Kidney disease progresses over time causing lose of function in one or even both kidneys. If the disease is detected early enough, medication and healthy food can preserve the remaining function of your kidneys.
At stage 3 ckd is defined as having moderate kidney damage which only limits some of the filtering ability of the kidneys. Healthy food should decrease the level of waste and preserve the remaining function. Also, it staves off further damage.
Get in control
The most important part of the treatment is to control the disease which is causing kidney damage. You shouldn’t do this alone, without the help of a doctor which can do this right. There are a few of diseases which can cause kidney damage, for example:
Diabetes can damage the blood vessels in the kidneys if the blood sugar level is constantly high. You can control the blood sugar level by exercising, eating healthy or taking medicines.
High blood pressure is also causing kidney damage. There are a few methods to control blood pressure like diet, exercise and medicines prescribed by your doctor. The recommended blood pressure is 130/80.
Recommendations
If you have chronic kidney disease, you have to make changes in your diet:
- Restricting salt, phosphorous, potassium and other electrolytes;
- Limiting fluids;
- Eating a low-protein diet;
- Getting enough calories if you are losing weight.
This are general recommendations, they may change over time if your disease takes a different turn.
Food
Your daily calorie intake needs to be high enough and qualitative enough to keep your body healthy. This is a general diet, you should ask for help from doctors and nutritionists as they can make your diet to fit you.
It is very important to control potassium. 90% of our potassium intake is removed by the kidney. For people suffering from ckd it’s difficult to remove it from the body. The normal level of potassium intake is 3.5 to 5.0 mEq/L. Potassium is contained in: milk, yogurt, avocado, oranges, papayas, banana, kiwis, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, etc.
Sodium is very harmful for our body. It causes ckd, high blood pressure and heart disease so the salt intake must be restricted. Avoid: canned food, pickles, smoked meat, some frozen foods, processed cheese, panked chips, junk food.
Phosphorus consumption must be controlled. The recommended amount of phosphorus for normal people and for people with ckd non-dialysis is 2.7 to 4.6 mg/dL and 3.5 to 5.5 md/dL for people with ckd dialysis. If not controlled, phosphorus can lead to kidney failure, bone and heart diseases.
Fluids are vital to everybody, but for people with ckd fluid intake must be controlled because water contains phosphorus which damages our body. People with ckd must not consume more than 1.4 litters per day.