Today I had an appointment near Good Sam. Hospital (NW Portland) at 4 pm to meet my Nephrologist. My mom drove me there early and we spent an hour and a half window shopping on NW 23rd beforehand. After warming up with a peppermint mocha at Starbucks, we walked back to the medical office (which was way more complicated to find than all my other doctor's offices). My doctor was really easy to talk to and explained things really well. From what I understand, it seems my right kidney has a problem eliminating waste from acidic foods which in turn causes extra calcium to be released in an effort for my body to try to regulate it's ph. This extra calcium, when combined with another element (maybe phosphorus)...forms kidney stones. He said I am lucky because it can be resolved by changing my diet...I need to increase the water I drink, and decrease my salt and dairy intake. (AKA cut the cheese). In theory this seemed like this wouldn't be hard to do, but then I came home and looked at all the food we have that contain these things...soup, rice cakes, crackers, v-8 juice, cheese, salad dressing and pretty much all processed food (which I try to limit, but lately has crept back into my pantry). So it looks like I am left with fruit, veggies and rice!!! (LOL!) I need to increase my intake of acidic foods (citrus, tomatoes, etc) in an effort to force my kidneys to flush out the acid by overwhelming the system with it. He recommended I have the juice of 2 lemons daily in my water.I know there are serious health benefits to all these modifications regardless of my kidney issues, so I am looking forward to making my body healthy...but it will be challenging planning meals until I get the hang of these changes...especially reducing cheese, my comfort food!
4 comments:
Mom had a good time window shopping with you this afternoon. Good luck with your diet, knowing that you are as stubborned as I am you will be able to "force" your self to follow whatever diet you need to.
Cutting out all that sodium is a good thing even if you did not have kidney stones. I had to give up drinking V-8 because of all the sodium it contains, but it is worth it.
Love ya,
Dad
Yes, I am good a sticking to something once I set my mind to it.
I just donated a whole case of v-8 juice to the canned food drive at Natalie's school. I think her class may win this year as I may have to clear out a bunch more from the pantry!
So I guess the cheeseball we were going to bring over is now out of the question? ;-)
Debbie...
no, you can still bring Scott over! LOL!!!
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