There are a lot of misconceptions about what to eat and what to avoid if someone has kidney disease. There are some important aspects of diet for people having Chronic Kidney Disease(CKD).
1. Protein intake: Most people believe that protein intake should be stopped if one has kidney disease. This is absolutely wrong and the biggest reason for patients with kidney disease developing various complications later in the course of the disease. A person with CKD should have 0.6-0.8 gm/kg body weight protein. Measure your daily protein intake. You can easily find out, online, the protein content in the food stuffs you eat. There are online calculators also available to calculate your daily protein intake. Most people do not need to cut down on protein in their diet as we already are deficient in the daily protein requirement. Restricting too much of protein leads to hypoproteinemia, muscle wasting, and malnutrition, all of which are associated with higher rate of complication and even death in CKD patients.
2. Salt intake: Most people should take less than 2 gm sodium per day. This means less than 5 gms of salt in a day. Do not stop salt intake completely. Also, people with CKD should not be taking the commercially available Lo-Na salt as those are rich in potassium. People with CKD may have to restrict on salt intake even more in certain special situations, when told by their doctor.
3. Fluids: You can take 1.5-2 litres of liquids per day. In certain special situations, your fluid intake would be restricted by your doctor e.g. if you have swelling over feet or are breathless on lying down.
4. Avoid high potassium food stuffs if your serum potassium is more than 5. In certain circumstances, you doctor will tell you to avoid high potassium food stuffs. These include banana, citrus fruits including lemon, coconut water, potato etc.
5. Phosphorous intake: limit the intake of high phosphorous containing foodstuffs in your daily diet. These include fish, poultry, nuts, tofu, cocoa and chocolates.
CKD patients should avoid foods high in saturated fat. Those with diabetes showed follow instructions regarding sweet and carbohydrate intake along with the above advice. Home cooked hot food should be preferred as compared to any preserved or cold/preserved food. Eat a diet that is healthy and balanced with more of fresh fruits and vegetables.