Looking for friends who have kidney disease

berwicksue
berwicksue Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have Stage 3 kidney disease and am doing well on my nutritional program — one I designed myself. Because people who don't have CKD can't really understand the food challenges we face, I'm looking for support from those who are in a similar situation.

Replies

  • HolliGreening
    HolliGreening Posts: 1 Member
    I am just in the early stages (Stage 1) but I am struggling too trying to customize a diet and keep everything straight on what is good and bad for CKD. I would be glad to be your friend if you like!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    You do well to get a handle on you nutrition. It is everything. My husband is a dialysis nurse. You don't want to go there. Please ask your doctor for referral to a registered dietician who specializes in kidney disease. Wish you the best.
  • sungoddess337
    sungoddess337 Posts: 62 Member
    Hi I’m stage 4 and would love to be in touch with you all. I’m having trouble getting my diet together. I met with a renal dietician but her basic advice was eat all in moderation. Limit sodium and potassium to 2000 mg daily and gave me a couple of brochure. I’m not very inventive with food and have a food budget that doesn’t allow for enough fresh food for the month. I also have high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
  • topathemorning
    topathemorning Posts: 346 Member
    I'll join you all, as I've also recently been diagnosed with CKD, stage 3 and am meeting with a kidney dietitian in a week, I have a brother with kidney disease whose wife researches constantly and keeps my brother on the straight and narrow diet wise. They've been dealing with this for 10 years, while it's new to me. But at least I have a sense of how to read labels, and think I have a notion of where to start. Putting it in to practice for this gal who often ate out is a challenge. I lost 15 lbs these last few months, and have another 30 to lose to get out of the obese range into just becoming overweight. For a couple of years my goal was to get to what I call OBE One (Kanobe), and now that I'm here, my new goal is to become overweight, and then on to a healthy weight, via a healthy kidney friendly diet. The recent diagnosis, is spurring me on to taking this weight loss and healthy eating much more seriously.
  • noelhammill
    noelhammill Posts: 1 Member
    I’ve found my people! So I’ve been CKD 3 for a couple of years. My last check up my doc said that my numbers are going backwards! He was amazed. So was I because I’m pretty lazy. I’ve just started exercising again and that should help more. 2000mg of sodium is a real *kitten*. I won’t kid anybody about that. I fail at that all the time and my kidneys hurt the next day for it. The best part about a renal diet is that you don’t have to go Semper Fi all or nothing. However, I’ve learned that to not go Semper Fi it is easier to have gone all or nothing in the past. Perspective.
    So what I did was crazy, but it worked. I did the Whole 30 diet. Basically all fruits (stayed away from bad kidney fruits), nuts, vegetables, and right size portions of meats. Remember we can still have about 35g of protein a meal. That’s still pretty good.
    It also made me learn how to read labels.
    Result were lost 23 pounds and feel great with no exercise.
    Now I’m off The Whole 30 diet for several months. My weight climbed back up a little. I’m still down 20 pounds, my CKD numbers are great, starting to work out 3 times a day. And the combo Whole 30/renal diet works.
    But I had to go to the extreme Whole 30 diet to learn that the renal diet is easy.
  • tony87ooo00
    tony87ooo00 Posts: 4 Member
    I was diagnosed Stage 3 intitially... like noelhammill, my numbers stabilized well and was backed to Stage 2. I'm angry about why it got here d/t my PCP screwing something up really badly. And, I don't want to have this...so, denial. I have it...I get that. I have hypoglycemia and that continues to be something I have to manage. It gets in the way; but, the consequences aren't that bad. This one is more concerning. This week I got told my potassium is dangerously high. I don't understand labels well or how to figure it all out when I put them together in a recipe or meal and what the portions have in them. And, the few suggestions I have been given run counter to the way I manage my hypoglycemia and live in general. I'm southern Italian and tomato things are pretty common for me. Fruits and vegetables as well because family history has diabetes and heart disease and cancer. I don't want to risk those things either.
  • bametels
    bametels Posts: 950 Member
    tony87ooo00 wrote: »
    I was diagnosed Stage 3 intitially... like noelhammill, my numbers stabilized well and was backed to Stage 2. I'm angry about why it got here d/t my PCP screwing something up really badly. And, I don't want to have this...so, denial. I have it...I get that. I have hypoglycemia and that continues to be something I have to manage. It gets in the way; but, the consequences aren't that bad. This one is more concerning. This week I got told my potassium is dangerously high. I don't understand labels well or how to figure it all out when I put them together in a recipe or meal and what the portions have in them. And, the few suggestions I have been given run counter to the way I manage my hypoglycemia and live in general. I'm southern Italian and tomato things are pretty common for me. Fruits and vegetables as well because family history has diabetes and heart disease and cancer. I don't want to risk those things either.

    I'm sorry you are struggling with this. Perhaps you can ask for a referral to a registered dietician who could help you sort this all out?

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