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Building a Balanced Vegetarian Kidney Diet
Can a kidney diet also be a vegetarian diet? It’s estimated that about 5% of people on dialysis are vegetarians. Some of the reasons for following a vegetarian diet include religious, cultural, social and personal beliefs. Others adapt a meat-free diet because of taste changes due to uremia as a result of chronic kidney disease (CKD). […]
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How You Can Bring Quality to Your Care
Good quality healthcare takes a team. You may have heard the words "the best way to feel better during dialysis and at home is to partner with your healthcare team." Do you know who the center of your healthcare team is? YOU! Yes, you have a team of experts at the clinic that can help guide you in […]
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Fluid Matters: Every Drop Counts
Do you know how much water is in the human body? Approximately 60 percent! That is a lot, and we need water for our bodies to work properly. But when kidneys do not work, excess fluid is not removed from the body efficiently. For many patients there is very little urine output, if at all. […]
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How to Bake with Whey Protein Powder
Whey protein powder, ever heard of it? If your albumin level is not within goal, it may be one of the protein supplements that your dietitian recommends. You’ve probably heard about adding it into applesauce or making a protein shake. But have you ever explored baking with whey protein powder? Protein powders usually have a scoop […]
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Protein Bars: A Quick and Easy Protein Source
Almost every day my patients tell me they are not big meat eaters, or they are too tired to cook. They want to know protein choices that are quick and easy. Protein bars fit this category. Before we talk about protein bars I would like to give you a quick overview on protein. Protein is […]
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Herbs and Your Kidneys—Beyond Seasoning Your Food
Supplements made from herbs promise to prevent or cure many ailments, including kidney disease. Is there any truth to it? Or are people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) falling victim to the herbal products industry who makes money from unproven promises? When you run across claims a product will cure or slow kidney disease there are […]
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Eating problems: tips for kidney patients to improve food intake
Summer heat got your appetite? Trying to eat when you don’t feel like it is difficult, but thanks to the DaVita renal dietitian team there’s a list of suggestions to help kidney patients deal with eating problems. People in later stages of chronic kidney disease and those on dialysis often experience eating problems related to poor appetite, altered […]
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Dietary Phosphate Prescription and Survival in Dialysis Patients
“CUTTING DIETARY PHOSPHATE DOESN’T SAVE DIALYSIS PATIENTS’ LIVES” is the latest headline in nephrology news. So does that mean the struggles to control your phosphorus are no longer important? The study titled “The Association between Prescribed Dietary Phosphate Restriction and Mortality among Hemodialysis Patients” by Lynch, et al is in the online December 2010 issue […]
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Kidney Diet Cookbooks
One of the biggest helpers with learning about and following a kidney diet is a good kidney diet cookbook. Several years ago I posted the National Kidney Foundation kidney cookbook list for you to use as a guide. Here’s a link to the latest version: http://www.kidney.org/professionals/CRN/cookbooks.cfm. I also want to tell you about some of the recipe […]
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Peritoneal dialysis diet considerations
When you find out you need dialysis due to kidney failure, options for treatment include transplant, traditional in-center hemodialysis (ICHD), home hemodialysis (HHD), in-center nocturnal dialysis (ICND) and peritoneal dialysis (PD). Each treatment choice has different pros and cons when it comes to diet. Today let’s take a look at the peritoneal dialysis diet. PD […]