Kidney Disease

Bites dietitians can help you to manage your kidney disease through a prescriptive dietary intervention according to what stage of renal impairment you are at. Bites dietitians will assess your individual nutritional status, most recent pathology results to check for impairments to electrolyte balance and renal markers, fluid status, the stage of chronic kidney disease you are at and your individual micronutrient status. Once each of these factors have been assessed, dietary plans can be prescribed to reach your goals. You might need to reduce or increase some foods containing high levels of potassium, phosphate and sodium in your diet depending on how well your body is coping with these. It’s often also helpful for us to speak with your treating GP and/or nephrologist to gain a better understanding of how they would like us to work with them to manage your levels. Some nutritional goals may also include achieving and maintaining a healthy weight or supplementing any micronutrient deficiencies.

Our dietitians will also help you manage any comorbidities associated with this disease. For example, if you have type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease, our dietitians will create a tailored meal plan that “multitasks” and helps you to manage both these conditions by perhaps also limiting your carbohydrate intake to manage blood glucose levels or achieving weight loss through a calorie deficit.

Stabilisation of your renal function over time is the ultimate goal here with improvements in associated risk factors such as blood pressure, weight and glucose levels being expected also! If weight loss was a goal, a weight loss of 0.5 – 1.5 kg per week can usually be safely achieved through diet and exercise prescription and will be guided by how fast or slow you would like to see improvements. If reducing the risk or managing hypertension is a goal, blood pressure should begin to decrease within weeks to months of beginning your dietary/exercise prescription.