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Life on dialysis requires plenty of changes. Often, you won’t be able to keep on eating and drinking the same way you did before dialysis – even if you were already eating a balanced diet.
This is because dialysis replaces healthy kidney function, filtering the blood and preventing toxins from building up. If you take in too much fluid and food, the dialysis won’t be able to filter the toxins from your blood in time. This can lead to fluid, toxins, and solubles building up in the body.
Hemodialysis involves more than just your three times weekly dialysis sessions – it’s a lifestyle.
Certain foods, like processed food, high-sodium foods, and other fatty, salty foods should be limited or avoided altogether while on dialysis.
Your doctor will discuss a detailed dialysis diet with you before you start treatment. Some important factors to consider include:
Protein-rich foods like meat, poultry, eggs, and more are all important for dialysis patients. You should take in around 8-10 ounces of protein daily. Grains, cereals, and bread are also important foods, and you can eat more from these food groups.
It doesn’t matter quite so much what you eat on dialysis as how much you eat. Foods you should limit include:
In fact, too much of just about any food can be dangerous while you’re on dialysis. When we have healthy kidneys, these chemicals and products are quickly and easily filtered from our blood. Unfortunately, dialysis can’t replace the kidney’s natural function, and can’t keep up with an unbalanced diet.
Here are five foods you should definitely limit while on dialysis:
This might include bacon, sausages, hot dogs, canned meats, etc. These kinds of processed meats are very high in sodium and often contain other additives.
Foods with phosphate additives include deli meats, bakery items, and sodas. Phosphate is often added to food to give it longer shelf life, so be sure to check the ingredients list on other products.
Bananas, which are usually held up as the perfect healthy, tasty snack, contain a lot of potassium, which isn’t good for a person on dialysis. How much potassium you can take in may depend on your type of dialysis. For example, peritoneal dialysis can be a more forgiving type of dialysis than hemodialysis.
Unfortunately for all chocolate lovers, chocolate is high in both potassium and phosphorus.
Nuts are a very healthy snack – unless you’re on dialysis. Nuts are high in both potassium and phosphorus, and even a small serving can have an adverse effect on a dialysis patient. Nut butter (like peanut butter) should also be avoided.
The average daily fluid limit for a person on dialysis is around 32 ounces. Since dialysis filters excess fluid from your blood, drinking too much will cause problems.
This is why avoiding salty foods is so important. High-sodium foods will cause you to dehydrate faster, and leave you feeling thirsty more quickly.
The quality of your dialysis diet – or how well you stick to it – will directly impact how effective your dialysis treatment will be. Avoiding or cutting down on the foods you love can be tricky, but isn’t your health worth it?
