How can I gain weight with kidney disease?

Maintaining a healthy weight is a necessary requirement for everyone in times like these.

But with the current lifestyle and eating habits it is not possible to fulfill the basic health requirements of the body. Which gradually leads to certain diseases like obesity, kidney failure, diabetes, heart problems, fatty liver etc.

However, it is noticed that patients suffering with CKD that is, the chronic kidney disease struggle to maintain a healthy weight. I many cases it is noticed that the changes in diet and going on regular dialysis people tend to lose more weight than advised. And it gets difficult for the CKD patients to gain weight up to the requirements.

And in such a case just eating healthy won’t affect you much. It is essential to make a diet that supports the health and is contributing enough to gaining weight of the patients.

Why do kidney patients lose weight?

Kidney disease can be of many different types from simple kidney stones, kidney infection to underlying disease such as chronic kidney disease or even kidney failure. The chronic kidney disease takes place in different stages where the kidneys gradually lose their ability to filter the waste and extra fluids of the body. When the kidneys are losing its normal functioning, the body goes through a number of changes and these changes may result in either gaining of losing a few kilograms. Neither of these conditions is suitable for the patient. Gaining excess of weight may contribute to high blood pressure of a rapid increase in blood sugar. Thus, leading to more damage in the kidneys. In the same way losing the extra weight can also be harmful for the body and once the patient is suffering from stage 3 or stage 4 chronic kidney disease the body starts to lose weight and end up in malnourishment, and even severe muscle loss.

In the condition of dialysis and regular treatment that is provided to the CKD patient leads in losing weight. It is prominent to maintain the healthy weight in order to get treated on time and without facing other health complications.

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Is it possible to gain in kidney disease?

Though gaining weight is quite easy for a healthy person, but kidney patients may find it rather difficult to even gain those few extra pounds. This is because of the body changes they go through. In most of the stage 3 and stage 4 chronic kidney disease patients, they usually start opting for dialysis as a treatment. Which is done according to the condition of your kidneys. Dialysis may take from thrice a week to every alternate day. The process of dialysis is painful and have effect on the physical health of the patients. Thus, gaining weight while suffering from kidney disease can be difficult, but it is possible to add some good calories in the diet and increase weight.

If kidney patients follow some changes in the diet as well in the lifestyle, they can easily gain weight within months. And have a healthy body. Once you are around healthy weight the body feels energised and is fit to fight against the disease. But remember the process of gaining weight must be completely healthy. One must not consume carbonated drinks, high sugary foods and packaged foods like chips, and snacks.

What diet suitable for kidney patients?

For an instance, you would have definitely heard of a phrase, “Eat breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Queen and Dinner like a Beggar.”

This phrase is just suitable for a kidney patient. Going through this eating habit you may settle to a healthy weight naturally. For CKD patients who are willing to gain weight naturally must follow a diet chart that may include home made food in hygienic condition.

Any food containing high amount of oil or spices is not suitable for kidney patients. A list of fruits and vegetables can be included in the diet that is suitable for kidney patients suffering from chronic kidney disease and are advised to gain weight. These food items are easily available and are all season vegetables, it may be as follows -

Bottle gourd(Lauki)
Pointed gourd
Indian squash
Bitter gourd
Green chili (seeds removed)
Onions (par boiled)
Green pumpkin
Ridged gourd (Tori)

Fruits feasible for the kidney patients’ diet are -

Apple
Papaya
Pear
Guava ( seeds removed )
Strawberries
Blueberries
And other kind of berries

These are suitable food the kidney patients. And it may contribute to increasing the weight of CKD patients. Counting the calories in the diet can be helpful for increasing weight swiftly. Good portion of fruits and vegetables in the diet can not only contribute to gaining weight but help in losing extra fats as well.

It is equally important to check the oil in which the food is being cooked. For kidney patients the required cooking oils are -

Mustard oil
Ghee (cow)
Olive oil

Following these points would bring great changes in the health condition and would contribute in increasing weight. Other points required to add in the diet of a kidney patients are -

Set a time for your meals and eat at the same intervals every day.
Eat chapatis or homemade bread made from wheat flour only.
Try to use homemade spices like turmeric, asafetida, cumin, coriander powder, and rock salt in limited amounts. And reduce salt intake all together.

These simple changes in the diet acts as an essential point in kidney patients’ diet. Kidney patients must regulate their weight only if advised by doctor. You may make changes in the diet according to the reports and only after consulting doctor.

Why Ayurveda ?

The ayurvedic treatment revolves around regulating a healthy diet and maintaining lifestyle of the patient in order to cure the disease. With an experience as vast as in Ayurveda you would never notice any casualties or side effects on the body.

Following a diet in ayurvedic ways has its own benefit. In many dialysis patients it is a common problem to face side effects like losing weight gradually and feeling irritated and tired. But in the treatment of Ayurveda there is absolutely no need of getting into regular dialysis, as many kidney specialists in Ayurveda have the potential to cure the disease without recommending dialysis. They use diet chart and some herbs to naturally stop the disease from affecting the kidneys further and then heal the kidneys to improve their function.