Now that you have a good idea what a renal predialysis diagnosis means (from kidney diet meals), what do you need to do about it? I know that you are worried and maybe nervous about what a kidney diet diagnosis means in addition to you worrying about it progressing into dialysis. You can stop the progress, or at least slow it down, with a renal pre-dialysis diet.
What Has Brought on the Need for A Renal Pre-Dialysis Diet?
So let’s think about this. You have had some problems for a while. You may have had high blood pressure and did not know it. Or did and took your meds but it was not well controlled. You could have diabetes and you need to manage that along with your predialysis renal disease. The best way to control your renal predialysis is by following a diet plan.
Your progression into further stages of kidney disease is monitored by how much your blood urea nitrogen (BUN) level is. As you retain more BUN, you are showing signs that your kidneys are not handling it well. We are not talking about acute renal failure that is sometimes due to dehydration or an injury to the kidneys. This is longer term, chronic kidney failure.
What is BUN, anyway?
In your body, BUN is made through protein being used. It’s a waste product of protein breakdown. The amount that you have in your blood is a direct result of how much protein you eat. Simple, right? Well, in a way it is. You do need to eat less protein on a predialysis diet. Part of the problem is, how do you adjust to the other needs that you have?
You don’t really have to limit your fluid intake for kidney disease prior to dialysis being initiated. This is because usually your body is still producing urine and you are removing the extra fluid. You do need to limit salt and protein on a renal pre-dialysis diet. If you don’t have diabetes, (if you do – read about renal diabetes here), you can fill in some of the extra food that you need with carbohydrate foods. If you read what I typically write about, I discourage the use of white or processed grains. You should work on eating more unrefined grains. Unrefined grains are the items labeled whole grains, whole wheat or in general are not completely processed so they start digesting in your mouth. They contain fiber. Fiber is good for you. You can eat these things, but remember to read the labels because even pasta and other whole grains contain protein.
How Much Protein Should You Eat On A Renal Pre-Dialysis Diet?
How much protein should you eat – probably in the range of 60-80 grams per day. You might want to know that one ounce of protein contains 7 grams of protein. So, that’s 5-8 ounces per day of meat. Well, if only it were that simple.
Protein is in a lot of foods. Protein is (obviously) meats, pork, chicken, veal, and turkey. Protein is also a part of pastas as well. It’s in bread, vegetables, milk, cheese and a lot of other things. Now that you have some kidney problems you need to limit the amount of protein. Not necessarily a lot, but it will affect you as you work on your renal pre-dialysis diet. As you progress from stage to stage, you will have different amounts of protein that you need. Kidneys are sensitive to protein, and as your body progresses through kidney disease, you may need to eat more or less. As you progress from stage 1 – 4, you decrease the amount of protein that you need. Then, when you become a kidney dialysis patient (if you do), you get to go back to a higher amount of protein.
If you think this means that you need a renal predialysis diet plan, and if you want to know more about a renal pre-dialysis diet plan, use our form to sign up for our email list and we will give you our last article about building a renal pre-dialysis diet plan –
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