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Renal Diet Podcast 084: Healthy Eating On The Go With CKD

Podcast #84 Released on March 9, 2018

I want to talk to you because it's hard enough to manage your diet and to watch what you're eating when you have chronic kidney disease and you're at home and you can make all your meals and you can control everything. But if you're out and about doing things like going to your grandkids' soccer games or traveling in your RV or doing whatever. There's no need for it to slow you down.

There are things you can do to help improve your diet and I want to talk to you about those today. You are going to probably have to make some adjustments to your eating habits when you're away from home. In order to stick with your diet, to know what you're going to have to do is not as easy as just driving up to a drive-thru when you have some dietary restrictions. There are some things that you're going to need to do so you don't you know cause worse problems for your kidneys. A few tips and ideas just to get you through this it can be done with some planning.

Number one is to know your dietary restrictions. Do you have to limit salt? Do you have a list of limit potassium? Do you have to limit phosphorus? Do you have to limit protein? You have to limit fluid? All of those things are important to know and it's also important to know the priority. If you're a dialysis patient and you need to limit your fluid and that's the number one priority that's more important than worrying about you know how much protein or potassium or phosphorus. Talk to your doctor, talk to your nurse, talk to your dietitian about what one of those is the priority.

If you have to choose because sometimes you will have to choose you need to know like if there's some No No foods out to eat, if there's some foods that are absolutely no just because you can't have enough control over them like if you are trying to watch your potassium and French fries. French fries are going to be salty and they're fried and they have a lot of potassium and there's no way you can control that so you may have to avoid those. Not saying you do. I'm just saying if you know there's a food that you may have to avoid, please be aware of that ahead of time.

Plan for your outing so if you know you're going to have a busy day, then you want to make sure that you kind of identified some things so you're going to have something to eat maybe before you go out so that you're not hungry and wanting to eat something. You're going to identify where you could potentially get like a good snack food item that you can use to eat when you're out. Is there a bar that you can eat? Is there a fruit? Maybe take a bag of strawberries or some blueberries with you those types of things to take along and to plan ahead keeps you from just grabbing whatever is available.

I know that a lot of times we have questions about what is going to be good for us and if we can take some of those along that's good thing.

Along those same lines, choosing some healthy snacks that you can pack and take with you keep your bag or your little cooler or something packed with smart snacks like grapes and some maybe some nuts are okay that are unsalted that can kind of pulled you over so you don't want to have to grab something out of the vending machine at the last minute.

Know what you're putting in your mouth. You're going to want to look at nutrition labels or read the label when you're getting something; you're going to want to ask questions if you're at a restaurant. You're going want to ask them how they prepare something. Even if you're getting the light version. Even if you're just getting a chicken breast. Do they add butter? Do they add salt? Do they marinate it? Do they put any special sauce on it in the back? Can they do any of that differently? Those are the questions you want to ask.

Keep your own seasonings on hand. I'm kind of excited because we're coming out with a line of seasonings but keep your own seasonings where you can get them in your bag so that if you get that plain chicken breast and you ask them but nothing on it you know it's safe to put that seasoning on that and keeps you from having a bland food or even try to put a little salt on something at the table.

Be prepared for unexpected trips. So, always know kind of what restaurants are safe places to eat that are going to provide you with the best opportunities. Maybe its subway where you can get white bread and you can limit the amount of meat or you can get just a vegetable salad whatever it takes to be able to manage your diet and you're able to do it you know around where you're going to be. Those unexpected places, that's also where it comes and good to have something in your bag to take along.

The other thing we don't always think about is portion control. So, when you’re home you probably put your amount on your plate, you kind of are used to your plate size. When we're at a restaurant, the plate size can be a little different or the portion sizes can be larger than what we're used to. Just be extra aware and even ask.

A lot of times, I go to a restaurant and they'll have a steak but it won't have the portion size. You can ask specifically. What is this? Six ounce or four ounces or five ounce whatever and look at the kids menu. A lot of times, the kids menu all have smaller sized portions and most places will let you get those from the kids menu but just watch your portions. Research and find out what are the healthy options in your area and make your family aware of that. It's not that you can't ever go to the other places but if you're picking, know kind of where you can get that salad with this, with the vinegar and oil to put on it so you don't have any of this extra salt calorie stuff like that. Know where you can get a simple salad, know where you can get a simple sandwich, know where you can get as simple chicken breast and be aware of what you're going to eat at that restaurant.

You might have gone to the restaurant for the food and that's good but most of it you went for the camaraderie and people that you're going to be around and so enjoy that time and don't let that food get in your way of doing that. Allow yourself that and drink you know if you're allowed fluid, freely drink plenty of water to help fill you up so you don't overeat. Keep your water there, keep your water available. It does help to make you feel more full if you drink a couple glasses of water and as long as you're not limited on your intake, water is going to be a healthy solution for you.

Last of all if you are on them and you need them take your phosphorus finders when you're eating. Phosphorus finders work best when they're used with the foods that you're eating so you can't just take them later or take them early you need to take them with your meals. It's going to limit the amount of phosphorus that your body takes in and so having those with you being prepared is the best solution for that.

One of the things that you can do is pack your lunches with you, take it with you so you don't have to go through the drive-thru; they'll also save you a little money. Simple packed lunches are better than being tempted by your restaurant menu. Some healthy ideas for lunch when you're out to take with you. A low-sodium lunch meat on white bread like a chicken, turkey or a pork sliced sandwich meat, no salt added canned tuna and then you could do some crackers with that. Egg salads make your own so you kind of know what's in there. Fruits like apples, peaches, grapes strawberries with you all the time. Healthy sides like a bag of microwavable popcorn that's unsalted that you can usually you can find a microwave somewhere. Pretzels that is unsalted. Those types of things that you really can do well to just have with you.

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