I've always eaten somewhat healthily. My family hasn't cooked things with salt for years upon years. In the past few months, I've had to learn an entire new definition of healthy eating.
A renal diet starts with sodium and the three P's: Potassium, Phosphorus, and Protein. I have to limit potassium, phosphorus, and sodium(salt).
When a person has kidney problems before they reach stage 4 or 5, they need to limit their protein intake. Since I've been on dialysis, I've had to completely change that and begin to eat even more protein than normal. The reason for this is that among the other things dialysis removes from your system, is a good amount of protein. To make up for this, I have to make sure to eat protein with every meal and preferably every snack.
Too much potassium can cause heart problems and muscle weakness. Dialysis is able to remove potassium somewhat easily. I still need to watch the amount I eat though.
Sodium is somewhat the same as everyone. Too much salt will cause your body to hold onto excess fluid and cause your blood pressure to go up. Out of all of these, this is probably the easiest and the hardest to watch at the same time. Just about every food container in any grocery store will list the amount of sodium it has. This is difficult because so many foods you think would be healthy actually have an incredible amount of salt. This is compounded several times by just about any restaurant. I dare you to go out to eat and ask for their nutritional information. The odds are the food will have waaaaaaaaaaay more salt than you're supposed to have.
Phosphorus is the trickiest one of them all. Too much phosphorus can cause mineral deposits in the blood, joint problems, and weak bones, among other things. I have to take a pill called a phosphorus binder before I eat regular meals or a sizable snack. This medicine binds to the phosphorus in the blood and allows it to be gotten rid of easier. The worst part about phosphorus is that everything you eat or drink has some amount of it, but 99% of the nutritional labels don't list the amount of phosphorus the item has.
I'm still learning what I can and can't have. It's a difficult process, since nothing really says the amount of phosphorus it has. Anything tomato based is out of the question. Any type of nuts are out. No oranges or dark soft drinks. Very limited amounts of any type of dairy. Bananas are particularly bad because they are high in both potassium and phosphorus. One of the hardest parts for me I think is the fact that chocolate is also high in phosphorus.
A renal diet is completely different than what anyone would expect of a healthy diet. White rice, not brown or wild. Hamburgers are acceptable in moderate amounts (Yay In-N-Out for being able to cook without salt!). Turkey is probably the best meat for a renal diet.
I also have to limit my fluid intake, although because of the lack of sodium, I'm not as thirsty as I used to be, so it works out.
There's a bunch more intricacies involved but this should do for now. I'll put up some more as I think of them.
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