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maryels2267 Asked June 2014

My husband has just been diganosed with stage 3 kidney disease. Trying to find a renal nutritionist. Any advice?

He also is type 2 diabetes. I am trying to find a renal nutritionist for me to figure out the diet.
He goes to Martins Health point. They do not have a dietician .I will pay on my oawn. We are senior citizen, Thank you for your help Mary C.

Shane1124 Feb 2017
Go to the National Kidney Foundation website. They have the diet on that site to download as well as meal plans and recipes. If you have any dialysis centers nearby where you live they often have Classes for patients with CKD 3-4. You have to limit salt, low protein, watch for vegetables high in potassium and no salt substitutes that have potassium in them. You can use Mrs Dash for flavoring.
There is a lot of great information out there on Kidney Disease and how to prevent its progression. Make sure his nephrologist or PCP has him on an ACE inhibitor (lisinopril, zestril) or an ARB & a beta blocker. 
Look for dialysis centers in your area (DaVita and Fresenius Medical Care are the big 2 in the US) call one of their centers and ask for their dietician then get recommendations on RD's or Kidney classes from the RD. Every dialysis center has a registered dietician but won't usually see you without charging a fee for their services or can recommend a dietician in your community for an evaluation. Again, some are free but most will charge you for the consult.
The NKF site also has the number to the American Dieticians Association and you can call that number, speak to a staff person, give them your zip code and they will look up the names of registered dieticians in your area with the specialty of diabetes and CKD.
No supplements from any health food store until you have met with a dietician or cleared them with his doctor as many supplements get excreted by the Kidney. No fresh vegetables until you know which are high in potassium ( high potassium foods are tomatoes, potatoes, oranges, bananas) and the amounts he can have of each. 
Good luck! Following the CKD diet can prevent dialysis for years.

MaestroDre Feb 2017
Hey if you Google "renal grocery list" it will give you a PDF of grocery items to shop for.

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sherry1anne Jun 2014
I'm vegan vegetarian - the big thing is to get enough B vitamins protein and iron in your diet. Find a local health food store and they can help. If you don't have one, scour the internet for balanced vegan menus. I am 75% vegan now and was 100% for over a year, vegetarian for over 20 years. The big thing is to eat plenty of fresh raw vegetables and juice them.

blannie Jun 2014
Here's an excellent video about treating kidney disease with a plant-based diet from the Non-Profit Organization Nutrition Facts: http://nutritionfacts.org/video/treating-kidney-failure-through-diet/ . And here it is in written format: http://nutritionfacts.org/2012/10/04/preventing-kidney-failure-with-diet/

If they take the links out, go to nutritionfactsdotorg and look for preventing kidney failure with diet in the search box in the upper right.

If I were you, I'd be looking for someone with experience with healthy vegan/vegetarian diets. I'll google to see if I can find someone in your area.

sherry1anne Jun 2014
I would recommend a raw and living food center if you have one near you or can get to one. This eating plan can save lives. It consists of sprouting legumes for protein, drinking a green shake every morning and basically leaving off meat, bread and all processed foods. If you are looking for remission from this disease, I would highly recommend a living food diet. There's a film "Sick, Tired and Nearly Dead" it's a free Youtube video. Google & watch it. The results are amazing.

GardenArtist Jun 2014
Ask all of your doctors if they can recommend a renal nutritionist. I'm not familiar with Martins Health Point, whether it's a clinic or hospital, or what, but have you contacted the doctor there who attends your husband?

Also, at least in my area hospitals have services to provide patients help in finding a specific type of doctor. Contact them and ask them if they have any renal nutritionists affiliated with their hospitals.

You could also Google Renal Nutritionist for the city and state in which you live.

Hope you find someone.

freqflyer Jun 2014
My significant other was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 kidney disease. So I've been busy trying to find items that are 0 sodium or low sodium, not easy.

We tried soups with no added salt, blah no taste. Did find 0 sodium cereal made by Kashi which taste really good. Lot of trial and error when it comes to no salt food. Thank goodness for no salt real butter which we add to no-salt canned vegetables :)

Where I live we have an on-line grocery service that is part of a local grocery store chain, where we order groceries on-line. One thing really great about their website is that you can go aisle by aisle and bring up all the products and sort by sodium amount, starting with zero sodium. Same with sugar. Or by calorie, etc.

I can see where you would want a nutritionist as you need more than just low sodium, also low sugars. Wonder if there are any menu items on the Internet that would work.

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