chocolate

[jonn r]

so here is a dumb question for you all....why cant we eat it.....i do every so often and i want to know why i cant....

[okarol]

Potassium consumption must be monitored because too little or too much can be harmful
to your heart. Potassium can be found in salt substitutes, milk, chocolate, nuts and some fruits and vegetables.

from: http://www.bethisraelny.org/services/kidney/dialysis_nutrition.html

[brenda]

It's not that you probably can't eat it. You just have to plan for it. If you count your potassium at all, save a little bit to indulge yourself.

[jbeany]

Chocolate is a double whammy - it's got potassium and phosphate.  Anything made from a bean seems to be really high in potassium especially.  There's nothing wrong with having a little.  You just need to keep track of the numbers, and account for it, like any other craving.  If you avoid other high potassium and phosphate foods on the day you eat the chocolate, then having some won't hurt you.  I'm not reccommending buying a two pound box of fudge and indulging in the whole thing - but a mini candy bar or a "fun size" bag of m & m's can be worked into a renal diet. 

Don't worry, jonn - the longer you do the diet, the easier it gets to remember how much potassium and phosphate different foods have.  It won't always be a chore to figure out what to eat!

[Triker]

I watch my diet, but eat a candy bar every once in a while. I always use a binder with it. Nuts are worse for me. They always show in my blood work, when I cheat on nuts. It's the things that you're not supposed to have, that we crave.

[Zach]

I watch my diet, but eat a candy bar every once in a while. I always use a binder with it. Nuts are worse for me. They always show in my blood work, when I cheat on nuts. It's the things that you're not supposed to have, that we crave.

I too, eat a piece of candy with chocolate (like the dark chocolate milky way bar) now and then.  But always on a day that I haven't eaten meals with much potassium in them.  Like Triker, I take a couple of binders.  But remember, the binders are only for phosphorus.  They don't do anything for high potassium.     

[kitkatz]

Give me the chocolate and noone gets hurt!

[Sluff]

I love Chocolate..chocolate does not love me.

[stauffenberg]

The funny thing is, that after having been on dialysis from 1996 to 2005, I still follow a renal diet more than a year and a half after my transplant!  I just got so used to living without chocolate and without salt that I still avoid both just as strictly as I did while on dialysis.  The fluid intake, however, has returned to normal.