There was a time when plant-based foods were frowned upon for kidney patients, but now the gears have entirely shifted. With guidance from a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), a carefully planned plant-based diet may be helpful in the setting of kidney disease, depending on a patient’s specific needs. For more information, visit: kidney.org/newsletter/hot-t...
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The issue is that most people are not on a whole food plant based diet. There is so much processed food being consumed plus lots of sugar, vegetable oils, ghee etc. I went to India in 2019 after nearly 16 years and was quite shocked at the food which everyone was consuming. This is happening in Gujarat which is predominantly vegetarian. The paradox is that it also has the highest rate of diabetes. The main principle is a whole food plant based diet - excluding processed foods, animal and dairy foods, sugar etc.
This diet has worked wonders for me - from kidney health, cholesterol, hypertension to healthy weight and having lots of energy all day long.
Yet here in Scotland, my Renal dietician and nurse both scold me for not eating more animal proteins ☹☹. ...Everytime I mention wanting to eat a more plant based diet, i get told to stop googling.
How disheartening to hear!!! I do believe plant based/whole food is the way to go dietary wise in order to get ahead of this as much as possible. I WISH it were not the case (believe me)
While NKF's CKD Kidney Dietitian Directory may not have dietitians listed in your area, you can visit EatRight.org for additional dietitian options. Learn more at: eatright.org/find-a-nutriti...
At least here in the US part of the problem is even if a food is "vegan" or vegetarian, it's not always healthy. French fries are a prime example...plant based but typically fried and then covered in salt.
I don't eat them either but many people do and I think part of it is convenience and in some cases fast food is cheaper and easier to just pick up on the way home. That's one reason why the US has such a problem with obesity.
Current KDOQI guidelines continue to recommend the Mediterranean or dash diet and not plant based. With guidance to tremendously increase fruits and veggies. Protein restrictions are very conforming and hard to stick with but necessary according to NKF/ASN/RDA who all collaborated on these clinical guidelines to guide all US physicians in treating kidney patients. I have provided a brief description of the protein restriction recommended from the commentary. I’ll provide the link but all are tough to read but worth it IMHO.
Commentary on the 2020 update of the KDOQI clinical practice guideline for nutrition in chronic kidney disease.
2.1 Protein intake
The new recommendations for protein intake contain a major departure from previous advice. The recommendations are summarized in Table 1. For adults with CKD stage 3–5 who are metabolically stable, protein should be restricted to 0.55–0.60 g/kg ideal body weight per day. It is slightly higher for those with diabetes (0.6–0.8 g/kg ideal body weight). Reduction of intake to these levels is recommended due to the negative side effects on kidney health (accumulation of urea and other uremic toxins and increased kidney hyperfiltration). Additional benefits to kidney health can be achieved using ketoacid analogue supplements but these are not available readily or registered with the Therapeutic Goods Administration10 in Australia or the Pharmaceutical Management Agency (Pharmac) in New Zealand.
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