Dialysis Diet

Individuals experiencing renal replacement therapy often must follow the dialysis diet. While this may not seem easy, particularly if you enjoy eating what you please, thefitmap.com can help you organize what foods you can eat and those that must be avoided for the sake of your health.

Patients starting out on the dialysis diet must refer to their doctor or medical dietician as they can counsel you as you change your eating habits.

Note your lab results as cases of kidney condition are highly individualistic. Thus lab results will outline how your dialysis diet should look and how much phosphorus, potassium, and sodium you can manage.

Below are listed dialysis diet tips that will regulate and organize the foods you want to consume and how they impact your health:
Potassium

• reduce potassium levels in vegetables by peeling and slicing vegetables
• soak vegetables in water, usually for four hours; overnight if you can
• in cooking, drain and then boil vegetables in fresh water, check for tenderness
• boiling water vigorously acts to remove excess potassium not leached out during soaking

Sodium

• reduce sodium in foods by replacing salt with spices, herbs and lemon juice
• note, restaurant meals usually have more sodium than home-cooked meals
• when planning to eat out, work to reduce sodium in-take during the day, this allows for the more sodium when eating out

Phosphorus

• take into consideration alternative to milk
• allow only one half cup of milk per day
• in place of milk, substitute non-dairy creamers
• frozen yogurt and ice cream can replace the half cup daily allowance of milk

Any nutritional changes should be carried out under the guidance of your doctor or nutritional expert - it is their job to keep you healthy!