Saturday, September 26, 2015

The Kidney Kitchen: Sodium and the Renal Diet

  Thank you for sticking with me, and welcome to part 4 of my renal diet series.  Today we're going to look at sodium.
  We all know the dangers of consuming too much salt...high blood pressure, a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, a higher risk of congestive heart failure.  People with kidney disease can also experience swelling (called edema), puffiness in the face and difficulty breathing.  I had no idea that the shortness of breath I was suffering with before I started dialysis was due to all the excess fluid my body was hanging onto.  Consuming too much salt can make you feel very thirsty and want to drink more, which can lead to fluid weight gain and the above-mentioned symptoms.
  Sodium is found in almost all pre-packaged and processed foods.  Some examples of high sodium foods are:
  - canned soups (the so-called "healthy" soups have even more sodium in them than their regular full-fat counterparts)
  - breakfast and deli meats
  - frozen dinners
  - pre-made sauces
  - fast food
  - some canned vegetables
  - snack foods such as chips and pretzels
  - packaged side dishes
  - low-fat products such as cream cheese, salad dressings and
The easiest way to limit sodium intake is to simply avoid pre-packaged and processed foods.  I make almost all of my meals using fresh ingredients.  That includes snack foods too.  I have found a few low-sodium packaged snacks that I can enjoy without consuming sodium (unsalted pretzels and unsalted corn nuts that I get from Bulk Barn are two of my favourites).  I also modified the following recipe to make it kidney-friendly and low sodium.  I'm posting both the original version and my kidney-friendly version.  As they say in the Twix commercials: try both and pick a side!

Honey-Glazed Snack Mix
  - 5 cups Crispix cereal (you can also use Rice Chex, Corn Chex or a mixture of both)
  - 3 cups mini pretzels
  - 2 cups peanuts
  - 2 cups Cheerios
  - 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
  - 1/2 cup honey

  1.  Heat the oven to 300 degrees.
  2.  In a jelly roll pan or large roaster, combine cereals, pretzels and peanuts; set aside.
  3.  In a small bowl, mix together the melted butter and honey.  Pour over cereal mixture and stir until everything is well coated.
  4.  Bake for 10 minutes, and then stir.  Continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, or until cereal is glazed and all of the honey mixture has been absorbed.  Immediately pour snack mix out onto waxed paper and cool completely.  Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Kidney-Friendly Honey-Glazed Snack Mix
  - 5 cups Crispix cereal
  - 3 cups unsalted mini pretzel twists
  - 2 cups unsalted corn nuts
  - 1/2 cup melted margarine
  - 1/2 cup honey

  1. Heat the oven to 300 degrees.
   2. In a jelly roll pan or large roaster, combine cereals, pretzels and peanuts; set aside.
   3. In a small bowl, mix together the melted butter and honey. Pour over cereal mixture and stir until everything is well coated.
   4. Bake for 10 minutes, and then stir. Continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, or until cereal is glazed and all of the honey mixture has been absorbed. Immediately pour snack mix out onto waxed paper and cool completely. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Note: Mix up your snack mix by adding unsalted popcorn, tiny crackers or other kinds of kidney-friendly cereal.

Until next time,
J.

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