Health & Fitness

Proper renal nutrition is a vital element to maintain health while undergoing treatment for kidney disease, including dialysis. For dialysis patients in particular, the first concern should be getting enough calories and nutrients to sustain themselves. The dialysis procedure is physically demanding, so patients need to keep their strength up by eating healthy amounts of good food.

Renal Nutrition Basics
More specific renal nutrition consists of avoiding certain food items that create an extra load on the kidneys. For instance, most diets for kidney disease patients prohibit the excess intake of sodium, potassium, and phosphates. Fluid intake is also important to monitor for kidney disease patients in order to avoid either extreme of water retention or dehydration.Lastly, renal nutrition guidelines frequently advice kidney disease patients to avoid high quantities of protein in their diet as some studies have proven this to be a problem for some patients.

An excessive sodium intake can cause patients to retain water. Then this water retention can increase the risk of symptoms such as heart failure, pulmonary edema and high blood pressure. By avoiding high blood pressure, patients can avoid having to take medication to control it, which would further tax the kidneys.

Secondly, the consumption of potassium-rich salt substitutes and certain potassium-rich fruits and vegetables should be also avoided since this electrolyte can cause irregular heartbeats. Thirdly, high phosphate levels in the blood should be avoided by limiting the consumption of milk, cheese, meat, chicken and fish.