The renal diet

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Things you always wanted to know about your renal diet but always forget to ask—Diane Green, Renal Dietician.

The renal diet is one of the most complicated diets to learn and follow, with every patient having different dietary restrictions, which depend on your blood results and medical treatment. The advice might include altering your intake of:

*Potassium (including fruit and vegetables)

*Phosphate (include dairy foods)

* Sodium or salt (including processed, tinned foods)

* Fluid (food that is liquid at room temperature and drinks)

* Protein (meat/fish/pulse)

* Calories.

This might be on top of another diet – diabetic diet, gluten-free diet, not to mention remembering to take you’re your phosphate binders (Phosex, Phoslo, Lanthanum, Renagel, Renvela) at the right time! With the help of the patients and staff at Wigan Dialysis Unit and support from the drug companies, a new resource is available to try and help you take more control over your diet (and hopefully answer the questions you always forget in the clinic!). The Renal Diet book works in a variety of ways (examples from the book below) – aiming to show the content of potassium, phosphate and sodium of average portion, sizes of foods and allowing you to take more control of your diet.

At a glance, you can see from the colours whether a food is OK or not (1 is good, 3 take care, 6 Stop and Think), or you can use the numbers to calculate how much you have eaten, aiming for 10 points of each per day.

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