Mathea Ford's Blog, page 98
January 14, 2013
Low Sodium Foods – How Do I Make Chicken Broth From Stock For A Renal Diet?
You need low sodium foods for your renal diet!
I know you love to make soups, and they are just loaded with sodium. So much more than anyone needs. Even the low sodium versions still contain a great deal of salt. So you need a way to make a low sodium version (very low sodium foods) of chicken broth to make gravy or other foods that call for it. In my new recipe book, I am releasing this chicken broth recipe, but I am also going to share it with you today.
First, you start with a fresh chicken carcass and scraps. You might have purchased and baked a chicken – used the breasts for one meal and the legs and thighs for another. Don’t throw away the bones! You need them. Using a 5 quart dutch oven or stock pot, put your bones and the scraps from the chicken in the pot. Even leave the skin in the pan, you will strain it later and it can add to the flavor.
Add 12 cups of water, and vegetable scraps and seasonings to make it flavorful. (No salt or potassium chloride)
Using celery, carrots, onions, garlic and bay leaves makes it a low potassium food as well as one of your low sodium foods. Rosemary and parsley add a fragrant note to your low sodium chicken broth.
Now, just simmer it on low for 4 hours to let all the flavors blend together. You can have a wonderful scent flowing through your house for the day.
When you are done, strain out the bay leaves, seasonings, vegetables and chicken using a screen strainer or cheese cloth. Allow the chicken broth to cool some more, and then divide it up into individual bags of chicken broth and freeze. I would recommend 1 – 2 cup servings frozen (laying flat for the most room and easiest to thaw later) and then you can use them later in meals and recipes. Make up a large pot every couple of weeks and you will have the right ingredient for your recipes on hand.
Renal Diet Menu Headquarters -
Suggested Reading:
What Foods Should I Avoid On A Renal Diet? Let’s Talk About High Potassium Foods
Low Potassium Foods: Create A Fruit And Veggie Plate For Your Next Party
How Much Sodium Should I Eat On A Renal Diet?
January 9, 2013
What Is The Best Food For Stage 3 Kidney Problems?
Kidney (Photo credit: Joshua Schwimmer)
What Is Important For Stage 3 Kidney Problems?
As always, you will quickly tire of foods that don’t taste good or are completely different than what you normally eat. You need to find a way to continue to eat similar foods but not increase problems with your kidneys. Listening to your doctor’s advice is the most important thing you can do. You can ask questions about your labs and what parts of the diet are the most important to start with. Get their opinion on whether you need to control your related conditions better (diabetes or high blood pressure), or if you need to start the lower protein and other tighter restrictions required as you head toward other stages of kidney disease.
If you need to control your high blood pressure or diabetes better, you can use a meal plan for those as well – read more about our sister site’s meal patterns for diabetes and cardiac disease by clicking here.
If you need to start focusing on a stage 3 kidney diet, you can do several things. Most of the changes with a kidney diet revolve around lowering protein intake in stage 3 kidney disease. Eating smaller portions of meats and beans gets you started on the right track. At this point, most people do not have to lower their intake of potassium, so focus on lowering the sodium in your food – which will be hard enough.
Controlling Portion Sizes Makes A Difference in Stage 3 Kidney Diets
Portion sizes – just however much you scoop up right? Nope, you need to learn now how much protein is in one ounce of meat, and how that looks on a plate. It looks a lot like a deck of cards. It’s not very big. You will find that you can eat much more of the fruits and vegetables as well as starches on your plate than meat. Some people move to a meatless meal 1-2 times per week so they can have a bigger and more filling meal. It’s just hard to go from 9 ounces or more to 3 ounces. But it’s what you have to do.
And speaking of portions, you will need to pay attention to a couple of foods. Most people with stage 3 kidney problems avoid potatoes, oranges, bananas, cantaloupes, and tomatoes. They are high in potassium and many people just start moving away from them. Substitute noodles and rice for the potatoes, but you can still eat them some of the time. It’s really about the amount and frequency. You can have them some, but just not all, of the time. And the amount should be strictly limited. Eat all the strawberries you want, ok?
Variety Is Key To Surviving Stage 3 Kidney Problems
You have to start down this path because you want to slow the progression of your kidney disease. You wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t. You want to make it stop or slow down. But you have to find something you can do that will last. Over and over you will need to make decisions that are difficult because they are a change from your normal pattern of behavior. It’s ok to be afraid and worried, but you have to do it.
Adding some variety to the meals you eat will be a great start. Get a good listing of low potassium and low sodium foods. Eat those most days and only eat higher sodium foods when you are feeling ok. You will see how the salt tastes much stronger and you don’t need as much. Don’t change everything, but do change somethings because you have to. If you like shrimp, eat them. Your food budget is not going to cost more because the foods you cannot eat as much of – meats and dairy – are the higher cost foods in your meals. So you should find some relief when you only are eating the lower amounts of protein.
Your body and your kidneys will thank you for dealing with your stage 3 kidney problems when they came up. You don’t have to suffer until you get on dialysis, you can make the best life happen now. You are going to survive, it’s reasonably easy to have a comfortable kidney disease with a meal plan and recipes. Check out our meal plans for pre-dialysis and renal diabetic meals to make sure you are on the right track.
Renal Diet Menu Headquarters -
Suggested Reading:
What Kind of Plan Should I Follow On A Stage 3 Kidney Diet?
Is Stage 3 Kidney Disease Common After Age 65?
The Importance of Diet for Stage 3 Kidney Disease
January 8, 2013
January 2013 Video Log – Resolutions
This month I talk about resolutions, and we all know our resolutions are not perfect. It’s not a perfect world, and we are not perfect people. We can allow that to stop us or we can create the change we want to see and move forward overall instead of beating ourselves up about not making it. Get as far as you can, then gather the courage to go further.
Renal Diet Menu Headquarters -
January 7, 2013
Alcohol and Kidney Disease – Can I Have A Beer?
beers (Photo credit: uberculture)
I got an email from a customer with a great question this week:
”What about alcohol?” Basically – Alcohol and Kidney Disease, Can I Have A Beer?
When you get so wrapped up in choosing the right foods and eating the right things, you forget that food used to taste great and was pleasurable to eat, not a battle. Maybe it’s not a battle for you – even better. But you spend a lot of time thinking about what you CAN eat, and what you DO eat and how it affects your labs and kidneys, and I found this question to be a very important question to answer. Many people enjoyed a beer or glass of wine before they got diagnosed with kidney disease. Can they continue?
What about alcohol and kidney disease?
Moderation is key. Yes, you can have alcohol with both pre-dialysis and dialysis kidney disease but you have to make sure you are drinking in moderation. (And talk to your doctor about it)
Moderation means 1 drink per day for women and older people, and 2 drinks per day for men. Why the difference? Women and older people have less weight and less water in their body so the alcohol becomes more concentrated quickly. One drink is defined at a 12 ounce beer or wine cooler, a 5 ounce wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80 proof spirits. So you can have a glass of wine with your dinner.
What Are The Potential Problems with Alcohol And Kidney Disease?
Alcohol can and does interact with medications. Some very important medications that you may be taking. So – one of the main reasons to talk to your doctor – is because alcohol may interact with one of your medications. Be cautious. You might be on just a few meds or your might be on quite a few, but either way, discuss if alcohol affects your medications. By the way, this is true no matter what you have going on, whether or not you have kidney disease. Much the same is true of grapefruit fruits and juices.
Alcohol can also increase urination through the effect it has on your anti-diuretic hormone – and that in turn concentrates your blood and increases the levels of calcium, sodium, phosphorus and potassium in your blood. It directly affects this hormone, so you may find yourself with the need to urinate within 20 minutes of drinking.
Alcohol is mostly processed through the liver, so as long as you don’t have liver damage you can drink in moderation. If you have been a long time drinker and have any sort of liver problems or disease, you should stop drinking due to your liver not being able to process the alcohol easily.
If you are on dialysis – the amount of liquid counts toward your fluid allowance for the day. So, a 1.5 ounce shot is less fluid than a 12 ounce beer. Not that I am endorsing either of them. It’s just a thought. Watch how your lab results are and adjust your intake. Click here for a chart on Davita about the nutritional value of different alcoholic beverages.
Alcohol and Kidney Disease – What About Calories?
Alcohol may not have much nutritional value, but it does have calories. When I say nutritional value, I mean – vitamins and minerals. Alcohol as 7 calories per gram. In general, a beer will contain 120-140 calories. Depending on your needs, that might or might not fit in. But don’t think it doesn’t have calories, because it does. You can really overdo your diet if you drink too much.
Learn to enjoy your beer – don’t feel like you have to stop drinking. But do pay attention to your fluid intake if you need to on dialysis, and check to make sure it works ok with your medication.
Learn to enjoy a renal diet by following a meal plan – choose the right one for your needs!
Renal Diet Menu Headquarters -
Suggested Reading:
The Importance of Diet for Stage 3 Kidney Disease
Is Stage 3 Kidney Disease Common After Age 65?
Grapefruit, Kidney Disease, and Medications
January 2, 2013
Need To Make Some Healthy Changes? Try Eating More of These Items!
English: vegetables (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One of the most common New Year’s resolutions involves losing weight. And even though you have kidney disease, you are not immune.
You have things in your life you want to change, and one of them just might be to lose some weight. Or get healthier. Something along those lines. Let’s face it, you are dealing with a lot of changes, whether or not you have had medical issues for a while or it’s new to you.
But with kidney disease, you can’t just read any blog post and eat more vegetables, because you have to make sure they aren’t going to sabotage your health! You need to focus on eating those healthier vegetables for you. And fruits. And pastas.
Now, I am not going to tell you that this will help you lose weight, because you might not need to. These changes are about making your overall diet healthier, not necessarily trying to lose weight.
I took on the challenge this year to walk for 30 minutes (at least) every single day. Will I lose weight? Not if I continue to eat too much, but I will be healthier. So, it’s a good start. I have managed to get it done for the last 2 weeks, except for one day when I had a monstrous migraine. But, I have managed to make the change. Some days it is very hard, as I am very busy – but so are you – and you can make time and make a way to get the work done. I have to plan to do this walk and not just let the day go by without thinking about it. I have even added it to my to do list.
But back to the topic of this post – I want you to make some healthy choices instead of just saying “lose weight” or “improve my health”. Make them specific choices as well.
1. Eat more fruits. Not more juice, and not the high potassium fruits, but there are many fruits you can eat. Apples, grapes, and berries. You can add them to your salad, to your meal, to lots of things. I love fruit, and I think it’s something you can eat a lot of without getting into trouble. Think of how much room a whole apple takes up in your stomach versus ½ cup of juice. It’s a big difference that will keep you from drinking too many calories.
2. Eat more whole vegetables. Again, not the high potassium vegetables, but the ones you can eat. Eat them grilled with a little oil on them and some salt free seasoning. Just as with fruit, it’s easy to fill up and not be hungry. Eat vegetables instead of starches. They have less calories and are more filling.
3. Eat more whole grain pasta and rice if you are in Stage 1-3 kidney disease. Eat higher fiber white pasta or grains if you have a need to limit phosphorus. You usually can eat the whole grain for beginning stages of kidney disease. You can’t eat potatoes as much anymore, but you can eat more grains.
4. Either way, make only ¼ of your plate starches, ¼ meat, and ½ vegetables. That is a well balanced meal.
5. Push back from the table and take a 10 minute walk after your meal. It will keep your blood flowing through your veins and your heart pumping. Possibly even help with diabetes or heart disease.
Doing these things will set you on the path to a healthier 2013 and beyond. Don’t make a general resolution, take some actionable steps and succeed.
Learn more about a renal diet and get on a renal diet meal plan for your New Year’s Resolution to make this year the best one yet – Click here to choose the right plan!
Renal Diet Menu Headquarters -
Suggested Reading:
Nutrition Bars You Can Eat On A Renal Diet
How Quickly Will My Chronic Kidney Disease Progress To Dialysis?
Renal Diet Plans for a Healthy Kidney
December 31, 2012
Renal Diet Basics For A Non Dialysis Patient
What Are The Basics To Follow?
What Items Should I Limit?
What Items Should I Eat More Of?
Renal Diet Menu Headquarters -
Suggested Reading:
What Is The Fluid Restriction For A Pre-Dialysis Patient?
Renal Diet Restrictions Are Confusing!
Vegetables (Photo credit: Muao)
When we talk about renal diet basics, it’s important to understand that the renal diet can be complicated. You have to pay attention to your beverages, meals, and snacks. Any of those items can cause problems for your kidneys or help your kidneys to improve. I know you really want to have your kidney health improve so let’s talk about the renal diet basics that you need to know to improve your nondialysis kidney disease and follow your renal diet restrictions.
Protein Is The Most Important
One of the most important changes you’ll need to make as you approach stage 3 and stage 4 kidney disease is to control the amount of protein that you eat. Your renal diet restrictions will need to limit the amount of protein that you eat to your weight in kilograms or less. Many dietitians recommend a renal diet restriction of .8 g of protein per kilo gram of body weight.
You probably already eat too much protein in your diet. If you weighed 150 pounds, that would equal 68.2 kg [Divide 150 pounds by 2.2 = kilograms]. Which is 68 g of protein per day if you’re going for one gram of protein per kilo gram of body weight. Or 54.5 g of protein if you are doing .8 g of protein per kilogram.
1 ounce of protein equals 7 g of protein. Most carbohydrates have 3 g of protein per serving. A serving is approximately 15 g of carbohydrate. So when you take into account both the meat that you leave for the day and the grains, bread, and starches that you ate for the day you are easily getting over 68 g of protein.
Animal protein is one of the biggest sources of protein that you will have and it’s the one that you should concentrate on the most controlling as part of renal diet restrictions. So if you go over a little bit but it’s based on non-animal protein sources, your kidneys can handle that much easier than overloading on the amount of animal protein that you ate.
Start reading labels and figuring out how many grams of protein are in the food that you eat, and make sure to check for serving sizes specifically so you know how many servings you are eating. Then try to stick to an amount of protein that is between .8 – 1 g of protein per kilogram of body weight.
Sodium Is Critical To Manage
Thinking about renal diet restrictions you should also look at sodium limitations. Your kidneys are susceptible to high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is susceptible to the amount of sodium that you eat. If your blood pressure is high it damages the small blood vessels in your kidneys and overall causes more damage to your body and decreases the effectiveness of your kidneys as filters.
Sodium is an easy thing to look at, because it’s on the food label. Sodium is not an easy thing to reduce in your diet as part of renal diet restrictions, unless you are willing to cook more food to home and carry your sack lunch to work. Cooking at home is one of the sure fire ways to reduce sodium as long as you don’t add it when you’re cooking.
But sodium is a really critical mineral to manage and understand how much is in your food. Just reading the labels will make you much more aware and help you understand how you can reduce it.
Make Sure You Are Eating The Right Amount Of Foods
Do you find yourself really hungry when following your renal diet restrictions? Have you severely limited what you’re allowing yourself to eat so you don’t hurt your kidneys? I understand that mentality and I applaud you for working really hard to limit the damage to your kidneys. But I would recommend that you look a little closer at just decreasing the amount of protein that you take in and limiting the amount of sodium in the foods that you eat to make the renal diet restrictions a little easier to cope with.
Foods that are high in sodium are typically canned vegetables and fruits. Canned soup is also high in sodium. Eating more fresh vegetables and fresh fruits will allow you to reduce the amount of sodium that you take in. If you have high blood pressure this would be good for your blood pressure as well.
Add the low sodium of phosphorus vegetables to your meals such as zucchini, squash, and radishes or beets. Eat white bread instead of whole-grain bread, and that will help you reduce the amount of phosphorous and potassium in your diet.
And cut back on your protein servings of meat and milk products for protein renal diet restrictions. Try to eat only about 3 ounces of meat or poultry, which is the size of a deck of cards, at a meal. For your snacks, you can eat some seeds or nuts that are filled with good omega-3 fatty acids.
You shouldn’t feel hungry all the time, and if you are it means that you need to be working at finding those low potassium, low sodium foods that you can eat for your renal diet.
One sure way is to check out our renal predialysis recipe meal plans that are available on this website so you’ll know exactly what you can have for dinner seven nights a week. Following a meal plan is easier when someone has done the work for you, and that’s something that we provide every week for less than the price of coffee per day. And I’m talking about McDonald’s coffee, not Starbucks.
Renal Diet Menu Headquarters -
Suggested Reading:
Follow Your Renal Diet Restrictions For A PreDialysis Diet
Renal Diet Recipes Need To Meet Your Restrictions
How Much Sodium Should I Eat On A Renal Diet?
December 26, 2012
Is Stage 3 Kidney Disease Common After Age 65?
Unity Senior Citizens Club – Kitchen chat (Photo credit: twistyfoldy.net)
Stage 3 Kidney Disease and Kidney Function As You Age
As you grow older, your kidney function declines. That is just part of nature, and many people over the age of 65 have a GFR that puts them into Stage 3 kidney disease. As much as 49% of adults over the age of 85 in the US may have an eGFR of less than 60 mL/min. As a matter of fact, the largest number of people with kidney disease are those over the age of 70, and most of them are in stage 3 or 4 kidney disease. So, does that mean you have to take drastic action?
Not likely, but you can do the things that you need to do to control your diabetes or cholesterol that contribute to kidney damage by following a meal plan that caters to that condition.
What Does A Decreased Kidney Function Mean To My Health?
It’s a natural part of aging, so your kidneys decline as you age by as much as 1 ml/min in your eGFR. You may think that means you will eventually need to be on dialysis, but for most people over the age of 65, unless they have a related condition like protein in their urine, they are unlikely to develop further problems beyond stage 3 kidney disease and progress to dialysis. When scientists’ studied who progressed to needing dialysis, they found that people who had a lower eGFR (starting at a higher stage of kidney disease), had anemia, and more protein in their urine. Most likely to not progress to further stages of kidney disease were women, with a lower risk of high blood pressure and a lower level of protein in their urine.
This means that if you are older and have kidney disease you should continue to work with your doctors to assess what changes you can make – whether it is adding a medication or seeing a specialist. You still need to be proactive with your health to keep from progressing beyond stage 3 kidney disease.
How Do I Manage Stage 3 Kidney Disease After 65?
In people over the age of 70 with an eGFR in the range of 45-59, who are stable and without any other evidence of kidney disease, are unlikely to be at risk for further chronic kidney disease related complications. It’s important to address any concerns with your doctor when you are looking at how you will progress and what problems you are likely to have as each person is different. But know that you need to address the problems of high blood pressure and diabetes that you may be struggling with to ensure your health continues to be stable.
You need to consider following a kidney diet that limits protein intake and ensures that you have the right mix of nutrients to improve your condition. You are in charge of taking control of your health, regardless of your age. Click here to get more information on our stage 3 kidney diet meal plan to put you on the right track.
Renal Diet Menu Headquarters -
Suggested Reading:
How Quickly Will My Chronic Kidney Disease Progress To Dialysis?
What Kind of Plan Should I Follow On A Stage 3 Kidney Diet?
The Importance of Diet for Stage 3 Kidney Disease
December 24, 2012
Top 4 Ways To Reduce Sodium Intake For A Renal Diet
By now, you probably realize that sodium restriction is an important part of a renal diet. Eating a lower sodium diet, and watching where your sodium comes fro
m helps slow the progression of your
kidney disease. Which is what you would like to do, right?
You probably already know that the amount of sodium you should eat in a day is the equivalent of about 1 teaspoon. Also known as approximately 2400 mg per day. As a person on a renal diet, your aim should be slightly lower than that – in the 1500 mg per day range.
Let’s talk about ways you can reduce the sodium in your diet.
Cook at home more often. Bottom line – you have complete control over the amount of sodium that goes into your meal when you’re cooking at home and have a choice of what you put into the meal. Choosing not to add the extra salt, or rinsing your canned vegetables before you put them into the recipe, or using frozen vegetables – all contribute to a lower sodium meal.
Eat more whole food snacks. No, I’m not talking about going to the Whole Foods Market and buying snacks. But I am talking about eating less processed snacks. Eating an apple for a snack is a low potassium low phosphorous choice. If you were to eat applesauce, you would not get as much fiber and you would possibly get a little more sodium in your snack. When I say whole food, I’m referring to the less processed version of a meal or snack. Something that is closer to what it would be found like in nature.
Speaking of whole food snacks, eating fruits and vegetables as part of both your meals and snacks every time lowers your sodium and increases the fiber that you intake. Fresh fruits in season can be reasonably priced. And if you don’t like the fresh fruit in season you can grab a bag of the frozen fruits and snack on those. A bowl of strawberries with some artificial sweetener or sugar can be a great snack. Frozen and fresh vegetables have the least amount of sodium. When compared to the canned vegetable, the sodium in a fresh or frozen vegetable is negligible. Choose fresh vegetables when they’re in season, and the rest of the year eat the frozen version. Either way, take up half your plate with fruits and vegetables and you’ll be lower in sodium and much healthier.
Cut back on condiments. You may not realize it but ketchup has a lot of sodium in it. I’m aware that on a renal diet you’re not necessarily going to be eating a lot of ketchup or tomatoes, but almost every condiment is processed and has added sodium. Barbecue sauce, mustard, and salad dressings all are higher in sodium. For salad dressing as an example, you could use oil and vinegar instead of a process salad dressing and that would decrease the amount of sodium that you had in that salad.
I know it’s hard to reduce the amount of sodium that you have in your diet especially when you eat out a lot or you eat a lot of processed foods. But the awareness that you need to follow a renal diet should help you to make this positive choices and take some of the steps that are going to be vital to reducing your sodium intake, and therefore improving your kidney function.
If you want new recipes every week that are low in sodium, potassium, and phosphorus and made especially for kidney diet check out our meal plans by clicking here and learning more about them.
Renal Diet Menu Headquarters -
Suggested Reading:
How Much Sodium Should I Eat On A Renal Diet?
What Foods Should I Avoid On A Renal Diet? Let’s Talk About High Potassium Foods
How Quickly Will My Chronic Kidney Disease Progress To Dialysis?
December 19, 2012
A Renal Diet Food List For Your Garden
I know that I really love planting things and seeing how they grow, tending to the plants, weeding out the soil, and just generally being able to say “hey, I grew that“.
One of my favorite things to grow is tomatoes, but if you’re following a kidney failure diet, you know that tomatoes are not a good idea to have on a renal diet food list. Unless you’re just going give them all away to your neighbors. (no fun!)
So what are some good things to grow in your garden that can be great when added to your renal diet meal plan? Depending on your level of skill and the time a year, there are lots of plants and seeds that you can grow in your garden to add fresh fruits and vegetables to your plate.
Spring and Fall Vegetables for Your Renal Diet Food List
Let’s start with some vegetables. In the fall you want to plant vegetables that do better in the cool weather. Vegetables like cabbage, kale, and lettuce are great in the fall and early spring because they like the cool weather and grow fairly easily. Cabbage, kale, and lettuce are low potassium vegetables that you can easily eat with your meals. And they are easy to harvest, plus they go with just about everything you could eat on a renal diet food list.
Summer Vegetables To Grow
In the spring and summer, planting some green beans and peas are really great ways to always have enough vegetables to add to any meal. You can go out at any time and pick off just enough green beans or peas to add as a side dish or to mix in with your stirfry or soup for the day. Another low potassium vegetable is asparagus, and I love asparagus because you plant it once and it comes back year after year. It’s a perennial vegetable I guess you would say.
Finally cucumbers, onions, peppers, radishes, and squash are all low potassium vegetables that grow well in your garden. Cucumbers and squash are on vines that spread out so you’ll need some room,
or you can grow them in a container on your porch fairly easily. Some seeds are even specially cultivated to be used in a “compact” manner – in a container on your porch. Onions are planted in rows and usually are fairly cheap to buy in the early spring for you to plant. And peppers will make you almost feel like you’re growing tomatoes again as they grow on small compact plants – and can be grown in a container on your porch as well.
Vegetables can be expensive, so why not plant a few of your own that are the right types for your kidney diet? They allow you to enjoy your love of gardening and have the fresh vegetables you need to stay healthy. Setting up your garden for success and adding the right foods to your renal diet food list are the best ways to make having kidney failure a little easier. If you want to find out how to plan your kidney diet meals easily and with a variety of foods, check out our renal diet meal plans. They really do make life a little easier!
Next week, we are going to talk about some low potassium fruits you can plant in your garden to make your sweet tooth a little happier!
Renal Diet Menu Headquarters -
Suggested Reading:
Recipe – Chili Con Carne
Food For Kidney Diet: Know What To Eat On Dialysis
Nutrition Bars You Can Eat On A Renal Diet
