I feel very overwhelmed at the grocery store!

[paddbear0000]

In the past week, I've noticed that my urine production has dropped dramatically and i know it's going to be just a matter of time before I'm going to face diet restrictions. I had to go food shopping today so I thought i'd start stocking the shelves with foods I can eat. I have printed out and read through both of the USDA's 30 page list of foods with phos and potassium levels, but I felt very overwhelmed at the grocery store today. Help! What kind of lists do any of you put together when you go shopping? I have always been an avid label reader thanks to being diabetic my entire life, but the lack of potassium and phosphorus info on labels is very frustrating. Does anyone know of a online resource that has sample dialysis-friendly shopping lists? What kinds of pre-packaged foods are safe to get (like what kinds of cookies, crackers, ceareals, etc.)?

[jbeany]

It is overwhelming at first.  All you seem to get is a list of don't, with no ideas about what counts as a "do".  I'd suggest you get a couple of renal cookbooks, and start trying a few recipes to see what you like.  When you have a group of recipes to work from, you can make a shopping list to match.

[Wenchie58]

Pre packaged food are off any of my shopping lists, generally too high in sodium.

[RightSide]

A simple rule of thumb that works for me is:  Buy most foods that are located on the periphery of the supermarket. The periphery usually has the fresh produce, the salad bar, the meats, the seafood, and the frozen vegetables.  It's the inner aisles that have the junk food, the pre-packaged food, etc.  And I just stay away from there.

So when you enter the supermarket, just walk around the outer edge, "following the left [or right] wall."  Buy foods from there before buying foods from any other aisles.

[okarol]

I found this - not sure it will help with menu planning though - I agree - get good renal cookbook.


Grocery List Suggestions

Meat/Protein Foods
Beef
Chicken
Egg Substitute (Egg
Beaters®, Scramblers® )
Eggs
Fish
Lamb
Pork (fresh)
(pork chops, roast)
Shellfish
Tofu (soft)
Tuna (canned in water)
Turkey
Veal
Wild Game

Fruits
(Serving size= 1 medium-size
fruit or 1/2 cup canned, no
added sugar)
Apple Juice
Apples
Applesauce
Apricot Nectar
Apricots (canned)
Blackberries
Cherries
Cranberries
Cranberry Juice
Cranberry Sauce
Figs (fresh)
Fruit Cocktail
Grapefruit
Grape Juice
Grapes
Lemon
Lemon Juice
Lime
Lime Juice
Loganberries
Lychees
Peach (canned)
Peach nectar
Pear nectar
Pears (canned)
Pineapple
Plums
Raspberries
Strawberries
Tangerines

Vegetables
(Serving size= 1/2 cup, no
added salt)
Alfalfa Sprouts
Arugula
Asparagus
Bean sprouts
Beets (canned)
Cabbage (green, red)
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chayote
Chili peppers
Chives
Coleslaw
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant
Endive
Garlic
Gingerroot
Green beans
Hominy
Jalapeños (fresh)
Kale
Leeks
Lettuce
Mixed Vegetables
Mushrooms
Onions
Parsley
Peas (English)
Pimentos
Radicchio
Radishes
Seaweed kelp
Spaghetti Squash
Summer squash ( scallop,
crookneck, straightneck,
zucchini)
Sweet Peppers (green,
red, yellow)
Tomatillos
Turnips
Turnip Greens
Water Chestnuts
Watercress
Yambean (jicama),
cooked

Breads/Cereals/Grains
Bagels (plain, blueberry,
egg, raisin)
Bread (white, French,
Italian, rye, soft wheat)
Bread sticks (plain)
Cereals, dry, low salt
(Corn Pops®, Cocoa
Puffs®, Sugar Smacks®,
Fruity Pebbles®, Puffed
Wheat®, Puffed Rice®)
Cereals cooked (Cream of
Rice®, or Wheat,
Farina®, Malt-o-meal®)
Couscous
Crackers (unsalted)
Dinner rolls or hard rolls
English muffins
Grits
Hamburger/hot dog buns
Macaroni
Melba toast
Noodles
Oyster crackers
Pita bread
Popcorn (unsalted)
Pretzels (unsalted)
Rice (brown, white)
Rice cakes (apple-
cinnamon, etc)
Spaghetti
Tortillas (flour)

Dairy/Dairy Substitutes
Nondairy creamers
Nondairy frozen dessert
topping (Cool Whip®)
Nondairy frozen desserts
(Mocha Mix®)
Rice milk, unfortified


Beverages
(Keep in mind your fluid
restriction) (Diabetics– use
caution for sugar intake)
(Regular or diet)
7-Up
Cherry 7-Up®
Cream Soda
Ginger ale
Grape soda
Lemon-lime soda
Mellow Yellow®
Mountain Dew®
Orange soda
Root Beer
Slice®
Sprite®
Coffee
Fruit Punch
Hi-C® (Cherry, grape)
Horchata®
Juices (apple, cranberry,
grape)
Kool-Aid®
Lemonade or Limeade
Mineral Water
Nectars (apricot, peach,
pear, 1/2 cup serving)
Nondairy creamers
(Coffee Rich®, Mocha
Mix®, etc.)
Sunny Delight® (citrus
flavor)
Tea

Fats
Butter
Cream Cheese
Margarine
Mayonnaise
Miracle Whip®
Nondairy creamers
Salad Dressings
Sour Cream
Vegetable oils (preferably
canola or olive oil)

Taken from: The Renal Diet...A Guide to Eating Healthier www.vcuhealth.org/transplant/pdf/vascular_access/renal_diet.pdf

[Zach]

Go to DaVita for good renal-friendly recipes.  They have over 500 of them!

http://www.davita.com/recipes/

[paddbear0000]

Karol, thanks! That list is great!

Pre packaged food are off any of my shopping lists, generally too high in sodium.

Even stuff like cookies, fruit snacks, pudding, jello, canned tuna or chicken, etc.

Go to DaVita for good renal-friendly recipes.  They have over 500 of them!

http://www.davita.com/recipes/

Yeah, I've actually used their site before. I printed out tons of their recipes to make a special cookbook for a family friend when he started dialysis a few years ago. My only problem is I hate cooking.

[peleroja]

No lists for me.  I eat what I want in moderation.  I do not use salt in my cooking or on my food.  Foods high in potassium and phosphorus are sparingly eaten.  Remember, nothing is truly forbidden.  You just can't eat it all day long, every day!

[twirl]

my nep doc said to eat anything in moderation

stay on the outside aisles in the grocery store -- I have been told that

[jbeany]

"Even stuff like cookies, fruit snacks, pudding, jello, canned tuna or chicken, etc. "

Not all of it is off limits, but you do have to learn to read labels, and watch for salt.  Low fat usually becomes the worst possible choice, just because they replace the fat with more sodium to help the flavor.  You also have to spend some time looking up phos levels online for things you buy the most, since very few manufacturers bother to list it on the package.

Jello counts as fluid.  You aren't going to want a lot of that.  Pudding is a dairy product - high in phos, so watch that.  Not sure about canned tuna or chicken - never bought them myself.

Not cooking does make it more difficult.  If you make it at home from scratch, you control all the ingredients, and the phos is usually lower, since many companies use phos as a preservative.

Don't forget that everyone has different labs, depending on how much residual kidney function they have when they start.  When I started, I made changes to my diet gradually, as my lab results showed the need.  I cut down on some high potassium things first - bought apple juice instead of orange, bought fewer potatoes for side dishes, and more rice and noodles, and worked on finding meals I liked with less tomato sauce.  My potassium levels are usually good, so I've been able to work my high-potassium favorites back in my diet in reasonable amounts.  (Potato soup is fine for dinner if you didn't have hash browns for breakfast and fries for lunch.)  I had more problems with my phos levels, so my dairy and nut consumption got cut drastically from what I used to eat.  I'm on a better binder now than I was at the start, so I've got a bit more leeway to have a small glass of milk and some peanut butter once in a while.  I adore cheese, so that's my main source of phos - I kept the cheese in my diet and left off the nuts and milk instead.  I did cut down on portions drastically, though.  A single 1 oz serving instead of the 5 or 6 oz I used to eat.  You have to do the same - decide what you crave and want the most, and give on the other things.
Don't get completely overwhelmed; just make the changes gradually, with the lab results to guide you.

[paddbear0000]

I got my lab results back the other day and everything is still okay. So no diet restrictions yet!!! Yeah!!!