3.  Consider how much time you actually want to spend in the kitchen

You may relate to one of these three cooking types:

A. You’re super busy and prefer minimal cooking time: Prioritize large batch cooking or freezer-friendly meals and try to get most of your meal prep done on the weekends. Your meal prep may involve cooking complete meals or meal components for simple assembly or reheating during the week. Meal examples:

• • Overnight oats or chia puddings (like this yummy Lemon Blueberry Chia Pudding) for breakfast – vary toppings with frozen or fresh fruits to keep your meals interesting
  • Freezer-friendly black bean burritos – enjoy with a side salad
  • Salad jars with dressings on the bottom of the jar (check out this simple Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette)

B. You don’t mind spending ~1 hour per day cooking your meals: Prioritize simple meals, batch cooking, and meal prep on the weekends. Your meal prep may look more like chopping vegetables, pre-cooking grains, or cooking some meal components.

C. You love the kitchen and don’t mind spending all day there: Aim for variation in your recipe choices to keep mealtimes interesting and look for different sources, such as kidney-friendly cookbooks. Meal prepping is optional but recommended for better productivity.

4.  Think about what you want to include

When we plan a meal plan, we start by thinking about things that are important to include. This can make it so much easier than trying to think through all the things to eliminate. Foods that are beneficial for your kidneys and overall health include:

A. More vegetables: Fresh vegetables are wonderful, but if you want more convenience, you can also purchase pre-chopped vegetables, salad mixes (without the dressings), as well as frozen or canned vegetables (without added salt, sauces, or seasonings)

B. More fruits: Similarly, fresh fruits are amazing, but frozen, canned, or other shelf-stable fruits without added sugars like applesauce, fruit cups, dried fruits, or raisins can also fit well in a renal diet meal plan

C. More plant foods in place of animal proteins: Some ideas for easy swaps:

• • Choose plant milk or yogurt instead of dairy products
  • Choose tofu, cauliflower or eggplant steaks instead of beef steaks
  • Use mushroom, beans, lentils, or coarsely chopped walnuts instead of ground beef in meat sauces
  • Crumbled tofu or cauliflower rice can be used in place of eggs in breakfast scrambles

D. More healthy fats: Fats keep you full, satiated and well-energized throughout the day. Examples of healthy fats include:

• • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Avocado or avocado oil
  • Nuts or nut butter
  • Seeds or seed butter
  • Coconut products like coconut milk, coconut butter, shredded coconut or coconut flakes

5.  Prioritize 3 things to monitor

There are many diet recommendations for kidney health, starting from watching for specific nutrients like sodium or potassium, to whole dietary patterns like the Mediterranean diet.

Prioritizing just three things can make your diet more manageable. This may be different for each person, so make sure to consult your dietitian on your diet plan based on your health condition and goals. The three things we as dieticians like to manage are:

A. Sodium: Excess sodium can increase blood pressure, impact water retention, and worsen hypertension and proteinuria [1]. According to CDC, 70% of sodium consumed is actually from processed and restaurant foods. By prepping your own meals at home, you can significantly manage your sodium intake.

Ways to reduce sodium intake:

• • Prioritize fresh, whole foods over processed foods
  • Rely on salt-free seasoning like herbs, spices, citrus, vinegars, and aromatics like garlic, ginger, onions, or shallots
  • Or make your own seasoning – check out this Taco Seasoning recipe
  • If purchasing more processed foods, look for labels like “no salt added,” “sodium-free” or “low sodium”

B. Amount of animal protein: High protein diet with high meat intake may hurt the kidneys and increase the risk for heart disease [2]. For some individuals with PKD, a moderate protein intake can be beneficial, while a low protein intake may benefit those with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and a very low protein intake may be needed for late stages of CKD. In any case, reducing animal foods and increasing intake of plant foods can support kidney health.

C. Other considerations specific to you: Different people with different needs will need additional dietary considerations, such as vegan, gluten-free, carbohydrate-controlled, higher-fat, nut-free, or low-potassium. Specifically, for ADPKD/PKD, you might benefit from a low-oxalate diet. If you’re managing your oxalate intake, start by watching out for heavy hitters like spinach, almond and almond products, beets, and rhubarb, which may show up in some recipes.

Make sure to consult your renal dietitian to find out your top three dietary priorities and how to work that into your meal plan.