Conflicting dietary advice?

[Pennyruss]

I am baffled because I have CKD Stage 3B and also hypertension and it seems to me that the recommended diets conflict eg, the advice for kidneys is to avoid too much potassium, therefore eat white bread, peel all fruit, reduce or avoid bananas, tomatoes, potatoes, nuts etc., while the advice I have had for hypertension is to eat a Mediterranean diet which is rich in tomatoes and wholemeal seeded breads and pasta etc. There must be others out there juggling this problem. What do you do?

[Hseja]

if you follow Danita kidney diet you will feel better. It is confusing out there, but the main foods to avoid or eat in small amounts are sodium, protein, potassium, phosphorous, dairy. Check the goods you eat. Sodium and potassium should be limited to 1500 a day phosphorous is in cokes which was my problem. Now I drink little root beer and iced tea and water. The Davila people are very good so I stick with their diet and they have great recipes. On amazon you can order benson tasty salt substitute which is really good, butter buds also and spices. Check with davita eat these problem items in moderation. Hope this helps. Take care. Helen s

[Pennyruss in reply to Hseja]

Thank you Helen, I will most certainly look them up!

[Hseja in reply to Pennyruss]

Sorry it's DaVita kidney diet. I typed it wrong. When I watched my diet my gfr went from 54 to 60 so it helps to watch what you eat. Hang in there. Helen

[jillab]

Hi Pennyruss, this disease is so confusing isn't it, I am stage 4 , and when I queried about should I be cutting out any special foods etc, and was told not yet there is plenty of time to worry about that when you get to stage 5, just eat sensibly and only moderately drink alcohol, which doesn't bother me actually as I don't like alcohol anyway. So that is what I do and so far (3 years now) I have held steady at between 25 to 29% eGFR. one thing I have been told though is not to drink pineapple juice, and have been surprised how many other drinks it is in even some orange juices have pineapple juice in when you look at the labels. I belong to another group which I find very good and extremely useful, if you are female, as it is ladies only and is a closed group so you have to join it. It is 'Women's Renal Failure Support Group' it really is so good as it is just ladies all have kidney disease, we all say about our experiences, and chat about everything good and bad, and it can be so helpful hearing others experiences and the way to del with certain events along the way, there is also a section giving dietry advice. Best wishes jillab

[Pennyruss in reply to jillab]

Thanks jillab, I will follow that one up as well.

[Pennyruss in reply to jillab]

Jillab, I have found your answer so helpful, and am now planning to join the support group you mention. thank you.

[phillen]

If you need to follow a diet your bloods will dictate my husband at stage 3 ate a normal healthy diet you have enough struggle with diet if you get to later stages your body still needs pottasium phosphate etc to keep your other organs healthy when he was on Pd dialysis he still had no problems with his pottasium so still ate a good healthy diet now he is on HD he has to be more strict but with pottasium rich food in moderation he also had high bp at stage 3 so my advice is stick to a good healthy diet unless told otherwise & keep a good healthy weight don't let yourself get bogged down with it all my hubby was stage 3 for well over 16 years! his sudden drop to dialysis was not through his diet was caused by something else x

[Pennyruss in reply to phillen]

Thanks phillen, I have been trying hard to eat a healthy diet but even so my GFR has got worse over the last year so I was just wondering what others do. It's encouraging to hear that your husband was fairly stable for 16 years! I hope he continues to cope well, although on dialysis.

[Hidden]

Advice from who? At stage 3 you still have kidney function

Everyone can benefit from avoiding excessively salty and processed foods

The 'so called Mediterranean diet' has become popular probably because people eat freshly prepared traditional food and seem to be healthier for it

Get some professional advice and eat fresh and healthy while your kidneys can still process the 'waste' that is the excess your body doesn't need

[Pennyruss in reply to Hidden]

Hi Mydeafworld and JMan, I was advised by the hospital dietician and also my doctor to follow a Med diet. I have tried to do this, meanwhile going easy on the tomatoes and nuts etc, but am alarmed that my GFR has still deteriorated so I just wondered how others deal with the problem.

[Hidden]

I too found this to be confusing my guess is to go with what ur dr tell u or asked if you can be refer to a dietan to help

[curleytop1]

Hallo Pennyruss, Just found your comments from 1 year ago. I am also confused about the conflicting advice about the diets for CKD and Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) and, for me, eating as little as I can of foods with gluten. Apart from being told to reduce my potassium intake, I did not get any advice from my GP, who was very vague, or a diet sheet (only a referral to the Renal Department of the local Hospital, which took 8 months to do) so had to do all my research on the internet. I looked at many sites and compiled a list of suitable foods and worked out some suitable meals for myself, which I wrote down as I went (at 76 my memory is not as great as it was!). This way you get to know what to eat and what to avoid. When I finally got to the Renal Department, they seemed pleased with my efforts and told me to continue with whatever I was doing! Again there was no real dietary advice, but they did answer all the questions I had at the time. My CKD is age-related as everyone's kidney function declines with aging and also as I have only ever had one functioning kidney (very surprising news to me, as my brother has the same). Hope this helps although by now I expect you have more idea of what to do - good luck - Curleytop1.

[Pennyruss in reply to curleytop1]

Hello Curleytop,

How kind of you to write. It's very strange , as I only went to see the renal people this week, for my 6 monthly check. As you guessed, I have of course, been looking up things online and looking at the Davita dietary advice in particular, so have sorted out what I think is a reasonable compromise dietwise. Even so, I have asked to see a renal dietician to see what more advice I can discover. We are the same age but I do have 2 kidneys, although mine are apparently undersized. Like you I was told to go on doing what I'm doing as it seems to be holding the decline steady at the moment. I honestly think they don't know what to say to us about diet because there is clear confliction between a good diet for hypertension and one for kidney failure. However, being at stage 4 is no joke and I am keen to learn as much as I can without becoming neurotic or obsessed! Perhaps you would like to keep in touch by private message so we can compare notes from time to time?

Best wishes,

Penny