A Healthy Diet for Diabetics with Kidney Disease

Whether you are a diabetic or kidney disease patient, diet is always one of the most important treatments in managing your diabetes and kidney disease. If you have been diagnosed with kidney disease caused by long-term diabetes, you had better abide by a healthy diet for diabetics with kidney disease.

A healthy diet for diabetics with kidney disease combines the principles of a diet for diabetes and a diet for kidney disease. The diabetes portion of the diet focuses on keeping blood sugar in the normal range, while the renal portion aims to reduce the workload on kidney. Generally, there are several aspects these patients need to note.

1. Avoid high-sugar foods

Since the patients’ kidney disease is caused by diabetes, lowering blood sugar is the central of the whole treatment. Therefore, controlling the intake of sugar is quite necessary. Candy (candy bars, hard candy, chocolate, jelly beans, gum drops), regular sugar, molasses, ice cream, honey, etc, all contribute to high-sugar foods.

2. Limit the intake of sodium

Because high blood pressure is a big risk for further kidney damage and high-sodium diet can raise patients’ blood pressure, limiting the intake of sodium is an important part of a heathy diet for diabetics with kidney disease. High-sodium foods include canned foods, salted chips and snacks, condiment, pizza, processed foods, salty cheeses, etc.

3. Take moderate amount of protein

When kidney is damaged, excessive protein will increase the burden on the kidney. Moderate intake of high-quality protein rather than high-quantity protein is recommended for diabetics with kidney disease. Generally, a glass of milk, one egg white and 0.6g of lean meat can meet patients’ protein need.

The above is an overview of a healthy diet for diabetics with kidney disease, but this diet changes for different patients. If you are suffering from both diabetes and kidney disease, you can consult online to ask a more detailed diet.