What's the hardest part of your renal diet?

[jadey]

The hardest part of the renal diet for me is the sodium restriction I love my salty mcdonalds fries and potato chips. i also eat out a lot at chinese/vietnamese restaurants where the main ingredients are always MSG

What is the hardest part for you?

[MooseMom]

I've been doing the pre-dialysis diet for 7 years now, so it is no longer really hard.  I don't have any sodium restrictions though, at least, not yet.  But once I do, I think that will be a problem simply because my husband LOVES to eat out.  I'm happy to cook here at home, but no, I'd be a selfish b*tch if I dare let my dietary restrictions get in anyone else's way.   And I don't have the energy to make two meals, a healthy one for me and a beige one for him (seriously, he eats only beige food....not too many fruit and veg.).   So, with restaurant food being really high in sodium, I see that as a potential obstacle.

What I find hardest now is just having to always do mental calculations in my head, you know?  If I have a quarter of a banana on my breakfast cereal, then I have to be careful not to have too much potassium later in the day...that sort of crap.  I get so damn tired of having to think about every bite.  I've always liked healthy food and have mostly steered away from junk, but "healthy food" for a normal person could kill me, and that pissed me off.

I don't find the diet hard, but it does make me mad.

[jbeany]

I learned quickly that the food wasn't the problem - it was the fluid restrictions.  I learned how to balance the restricted foods well enough that I could have at least a little bit of everything, and I, thankfully, adapted well to the idea that a bite or two could be enough to satisfy a craving.  But the thirst was the worst.  Oh, to be able to chug a huge glass of milk!  And follow it with a big glass of ice water.  I stopped using the AC in my place in the summer because I craved the extra fluid I got to have when I was sweating a lot.  I did it, but it, like MM says about her battle with food, was damn tiring to have to think about it ALL THE TIME.

I've had my transplant over 2 years now.  What's funny is after years of being restricted on fluid, it actually took a conscious effort to learn to chug fluids down again.  All that time forcing myself to sip, sip, and only sip left me gagging every time I started to chug down water!
And the prednisone and my immunosuppresants have altered my taste buds so much that milk doesn't taste very good to me any more.   

Of course, after all that time cautiously taking a bite here and a bite there of all the things I wasn't supposed to have - I went completely crazy for a while after the transplant and ate full servings of  everything in sight!

[jadey]

I live at home with my dad and my sister so my dad usually prepares our meals. He usually cooks like he normally would but not add salt to it until he portioned some for me.. then the remaining leftovers will be moderated to everyone else's taste.

One of my favourite foods to eat at home is instant ramen and it has been difficult to need to stay away from those. However, I did have some last week and it wasn;t too bad. Watering down the soup base helps get rid of a huge chunk of the sodium. I also just eat the noodles.. never drink the soup!

jbeany I know what you mean. When my sister got her transplant, they told her that she must drink 2L a day.. that was like the hardest thing to do for her..

And whoa I did not know that transplant meds alter your tastebuds!

[MooseMom]

I had an aunt whose kidneys failed when she was in her early 80s.  She was on D for about 7 years, I think, and she died just short of her 90th birthday.  I remember that one day, she and I had a contest to see who took the most pills each day.  I won that by a landslide.  But what I remember most is her saying that the fluid restrictions were the hardest.  She lived in rural Mississippi, and you do NOT want to be in Mississippi in August.  Just thinking about it makes me thirsty.  Whenever I saw her, she'd have this sad little cup of Sprite with, like, one ice cube.  That was my first introduction to life on dialysis, and I was not impressed.

Monitoring my food intake is easy peasy.  I turned the corner when I read some academic paper about what really happens to your body when your serum phosphorus goes too high, and reading about the growth of bony structures in your eyeballs make forswearing Coke the easiest thing I've ever done.  Still, I hate having to think about it at all.

[Rerun]

I miss my MILK.  I take a pint into dialysis once a month.  It is just so good.  They say you can't drink a gallon but I'd like to try.

                 

[Joe]

I'm with Rerun, I miss my milk. And being on PD, I don't have the option of taking a pint with me 

[Traveller1947]

For me, it's the fluid restriction.  Chugging down a glass of ice water would be my idea of heaven, but so many years of taking only small sips leave me choking if I try a bigger one.  And, as you say, jbeany, I've learned to love to sweat!

[sullidog]

I'd have to say pizza!

[jadey]

I definitely miss processed cheese..

I lost 10 pounds since I started this diet trying to gain that back is hard

[mcclane]

everything !  I'm a big foodie, and enjoy many foods, but when I was on pd, cutting back on fluids was the top thing, followed by sodium intake.  I know that sodium is bad, but sometimes indulging in mcd's or pizza is just too overwhelming.

[Poppylicious]

And whoa I did not know that transplant meds alter your tastebuds!

If it helps, Blokey's tastebuds are in full working order and haven't altered at all since his transplant (although I was hoping he would suddenly develop my love of broccoli and loathing of peppers, but ...)

 

Fluid was the major restriction for Blokey.  He tended to get away with eating a little of what he fancied and post-transplant his food diet is more or less the same (although I'm trying to make him eat more veg!) but having become used to restricted drinking he is finding it a bugger to drink more.  I told him before that he'd find it difficult and he just laughed at me.  I promise I try not to do the whole 'I told you so' lecture.  *grin*

[Rain]

For me its dairy.  I use to drink 3 big glasses of milk a day and yogurt, cheese etc.  I'm not content with some yogurt every once in a while. 

[Joosthaegeman]

For me it's the drinking part. I drink 1 can of  Sprite with my supper. Rest of the day I drink 2 times a 11Oml  glass. And some ice cubes.

in the evening when I am in front of the telly I have an ice popsicle :-) (55 to 105ml) 

[Riverwhispering]

Healthy foods!!!   I miss whole grain foods, Cheese and nuts.   I guess Cheese is the one I miss most.... I'm a cheese head i guess

[Willis]

Ice cream and cheese (though not at the same time  ). Other than those two, there's not much I can't do without.

 

[jbeany]

And whoa I did not know that transplant meds alter your tastebuds!

Well, like all side effects, it's not consistent with all patients, as Poppy points out.  But I can't stand the taste of anything really sweet anymore.  I made Christmas candy and tried a new recipe - Cracker toffee.  I thought it was nasty, but everyone else loved it.  Even fresh fruit doesn't taste as good to me now.  Homemade fudge, caramels, truffles, peanut butter balls - nope, no thanks.  I make them, but I don't eat them anymore.  Plain chocolate still tastes okay, but any candy with a lot of sugar doesn't interest me at all.

[Whamo]

To me the hardest part of the renal diet is the fluid restriction.  In order to maintain a 48 oz. per dialysis day, and 34 oz. weekend protocol, I have to avoid sodium like the plague.  Eat too much sodium, and the fluid sticks to you like a mosquito in May.  And, of course, my favorite foods are loaded with sodium.  I've also discovered the Blood Type diet, which says type "O" blood people such as myself should avoid dairy, and eat lots of meat.  Naturally, meat is full of sodium.  I'm also finding that when my fluid intake is too low, my stomach cramps like hell trying to digest my food.  The food I miss the most is cheddar cheese.  I indulge in ice cream, but only at 4 oz. at a time.  I also miss pizza.