Chronic Kidney Disease Dietitian Gold Coast
It’s a no-brainer that enjoying a healthy diet is essential for everyone’s health, but for those with chronic kidney disease (i.e. chronic renal disease/ CKD), diet plays an important role in slowing down the decline of your kidney function. If you want to preserve your kidney function and prevent yourself from the pathway of hemodialysis, then this article is relevant to you.
What is Chronic Kidney Disease?
Our kidneys are vital organs that are mainly responsible for removing waste products and balancing fluid in our body, including regulation of the body’s salts like potassium and sodium. They also play a role in regulating our blood pressure and controlling calcium metabolism (i.e. our bone health). If our kidneys cannot filter waste products effectively and gradually lose their function over time, it can be a sign of CKD. There are 2 main causes of CKD, diabetes and high blood pressure are responsible for up to two-thirds of the cases.
Therefore, the type of food you eat play an important role in controlling blood pressure and blood sugar level if you have diabetes.
What diet is good for you?
Unfortunately, there is no size fit all standard diet for kidney disease, a healthy diet can be different for everybody based on your health needs and blood results. A general rule of thumbs are:
- Have regular meals with a wide variety of food from all food groups
Try to have a consistent meal pattern (i.e. breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and enjoy foods from all core food groups, especially plant-based food, and whole grains. Aim to have half your plate with vegetable/salad.
- Minimize your salt intake
Try to use more herbs and spices to flavor food instead of salt and eat less processed food and takeaways.
- Don’t eat too much protein
Getting the right balance of protein can be tricky with CKD, eating too much causes your kidneys to work harder and decrease their function, but eating too little can cause muscle loss and weakness. Generally aim to eat a moderate amount of protein each day, e.g. a serving size of meat/fish close to the size of a deck of cards or 1 and a half cup legumes/pulses/tofu at main meals.
For any individualized meal plan or dietary advice, come and ask our dietitian today.