6 Tips to Limit Potassium in Your Diet

When you have renal disease, it’s critical to make some changes to your diet to protect your health and the kidney function you have left.

Mainly, it’s important to limit sodium, potassium, and phosphorus to prevent build-up of fluid and toxins in your blood that can lead to complications.

Let’s take a closer look at how to limit potassium in your diet…

Here are some high-potassium foods to avoid or limit. FYI…these foods contain more potassium than a banana.

• Fruits: Fruits, avocados, watermelon, coconut, dried apricots, pomegranate, fruits juice
• Vegetables: : Sweet potatoes, spinach, beans, tomato paste, butternut squash, potatoes, swiss chard, beets, yams.
• Processed foods. Canned and processed foods can also be high in potassium.

So how do you avoid or limit potassium and still enjoy healthy food that tastes great? Here are 5 tips to help you:

1. Set a daily potassium limit and keep track. Health experts recommend limiting potassium to no more than 2,000 mg per day if you have renal disease. FYI…an average meal contains about 700 mg of potassium.
2. Read food labels. Check the serving size and amount of potassium in the foods you eat. Most packaged foods include a nutrition facts panel with this information. You can also look up potassium content in foods with tools like CalorieKing.com and MyFitnessPal.
3. Plan your meals. When you plan ahead, it’s a lot easier to prepare meals low in potassium than just winging it or hitting a restaurant or drive thru. Plan your meals in advance and go grocery shopping.
4. Cook at home more often. It’s pretty simple. When you prepare your own meals, you know what’s in it. Keeping potassium levels in check is easier when you cook at home.
5. Practice portion control. You might do a good job eating foods low in potassium. But if you overeat, you could still end up consuming more potassium than you need.
6. Pick your favorite Renal-Friendly meals by MagicKitchen.com

Every meal is made from fresh ingredients and contains less than 700 mg per meal. Most of our Renal-Friendly meals contain 500 mg of sodium or less. These meals made from fresh ingredients are also low in sodium and phosphorus, which is also an important part of a following a Renal-Friendly diet.