There is no standard kidney diet; eating right will mean different things to different people.
Nutrition
Your dietitian will work with you to create a daily eating plan that will take all of these factors into consideration and keep you feeling as well as possible.
Remember that as your kidney function changes over time, your diet will need to change as well. Blood tests will help your health care team to decide when those changes are needed. The right kidney-friendly diet can:
Meet your nutritional needs
Reduce your kidneys’ workload
Help maintain the kidney function you have left
Control the build-up of food wastes like urea
Reduce symptoms like fatigue, nausea, itching, and bad taste in the mouth
A diagnosis of chronic kidney disease does not have to mean following a boring or bland diet. The daily eating plan that you develop with your dietitian can include all kinds of fresh, delicious foods. Don’t hesitate to speak with your dietitian and take advantage of our Kidney Community Kitchen to add variety to your meals.
Keep an eye on these nutrients to help relieve your symptoms, control your blood pressure and maintain your health:
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Protein
Protein builds, repairs and maintains your body tissues. It also helps your body to fight infections and heal wounds. As your body breaks down the protein in your food, a waste product called urea is formed. If urea isn’t removed from your blood, it can put added stress on your kidneys and cause tiredness, nausea, headaches and a bad taste in your mouth.
Most Canadians get more protein than they need. You should have 2-3 servings every day, each one about the size of a deck of cards, unless your dietitian tells you otherwise. There is protein in milk, eggs, legumes, nuts, fish, poultry, and lean meat.
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Sodium
As your kidney function gets worse, your body is less able to remove extra sodium from your blood. That sodium can increase your blood pressure and cause swelling in your ankles and legs. People with chronic kidney disease usually need to limit their salt intake to less than 2000 mg per day (one teaspoon of salt has 2300 mg of sodium).
The best way to do this is to replace processed foods with homemade food, so that you can control the amount of salt you’re taking in. Processed foods like deli meats, snack foods, fast food, canned vegetables, cheese, pickles, and condiments all have salt added to them. Even bread and other baked products often contain hidden salt, so be sure to read food labels. When you’re cooking at home, try using pepper, onions, garlic, lime, lemon, or vinegar to season your food.
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Phosphorus (Phosphate)
Phosphorus is a mineral that keeps your bones strong and healthy, but too much of it can cause itchy skin or painful joints. When your kidneys start to fail, the phosphate levels in your blood will increase. At that point you may need to limit foods that contain phosphorus, especially those that have phosphates added to them to lengthen shelf life or enhance flavour.
Your dietitian will work with you to make sure you’re limiting phosphates and still getting the other nutrients you need for good health. Your doctor may also prescribe phosphate binders to control your blood phosphate levels. These medications bind with phosphorus in your intestine so that it passes out of the body in your stool.
Your Diet on Dialysis
Choosing the right foods when you’re on dialysis is very important to your health and well-being, and it can sometimes be challenging. It can depend on a lot of things, including the type and amount of dialysis you’re receiving, as well as other health conditions you may have that require their own special diet, such as diabetes.
Dialysis removes waste products from your blood, and the more dialysis you receive, the more waste products are removed. This is why independent therapies like peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis usually have fewer dietary restrictions. If you’re doing dialysis at home, your treatments are probably happening more often and for longer than if you were getting dialysis in a hospital or clinic.
Dialysis treatment can also remove some nutrients that your body needs. This is one reason you need regular blood tests when you’re on dialysis. Your doctor will need to keep an eye on your blood levels to make sure that your treatment is not removing too little or too much of certain nutrients, waste products, and fluid.
Looking for more information?
Our handbook Living with Reduced Kidney Function provides information about your kidneys and how they work, the stages of kidney disease, and steps that can help you protect your remaining kidney function.