Hi, this is my first post. I was told that I had Stage 3 CKD a couple years ago and it was from all the NDAIDS I was prescribed for my chronic pain from work injuries. I have been able to bring my numbers up to Stage 2 now with medication and diet changes but want to lose about 60 lbs and so does anyone know if the new Keto diet would be safe for people with CKD?
CKD Stage 2 and Keto Diet?: Hi, this is my... - Kidney Disease
CKD Stage 2 and Keto Diet?
Written by
Mskatzgo
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
The ability to reply to this post has been turned off.
18 Replies
•
BassetmommerNKF Ambassador
Hi and Welcome Mskatzgo,
I went looking and there is a ton of garbage out there on the Intranet about the Keto diet. I had a hard time finding evidence based journal articles. There is a lot of misinformation in order to sell you products. Be careful
So this is my advice and opinion. I would not try any drastic diet, such as a keto diet until you have consulted with a renal dietician. I found conflicting information on the bases of the diet. Some said it is high fat, low carb but high protein. It is hard on the kidneys to process protein and can further strain your kidneys.
The bottom line is this: go see a renal dietician who can map out a healthy diet for you with the understanding of your specific medical needs. Will you lose weight on a renal diet? You absolutely can. I have lost 35 pounds in 9 months. Slow and easy is always best for losing weight and keeping it off. After seeing my renal dietician, I also changed my eating lifestyle to something I can manage for life.
Good luck and let us know how you make out.
perfectketo.com/ketosis-kid...
webmd.com/diet/guide/high-p...
Thank you for finding good information for me. I will check it out and talk to my Nephrologist too. I will post later if there is any new info.
• in reply toBassetmommer
The thing that bothers me the most about keto is the high fat content. Cholesterol is a danger. My Aunt had to have renal artery bypasses - you don't hear about those much but they do happen.
Hi Zencat,
There is a link to complications of cardiac issues already with CKD. I agree a diet high in fat is not healthy for anyone. In my opinion, fad diets are just that....a fad. The thing about high fat diets is that fat are calorie bombs. But they are also the food group that tasted the best. So it is easier to stay on a diet like that because the taste and calories are satisfying..... but not good for you. Diet it another word for deprivation. Most people when "on a diet" are restricting something whether its calories or a food group. Drastic changes are not often sustainable and the repercussion is rebound weight and frustration. Lifestyle changes and healthy eating is the best solution for everyone. Our society is so wrapped up in image that we do not consider the individual.
morlobach• in reply to
I have been on the Keto diet now 5 months. I had high cholesterol , high BP and glucose levels were too high too. In 5 months I was able to increase my good cholesterol, glucose dropped to normal levels and BP absolutely normal. I had stage 2 kidney disease also after taking NSAIDs since 1993, my keratinine levels have come down to 83, they were over 123. So I would not be too worried about the ghostly amount of fats. It is unsaturated fat one eats, not saturated fat, and exactly those amino acids are the right way to not only treat your chronic rheumatoid arthritis and other Auto immune conditions but they have the tendency to bring your good cholesterol up and thus balance out your LDL. There are indeed a lot of negative publications on the internet, and every one is different, but I can say with my hand on my heart I have never felt better in my life. I Have SLE, have it fully under controle due to the diet, have lost so far 23 kg in weight and am about 4 kg away from a normal weight for my height. I have no longer stool issues, do not need to take as much medication anymore as before. My rheumatologist, GP and Neurologist ( I have severe neuropathy as well) are all amazed by the changes I have achieved due to Keto and pro-biotics I take religiously every morning. I must say I have tweaked the diet to my needs, because I did extensive research into what food could alter my blood screen. 2 years ago I was a dead (wo)man walking. My anticoagulants in my blood put me at imminent risk for strokes. I discovered eating raw broccoli, Kale, sprouts and radishes help bring those to a normal level. I also knew that garlic would tackle my blood pressure and fenugreek my glucose levels. I read extensively about what I could and could not eat with Lupus, but more importantly how I could change my lifestyle so I could change my insuline resistance, for that is what most of us have become after eating too long too many carbs. They have told us from when we could read that we should not eat fat, but instead eat the famous 5. If you then have to accept that we actually need fat in our diet, it sort of goes against the grain. We are conditioned to avoid fat, and believe me it is wrong. WE NEED FAT, but the RIGHT FAT! I now eat at least 3 times a week an avocado ( 75% of fat in avocado is unsaturated) and it is the main source of energy in my diet today. Although the standard KETO diet is mostly focused on those fats, I do eat fruits but again the RIGHT FRUIT. Berries... Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries... I eat them every morning, for they have folic acids we need to have healthy skin. Then we need carbs too, but again THE RIGHT CARBS: fibres... fibres in vegetables, weetabix, cruciferous vegetables, artichokes, legumes... The good thing about fibre carbs is that if you cannot digest it you feed your probiotics in your gut, and THAT is the most important part of your immune system. Those little fighters keep you healthy by killing the bad bacteria that enter somehow your body. Because we have been sterilising, pasteurising and sanitising food and anything that is in our environment, whilst taking ANTI-BIOTICS for almost every infection that came our path, we have destroyed our own defence mechanism gradually by either starving them, or killing them directly. There is a lot more to it, but that is in a nutshell how I changed my death-row constitution in 2017 to a nearly healthy existence in 2019, and it is developed on the bases of Ketosis combined with what I needed to use to change my blood and body. Even if you do not want to follow a diet, reduce your carbs to a quarter of what you normally eat and you will already notice a difference. We are poisoned by sugar, it is used as preservative and inserted in almost everything they try to sell us, even in chicken slices... !! Why? Because it is addicting so they add it to their product so we would buy more. And don't let anyone tell you that sugar replacement tablets are better, they are worse, if you research sweeteners you'll discover that the insuline surge on sweeteners is higher than on normal sugar, which is making it worse. YOU DO NOT GET FAT FROM SUGAR, YOU GAIN WEIGHT FROM INSULINE! yes indeed, when you eat sugar your body will try to restore the glucose level in your blood stream, ( needs to be between 4 and 5.4 micromol) so it makes insuline to get rid of the excess sugar. Trouble is that when we do not use the energy created by the insuline, it will store that energy into fat, the bad fat in between your organs: Visceral fat. ( the fat that causes heart attacks) By eating too frequently carbs in a day,( you should always leave 4 hours in between every meal) you become insuline resistant and then your body makes more insuline than you need and you gain abnormal weight. That is what makes people obese, the snacks, the sneaked in sugar, for our pancreas keeps constantly reminded to make insuline and never really gets rest. So my advice is, try to reduce your carbs en sugar, increase your un saturated fat and fibre intake, and even without ketosis you will already see drastic changes to your life. Do not snack, use olive oil as your cooking fat, eat walnuts with a salad, eat enough vegetables and reduce your intake of red meat for that is really necessary to give your kidneys a break. Ask help from your dietician they will know how to make a diet on your personal level, and lastly... there is NO super diet that helps you lose weight, there are many diets that can help but it always involves exercising... Aerobe exercising, walking, cycling, swimming, ... true aerobe, you don't need the gym, but a dog would help... walking a dog 3 times half an hour /day is better aerobe training than working out 3 x /week in a gym. Good luck !!
• in reply tomorlobach
Sorry but nope to the keto diet. I'm glad your're feeling good but the jury is still out on this one and my doctor does not recommend it to anyone.
Good luck!
Boxster2• in reply to
Ok people. I eat a Mediterranean diet but have two fiends on Keto for 3 and 4 years. Although they dont have ckd, the transformation in both has been nothing short of amazing from their appearance to blood and urine tests. KETO is NOT high protien. It is high healthy fat and low carb with low carb veg like cauliflower and broccoli. Fruit is the healthiest berries. Please stop spreading more misinformation. All of this information is available to those who choose to have an open mind. Unfortunately i have been treated by many doctors and i have yet to meet a single one who knows anything useful regarding diet. That's why we use dietitians because they have many orders of magnitude of advice over medical doctors.
Boxster2• in reply to
Healthy fats from Olive Oil for example do not raise cholesterol. Run it by a dietician to be sure but (we are all individuals) healthy fats are called that for a reason. In fact, healthy fats are likely to result in better cardiac function. People on low protein diets also need healthy fats just to feel satiated. Carbs are unlikely to help with feeling fuller longer.
Would you mind if I ask what type of diet you were on to lose your weight? I'm at stage 2 CKD as well and have concerns and HBP& High Cholesterol, RA, Fibro meds caused weight gain & diet
Consult your Doctor on weight loss and diet. He / she should know and advise. You need to speak with a professional clinical Nurtionlist. My Doctor told me flatly “drink water” I was chronically dehydrated and taking creatine and protein supplements.
Don’t “diet”, change your lifestyle and habits. It’s hard but you can do this! Your new way of eating is the rest of your life, not just for a short period of time.
Based on what little knowledge I possess I wouldn’t recommend that diet...for anyone.
Keto is the newest spin on the Adkins diet. It’s the current fad. Too much fat and protein. I did Adkins for several years and lost weight when I was younger. You need water, vegetables, vegetable based protein, low sugar, low salt and low phosphorus. And some type of exercise, high impact not required. Walking low impact , Yoga, bike riding and or some movement.
I had an AKI caused by short duration use of NSAIDs. I’m in “stage 2” now which was a total surprise to me. I had no idea what these stages were. I’ve had to learn a bunch fast! I spent a lot of time with a clinical Nurtionlist to beat this animal and understand more clearly how to combat this situation. I have lost 37 pounds in 4 months, stopped drinking, stopped drinking large quantities of coffee, stopped cigars, cut all beef and pork from diet. In addition all bad fats are out of my diet (the only fat I eat is Extra Virgin olive oil) and I run four miles every other day. I went to the extreme. I’m trying to get way ahead of this and hedge my bets.
You can do this!!’ Keto is not the way and it could damage you worse. Eat clean! Vegetables, fruit, nuts, lots of water and very limited protein and fat. Start yoga and meditation, begin walking daily if possible. Dedicate yourself and you can do this!
P.S. if you are in stage 2 now you are in the normal range and your kidney function is healthy. Don’t endanger that with a fad diet or supplements.
I wish you only the best and excellent health. God bless!
Thank you for your insights. I physically can’t do much due to permanent injuries but since I love vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains, I’ll just continue to stick with those.
Keep the faith and stay positive. Again you’re doing well and healthy. Please try mediation any type of activity is good. If nothing else get outside on a sunny day and enjoy 😊. Please be sure to discuss diet with your Doctor and a Nurtionlist. I’m not an exper or a Doctor nor do I understand others plight In-depth. I wish you the best of all things, stay sunny and bright.
I concur with Monte. My doctor said no “diets”. Drink lots of water, I had to quit all caffeine from BP, Low Sodium , No NSAIDs, eat balanced, low processedfood diet to lose weight slowly and moderate exercise.I have slight diminished capacity with no kidney damage from aging and probably from being functionally dehydrated all the time. I am almost 53.
Contact and follow “DietitianCDE” as well here for more info
Hi Mskatzgo please see this video "Is CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) Reversible with Diet?"
on Utube for Dr.kanDberry MD. He talks about how to reverse your ckd with Keto diet.
Good luck
All the Reply given is quite informative, however, I would consult with a Renal Dietitian, bring your last LAB and get a diet to help make the necessary changes to Your health issues. Everything don’t always work go everyone. I am speaking from my experience. This community is VERY helpful and informative I took what worked for me and saw great improvement after my Renal dietitian visits. Good luck let’s know how things are going...stay safe.
I haven't had a chance to read other responses, but...I recently took a course on Whole Foods plant-based eating from nutritionstudies.org. There was a brief review of several different diets and it was a no to the keto diet. A little about my experience...
In September I was diagnosed "pre-diabetic" so I cut out cookies, etc. I lost 14 pounds in 3 months. Then in January I was diagnosed with CKD stage 3 and immediately went vegan, and then Whole Foods plant-based. I've lost 12 more pounds!
I know it's not for everyone, but it's working for me. I feel so much better and my kidney function has improved a lot! I had blood work done a couple of weeks ago for a different reason, but found out that my GFR went from 49 to 76! It seems too good to be true! I have an appointment with my nephrologist this week and will have more blood work done. It'll be interesting to see if it's the same.
All this to say that I highly recommend a WFPB (whole foods plant-based) diet. There's lots of information on line and there's also the course I took through eCornell. It's not cheap, but I figured I was worth it! Now I'm taking a WFPB cooking course through forksoverknives.com.
It can be overwhelming. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm worth the investment in time, money and energy.
The ability to reply to this post has been turned off.
Not what you're looking for?
You may also like...
Diet Suggestions for Stage 5 CKD
Goodday, i have CKD stage 5, recently diagnosed. i have started Peritoneal dialysis and would...
ckd stage 3a
hello everyone I was diagnosed with ckd stage 3a a couple of months ago came totally out the blue...
Stage 5 CKD
Hi Everyone,
Note: I also posted this in the Stage 4 section as the site doesn't seem to have a...
Nearly Hit Stage 2
Hi, everyone. I had my labs done on 4/22/19 and I just got the results online today 4/26/19. As...
Coffee and CKD diet
Does coffee damage your kidneys and effect a CKD diet? Here is link to article on CKD and coffee...
CKD Stage 2 & high calcium?
Ckd stage 4
Stage 3a ckd
CKD stage 3A
eGFR CKD STAGE
