Hello,
Had an appointment with a third renal dietician. I expressed my wanting to follow a plant based diet and once again was given lots of info about eating poultry, fish, eggs, and even some dairy. Don’t understand why my wanting to eat plant based seems to be an issue. Have bought a few books from Forks over Knives but a lot of recipes aren’t kidney friendly. Can anyone recommend a cookbook that is plant based for kidney disease? Thank you.
Did you ask the dietitian or your doctor. Maybe the dietitian’s recommendations are based on the doctors and dietitians best assessment of the best diet to recommend for your condition? Maybe you aren’t being recommended the diet you want for a specific medical reason? Just a couple of random thoughts of mine regards why you are being recommended the diet you want.
HI Yankee.... you are walking in my shoes. I went plant base a couple of years ago. Could not find many recipes that were kidney friendly. Everything seems to have tomatoes or potatoes because they stretch the other veggies. Even what Davita has is not really renal plant based. It's really hard.
I think that plant based needs to be modified as a complete lifestyle. This is just my findings, but I have also read some journals on the subject. I know for me, I was not getting enough nutrients and protein because my diet was so limited. Salad: cukes, peppers, lettuce and careful choice of two dressings. Broccoli and pasta, frozen mixed veggies, roasted veggies.... and a few more very limited choices. For me, I was ok with it. But this fall I was feeling pretty weak and tired and had a horrible time finding the good, if any lettuce. So, I first added egg white omelets back into my diet, maybe once a week, and now some chicken once or twice a month. I do enjoy cheese, but actually cut it back as I am trying once again to lose weight. I use almond milk and I do have low fat real butter for bread, which I do enjoy. Margarine and "plant based" cheese and butter are pure garbage and worse for your health. I stay away from processed foods as much as possible.
Pure plant base is so hard for any length of time. You will have to discover the things you enjoy and then incorporate them into your diet. I actually think this is a fad as most diets are. We had an organization that was affiliated with the medical center I go to that was a Plant based organization that taught classes. The renal dietician I saw was affiliated with them. She recommended PB to me as she herself did it. But she is not renal impaired and we did argue a lot about meals. She would recommend something and I would say, look at the potassium. When there are other considerations such as potassium and phosphorous, it gets really tricky. The PB school was hugely expensive, and they too did not use renal based foods. They closed down last year, which makes me wonder if plant based is so amazing, why do they not offer it for all newly diagnosed diabetic and kidney patients. I think because it is so hard to stick with.
So I hear what you are saying. My only suggestion is take a look at ideas and see if removing animal protein from the recipe will ruin it. For example, I make soups all veggie including the broth but they have pasta and sometimes legumes. The issue with legumes, beans and the lot, is they are extremely high with potassium and off my diet for the most part. I make an Italian wedding soup with no meat but lots of onions and escarole. If you do not have to worry about carbs, experimenting with different carbs is fun. For example, couscous, barley, different rice blends can extend your meals. Adding different spices and having fun trying them out can change a plate of yuck veggies to yummy. Penzey spices makes a great sampler with small bottles you can try. I also grow my own herbs. Adding peppers, if you like spice, can really change something boring to bright or spicy. I prepare my salad fixings and keep them in baggies. For dinner I assemble the prewashed lettuces and put on my toppings. We have salad almost every night. I do not like store bagged lettuces. My "real" greens last longer and are much tastier.
I hope these suggestions help. I can talk food for days.
Have you considered sorghum for it's high protein content? 100 grams contains 11 grams of protein.
No, I am still keeping a low protein level, just not as low.
When I started hemo, the renal dietician told me the same thing. My albumin was very low and she told me I needed more protein in my diet hence the poultry, fish, eggs, etc... I ate a lot of peanut butter, yogurt, eggs, and tuna fish. Now I have to watch my potassium intake as I have hit 5.8 a few times in my labs.
HI, I am following up on your post about potassium hitting 5.8. I am curious what if anything they suggested you do. Mine got up to 5.7 and they freaked. One time it was 6.4 and they made me rush to the hospital only to find out it was a lab error. My Neph was constantly blaming it on the food I ate. Turns out it was the BP med I was on. It has come down already just cutting that down in half.
Hello Bassetmommer. It's good to hear from you. I went back through my lab reports and made a chart of my potassium level for the past 28 months. As you can see, my level runs on the high side. My nephrologist is probably one of the best in Pinellas county Florida. When I had the reading of 5.8, he didn't get overly concerned. He asked me about certain foods and I did admit that it was the perfect storm. During the period before those labs, I was eating things like salsa, lots of ice cream. baked beans, chocolates, and avocados. He said "I don't want to have to put you on anything so cut back on those items." He went on to say that some people's bodies function fine with a higher level of potassium but you can't allow it to get too high. I've read that 6.0 puts you in a danger zone and at 7, you're at risk for heart failure.
I'm curious what BP med you are referring to that affected your potassium reading.
Jeepers, My doctor freaks out if it gets over 5. I run high too but now I know it was in part from the BP med. I was on Valsartan for YEARS and switched to Irbesartan. Drugs ending in "sartan" will raise potassium... so do ones ending in pril like Lisinopril
I take Losartin and my neph swears by it. He said it relaxes the blood vessels including the ones in your kidneys allowing for better blood flow through the tubules and nephrons. I guess he thinks the benefit outweighs the risks. He told me he takes it himself even though he doesn't have high BP. I have complete faith in the man as he literally saved my life.
I am on dialysis now but everytime I mentioned a plant based diet to my medical team, they instantly dismissed it. I was told I actually had to eat more animal proteins. I decided to follow a plant based diet for 2 weeks, when I was at stage 4. No processed plant based products and no gluten. My gfr actually increased by 6 points. The biggest increase I have had since diagnosed 6 years previously. However my bicarbonate levels went really low. I then became ill with a virus then Covid and I couldn't sustain it. When I was referred to the dialysis team, I saw a dietician for the first time. All she recommended was to eat more ham???? I was not impressed. If I had my time again I would be doing what Bassetmommer recommends from the moment I was diagnosed. In my experience the only thing doctors are interested in, is prescribing drugs or recommending a diet, from decades ago. Do your research and keep an eye on your potassium levels etc. Try it for a month and see what your results say. Wishing you all the best. It will be hard going, however so is dialysis!!
Cannot reccomend any book. Only personal experience based on real facts. Avoiding animal protein at all I know is not reccomended. However it works. At least for my wife. Delaying dyalisis more than 10 years guess is quite good result. And nobody in a world will ever convince me there's no correlation. I can also confirm that having blood test very frequently, protein, even on low limit, have allways been in range. If you will decide to go in this direction keep your blood frequently checked. If all will works your kidney will thank you. rgs
There is a Renal Dietitian on UTube that has lots of good information on plant based diets. Her name is Jen Hernandez . She also has a website Plantpowerdkidneys.com Another website will lots of information and recipes is Dadvicetv.com His name is Jim Fabin he has a utube channel with lots of information on plant based diets
I've been able to put off dialysis for 3 years by going mostly plant based back in January 2020 when I was told that dialysis was in my very near future. Though I think cutting out processed and fast food helped as much as anything. I've been doing a lot of looking around for good sources of protein once I start dialysis and most of what I found are the shake type drinks that still contain a lot of potassium and phosphorus. I may do a post one day and list them all. The reviews of the plant based versions all say that they taste nasty. Not sure why protein has to taste so bad, but that seems to be the case for all of the liquid types. I've not actually tried them, that's just what the reviews seem to say. So once I start back on dialysis, I'll probably try a bunch of different ones and post reviews on each, like Pure Protein, Nepro, ProT Gold, Novasource, Liquacel, Protein2o, Garden of Life, Premier, Quest Products, Zone Perfect, Kodiak and others I might find along the whey (pun in tended). But of course, chomping on a chicken leg occasionally just for the taste will probably be in the mix to be honest.
Since I'm lactose intolerant the whey based ones give me stomach aches. I do have a bottle of Liquicell that I haven't tried yet. There's a vegan drink from Kate Farms who uses pea protein and not whey.
Oh and I tried plant based...couldn't get enough calories and dropped weight I can't afford to lose. Tried low protein and now my serum ALB is very low and I'm having a devil of a time bringing it up.
Let me know how that Liquicell tastes 
Will do. I got the watermelon flavor still trying to decide what to mix it with. Guess I'll start with water.
okay first it’s very thick. I got the watermelon flavor and it comes in a 32 ounce container. Says it’s sugar free, can mix with water, juice or club soda,
I tried water first…seems overly sweet but drinkable. Only juice I have is cranberry and I thought no. Since I don’t have club soda I decided to mix with ginger ale. Again drinkable.
One thing I noticed was it smelled so I just held my breathe and drank it.
I have order some of the Kates Farms drinks and some Nepro. We’ll see what they taste like.
Hey, thanks for being the guinea pig for this project Yeah, cranberry and watermelon. I can see why you avoided that, even Ocean Spray doesn't mix those two in a bottle. Now I have this picture of you holding your nose while you drink this stuff. Not a flattering mind picture for a promotional ad for the stuff I got a feeling this is going to take more than a one off to see if it's doable. So once you've been on this stuff for a month and are still drinking it, let me know. Ha! Same with Kates Farm and Nepro.
I'm thinking the ginger ale will be the best mixer for it. If I don't like the Nepro I guess I can give it to the dialysis center but that stuff is expensive. Kate Farms is more reasonably priced.
okay the Nepro… it’s with carb steady whatever that is. I got the mixed berry flavor. It’s not bad says it’s hi protein at 19 grams for 8 ounces, low potassium, low phosphorus. At 91 dollars for a case of 24 it’s a bit pricey.
I got the Kate Farms drinks in. I got chocolate cause I don’t like vanilla. They come in a case of 12 at 11 ounces each and taste just like a chocolate milk shake but thinner. It’s made with pea protein so shlould not cause me the stomach ache milk does.
one thing about the Kate Farms was it was very filling, had it at lunch and wasn’t hungry until around 6 pm
For Kate Farms, this is the nutrition info I found: 16g Protein, 260mg Sodium, 500mg Potassium, 300mg Phosphorus. That would be ok for folks not worried about Potassium or phosphorus like you, but for some of us it's a bit of a deal breaker. Let me know if you have different stats on this one. Not sure if all that potassium and phosphorus are what make it taste better than others. Probably. Normally it seems all the stuff that tastes good is bad for you The price I'm seeing on Amazon is $3.82 each, so still not cheap. Still looking for the ideal highvprotein source that tastes great, really cheap, with extremely low potassium, sodium and phosphorus.
yeah I’m going to have to get rid of the Kate’s as it’s not helping and now my phosphorus is borderline high. They do have a renal formula so after I get my numbers good again I might try that.
Yeah, the info I have for Nepro is:
19g protein, 250 Sodium, 225 Potassium, 170 Phosphorus, which isn't too bad, but yeah, that's pretty pricy stuff. Well unless you are replacing a meal on the road, which would cost more than Nepro most likely. So I guess it depends on how you use it. So it didn't taste that bad huh... making notes
Agree with Tolmezzo. Whatever you do, please do nothing without consulting your labs. We are all different. Anemia (often late stage and influenced by protein), diabetes (feeds on sugar and carbs), heart performance (requires an good electrolyte balance), and more are all effected by diet. I wonder if you might be anemic based on recommendations you've received from your professionals. Whatever the situation, try hard to keep your labs in the normal range.
Osteoporosis too.
Yes, a very debilitating problem for many.
A good example of a plant-based diet being kidney friendly is two brothers, one my husband (now 63) who ate mostly vegan all of his adult life. Hes maintaining his GFR in the upper 20's His brother (now 71) loved the all American diet and went on dialysis at age 51, had a transplant at age 55. Both brothers went to the same nephrologist who said it was just the luck of the draw ...diet didn't play a role. (other than the diet for polycystic kidneys ...high potassium.) Do your own research along with listening to what your doctor says. Ultimately you make the final decision on what goes in your body. Blessings to u in your struggle to eat healthy.
Hi, Yankees28. These renal dieticians are drastically behind the times. Four years ago I was at 44 eGFR. I started Lee Hull Stopping Kidney Disease plant diet very loosely -- not even strictly following it -- but ALL my protein is plant based except for Kirkland Protein Bars (milk based) and occasional cheese.
Anyway, my 10/28/2022 labs came back with an eGFR of 67, yes 67! I am back at Stage 2.
Eating any kind of flesh and dairy products is very bad for CKD. Stick with a plant based diet!!
Well done
Check out Renal Friendly cookbooks on Amazon. There a lot of them. Good luck!
I don’t know what stage CKD you are in. I’m right at the border of 3A & 3B. I’ve been stable for at least 7 years & my lab work is done every 3 months. My nephrologist recommended I eat as much whole food plant based as possible. Just recently she recommended a book by another nephrologist - Blake Shusterman, MD, called “The Kidney Doc’s Kidney Healthy Cooking”. The first half is full of good information on CKD & what to eat, what not to eat, & why, in different stages of CKD. Dr. Shusterman is a nephrologist. I’ve been studying nutrition for a very long time, so feel what he says is pretty accurate. There are some meat recipes included in the book. For myself, I very seldom eat any meat or fish. Good luck on your journey.
I was diagnosed at 3a in late 2021, I was shocked and worried. I looked at my test results as far back as 2000 and discovered I'd been at that level all those years. How could that be? I think it's most likely because I was lacto-ovo vegetarian. It was for ethcial reasons, I had no idea I was protecting my kidneys.
After my diagnosis all I could think to do was watch my potassium levels. I ended up with low potassium which affected my blood pressure so I went back to my normal diet and am holding steady. Since I have osteopenia I do need adequate phosphorus. Balance.
Plant based is good in a lot of ways for a lot of reasons and is easily maintained. Not so sure about vegan, I don't have that kind of discipline. My dairy is some cheeses and the oh so necessary occasional ice cream. Still have to enjoy life. If I advance beyond 3a I'll obviously make adjustments. I'm just so glad to have let go of the anxiety.
As others have said, we're all different and have to find what works for us individually.
They are idiots. Beef & dairy industry etc gives money to such college programs. Do your own research and what feels good for you.
I feel for you. I have been totally Vegan for 10 years, then suddenly got craving for Salmon, which I went ahead with. I got diagnosed as stage 3a CKD in September and you wouldn't believe the number of people that asked me if this had been caused by my Vegan diet. Even the constant wrinkled her nose when I told her.
As for recipes, I have adapted a lot of my usual recipes, but it depends what restrictions you are on. I use a lot of pulses. I am still trying to get my head around what I can and can’t eat and have basically reduced salt. Have you tried google for recipes, I get a lot from there. Recipe books tend to have just one or 2 recipes in that I like. Some if the DASH recipes are worth looking at
Good luck on that journey.
Ann
Also look at ALL of you’re labs. I did the low protein and now my serum protein level. ALB is too low. I watch my sogdium never add any and at one point it too was too low.
I certainly do not want to dismiss anyone's views or regimens on how they are dealing with their CKD. I've posted a spreadsheet of my labs that pertain to kidney function since my kidney failure in 2017. I was stage 5 with a GFR of 6. I was on dialysis for 9 months and my function improved enough that my nephrologist thought I could stop dialysis. My wife and I shopped very carefully for the right foods for about a year after that watching the phosphorus and potassium levels. During that year, my GFR moved into the 20s. At that point, I resumed eating a regular diet as I did before my kidney failure. As I pointed out in my reply to Bassetmommer in this thread, I do watch to keep my potassium level in check but I eat pretty much any and all food types. My creatinine and GFR levels have remained pretty constant over the past 4 years. This is not to say that this would be the case for everyone as it is pointed out on here often that everyone is different. My CKD was caused by Vasculitis. On my full set of labs, every reading is in the expected range except for the 3 main kidney readings. I feel like the body needs to have all the nutrients obtained from regular foods.
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