Thinking about going veggie

[Annig83]

Hello all!

I was just curious if anyone out there is a vegetarian and on D, or getting a transplant?  I used to be a vegetarian for 10 years, but due to my kidney failure and being on D, my doctor reccommended eating meat....

I'm having an aversion to eating meat again, (my nurse said that can happen when on D).  Curious if anyone out there has recipes, advice, or anything else they want to share?

[Restorer]

It's certainly not impossible, but if you have trouble keeping your albumin up and your potassium and/or phosphorus down, it will be more difficult.

I don't eat meat much, just because of the aversion to meat you mentioned, and that it's harder to safely cook and clean up after, and I live with a vegan. I've done a lot of things with tofu in smaller servings. Homemade seitan (without the nutritional yeast or miso that most recipes add) is quite low in potassium and phosphorus and high in protein.

You'll have to be careful with beans and nuts, and watch your lab values. You won't be able to get much protein from cheese or milk, but eggs will be a good source. Alternatively, there are a couple of brands of vegan cheese that are relatively low in P/K.

If all that fails, most whey protein powders are vegetarian, and there are several kinds that are renal diet friendly.

As far as other parts of your diet aside from the protein, you'll probably have to rely on refined grains. Whole grains are out of the diet, and that includes the interesting things like quinoa and flax seeds. So, white rice, bread without milk or whole wheat, tortillas without lard (flour - limit corn tortillas because they're whole grain), regular pasta, couscous, rice noodles, and breads made with degermed corn meal (not stone ground).

A lot of vegetarian recipes load up on fresh veggies, which is hard to do on a renal diet because even the relatively low potassium veggies add up.

Take the transition slowly, watch how you feel and your lab numbers, and talk to your dietitian if he/she is helpful.

Oh! I see you're on CCPD. Do you have any potassium restrictions? What about fluid? You might be in a better position with that. Are you on phosphorus binders? You might need to up them slightly (dependent on future lab values, of course), but I think that'd be a fair trade for eating what you prefer.
 

[Annig83]

Hi Matt!
Thanks for the info.  I am NOT fluid restricted, and I am on Phos. Binders (Renagel).  My Albumin levels have been stable at 4.0 (Low, but right where I should be). 

I only eat once a day... I just don't feel hungry all day... I usually eat around 5:30/6:00 pm, and that's it.  My dietician wants me to eat throughout the day... I just can't make myself do it... and somehow I have been maintaining my weight, Albumin and even iron!  I don't always eat meat either, but just the thought of a hamburger makes me want to gag  

I do like whey protein shakes, but haven't had one in a while... I don't want to gain weight being on those... I was on protein bars for a while, but their chalk-like texture makes me want to hurl too LOL.  I guess I'm difficult? 

If you have anymore ideas let me know!  Thanks for responding!

[gothiclovemonkey]

i get this way often, and i also agree protien bars are nasty!!! I find the least nasty ones to be the ZONE bars, they arent tooooo bad...
i hate the texture of meat... but i try to keep eating it. it gets diifficult sometimes

[Lillupie]

From what I have heard eating less meat on PD is harder on hemo. Pd is dont daily and it requires more protein....I guess stock up on the Ensure, and the protein shakes. I too am on Pd and only eat once a day, and eat about the same time. After dialysis for 4.5 years, Im sick to my head of the constant meat. There is only so much chicken, fish, hamburger, etc. that I want to eat day after day. I avoid breakfast because im sick of eggs, and for lunch Im sick of chicken ot tuna salads. Ive lost so much weight from avoiding cheating. Im sick of the limitations and taking the horse pill binder. I feel like someone is taking a funnel and pouring meat down my throat. lol

I am tried frozen fruit in a blender with ensure, and that wasnt too bad.
Lisa

Hi Matt!
Thanks for the info.  I am NOT fluid restricted, and I am on Phos. Binders (Renagel).  My Albumin levels have been stable at 4.0 (Low, but right where I should be). 

I only eat once a day... I just don't feel hungry all day... I usually eat around 5:30/6:00 pm, and that's it.  My dietician wants me to eat throughout the day... I just can't make myself do it... and somehow I have been maintaining my weight, Albumin and even iron!  I don't always eat meat either, but just the thought of a hamburger makes me want to gag  

I do like whey protein shakes, but haven't had one in a while... I don't want to gain weight being on those... I was on protein bars for a while, but their chalk-like texture makes me want to hurl too LOL.  I guess I'm difficult? 

If you have anymore ideas let me know!  Thanks for responding!

[galvo]

Watch your iron, mate.

[Whamo]

What blood type are you?  If you're an "O", like me, you'll want to eat meat.  There are books and websites on the subject.  Personally, I got so weak from going vegetarian and low-protein for 4 years that I wouldn't do it again. 

[Annig83]

Whamo- I am A positive.

[Riverwhispering]

I really believe in that metabolic typing eating.  Also the Blood typing might be pretty right on too.  I'm type 0+ and have been eating a lot more animal protein then I was before and I'm feeling a lot better since then.  Plus I'm trying to eat only real food now and have cut out most all processed foods except white rice.  I'll find out at the end of the month if it's actually helping but I do feel better.

[Aubrey]

I've not eaten meat for nearly 35 years, and I hardly changed my diet when I started dialysis. I've had no trouble.

[st789]

Hello Annig !

Became vegetarian for 5 years already.  Glad I did after the transplant.  It took me about 6 months to adapt to this diet.  Try to get enough beans, eggs and nuts in your diet to substitute for meats.  Feel great...   

[AguynamedKim]

There are a lot of ways to get plenty of protein as a vegetarian or derivation there-of, e.g. ovo-lacto-vegetarian.  The ovo allows for eggs and the lacto allows for milk.  Are you considering true vegetarian, i.e. "vegan" in the US or a derivation of ovo-lacto-vegetarian?

Regardless, there are plenty of ways of getting protein - the key being complete proteins, i.e. those that contain all essentail amino acids.

The best if you are going ovo-vegetarian is egg white protein.  It is the absolute best natural ratio of essentiall amino acids of any protein, including all meats.

If you are going lacto-vegatarian, milk is a complete protein (at least from cows).  Whey protein powder comes from milk (curds and whey).

If you are going vegan, like myself (caveat - I'm around stage 2 CKD and eat an ultra-low protein diet which is radically different from the diet you should be on as a dialysis patient), you can still easily get a lot of protein.  Beans, lentils and nuts contain a lot of protein, and when combined with rice, form a complete protein.  There is also Calwood Nutritionals that I use to help ensure I get enough complete protein in my diet (since my diets is very protein restrictive).  They make powders that you can add to drinks or food ensure you get enough essential amino acids.  I would recommend them to anyone to help boost their essential amino acid intake.  There's also seitan and other vegan meat analogs that are very high in protein, but I'm not sure how complete those proteins are.  It's easy to get a lot of protein as a vegan - the key is to make sure you get plenty of complete protein.  I personally only have to make sure I take in about 10 grams of complete protein a day (about 30 grams overall) because dialysis is not removing it from my bloodstream.  You will want much more than that, likely double to triple those amounts or even more (20-30+ grams of complete protein and 60-90+ grams of overall protein).  That is out of my area of experience but those amounts reflects numbers I often see on the forum and elsewhere. 

I personally also think vegetarian diets, when done right, are very healthy diets for people overall.  You can also ear very poorly on an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet, e.g. pasta-tarian where you're not getting any real nutirion form highly refined foods.  You can eat tons of cheese pizza but I don't believe that would be good for you long term.

Hope you're able to adopt a diet that you like and is great for your health.

[Annig83]

I talked with my dietician about it, and she's not 100% on board with me going back to my veggie-roots.  So far my levels for calcium, proteins, and iron have been awesome.  I've cut my meat down nearly by 1/2 and it doesn't seem to be affecting my levels much.  I've incoporated more vegetables throughout the day, and attempting to eat more fruits (I'm picky).  I want to branch out more and try new things... I have a real issue with texture...like don't even get me in the same room as JELLO or humus!  EW!  I've upped my dairy consumption and talked with my doctor about popping a few extra binders throughout the day if needed...he's perfectly fine with it. 

I appreciate the feedback.  I may continue to go completely veggie, but I am concerned about maintaining my awesome levels right now as well.

[AguynamedKim]

Ugh - I feel like such an idiot on and kind of suggestion of milk.  I'm not phospohorous restricted yet so I forgot - I'm very sorry about that.  I also don't eat any dairy myself so I was doubly outside of my wheelhouse.

There's also a book about being vegetarian and on dialysis - I bought it a while back and will see if I can't find the information on that for you. 

Maintaining your awesome levels is what you should keep fighting to do and I salute you for doing that. 

[Annig83]

I talked to my dietician, and although she said I could do vegetarian, my levels were still awesome, and she said to keep doing what I am doing.  My phos. has gone up a bit, but nothing serious.  (I had milk for breakfast and my binders must have not done their job   ).  Oh well, I have cut back on red meats, it's just so hard to feed the family when you're trying to regulate your diet.

[Whamo]

If you are type A blood you might want to take a look at a book on eating for your blood type or do a search for how to eat that way online.  You can scan the books for free at a bookstore.    You don't have to read the entire book.  I was able to avoid dialysis for five years by going vegetarian and low-protein, but dialysis drains so many amino acids that I think it'd be hard to stay on that road.

[HSM]

Hey, it can be done. I've been vegetarian for a good few years now and my blood results are excellent.

But I do exercise caution, fruit and veg that are high in potassium have to be avoided to a certain degree. In my experience, everyone's tolerance to the amount they can eat is different, you just have to experiment.

I know it's possible as I've been on dialysis almost 5 years and I've been vegetarian every single day. It is difficult to be a vegan (that's what I'd like to be) but I'm happy to be a vegetarian. I just don't eat eggs or fish, I don't have too much milk either. Personal message me if you want more practical advice etc or whatever is best for you. I hope my answer contributed to your post.