Being on dialysis is not just filtering the toxins or waste materials from the body. It causes loss of essential nutrients and energy of the body too. The body drains a lot of energy due to the loss of good nutrients so, it needs some energy reviving foods for dialysis patients to elevate their energy level.
Being a dialysis patient, you need a lot of specifications and selective choices in food. You can’t take each and every food item like healthy people. Your food choice directly affects the quality of dialysis, hence your life.
Why Dialysis Patients Need a Special Diet?
Being a dialysis patient, you have to be much selective in choosing the proper diet plan by carefully controlling the electrolytes like sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, and protein content of food.
The most important of these electrolytes to be carefully analyzed is potassium. A balanced level of electrolytes and good quality protein content is the key to living a better life even on dialysis.
Most people are unaware of the proper food choice and its nutrient content. It proves to be detrimental in later stages. A sudden rise or drop of anyone electrolyte in the body may result in causing a serious complication due to complete loss of kidney functionality.
Make sure to discuss regularly with your Nephrologist about what to eat before and after each dialysis session to enhance the quality as well as expectancy of your life.
Every hospital and health care advisor should provide patients with an appropriate guidebook to avoid any complications. It must contain a proper guideline about diet plan, its requirement in the body, and nutrient content.
What to Know About Energy Reviving Foods For Dialysis Patients?
There are a number of factors that determine the overall health of kidney failure patients when on dialysis. A few of these are listed below:
- Your food choice directly affects overall health and life quality even on dialysis.
- Know and limit the foods rich in potassium, phosphorus, and sodium. These three electrolytes are directly or indirectly linked to your cardiovascular health.
- Too much potassium build-up in the body before dialysis can cause heart attack and even death. So, maintaining a healthy potassium level is a crucial factor for survival on dialysis.
- Too much phosphorus removes the calcium from the bones and makes them weak and brittle.
- Too much sodium causes hypertension that itself is a life-threatening issue. Sodium increases your thirst level hence; you need more water which eventually increases your fluid build-up. Avoiding processed and canned foods to avoid sodium is necessary for healthy dialysis life.
- Adjust proper liquid intake and avoid juices and soft drinks as they are rich in potassium and phosphorus content. Dialysis removes the extra fluid from your body. But if your dialysis session has to remove too much of the fluid, it may result in cramps, a sudden drop of blood pressure, and weakness.
- You should consult your doctor to suggest the quantity of liquid you can take during two consecutive sessions.
- Taking high-quality protein food reduces waste quantity to be removed in dialysis.
List of Energy Reviving Foods For Dialysis Patients
Each dialysis session causes a lot of weakness due to the draining of not only the waste materials of the body but also most of the essential nutrients and proteins. Furthermore, blood loss during the session and the subsequent lowering of the hemoglobin level result in extreme weakness in the body.
Proper calories intake, protein, nutrient balance is necessary to remain healthy and energized when living with dialysis.
Similarly, you should take foods that make hemoglobin to cover the blood loss due to dialysis treatment. Too much and too low each nutrient content may cause energy loss and other cardiovascular issues.
“If you are a dialysis patient, then always adopt a habit of reading the labels on each food item in food grocery to know the exact nutrient content. Any negligence in this matter may cause complications later on.”
So, you have to boost your energy level by carefully selecting the right food choice. Here, the list of some super-foods that can revive your lost energy after dialysis.
1- Egg White- Quick Energy Reviving Food For Dialysis Patients
Dialysis patients always need a high percentage of proteins in their diet to make their bones and muscles strong and healthy. If you are on dialysis, you need to increase your protein intake besides lowering the phosphorus, and potassium intake.
Eggs mainly the white portion are an excellent source for getting quick energy dosage for dialysis patients. It contains more protein, less phosphorus, and less fat content as compared to egg yolk that proves to be an amazing food for kidney failure patients when on dialysis.
Egg yolk is a very nutritious part of egg-containing lutein, vitamin D, and zeaxanthin. But being rich in phosphorus, it is not a good food source for dialysis patients. High phosphorus sucks the calcium of bones hence, decreasing the bone strength. More chances of high cholesterol levels in the body are another disadvantage of egg yolk.
“Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score gives the egg a score of ‘1’ where scale range from 0 to 1. This score is actually a measure of essential amino acids that are produced from a certain protein source.”
2- Chicken makes you Energized
Chicken is the best choice for dialysis patients. Daily 1-2 servings of chicken in a small quantity (2-3 cubes of 1-inch size) help to boost up your energy level. But, be aware of your cholesterol level before consuming meat.
“According to research work published in NCBI in 2018, protein diet intake for dialysis patients as 1.2 g/kg/d and 0.80 g/kg/d for chronic kidney disease patients with eGFR <25 ml/min.”
In the later stages of chronic kidney disease, when complete kidney failure still doesn’t occur, you have to limit the protein intake. This is because kidneys got accumulated the burden of proteins and were not able to get rid of excess protein waste.
But in dialysis, protein wastes are removed from the body in each session so, the body demands a balanced high-quality protein intake before the next session to get energized. But you have to avoid processed chicken items.
3- Lean Meat
Lean meat is also an amazing food choice for dialysis patients. It contains high-quality protein and less fat content. Moreover, it boosts the energy level of the body by increasing muscle mass. Per week 1 serving (1-2 small pieces) is enough and required in patients to meet their energy demands.
Always, be careful about buying the meat as it should be fat-free or lean meat as it reduces the chances of developing cholesterol levels high. Avoid frozen or processed meat items as they contain phosphorus and sodium content.
4- Fish as Energy Booster For Dialysis Patients
Fish contains high-quality protein and omega-3 fatty acids that help dialysis patients boost up their energy level as well as fight certain infections. Omega 3 fats lower the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in the body.
Moreover, a fish diet reduces the risk of heart attacks and meets the demands of protein requirements of the body without raising the cholesterol level. Adding fish in a low quantity to your diet twice a week is a good healthy option for dialysis patients.
5- Blueberries
Blueberries are an excellent source of antioxidants particularly anthocyanins which protect you from chronic health conditions such as cardiovascular problems, diabetes, cancers, and body inflammation.
Being low in potassium, sodium, and phosphorus, it is thought to be an incredible diet.
1cup serving of fresh blueberries of 100g contains almost:
- sodium: 1mg
- potassium: 77mg
- phosphorus: 12mg
6- Cranberries
Cranberries prevent infection of the bladder that is a usual problem in chronic kidney disease or kidney failure patients. So, cranberries just boost up urinary tract functionality.
Besides this, cranberries are also good for the gastrointestinal tract protecting against ulcers and stomach infections. Thus, prevents the stomach from medicinal side effects.
It is much low in potassium, phosphorus, and sodium that making it a superb food source for dialysis patients.
1 cup serving of 100g cranberries contains:
- sodium: 2mg
- potassium: 80mg
- phosphorus: 11mg
7- Apple Makes You Energized
Apples are incredible food for improving your overall health. However, people on dialysis can also use this fruit in their daily diet chart as it is ideally low in potassium, sodium, and phosphorus content.
They are used to reduce the chances of cardiovascular issues and high cholesterol levels and inflammation. It is also immensely good to boost up the immune system.
One medium-sized apple of 100 g contains
- sodium: 1mg
- potassium: 107mg
- phosphorus: 10mg
8- Pineapple
Pineapple, being rich in fiber, vitamin C, manganese and bromelain is an excellent food choice for dialysis patients. Bromelain prevents the body from inflammation and enhances the immune system functionality.
100g serving of pineapple provides;
- sodium: 1mg
- potassium: 109mg
- phosphorus: 8mg
9- Bell Pepper-Best Energy Reviving Food For Dialysis Patients
Bell pepper has a high concentration of vitamin A, C, B6as well as fibers and folic acid. It is low in potassium content that makes it an ideal choice for dialysis patients. It also contains a good quantity of lycopene that is an antioxidant; prevents the patients from developing certain cancers.
Eating them raw or mixing with chicken salads, sandwiches, omelet or any other form enhance the flavor and nutritional value of that food.
- sodium: 2mg
- potassium: 105mg
- phosphorus: 10mg
10- Cauliflower
Being high in Vitamin C and folate content and low in potassium, it is an ideal choice for patients on dialysis. You can cook it or use it in soups or salads in your diet.
Boiled cauliflower 1 cup serving of 100g contains
- sodium: 15mg
- potassium: 142mg
- phosphorus: 32mg
11- Cabbage
Cabbage is rich in vitamin B6, C, and K as well as fibers and folic acid. It is also low in potassium content so, you can add its specific quantity to your diet plan.
It has a good quantity of phytochemicals that are used to scavenge free radicals. These phytochemicals are good to treat certain cancers and cardiovascular health issues.
½ cup chopped cabbage of 50g serving contains
- sodium: 6mg
- potassium: 60mg
- phosphorus: 9mg
12- Radish
Radish is a good food choice for dialysis patients and a valuable flavor enhancer for low sodium recipes. It is low in potassium and phosphorus content so you can add them to your diet chart. It is rich in antioxidants and vitamin C that prevents the chances of cardio issues and cataracts.
About 50g of raw radish contains:
- sodium: 20mg
- potassium: 115mg
- phosphorus: 10mg
13- Olive Oil- Magical Energy Reviving Food For Dialysis Patients
Olive oil acts as an energy booster that helps to revive energy in dialysis patients. It is free of phosphorus content and contains monounsaturated fat called oleic acid. It has anti-inflammatory properties.
Being extremely low in potassium, phosphorus, and sodium, it is an ideal choice to consume. You can take it either by adding in cooked food or salads.
One tablespoon of olive oil contains:
- sodium: 0.27mg
- potassium: 0.135mg
- phosphorus: 0mg
Plan to Visit your Renal Dietitian
To boost up your energy level by keeping a balanced level of electrolytes and protein content in your body needs the guidance of a renal dietitian. Always try to plan a visit once in six months to clear your confusion about diet and dialysis.
Your renal dietitian will make a proper diet chart for you to follow. He/she will suggest a proper serving size for each meal based on required food content like protein, fat, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, etc.
Concluding Remarks
Dialysis patients need vigilant planning for diet specifications to meet their recommended dietary and nutritional goals. Here, some energy reviving foods for dialysis patients are enlisted that will help the patients to prevent improper food consumption as well as malnutrition. To ensure the best results, dialysis patients should seek consultation regarding proper diet charts from health care advisors and hospitals.
