Diet taboos for women with chronic nephritis

There are no foods that women with chronic nephritis absolutely cannot touch. The core taboo is "blind taboos/blind supplements without regard to one's own indicators." All dietary adjustments must be dynamically adjusted around the six indicators of urine protein, kidney function, edema, blood potassium, blood phosphorus, and uric acid. More important than "what not to eat" is "how much to eat and how to eat."

Two months ago, I met a 28-year-old female teacher in the outpatient clinic. Her physical examination showed that her urine protein was 1+ and her kidney function was normal. She gave up all meat, eggs, and milk when she returned home, and drank white porridge with vegetables every day. After three weeks for a review, she found that her urine protein had not dropped, but her albumin had dropped. She felt dizzy and weak, and could not even stand in class. After asking, she found out that she had read the "vegetarian diet for nephritis" folk prescription on the Internet, and scared herself into avoiding food. This situation is really too common. When many people are first diagnosed, they always think that they need to strictly avoid food to get well, but instead they drag their bodies down.

Speaking of "can we eat soy products" that many people are most concerned about, in fact this has also been a controversial topic in nephrology for many years. The older generation generally believes that plant protein contains a lot of metabolic waste, which will increase the burden on the kidneys, and no one is allowed to touch it. ； However, evidence-based medicine in the past ten years has shown that the protein in soybeans (soybeans, black beans, green beans) is high-quality protein, and the amino acid pattern matches the needs of the human body very well. As long as your kidney function is normal and you don’t have high uric acid problems, drinking a cup of soy milk or eating two pieces of tofu every day is absolutely fine. In fact, it protects the kidneys better than eating too much red meat. Of course, if the Chinese medicine doctor you see specifically advises you to avoid soy products, you can also adjust it according to your own situation. You don’t have to worry about which party to go to. After eating, you can rest assured that the indicators have not fluctuated.

Don’t think that only the salt you put in cooking counts as salt. This is a pitfall that many people fall into. Especially for patients with edema and high blood pressure, sodium control is the first priority. However, if you like to eat plums, candied fruits, pickles, bacon, or even the takeaways you often order and the milk tea you drink, there is invisible salt. I once met a little girl who never touched pickled products and used very little salt in cooking. Every time she was checked for sodium, she still exceeded the standard. It took me a long time to find out that her daily cup of three-sugar milk tea was hiding something - a cup of ordinary milk tea can have more than 300 mg of sodium. Drinking two cups a day is almost half the amount of salt in a meal. When edema is severe, salt should be controlled within 3g per day, which is about the amount of a beer bottle cap. If it feels too light, you can add some onions, ginger, garlic, and herbs to enhance the flavor. Don't use soy sauce, oyster sauce, or other seasonings. These invisible salts are much more than you think.

If your kidney function is abnormal and your creatinine is elevated, you should pay attention to controlling your total protein intake. It is not about not eating protein, but it is enough to control it at 0.6-0.8g of high-quality protein per kilogram of body weight per day. For example, if you weigh 50 kilograms, 1 egg + 1 bag of milk + 1 tael of lean meat a day is enough. In particular, I would like to remind everyone not to blindly supplement Internet celebrity tonics. This is the most common pitfall for female patients: donkey-hide gelatin, bird's nest, peach gum, fish maw, etc., either have extremely high protein content, or add a lot of sugar and additives. You think they are to replenish qi and blood and nourish the body, but in fact they all work for the kidneys. There was a 35-year-old patient who ate a bowl of bird's nest every day in order to replenish his body after surgery. His creatinine increased by more than 30% after two months of eating, and then slowly dropped after he stopped.

Don’t panic if you find out you have high potassium in your blood. Don’t turn your back on high-potassium foods as soon as you see them. High-potassium vegetables such as spinach and amaranth can remove more than 60% of their potassium by blanching them in water for just one minute. They are completely edible. Just don’t eat them raw or drink them in vegetable soup. ； For high-potassium fruits such as bananas, tangerines, and oranges, it’s okay to eat just one or two pieces if you’re craving for them. If you don’t eat them whole at once, it won’t be a big problem. If your blood phosphorus is high, you should pay special attention to the inorganic phosphorus in processed foods, such as phosphorus additives in cola, carbonated drinks, processed ham, instant hot pot, and instant soup. The human body's absorption rate can reach more than 90%, which is much more harmful than the phosphorus in natural foods. Try not to touch these if possible.

To be honest, after so many years, many female patients either have excessive dietary restrictions and dare not eat anything. In the end, malnutrition and weakened immunity lead to recurrence of kidney disease.； Or they have no dietary restrictions at all and drink milk tea with heavy oil and salt every day. Only when the index goes up do they become anxious. In fact, the diet for kidney disease is not that demanding. You don’t have to make yourself like an ascetic. Occasionally, you will be greedy and eat what you want. As long as the overall quantity is controlled and the indicators are stable, it is much better than worrying about what you can’t eat and what you can’t touch every day. After all, a good mood is also the key to protecting the kidneys.