Dietary Restrictions

The most important:

1) Drink so much water that urine is clear.
2) Reduced Salt Diet. No more than 2300 mg of salt a day. (VERY difficult and I'm not a salter!)
3) Drink lots of lemonade. (yuck, but I'll put Real Lemon in my water.)

In the info I was given:
drink 8-10 ounces of liquid each hour you are awake
drink more when exercising, when it's hot or when ill
water is best to drink between meals
drink milk with food, especially high oxalate food
1200 mg of calcium a day--good choices:
milk, yogurt, pudding, low fat and nonfat ice cream, and swiss, cheddar and mozzarella cheese

No more than 100 mg oxalate per day--this is the toughie!

Aviod:
grapefruit juice
tea
beets
beet greens
spinach
swiss chard
rhubarb
star fruit
All Bran (I eat this daily!!!--correction, I used to eat it daily)
buckwheat flour
granola
soy milk, any variety
almonds (I eat these daily for heart healthy fat!)
mixed nuts
sesame seeds
tahini

There's a list of medium-oxalate foods with the limited amounts I can eat. Includes all my favorite beans, sweet potato, tomato paste, fruits, bran cereals, soy products, nuts and....CHOCOLATE

Only 3 ounces of meat, chicken or fish twice daily. HORROR!

High fructose corn syrup increases the risk for developing kidney stones.


~~~~~

Okay, so it doesn't look that bad on paper (or screen) but when I stop and consider I am picky when it comes to veggies, it's not that easy. Plus, I'm trying to do a heart healthy diet and the two don't go together too well. What's good for the heart isn't necessarily good for the kidneys.

Further research on the Internet gives more highly restricted lists. The no-eat foods on this list have the same oxalate value as many foods that I love that did not make the list. I'm only allowed 100 mg oxalate a day...well, this may turn into the starvation diet.

It's scary as hell to me. The 3-ounce meat rule? Well, I usually eat 5-6 ounces of meat, chicken or fish at a time, so it's almost cut in half. Protein fills me, and that's going to be tough.

I was okay with the info the doctor gave me, but when I started researching oxalate levels in other foods, I had a major freak out. I cried well into the night last night. I've cried many times today. I've also become very angry. Did I do this to myself with my poor choices for all these years? It is what it is, and I'm not happy right now, but there's nothing to do but comply, figure things out, find new normals and bitch and moan about it along the way.

I think that this diet change will probably be one of the most difficult changes I've ever had to make IN MY LIFE. Sounds silly, but I'm a picky eater. And all those foods I hate are foods I will have to embrace. DAMN

This is going to take awhile to get under control. Today I'm already at 1600 mg of sodium and that's just with breakfast and lunch, and I'm allowed 2300. Holy moly, I'll be over.

I have ordered a low oxalate cookbook. (I'll probably gag at every recipe in it. That's the whiner in me being honest. lol)

My body pH is all messed up, I am forming these crystals, I can't help but wonder....could this be a reason why my weight has been SOOO slow at coming off? My chemistry is off.

I'll get there. I'm doing my best, learning, figuring it out. (With a poor attitude, I admit.) I'll get it down, because GOOD HEALTH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN chocolate or bran flakes or beans or 6 ounces of meat or almonds....