The Diet Doth Confuseth Me! (Renal Diet Thread)

Pics
The Persian Eggs look great! Are you able to us Himalayan Pink Salt? Some folks who can't use salt can use that.

As the nephrologist told me firmly, “Salt is salt, no matter what it is. Sea salt and the fancy salts are the same except for the various other minerals found where they’re found. And under no circumstances use salt substitute. It’s potassium in a blue container.” So, guess that’s that.
Agreed!!! Definitely very fortunate. And I’m also lucky I don’t have any dietary restrictions or anything. Though some foods do make me sick but nothing like Blooie or others.

And I agree, very interesting. I appreciate the opportunity to learn about this, even if it isn’t under ideal circumstances. Wish nobody had to go through this.

I wish so too, Kelsey. And as you mature you’ll be touched by people who have bad things happen to them and you’ll wish it hadn’t happened to them. It might even be you, and you’ll wish it, too. But I had my pity party last night and I don’t have time or need to do it again. I have CKD, and that’s the way of it. Now I deal.

I think about Linda, enjoying our big family Christmas on Christmas Day. She had a bit of a middle backache, but Christmas is a lot of lifting and work so she assumed she’d overdone it. She and Russ went home from their daughter’s about 9:00pm. By 11:30 that night she was in so much pain she fell to her kitchen floor and lay in her own vomit, unable to do anything but scream and cry. The ambulance came and the doctor on call that early morning in the ER happened to be a cardio/vascular surgeon, who suspected immediately what was going on and got the cath lab on high alert and standing by. A quick scan confirmed his suspicions and she was rushed down to have a ruptured aortic aneurysm repaired. The repair was successful, but she threw an embolism shower into her kidneys, shutting off their blood supply. And they died. December 26 she had kidney function, by December 27 she had none. Talk about an abrupt change. Linda didn’t even take Advil unless she had a rare headache, and suddenly she’s getting dialysis 3 times a week, she’s taking more pills than I do, she’s on nitro patches, she’s totally restricted food-wise, and she was still trying to make the family worry less. Two years in she had a coronary bypass done. And two years after that she was gone. I wish never happened. But it did. It just dammed did.

Nope, if I have to have this, I need to be grateful that I’m getting time to adjust to a new normal. I still have hope that I can reverse some of my kidney damage - her kidneys were instantly gone, as if someone had just removed them, within hours. The images are unbelievable, with that huge aneurism about dead center and her kidneys clearly visible behind it. The next image is a greatly reduced aneurism and her kidneys are already barely there.

Kelsey, we all have stories. This is all part of mine, but it’s a small part - a new part. I am not Kidney Disease. I am me WITH kidney disease. Have you ever noticed how I don’t refer to Kendra as “a Spina Bifida kid”? Even doctors do it. They say, “Spina Bifida babies tend to.......” whatever. Well, Kendra isn’t a Spina Bifida kid. She’s a kid with Spina Bifida as part of her story. Granted, it’s a big part, but it’s not her whole story. Kidney disease isn’t mine, either. Nor was it Linda’s. So we can wish something like this never has to happen, or we can acknowledge that it does. God never promised that there wouldn’t be pebbles, stones, and even boulders as we walk this path called ”life”. But He did promise to hold our hands as we walked it. That’s good enough for me. 🥰

And who knows....you’re still really young. By your own admissions, you’re still wondering what’s in store for you....what you’ll end up doing for a career. Nothing seems to hold your interest for long yet, and that’s okay. But wouldn’t it be something if you’re here interested in this stuff because all along the Good Lord had put us on a shared path, and a possible career choice is right in front of you, right now? The country needs good dietitians. People like Linda needed, and people like me need, dietitians. You’re smart and you need a career, and the usual and mundane doesn’t appeal to you. just sayin’.........
 
As the nephrologist told me firmly, “Salt is salt, no matter what it is. Sea salt and the fancy salts are the same except for the various other minerals found where they’re found. And under no circumstances use salt substitute. It’s potassium in a blue container.” So, guess that’s that.
I have heard, when you give up salt you begin to taste your foods better. Some people who have given it up would never go back. We don't use a lot of it here, and find restaurant food to generally be way too salty. There are so many good ways to flavor your food without it. You're right, lemon is good, and so are herbs and spices. For me, any hot spice or sauce can give food the pizazz I crave. When I was on a heart healthy diet and cut out salt for a while, I discovered I loved Indian curries, such as Chana Masala, because of the depth of flavor, without the use of salt. I have a good recipe for that if you're interested. Not everyone likes Indian cuisine.
 
I‘m not big on a Indian cuisine, but I’m going to have to learn to eat things I might not usually eat. So if it isn’t too much trouble.....
I love this recipe. You'll just have to take out the 1/2 tsp of salt, and you wont need to substitute anything for it. The dish has huge flavor. I think you said you can't have tomatoes, and I was wondering what you could do as a substitute. Possible just add a little more water for the consistency, but I also found this site that might have an idea or two. I liked the bell pepper idea. Here's the tomato sub site. Chana Masala recipe is attached.

ETA: Amchoor (or Amchur) Powder and Garam Masala may be hard to find, but both are available on Amazon.com.
 

Attachments

  • Chana Masala.pdf
    275.6 KB · Views: 2
Last edited:
The link for the tomato substitute introduced me to Avjar. What an awesome thing that is to have in the cupboard! So I looked for a recipe for Avjar, thinking then I/you can control what goes into it. This recipe sounds so good! I'm making it and either canning it or freezing it. It would be a great substitute for canned tomatoes!!! I can't wait to try it.

ETA: It would be a perfect substitute for the canned tomatoes in the Chana Masala recipe. Might even be better!
 
My dad had to go on a salt free diet. No salt substitute either. He balked a bit at first, but over time, got used to it. Taste buds will adapt, but it takes time. Later on, when he was allowed a little salt in his diet, if any was added to anything, he would complain it tasted too salty.

Now is a great time to start playing with the herbs, and spices that you're allowed. Even if you can't have salt, you can at least add flavor.

Some foods are more of an acquired taste. If there are things you can eat, but don't particularly care for, make very small portions ocasionally, and force yourself to take 1 bite, each time you make it. Over time, you may find that some of those things become more palatable.
 
your thread peaked my interest and while I haven’t read it’s entirety yet, I found some intriguing recipes from the kidney kitchen at kidneyfund.org they are separated into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts and by low-med-high levels of things to be avoided (sodium/phosphorus/potassium). ones that really caught my eye were the persian eggs, and lemon mousse! AND not many blueberries! :lau

I checked out the site and they do have some good sounding recipes. Thanks for sharing that!

Mmmm, Fruity Baked Tea sounds delicious :)
 
Last edited:
Remember - or perhaps I didn’t mention it, I don’t know - that I have Barrett’s Esophagus, severe GERDS, and a hiatal hernia. A couple of years ago my endoscopy showed a lot of esophageal damage. So while spicing foods to take the place of salt might sound like a plan, the reality is that the nephrologist has taken me off my Protonix because it’s notoriously hard on kidneys. He gave me Pepcid, or “The Placebo” as Ken calls it, because it does almost nothing. So I do need to go easy on the spices somewhat.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom