A Kidney Friendly Holiday

[Ladybug_05]

Thinking ahead to the holiday, meal planning can prove challenging with how stringent dietary restrictions can be! There's also the added stress of family members, picky eaters and the sometimes dreadful potluck-style meal plan that leads to you not being able to eat anything!

For those of us who can't afford a cheat day (I miss those!), what is one way that you can keep your holiday meal kidney-friendly? PS, I'm sorry I'm too late for Hanukkah! Also, I say holiday to include New Years festivities and any other holiday I am unaware of besides Christmas!

For me, I eat half portions. I'm lucky in that my family cooks renal friendly foods out of habit anyways, so I'm able to eat basically anything set out at the table. I do find that only eating half portions helps to keep myself from over eating, and I try to bulk up on veggies and eat a salad if it's available. When I eat at my boyfriend's house, this method also makes me polite, while looking out for my nutrition levels, since some of the food is a no-go (which his family knows about and is fine if I only eat certain things, but I try to be polite and take as much of a variety as possible).

[orangecity41 NKF Ambassador]

Thanks for sharing some good tips for holiday eating.

[Bassetmommer NKF Ambassador]

Good suggestions. I do all the holiday cooking so I am able to control what is on the table. Yet I still manage to have family favorites. Some of the things I changed this year was to leech my vegetables, especially the potatoes. It lacked in flavor so I added sour creme. No savings on calories because I used full fat. But I did the leech the squash, and it was fine. I made the cranberry sauce with stevia and no one knew the difference. And I eat that in abundance. The pie was also made with stevia and it was just fine. But I agree, I did not eat huge servings to help.

Happy Holidays to you Ladybug

[Ladybug_05 in reply to Bassetmommer]

I leech my veggies too! I also have a policy of leaving spices out for people to use at their leisure. I usually leave my potatoes plain (or infuse with garlic if I'm feeling fancy) and let people salt/pepper/spice how they wish. Everyone who knows me knows that I don't spice my food (i.e. use salt) so usually everyone makes a stop at the spice rack lol. Happy holidays to you too!

[curleytop1 in reply to Ladybug_05]

Hello Ladybug 05 and Bassetmommer, Thought you might be interested in the idea of avoiding potatoes (never been a favourite with me) and replacing them with portions of cauliflower. It avoids having to mess about with large bowls of water and having to remember to do the leaching well in advance of the cooking period. I use a lot of frozen veg. as there is no waste, or cutting, chopping etc. Just weigh the amounts one wants to eat, put them into the largest saucepan of cold water you have, bring them to the boil, and simmer until they are soft. In UK usually there are no additives or salt added to frozen veg. and they are convenient, economical and often contain more vitamins and minerals than 'fresh' veg.

I make my own soups in this way as well, adding the pre-boiled veg. to a double quantity of fresh cold water, flavoured with a low salt stock cube, the brand is Kallo (not sure if it is available in USA), I also add herbs and frozen leeks or dried chives (as sensitive to onions) For soups, I pre cook red lentils (a favourite ingredient), rinse, and discard the water the lentils are cooked in. When added to the soup they help to bulk up the veg. If the soup is added to a portion of pre-cooked rice or pasta, it makes a hearty supper too! - Curleytop1.

[music61 in reply to Bassetmommer]

Where can I find recipes with stevia

[Bassetmommer NKF Ambassador in reply to music61]

Go to the University of Google... and google Stevia there were many websites

google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q...

[music61 in reply to Bassetmommer]

Thanks

[sharonlyn]

join natural kidney journey on facebook...i have been able to raise my gfr from 26 to 41 in less than a month...that was my situation it is different for everyone...this fb group is dedicated to changing your diet...supporting your goals and so much more...it is admin by a couple where the wife was able to get her husband off of dialysis...she raised his gfr from 3 to 39-41...he has been off dialysises for over 14 months...there is another person on site that achieved that same thing...plus numerous others who have raised their gfr significantly by diet and determination... here is the link... tps://facebook.com/groups/natural... answer the 3 questions when you click on the site to join or you will automatically be deleted...