Kidney disease REVERSED with the KETO
A lot of people have been asking me about the keto diet lately.
does keto help kidney health?
Does keto heal your body?
Can keto reverse kidney disease?
Yes, the keto diet is taking the world by storm these days and there could be a good reason behind this.
Let me read you a couple of comments here on Youtube
After only 2 months on keto my CKD went from stage 3 to stage 2. Hoping next check in April is even better!
Another comment about the keto
I reversed kidney disease from stage 4 to normal functions on Keto way of eating.
This one is a message on the website new hope for kidney patients .com
I have been on the Keto diet now 5 months. I had high cholesterol, hypertension and high blood sugar levels.
In 5 months I was able to increase my good cholesterol, glucose dropped to normal levels and BP absolutely normal.
I had stage 2 kidney disease also after taking NSAIDs since 1993.
With the keto diet my creatinine levels have come down to 83, they were over 123.
Ok, I’m not exaggerating, this seems really incredible.
And there’s even evidence and studies showing that what these people are saying can be real and repeatable, especially when it comes to diabetic kidney disease.
Seems incredible, right?
But, before ditching all the carbs on your diet and starting the ketosis… watch today’s video because there are a couple of things worth knowing about the keto diet before trying it.
It may even be dangerous.
Hello, this is Katherine welcome to 00Kidney.
So, today we are going to answer all the questions about the keto diet and kidney disease.
can keto reverse kidney disease?
Does keto heal your body?
Is the keto diet dangerous for the kidneys?
Now, the usual disclaimer before I start, always talk to your physician before doing any significant changes to your diet.
Especially with the keto diet, which can be really hard on the kidneys if done wrong, you should have the full support of your doctor and dietician even before starting.
So, let’s answer the fundamental questions about the keto diet and reversing kidney disease.
IS KETO GOOD FOR KIDNEY DISEASE
there are some things we should absolutely understand about the keto and kidney disease to answer this question.
Keto diet refers to a ketogenic diet, which is a high-fat, medium-protein, low-carb diet.
The aim is to get the body in a state of ketosis.
It works by depleting your body of its store of sugar, so it will start to break down protein and fat for energy. This is what is called ketosis.
Now, this is actually a rather drastic diet, but it is supposed to have a very long list benefits that may make it worth the effort, including the chance to reverse kidney disease.
So,
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE KETO DIET?
THE KETO DIET IS GOOD FOR THE HEART
There’s a study showing that the keto diet, if done right, can improve heart health.
Now, heart health is strictly correlated with kidney health. You need to have a strong heart to improve your kidney function.
Literally. The heart and the kidneys are part of the same system and the kidneys need the heart to work well to be healthy.
So if the keto diet is really going to reverse kidney disease it is thanks to this kind of benefits, right?
KETO DIETS CAN LOWER BAD CHOLESTEROL
Another benefit useful for improving kidney function. The keto diet is known for lowering bad Cholesterol and improving good cholesterol.
Why is this important? High cholesterol is linked to High blood pressure, also called hypertension.
When the arteries become hardened and narrowed with cholesterol plaque, the heart has to strain much harder to pump blood through them.
As a result, blood pressure becomes abnormally high.
This is one of the main causes of kidney disease, and all kidney patients are actually recommended to keep their blood pressure and their cholesterol under control.
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KETO DIET CAN HELP WITH WEIGHT LOSS
Being overweight or obese is one of the leading causes of kidney disease.
These conditions increase the risk of developing major risk factors for chronic kidney disease like diabetes and hypertension.
Obesity is also known to have a direct impact on the development of end-stage renal disease, meaning that it will make kidney disease progress faster.
So using a diet like the keto diet to control body weight would greatly help in lowering the progression rate at which kidney disease reaches the advanced stages.
Now, this is a benefit that all well-planned dietary regimes have, not just keto.
It is always recommended, for people with kidney disease, to maintain an healthy body weight.
The benefit of keto is that it is supposed to make this process faster and easier.
It takes more work to turn fat into energy than it takes to turn carbs into energy.
Because of this, a ketogenic diet can help speed up weight loss.
And since the diet is high in protein, it doesn’t leave you hungry like other diets do.
Now, here’s another very important benefit of the keto diet: it
CAN HELP WITH INSULIN RESISTANCE, BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS AND TYPE 2 DIABETES.
These are huge benefits for people suffering from kidney disease.
Type 2 diabetes is the leading cause of CKD.
If you have diabetes, your blood glucose, or blood sugar levels are too high.
All this sugar in the blood is what, more than anything else, can damage the kidneys.
Actually, kidney disease is very common in people suffering from type 2 diabetes, so if you are suffering from diabetes, finding a way to treat it is imperative.
Here’s where the keto diet can help the most.
This diet is based on the ketosis, a process in which the body uses fats, instead of carbohydrates, to produce energy.
To achieve this result, someone on a keto is supposed to get less than 5 percent of their caloric intake from carbs.
Now, this would mean almost completely removing sugar from the diet, because sugar is a carbohydrate.
You see were I’m getting at?
If you don’t get any sugar from the diet, how can be sugar present in your blood in a too high quantity?
So, sugar won’t be able to damage your kidneys anymore, right?
Now, the human body is actually more complex than this and there are more things to consider than just less sugar in the diet equals to less sugar in the blood and less damage to the kidneys.
There are some risks involved in taking up this very popular diet we should talk about.
Another interesting benefit, THE KETO DIET IS THOUGHT TO PROTECT BRAIN FUNCTIONING.
There are studies suggesting that it has neuroprotective benefits.
These benefits may help treat or prevent conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and even some sleep disorders.
In fact, some children are being prescribed a ketogenic diet to improve alertness and cognitive functioning.
To conclude this list of benefits,
THE KETO DIET IS ALSO SUPPOSED TO REDUCE RISK OF CANCER AND EVEN TREAT CERTAIN CANCERS.
At least as a complementary treatment to chemotherapy and radiation in people with cancer.
With all those benefits, it’s no wonder, that the keto diet is taking the world by storm these days.
So let’s see how it can be adjusted to suit the needs of someone suffering from kidney disease.
Now, while from this very first outlook on the keto diet it may seem that people suffering from diabetes and kidney disease may have found a powerful ally in fighting these conditions… there are some things we need to look at a little bit in deeper before EVEN considering this diet.
First of all, what can you eat on the keto diet?
The keto diet is not really an easy diet to start or to follow, and this should be clear.
So it can have a lot of great benefits, but these come with a price.
The ketogenic diet tries to bring carbohydrates down to less than 5 percent of a person’s daily caloric intake
which means eliminating really a lot of foods from the diet.
People on the keto should remove most grains, like bread, pasta, pizza… but even fruit, starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn and legumes and, obviously sweets and processed foods.
Instead, they should be replaced with calories from fat.
What they usually don’t tell you about this diet is that this is a very hard goal to achieve.
Your body will struggle against a change like this, because it was used to get energy from carbs for all it’s life, right?
So the dietary changes needed to get there are huge.
Let’s try to understand this with the good old food pyramid.
Here, on the left side you can see a standard food pyramid for the healthy eating.
At the base of the standard food pyramid there are whole grains, fruits starchy vegetables… all these foods are sources of carbs.
So, in a normal healthy diet, this would be where you’ll get most of the calories.
On the right side you may see the food pyramid for the keto diet.
There’s a big difference here, in the big step.
Whole grains, fruit and starchy vegetables are totally missing here.
They’ve been replaced with more fats and protein, coming from fish and nuts.
But also from dairy, eggs and red meat.
So this bring us another question.
IS THE KETOGENIC DIET HARD ON YOUR KIDNEYS?
Now, it’s clear that there’s already a huge issue here. Protein intake.
In a keto diet you’re supposed to get 25 percent of your caloric intake from protein. INDICA 25%
But in a regular renal diet, you will only have to get 10 to 15 percent of your caloric intake from protein.
This percentage actually depends on your stage of CKD, the more advanced the stage the lower the protein intake.
Why do kidney patients have to eat so few protein?
Although protein is a necessary nutrient, it is very hard on the kidneys. When protein is ingested, it will create more waste that the kidneys will have to process. This will overwork them, making the progression of kidney disease faster.
So, I don’t see any respectable dietitian recommending a kidney patient a diet with 25 percent of protein anytime soon.
So, if you follow a standard keto diet, it will probably be hard on your kidneys.
There is just too much protein, right?
Now, another concern about the keto diet involves kidney stones.
In fact, Kidney stones are a well-noted potential side effect of the ketogenic diet.
A study published in the Journal of Child Neurology observed that 13 out of 195 subjects developed kidney stones following the keto diet.
And there’s even an increased risk of gout.
According to the researchers, the reason behind these problems is the high intake of animal proteins. This will increase calcium and uric acid levels in the body, putting people on the keto diet more at risk for both gout and kidney stones.
So, on one side there are people improving their kidney function and their overall health with the keto diet and on the other we can see people actually getting kidney problems from it.
Another concern, in my opinion, is that there’s a ton of garbage on the internet about the keto diet.
I’ve seen a lot of people talking about it just in order to sell books, supplements and products.
And this is worrisome, since this may make even harder for people to understand who is right and who is wrong about this subject.
So
WHAT DOES THE SCIENCE SAY ABOUT KETO DIET?
What studies are out there that we can really trust?
There are actually fewer studies on the keto diet made on humans than I was hoping to find.
In fact, many of the benefits attributed to the keto diet, the reduced inflammation, lifespan extension and even the improved recovery after brain damage – have only been confirmed in studies in mice.
Why are there so few studies on humans?
Well, ketosis is a difficult state to maintain; avoiding carbs, including fruit, bread, legumes, and the occasional sweet isn’t feasible for many people in the long run.
So, without peer-reviewed clinical trials, many of the benefits remain anecdotal.
So, we may find a lot of people swearing by the keto diet, both for general health, weight loss and for improving their kidney health.
Yes, a lot of people tried this diet and said they had an improvement in their health and that they felt much better doing it.
You have seen the comments, right? It wasn’t very hard to find them, it’s full of people all OVER the internet saying that the keto diet helped them.
But, there’s even the chance that all these improvements were at least correlated to eating less processed food, sleeping better and losing weight.
Which is not a bad thing at all, don’t get me wrong, but can be obtained without the keto diet too.
As to the most incredible claims from health and diet gurus – such as keto diets resulting in euphoria, cognitive boosts, and improvements in anything from kidney function to cancer treatment…
Well, I must tell you that there are still no study confirming most of these incredible claims.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean that they are not true, just that they are not confirmed.
Now, there are studies confirming at least that the diet itself isn’t inherently dangerous.
But still be very cautious if you have any medical condition, including kidney disease.
There are lots of things that change in how our bodies works with a diet like this.
Not all the effects on the kidneys are going to be positive, as we have seen.
So, just looking at these numbers, it is clear for me that, if you want to try this diet, you should find a renal dietitian that can make a dietary regimen specific for you.
I mean, kidney patients in stage 3 of kidney disease need to get 15% of their caloric intake from protein, so their keto diet should be changed according to this.
You cannot just follow a standard keto if you’re in stage 3.
Patients in stage 4 or 5 of CKD need just 10% of protein, so maybe they cannot follow this diet at all.
Or they should follow a heavy modified version of the keto diet.
And this is not something you can actually do by yourself.
So if you’re making a real change in your nutrition, you really should talk to your doctor.
This is all for today, watch this video if you want more information about the safer renal diet for kidney patients.
About the Author
Michaelw Hi, my name is Michael and in this blog I'm gonna share the story of how I got off kidney dialysis for good. Getting off dialysis isn't easy at all, and that's why I'm trying to help people as much as I can.
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