Food for kidney patients (and foods they have to avoid)

There are many foods that are not advised for people with kidney disease. Fresh vegetables and fruit are important to diet, but expensive to buy. Growing foods is widely encouraged and Anita has a program with Corazon de la Tierra that is teaching local women how to grow are healthy foods.

It is important for people with kidney disease to keep sodium, phosphorous and potassium intake as low as possible. Organic seeds are the best. These are the GOOD foods:

Cauliflower

Cabbage

Garlic

Cilantro

Arugula

Radish

Turnips

Onions

Bell peppers (especially red)

Other good foods are:

Blueberries

Pineapples

Red grapes

Skinless chicken and egg whites are on the good list. If we had to space, it would be good to raise chickens and rabbits.

For this program to be successful, there needs to be a strong educational element to the program that includes active follow up with the families about how to prepare the food. In addition to teaching about foods to eat, there also needs to be education about what NOT to eat since some staples like tomatoes, avacados and potatoes are on the "not good" list.

Studies indicate that diet is extremely important in managing kidney disease. We are already providing despensas to kidney patients, but we want to augment the despensas with more of the above items - and none of those listed below!

These are foods that should be avoided by kidney patients:

Canned food and any processed food (especially processed meats)

Whole wheat breads

Brown rice

Bananas

Dairy

Oranges

Pickles/olives/relish

Apricots

Potatoes (any kind!)

Tomatoes

Swiss chard/spinach/beet greens

Dates/raisins/prunes

Tilapia unfortunately is on the bad list because it'a high in phosphorus and potassium.