QuestionMy diabetic mother has begun experiencing kidney complications. We've been told that not only must her diet have no starch/sugar, but we must now avoid potassium, protein, sodium.
I've been looking around for diet ideas, food lists and recipes optimized to her condition, with little success. I'd be happy knowing what I CAN include in her diet, if you can post me a list (a little unrealistic, I know) or some websites where I can figure this mess out.
Cheers, and thanks!
AnswerThis is a very interesting diet suggestion I am sure a doctor gave. No starch, sugar, potassium, protein, or sodium? That leaves water and pure fat. Seriously. It is not only completely impossible to avoid all of those things, it would be unhealthy if it were possible. Protein is needed by muscles and starches are needed by the brain to survive. In this case what the doctor meant was to limit all of those foods, very common with diabetes complications. What your mother will need to follow is a "renal" diet. The goal is to have 25 grams of protein, 2 grams of sodium, and 2 grams of potassium as well as the diabetic pattern (probably carbohydrate consistant...which is eating the same number of carbohydrates at each meal) she was following. Our renal patients are given 4 ounces of protein per day and one serving of dairy. I would suggest going to a website such as www.kidney.org to print a comprehensive list of high (so she knows what to avoid) and low (foods she can eat) potassium foods. A short list of what to avoid includes potatoes (white and sweet, although you can learn how to soak and cook them to get a lot of the potassium out on the kidney.org website), spinach, bananas, dairy products, processed meats (including lunch meats, breakfast meats, and ham), nuts and seeds, and tomato products. Foods low in potassium include white bread, green beans, wax beans, berries (blueberries, cherries, strawberries, etc), and iceberg lettuce. Processed foods tend to be high in sodium, so the more home-cooked foods your mom can have, the better. There are cookbooks sold by some organizations and dialysis clinics with recipes that fit into both a diabetic and renal diet; getting ahold of a dialysis clinic near you may be beneficial for finding recipes. If your mom eventually needs dialysis, she will be able to eat more protein, potassium, and sodium.
If you need any more help, please let me know. I wish you all the best figuring out this very strict diet.
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