Foundations
Why CKD food advice differs from person to person
Two people with the same diagnosis can be given opposite instructions — and both can be right.
Editorial draft7 min readQualified review pending
Start here
The first weeks, without the pile of leaflets
You do not need to become an expert this month. This page covers what helps immediately, what can wait, and what should only ever come from your own care team.
Step 1. Write down what you were actually told
Use your clinician's words rather than a summary from the internet. If you are not sure what you were told, that itself is a question worth asking.
Step 2. Get your medicine and supplement list current
Names, doses, timing, who prescribed them, and anything you recently stopped. Include vitamins, herbal products, and over-the-counter painkillers.
Step 3. Start a running questions list
Questions turn up while cooking or at 2am. Keep one list so they survive until the next appointment.
Step 4. Learn label reading before changing your food
Label skills apply to any instruction you are given. Changing what you eat because of an article does not.
Step 5. Ask who your dietitian is
Food guidance in kidney care is individual. A renal dietitian can turn general advice into instructions for you.
Four guides worth reading first
Appointments
Questions to ask a renal dietitian
A dietitian appointment goes further when you arrive with specifics rather than a general worry.
Editorial draft6 min readQualified review pending
Appointments
What to bring to a nephrology appointment
A short packing list that makes a fifteen-minute visit go further.
Editorial draft5 min readQualified review pending
Records
How to keep an up-to-date medication and supplement list
The single most useful document to have current, and the easiest one to let drift.
Editorial draft6 min readQualified review pending