Your physician has ordered a special diet for you based on your current medical condition.
You’re on a renal diet, which means certain nutrients may be decreased to help with your kidney function. Each patient may need different amounts of nutrients in this diet, such as sodium, potassium, phosphorus and water/fluids. It’s important you receive the proper amount of protein to meet the current needs of your body, while considering how your kidneys are functioning.
Many of the foods you’ll receive are naturally low in sodium or are unprocessed, because many processed or pre-packaged foods tend to be higher in sodium.
Based on your current lab work, you may also need to have potassium decreased in your diet. This means you’ll be offered fruits and vegetables that have low to medium amounts of potassium, and likely won’t receive potatoes because of their high potassium content.
If your diet needs to be low in phosphorus because of high levels seen in your lab work, you may receive smaller amounts of dairy items like milk and cheese.
Fluids may be restricted if you’re retaining fluid or if your kidneys are unable to manage high amounts of fluid intake. Protein may also be limited based off your current renal function. This means meat, eggs, and other protein servings may be smaller than what you’re used to, so your kidneys aren’t overloaded.
Your doctor and dietitian will work together to provide the proper amounts of these nutrients to meet your specific needs.