Nutritional Diet for Kidney Failure

According to information from the medical website Medline Plus, kidney failure is a condition where the kidneys become suddenly or progressively unable to eliminate waste. Kidney failure can be caused by any number of conditions, including complications from pregnancy, extremely low blood pressure, or infections that target the kidneys themselves. Regardless of the cause, a specialized diet can slow kidney failure's progression.

Kidney Failure Diet Theory

• Limit your consumption of protein, phosphorus, and sodium while following a diet to delay ultimate kidney failure. According to Drugs.com, this type of diet acts to inhibit kidney failure due to its removal of the items that are most stressful on the kidneys. By providing the kidneys with a decrease in workload through removal of protein, sodium, and phosphorus, you will extend their useful life. Note that this diet will not cure, stop, or reverse kidney failure, but it will slow progression of the condition.

Kidney Failure Diet

• Consume no more than 50 to 70 g of protein per day. Accomplish this by drastically reducing your consumption of meats and dairy products, along with keeping a food journal listing the items you consume and their protein content. Be diligent in doing this, because almost all foods contain some trace amount of protein that must be catalogued to avoid accidentally going over the limit.

  Likewise, limit phosphorus in your diet to further decrease stress on the kidneys. Unlike protein, you need not keep your phosphorus intake under any specific amount, but avoid consumption of specific phosphorus-rich foods such as dairy, peas, beans, cola, nuts, and beer.

  Finally, keep your sodium intake relatively low (less than 2,000 mg daily). As with protein intake, perform specific tabulations to keep track of your overall sodium intake, but you can make the job much easier by avoiding table salt and sticking to fresh foods as much as possible, as canned and processed foods tend to contain high amounts of sodium (used as a preservative).