Thank you.

There are many books about what to eat and what to avoid or control how much you eat
I suggest you download the Kindle App. and then order sample books to read without commitment and then decide whether to buy.
I suggest you order kindle electronic books which are downloadable as samples to read and review.

My GFR is 29; my husband's is at 13. I agree - it's very difficult to make this shift in diet (especially at the age of 75). I met with a Mayo nutritionist to learn that now I not only had to avoid sugar, I need to watch potassium, phosphorus and protein. I am used to doing some light research but this was overwhelming. I find it very difficult to find menu items that are easy to prepare with items I usually have on hand. Some of the changes that were fairly easy for me were a switch from diet colas to Sprite. I was never a particular fan of Sprite but I add fresh limes and and am very satisfied with that. I also ditched my beloved hazelnut creamer and 2% milk for Silk almond creamer and Silk almond milk. They're okay. Just purchased almond flour tortillas and almond flour for baking. Dave's Killer white bread was recommended. All this stuff is expensive - saw the bread for $7.50 a loaf! Also heard that nutritional yeast is good on popcorn but we haven't tried that....popcorn is replacing many of our chips-type snacks. I've stopped eating bananas and most potato based items. The nutritionist suggested that we put one teaspoon of salt out in a bowl and then that's our total usage for the day....when it's gone, it's gone. I try to keep salad at the ready and am making olive oil salad dressing. What changes have others made? Vicki

I forgot to mention...my family usually topped off dinner with dessert. Sure miss that! So - I have a little container with Russell Stover Sugar Free Toffee and Coconut candies and Jolly rancher zero sugar hard candies for a little treat. I hate looking at the fine print on all of these things - feel like I should be carrying a magnifying glass with me at the grocery store.

Hello, @ldrlaw. Several years ago I concocted a collection of kidney-friendly variations of recipes and as I'm not feeling well right now due to gastroparesis, I hope Colleen or Ginger can find my book for you (totally free of charge) in pdf form somewhere in one of the Kidney & Bladder groups.

Please bear in mind that the USDA and others have changed some of the parameters and values since my recipe collection was written so you might want to check some of my "old" values and parameters with the various websites mentioned here.

For example, the daily value recommended for potassium is higher. Also, manufacturers frequently change ingredients and/or amounts of same so I always read labels each time I purchase something just to make sure the contents are appropriate for my CKD.

Although I'm not necessarily advising anyone to do so, right after I was diagnosed with CKD I went on a vegetarian diet with limited dairy and no meat. At that point my renal status improved. Next, it was an easy transition for me to become "almost vegan" and eat no animal products whatsoever other than local free-range eggs and small amounts of dairy "cooked" into certain commercial breads.

Drastically changing one's diet isn't easy, especially if you're diabetic since a renal diet and a diabetic diet aren't always compatible. I also agree, Dave's is great bread but I can't afford it. I have to compromise.

Wishing you well!