Diet for patients with kidney disease: A little sweet, a little salty, and what to eat more/less of?
You are what you eat. Your kidneys are no different. Diet and lifestyle have a huge influence on the development of kidney disease, as well its rate of progression once it develops. Hence, in my practice, and especially in patients with early stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) or stage 3/early stage 4 , I place a strong focus on diet (in addition to treating the cause of CKD) which may sometimes go a long way in preventing disease progression. This does not mean that the right diet is not important in advanced stages of CKD. It very well is; however, you will probably need more aggressive medical management in those stages. I have emphasized before that, like many other things in life, prevention is not only better than cure, it is much much easier too. Once GFR (glomerular filtration rate, a measure of your kidney function) permanently declines, it is unlikely that it will increase. Hence GFR decline is often a " one way highway ".