Kidney disease stage 3 diet

@pursnickedy welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. If you search the discussions in the Kidney & Bladder group you will find many related to nutritional requirements for chronic kidney disease (CKD). Your Dr. can also refer you to a renal dietician who can provide these lists.
It is common to reduce sodium and limit red meat. Stick to poultry, fish, occasional pork, eggs and dairy for protein. There are some other factors to consider. These are measured in your kidney labs. They are potassium, calcium, phosphorus, oxalates. There may be others but those are the ones I know of. My Dr. believes in “eating for the labs”, which he monitors then tells me to make adjustments as needed. Has your Dr. made any treatment recommendations regarding your stage 3 Kidney Disease?

Some of us are finding better luck with trying different foods to see which ones are helpful for us.

I feel best when adding red meat. Compared to any other protein.

Legumes (beans) are next. I can actually FEEL BETTER during ingestion/digestion….and then improved energy the following day, so I try to eat red meat (protein) before important events when I NEED TO FEEL WELL!

You can find a lot of ways to EAT YOUR WAY OUT OF STAGE 3. Adding exercise really helps!

@laurie6 And once again, you have shown that different things work differently for different people, while following a renal diet!

Thank you for sharing your experiences with food. For myself, I do not eat red meat very often, perhaps once a month. For me, it makes me feel "sluggish" during digestion.
Ginger

Good to see you mentoring/mod on the boards, Ginger! 👋🥰

Agree with Ginger re red meat. I have felt much better limiting/eliminating it this past month or so.
That’s when I found out I had a gfr of 49! My baseline for many years had been 61. But, my doc failed to tell me that was stage 2!! Guess when one is in their 60’s… it’s no big deal! 🤷🏻‍♀️all other labs normal.
After implementing a modified renal diet, keeping my protein intake around 40 mg/day, limited red meat and increased water intake to 70-80 oz/day. My gfr is now back to my baseline- 61.
I will continue my diet. Actually, I feel so much better! And, I do plan to set up appointment with renal nutritionist soon.

I rarely eat red meat, maybe a hamburger now and then. I bought a renal diet cookbook and all the recipes contain things that other sources say we shouldn’t have. It’s all so complicated. From what I’ve read, as we age our GFR normally goes down by 1 per year and more than 5 per year is too much. Well, mine is going down by 5 per month and my doctor first of all didn’t notice and secondly doesn’t seem concerned. I’m hoping to be referred to a nephrologist and maybe get some concrete information.

@sharlea1313 Renal diets can indeed be confusing. As you may have read already within these pages of the kidney and bladder support group, we want to look at trends in kidney function, not one-time numbers. But it is important to understand why function indicators might be going down. A new medication causing side effects? An infection? Diabetes or high blood pressure issues? A disease process causing concerns?

Watching/monitoring the following will help in a renal diet: salt, sugar, protein, phosphorous, potassium, calcium. Hydration is crucial, getting the right-for-your-situation amount each day.
Ginger

Hi again,
I do believe that the drop of my gfr from 61 to 49 was most likely due to medication. I had had a shoulder injury a few months prior to the 2 separate labs both showing the sudden drop. I took the prescription dose of Motrin during the acute pain phase (3 days).
The 3rd repeat lab last week was back to 61.
However, that being said…. if I had known, I was borderline stage 3 CKD I would not have taken the Motrin. I would’ve found alternative therapy.
Not only that, I would have definitely been more cautious of over-the-counter anti-reflux meds, supplements, etc., and of course, my protein intake as well as the rest of my diet that probably was not kidney friendly.
Interesting that 61 was not red flagged as being abnormal and/or borderline.
It was a wake up call for me!
We have to be our own advocate!