Renal Diet - Day 7

I am undergoing these dietary restrictions for the purpose of a project meant to teach patient empathy which will last for one week. I am not suggesting that anyone follow this diet unless it has been prescribed by their physician.

Breakfast (8am):

8 oz cup coffee

2 tbsp fat free half and half

1 1/2 cups Special K Blueberry cereal

1/2 cup skim milk

6 oz glass of blueberry pomegranate juice

I went back to the Speciak K cereal this morning, despite the fact that the last time I had it I almost passed out a few hours later! I had a bigger serving this morning but still only used a half cup of milk. I'm not too into milk by itself anyway, I just use it to moisten. I never did try the rice milk in cereal. I used it all up last night in an attempt to make pudding from it, which did not work out at all, by the way. I made the instant kind and even used less rice milk than the directions call for (a tip I saw on Davita)-but two hours later the pudding still had not set. So much for my big idea of using rice milk as a milk substitute this week.

Snack (11:30am):

6 unsalted crackers

2 tbsp whipped cream cheese

I made it until 11:30 for a snack today-hooray! But I was pretty hungry by then. Instead of having my normal "at work" snack of a muffin, I went with something that includes fat so hopefully I'll be able to feel full longer.

Leftovers for Lunch (1:30pm):

3 oz pork chop

1 cup lemony rice pilaf

3/4 cup asparagus

I walked again during lunch today, this time inside at the fitness center. I was just starting to feel very hungry as I was finishing up on the treadmill after 45 minutes. It was better than realizing I was dying of starvation and still being a half mile away from my lunch! By the way, this meal was just as delicious the next day.

Snack (4:30 pm): Not much different from yesterday

8 oz cup of coffee with 2 pkg coffee mate non-dairy creamer

6 vanilla wafers

Dinner: the final challenge!
From Chinese Express, affectionately titled "the Blue Hut" (right by the big Amoco sign near 40 and McCausland):
Egg drop soup
Buddhist Delight (about 2 cups veggies) with 3/4 cup steamed white rice
2 crab rangoon

I realized tody that I had actually made it through the entire week without going out to eat, so when Matt suggested chinese for dinner I was definitely up for it. Our favorite chinese place does not look like much from the outside (or the inside), but I really believe their food is better than some of the more upscale places in the area. I usually order the broccoli chicken, but tonight I went for the Buddhist Delight all veggie dish since
I already had most of my meat servings for the day. The food here is not very salty as one would expect- especially not this dish. The egg drop soup is great too, and even has pieces of FRESH tomatoes in it. Now, I find that impressive! Chinese food is actually not a horrible choice for the renal diet. There are already no milk products (unless you count the cream cheese in the crab rangoon) and most places use white rice anyway. You just have to watch out for the sodium, but if you have done well all day you could probably get away with it.


Dessert:
1 slice strawberry bread (from Davita again) : http://www.davita.com/recipes/Rice,_pasta_and_breads/a/1762
3 tbsp Cool Whip Lite

This bread was super easy to make. I actually substituted apple sauce for 3/4 of the oil. It turned out great!









Misc. H2O Record:
10 oz (morning/early afternoon)
6 oz (afternoon)
8 oz (early evening)
4 oz (with dinner)

How compliant was I today?
Total calories: 1947 out of 1861 allowed
Total fluids: 1830 mL out of 1861 mL allowed
Protein: 75 g out of 53 g allowed
Phosphorus: 1113 out of 1200 mg allowed
Potassium: 2952 mg out of 2127 mg allowed
Sodium: 3192 mg out of 3000 allowed

Well, these numbers show that I was not very compliant today, but I am going to rate myself as good because I'm still not sure I totally trust this analysis. I stuck to the plan today and even had less of my meat servings than I was supposed to. I am positive that the sodium was not this high based on my tastebuds, and lack of being able to enter the exact items I ate at the restaurant into MyPyramid. But hey, it's the end of the last day! I survived the week!