The Diet Doth Confuseth Me! (Renal Diet Thread)

[N F C]

I did, Bruce, in all its sinful glory, logged in proper form! I are a good girl! I never realized how tough it would be to look at a menu and try to mentally calculate the “yeses” and the “no’s”! Right now with so little guidance, everything is a “possible maybe” as far as my taste buds are concerned.

I think smoked anything is out. (and DON’T you dare go there! I KNOW you!!) Most of that stuff has a good coating of salt as a base, doesn’t it? I dunno, I’m asking. I love spinach, but it’s too high in potassium so it’s out, raw or cooked. I feel like I’m being one of those kinds of people I get irate with. I tell my kids and grandkids not to be “yah, but-ers”. You know the kind - the folks who ask what to do but every time there’s a suggestion say, ”Well, yah, but.” and then have a million excuses for why they won’t even try a single idea. In this case, every time someone is making a food suggestion here, I immediately go to the Kidney Foundation Web Site first on my other device, then here I say whether I can eat that or not. That’s what I just did with the spinach suggestion because that was a perfectly sensible one and one I’d really like. Most leafy greens are out from the get-go, and apparently cooking concentrates the no-no’s in the greens and makes them worse for me.

Oh, I need to make a correction, too. I said in a previous post that cucumbers were out. I was wrong. I had two web sites up in front of me (one on my phone with the bad and one on Ken’s iPad with the good) and glanced at the “approved” list rather than the “limit or omit” list. I need to watch that, especially if someone else with CKD comes in and reads it. This whole learning process is confusing enough without adding mis-information!

Cucumbers are good (imo)...have you tried the long, skinny English cukes? You can eat the whole thing, skin & all (super tender) and they are delicious.

 

[Blooie]

I love cucumbers no matter how they’re dressed!!

 

[bruceha2000]

Shall I send you some Suyo Long cucumber seeds? They can easily get a foot long but are still good and have relatively small seed cavities.

I think smoked anything is out. (and DON’T you dare go there! I KNOW you!!)

I suspect smoked foods are less damaging than sending the smoke directly to the kidneys

Seems like lots of things one shouldn't eat for a given malady are things one SHOULD eat to avoid a different malady!

 

[Blooie]

Hence trying to blend cardiac with renal.....<sigh> Confusing, and even conflicting at times!

I don’t have a garden, Bruce. I have an Irish Wolfhound who can’t even leave hanging baskets alone...and she can reach them, too! But thanks!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yay for cucumbers! So we can add those and egg whites to the YES list. I find it funny/ weird/ ironic that your screen name is "Blooie" and you have this love/hate thing going with.. BLOOberries! Lol... sorry. You may slap me! On a more serious note, Blooie, are you a candidate for a renal transplant? And ... is it okay if I put you on my list? I first want to pray that you get people responding to your call for dietary assistance on this thread. And I also want to pray that you find a donor. Ok?

 

[Blooie]

I’m not close to that stage yet, @BigBlueHen53 . My GFR is 27, or at least it was on January 31. That basically means 27% function left. So I’m still at Stage 4.... we probably won’t even discuss any other options until I start nudging down closer to Stage 5. A lot also depends on secondary health considerations, too.

Of course!! Prayers and support are always welcome an appreciated, thanks! Ken found an actual series of charts today listing foods by low, medium and high phosphorous, the same for potassium, proteins, and sodium. And the angels sang..... It took 10 pages to print it out, and I’m still wading through it. Some of it is, of course, strongly geared toward dialysis patients, but I have numbers!! I have numbers that say about how much phosphorous is in something, and if that food is nice and low in phosphorous but has too much potassium, there’s an actual notation! It took weeks of wading through vague websites, sites that didn’t answer what I need, and sites written in medical jargon, so we were thrilled to find this.

And don’t hate blueberries as much as it sounds like I do. They’ve just become my punching bag!

 

[bruceha2000]

Even a VERY favorite food gets old if you eat too much if it and too frequently. We kinda ran out of "artichoke desire" before the plants ran out of artichokes this year. Of course it didn't help that the first ones weren't ready until DD1, the big lover of artichokes, left for school at the end of August. I gave 4 to SuperChemicalGirl on our way north east. DW and DD2 are only good for 1 artichoke between them which left a lot for me, I'm happy with one at a time.

 

[Sunshine_Chick]

Think I saw egg whites are okay; so, how about a blueberry egg white omelet? As a kid I ate jelly omelets, but now that I'm older I do fruit omelets - blueberries, strawberries or you could cook your berries & just pour over egg whites. Another thing is Bulgar Wheat really only needs to be soaked with hot/boiling water. You can chop up whatever veg you're allowed to have a grain salad/bowl IF you can eat fresh herbs - parsley, basil, mint add huge handfuls chopped to the bulgar & veg and viola you have a sort of taboulie (sans feta) you'll need some vinegar/lemon juice to moisten, but just a splash. Wish I knew more of what was on the good list. Will be watching & learning with you!

 

[Blooie]

Don’t we wish we could grow a tomato plant that just gave us one big, beautiful tomato every couple of days, so just about the time the one in the fridge is gone, a new one is ready? And then just about the time we’ve satisfied our last bacon, lettuce, and tomato sammich craving for the year, the plant just quietly goes to sleep. Aaaah, I just named a bunch of stuff I can’t have....grrrrrr! I can have the plain white bread and a little lettuce. That‘s a bit limiting!
I have never ever tasted an artichoke!

 

[Folly's place]

How about blueberries with pie spices? Cinnamon and nutmeg, maybe a bit of allspice added. Yummy!
I'm sorry you are having to deal with this!
It's easy if you are a dog or cat; special renal diets, in several flavors, with all the right stuff, ready made. And those diets do save kidney function for years, a huge deal if you are a dog or cat!
Is your dietitian appointment set up? Soon would be good! This floundering around can't be helpful at all, so any 'official' assistance would be a good thing.
Mary