Leading Nephrologist Recommends New Diet for Dialysis Patients

meals

It’s no secret that when you need dialysis treatments to do the work your kidneys can’t, your diet needs to change...a lot. And that’s not an easy change to make. Eat more protein. Avoid foods that contain higher levels of sodium, potassium, and phosphorous. That’s the general dietary guidelines for dialysis patients.

But it’s not easy to do, especially if you don’t like cooking. Sound familiar? You’re not the only one. An estimated 20 to 78 percent of dialysis patients don’t follow the dietary guidelines.

But what if you could still eat foods you love in moderation without risking your health when you’re on dialysis? Leading nephrology researcher Dr. Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh believes you can. When he ran a dialysis clinic in France, his patients looked forward to coming in for a treatment. Seriously. Show up for an appointment. Start treatment. And enjoy a multiple-course meal while you’re at it, served with a glass of wine. That’s not your typical dialysis treatment in a clinic experience. Right?

If you can eat this way, even some of the time, when you’re on dialysis, you’re a lot more likely to comply with the nutritional guidelines. Dr. Kalantar-Zadeh recommends focusing on:

Eat a calorie-controlled dialysis-friendly diet
Get enough protein: 0.8 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight a day
Limit sodium, potassium, phosphorus, and fluids
Take iron-based binders: chewable sucroferric oxyhydroxide and ferrous citrate

If you’ve been having a hard time sticking to the traditional dietary guidelines for dialysis patients, you’re not alone. There are a lot of restrictions. And even though dietary guidelines for dialysis patients are meant to protect your health, keeping tabs on all the food you can’t eat can leave you wondering what you can eat.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Our team of professional chefs and licensed dietitian have taken the guess workout out of finding healthy and tasty meal options. Just check out the selection of Dialysis-Friendly meals, and let us do the rest.