Chicken

[Avenger]

Chicken

Is chicken ok to eat? Breaded?

[Bassetmommer NKF Ambassador]

Hi Avenger,

People with CKD have different needs at different stages. Short answer is yes to chicken over red meat. Easier to digest and less stress on the kidney. Long answer is it depends on what stage CKD, how much, how its prepared and so forth. Chicken is does have a substantial amount of potassium. And it does of course have protein. Breaded and fried, breaded and baked??? It all depends on the person and what they are trying to obtain. Want to cut calories, no breading.

[orangecity41 NKF Ambassador in reply to Bassetmommer]

I agree Bassetmommer It depends on the renal diet and amount of serving allowed . Some may be more potassium and phosphorus, sodium restricted than others.

[Lgriffis]

My suggestion would be to look up NutritionFacts.org and read Dr Michael Gregor's information on chicken. I know for me cutting out all meat has greatly improved my creatinine level. My EGFR with all my other changes has gone from less than 20 to now 37.

[steve680]

That question can't really be answered in vacuum. It depends what stage of CKD you have and what your renal diet looks like. As long as you stay within any restrictions your nephrologist has given you, i.e. protein / potassium / phosphorus/ sodium, etc., then it's probably OK. Don't eat fried chicken though, it's bad for you. If you do eat chicken, it's healthiest to eat it grilled, no breading and without a lot of salt.

In general, one with CKD wants to eat lean protein with a side of vegetables. Some people go vegan, and claim it helps their GFR. Other people go vegan and their kidney disease continues to progress or their GFR doesn't improve. Some people go on a low-protein or very-lwo-protein diet (with amino acid supplements). There are a lot of different opinions on which is the best CKD diet. However, there are "correlations", such as eating a lot of red meat tends to be associated with ESRD. Your nephrologist or dietician should be able to tell you what foods to avoid.

The best thing to do to slow down your kidney disease progression is to treat the original cause of your CKD. If you're diabetic, get your blood sugar under control. If you have high blood pressure, manage your numbers; your kidneys want low blood pressure. Besides taking medication, losing weight, exercising, stop drinking, stop smoking, get enough sleep. eat low-sodium diet, etc., as these things all help the kidneys.

[Realflirt532 in reply to steve680]

Thank you for your common sense approach to what is a horrific experience for me. I truly appreciate the fact that your response wasn’t some “say all to end all” nonsense!