Kidney Education Class: Week 3

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Happy Saturday! If you read my last post, back in March, you know my life has been crazy these past 4 weeks. I interviewed and accepted the full-time position with my current employer but in a different department. I had no idea how to adjust to working full time when I worked only 2 to 3 shifts a week for all my child-rearing years. The first week was rough. Even though my new position is basically a desk job and not nearly any strain on my body, I am not accustomed at all to sitting 8 hours a day. As a nurse, I am used to being on my feet all day, and all the other rigors that come with bedside nursing. I was not getting even a quarter of the daily steps I normally would and by the time I would get home there was dinner, showers, and other commitments that did not fare well for exercise. It is at least a 35-minute drive and with morning and after-work traffic closer to an hour. By the second week, I found if I leave my house 15 minutes before I need to I can beat the morning and school traffic and be a half hour early to work. My boss and I discussed this and we adjusted my hours so I can get there a half hour early and leave a half hour early. Of course, I am working not just sitting there wasting time. I also get a whole hour for lunch instead of just 30 minutes. So, I eat a quick lunch and then go for a 30-minute walk. As the days get hotter I may have to eat more of brunch or it will be too hot. I am now into a pretty good routine going into my third week of this job.

As far as meal prep goes, we have moved into our Summer menu, which is lighter and leans more told cold-type meals. I am still buying fresh veggies every week and prepping them for easy grab-and-go salad fixing or snacks. My husband and I have really committed to losing weight this Summer, which for me means I have to cut more calories if I can’t fit in the exercise, so we will be having carbs at lunch and no-carb dinners. I don’t know if this will be successful. It is working so far for him, but for me, weight loss is incredibly difficult. Due to my having CKD, I can only adjust so much for my macros and not cause damage from too much protein, or fat, so carbs are my main macro.

As I continue to adjust I hope to get three blog posts a week done.

This week I am going to talk about week 3 of the AKF Kidney Education Class. They sent me this lovely binder book so that I can take pictures of each slide and share them here. If you have not read the first two weeks you can find them in the archives.

Today, I am going to talk about what happens in the body when the kidneys are damaged. The short video below, I think explains it very well. The second part of the video talks about prevention. I want to say that while a lot of symptoms of CKD are minor and or unnoticeable until there is a lot of damage to the kidneys. If you ever have a metal taste in your mouth you need to seek medical attention right away. This is why CKD goes unnoticed because it can be easily mistaken for other things.

When your kidneys are damaged:

  1. The damage keeps your kidneys from working as well as they should.
  2. Waste and extra fluids stay in your body instead of being excreted as urine
  3. Blood enters the kidneys

Please remember these posts where I say that it is AKF classes, are the property of the American Kidney Fund to which I am a Kidney Coach. I facilitate the class and can answer questions based on my expertise and own personal experiences. It is not intended to be medical advice or to replace seeing a medical doctor. It is for informational and educational purposes only. If you would rather not wait for all of the slides to be posted to this blog you can contact me to see if I can set up a way to do the class via another option all at once. The video below is not an AKF video but one I found on Youtube and thought it fit nicely into the topic for this class.

Please like and share these posts, as they are helpful to all kinds of people no matter where they might live.

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Taste Test Tuesday, Weekly Meal Plan, and Some Updates

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As my personal life continues to evolve, my blogging habits will change. I worked a strange work schedule these past 7 days. I am also finishing up taking the CBCS certification exam and applying for a new position with my current employer. If the pay is up to par I will most likely take this position. This will give me a more normal work schedule which is something a nurse does not usually have. I have been doing bedside nursing since I was 18 years old and my body is starting to feel it. A change will be good.

Yesterday, I missed my meal prep post. Most of my topics will migrate to weekends if I am working a full-time job. This past week I spent 120 dollars on groceries, sorry I went after getting out of work and forgot to snap a picture. I am noticing a trend, though. We tend to buy the same items, basically, and one week is right around 100 and then the next week 120. That means, on average we are spending 110 dollars a week, per month, on food. I guess I can accept that.

I would like us to try a new recipe each week so we are not stuck eating the same foods over and over, even if we like them. Last week we tried Big Mac in a bowl. This recipe was originally intended to be a low-carb recipe, but we didn’t need it to be low-carb. You can definitely modify the ingredients to suit your eating lifestyle. We all loved this and it will be part of our Summer rotation of meals.

We used 1 lb of organic grass-fed ground beef, shredded lettuce, cooked brown rice, chopped onions, chopped dill pickles, and Thousand Island dressing. If you like cheese on your Big Mac, add some shredded cheese too. Basically, you cook the rice, and the ground beef and then put everything in a bowl and eat it. I would prefer this with ground turkey, but my husband always complains, so ground beef it is.

It was fast, easy, and delicious. It can also be affordable if you buy cheaper ground meat.

My meal plan for this week, which began last Friday and will end this Friday is below. I only share dinners because breakfast and lunch are just regular stuff like eggs, toast, salad, soup, leftovers, etc. I always have a fruit and veggies to add to our meals.

Saturday: BBQ pork, pork and beans, and mashed potatoes. My daughter won’t eat beans, so I make mashed potatoes too. Either broccoli or green beans will be on the side.

Sunday: Pizza

Monday: Grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was very cold out yesterday, and this was a lovely dinner.

Tuesday: Hashbrown casserole with bacon. I have frozen hashbrowns that have been in my freezer forever and I need to use them. This will be a new recipe for us, so watch for my taste test post next week. Fruit will be the side.

Wednesday: Chicken and broccoli with rice. Either Teriyaki, sweet and sour, sweet chili sauce, or just cheese for the topping.

Thursday; Sweet and sour pork with rice, and broccoli or green beans

Friday: Chicken Marsala with mashed potatoes and a veggie. This is another new recipe, so watch for the taste test post.

I did not save my receipt so I can’t give cost breakdowns, but each meal should be around 6 dollars. Processed foods are actually costing way more than fresh, and you get way less. So, if you want to save money on groceries stop buying processed stuff, learn to cook, and save some bucks.

Tomorrow I will be doing week 3 of the Kidney Class. I am working on next week’s meal plan and I am going to try a Weight Watcher recipe.

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Kidney Class Week 2

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Here we are at week 2 of the AKF Kidney Education Class. I am a Kidney Health Coach, which is a volunteer position with AKF. I had to take the class and exam to become a Kidney Health Coach. This is the updated, new version, but part of the old version is still on this blog because it contained good information as well. The slides shown below are copyrighted material belonging to AKF. Please do not take them and use them for your own purposes. You can always become a Kidney Coach and use them after passing the exam. Each week you will read the slide, or slides, and watch a video if I find a pertinent video.You can ask questions in the comments and I will answer them. Spam is not allowed and I moderate all comments. If you would rather take the whole kidney class with me all at once, rather than wait for the weekly portion to come out, send me a message using the contact form below. I am currently not doing any in-person classes, but that may change in the future.

This class is really for anyone, but it may be particularly useful to anyone with CKD, at risk for CKD, or who knows someone with CKD. I have CKD. I was diagnosed in 2017. I created this blog to increase awareness of kidney issues, and other topics as well.

None of the information on this blog is intended to be medical or nutritional advice. It is for informational purposes only and to spark a conversation. In these AKF classes, I will always give my thoughts, personal experiences, and even opinion. I encourage you to do the same.

This week I am going to talk about the kidney and what the kidney does.

We have two kidneys, that are shaped like beans, the size of an adult fist, and can be found in the low back above the waistline.

In the video below, by Khan Academy, he does a very good job of explaining what the kidney does. I will talk more next week about the other functions of the kidney, but for this week we are talking about the kidney’s job of filtering waste. I have used Khan Academy with my own kids for homeschooling.

The kidneys are vital organs, and we need them. They do many important things. Today, is just one of the things the kidneys do. Come back next week for more good information.

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Meal Prep/Plan Monday Week 3

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Hello, and happy Monday! We have had a soaker of a day so far. It poured and thundered all night and morning. If you like light shows, the lightning would have impressed you.

This is week 3 of my meal prep/plan series. This week I remembered to keep my receipt, plus have my Walmart app handy so I can give prices for each meal. We are also on a mission to spend only 100 dollars per week for food, for 3 adults, and company when we have it. The only things not included in that 100 dollars are dog food, non-food items, and coffee. Yes, coffee. It is a necessity and I buy it in bulk on Amazon.

Last week, I went over my budget by 20 dollars. This week I spent 104 dollars and that is close enough for me. Even making a meal plan, it is very easy to go over budget when you are in the store. If I was always happy with the fruit and veggies that were picked by store employees, I would just always do a pickup order. But, sadly, I am not. So, I have been using the app to add the items from my grocery list into the app, so I know how much I can anticipate spending. Then, I have to stick to it, lol.

I buy larger packs of meat and split them into different meals. So, you will note on the meal plan, hamburgers, but won’t see any in the weekly shop. That is because I bought it in bulk the previous week, so I got three meals out of it.

I only share dinner plans, and when I work they eat pizza or some other quick meal. Breakfast is not common in my house, and lunches are always leftovers, sandwiches, soup, salad, etc. I always have some kind of fresh fruit on hand and veggies for snacking. I try to buy some crackers, or pretzels as well.

My meal prep is basically just cleaning, chopping, and storing fresh veggies and fruit for easy, fast snacks, and work lunches. This week I even prepped the onions from last week. I also chopped up all the lettuce into bite-size pieces. It makes it much easier, and faster to throw together a salad when everything is prepped and ready. But, buying these items already chopped is expensive and a waste of money.

This current meal plan started on Friday the 10th and will end Friday the 17th. Any of these meals can have fresh fruit added, or other veggies. The prices may not be exact, just a reference to how much the meal could cost if you made the amounts stated. There are items that are on the menu that are not shown in the image. That is because I have items from other grocery hauls and stuff already on hand.

Saturday: They had pizza Dinner cost $4.98

Sunday: They had chicken alfredo leftovers. I don’t have the cost for this one because I didn’t save my receipt from the previous week’s shop. But, the chicken was about 3 dollars, and I made homemade alfredo sauce. I will be doing a Taste Test Tuesday post about this recipe and I will try to figure out the cost then.

Monday: Chicken and rice with either Teriyaki or Sweet Chile sauce, and broccoli. I can’t decide. I buy the bulk chicken and split it into 5 meals. Even at the higher end of 15 dollars that is 3 dollars per meal of chicken. The sauce comes out to about 26 cents a serving, and there are three of us. Brown rice is about 44 cents per serving. Broccoli is 98 cents a bag. So, this meal is only $6.08 for three adults and I am sure there will be leftovers.

Tuesday: Hamburgers on a bun with onion rings. I bought the burger meat in the grass-fed, organic, 3-pack for $19.32. So the burger meat is $5.83. The onion rings were $5.26 This meal costs $11.09 and is the least healthy, go figure. We will probably have a side salad or fruit.

Wednesday: Kielbasa, peppers, onions, and rice. I bought frozen peppers and onion this time, so the fresh peppers can be for snacking. The Kielbasa is $3.98, the rice 44 cents per person, the peppers and onions were $4.28 and I will use half the bag, so 2.14. But, I had my daughter pick these and they were not the most affordable. I will not make that mistake again. This meal comes out to $7.44 to feed three adults and there will probably be leftovers. We may add some of the sweet chili sauce as well.

Thursday: Pork chops with stuffing, and either broccoli or green beans. I bought the family-size of boneless pork chops for 9.51 and split it into 3 meals for $3.17 per meal. Everyone gets 1 pork chop. The stuffing was 88 cents, and a big can of green beans was $1.08. So, the cost of this meal as is, and will have leftovers, is $5.13.

Friday: Chicken Cesar salad. We buy the family size and it costs $4.98 and is a kit that comes with everything you need to make it.

So, for the week of meals, I added 10 dollars for the chicken alfredo as I didn’t do a cost breakdown, 50 dollars for a week of dinners is pretty good. That means we are spending 50 dollars, on lunches, and snack items.

There are other things that may mess up my budget for the next few months, namely hurricane season.

I hope you enjoy these posts and they give you some ideas. You can make them even more affordable by replacing meat with beans. But, at this point that will not work for my family. It doesn’t make sense to buy stuff no one will eat. I bought fresh strawberries this week and was very disappointed with them. So, I have to find a use for them, and I think I might try dehydrating them. They will last up to a year that way and they are sweet and delicious.

My disclaimer is short and sweet. None of the information on this blog is intended to be medical or nutritional advice. It is for informational purposes only and to spark a conversation.

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Fun Friday, Onions!

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I was researching a topic on onions, and food affordability and I came across a Youtube video of a husband and wife trying weird foods from their followers when they were kids. I have a fun story about onions as a weird food from my childhood, and that is how I got to add it to Fun Friday.

When I was a kid we ate raw onion sandwiches. Yep, just raw onions on white bread with mayo, and salt and pepper if you wanted it. Yes, we were somewhat money deprived when I was a kid, but that is not why we ate this strange meal. If we got a cold, flu, or other respiratory ailments my mom had us eat these onion sandwiches to help us feel better and get better quicker. I don’t remember if it worked, but I do remember eating them when sick. My husband used to eat cheese and ketchup sandwiches, which to me is just gross, lol.

What weird food combinations did you eat as a child? Share in the comments.

I was researching affordable foods that are healthy as well. Spinach and Kale probably come to mind. But, I was surprised to see onions on the list. I love onions. I eat them raw, cooked, and caramelized are my favorite, and all onions too. If onions are just too strong for you try shallots, chives, or green onions. This reminds me I have a bunch of green onions in the freezer from last fall that I need to use in some recipes. I can not think of one dish that I make that I do not use onions in.

From a CKD perspective, onions are an excellent food item. They add tons of flavor to dishes so that you can use less salt. Onion and garlic together are even better.

I prefer Vidalia sweet onions, but red onions are supposedly the healthiest. Red onions are a staple of the Mediterranean Diet. I also like white onions, and yellow onions would be the last on my preference list.

According to my Walmart app, onion prices are as follows.

  1. Sweet onions 3 lb bag 3.68
  2. Red onions 3 lb bag 3.98
  3. White onions 3 lb bag 4.28
  4. Yellow onions 3 lb bag 2.98

For a while onions were ridiculously expensive and I am happy to see the prices have come back to normal.

For the price, onions provide tons of flavor, vitamins, and minerals. They even have a small amount of protein and fiber.

The video below will tell more about the great health benefits of onions.

Happy Fun Friday! Enjoy your weekend.

My disclaimer is short and sweet. Nothing on this blog is intended to be medical or nutritional advice. It is for informational purposes and to spark a conversation.

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Kidney Class Week 1

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This topic will fall on each Wednesday. I had a long workday yesterday and had errands to run, so I was too tired to put together a post last night. This new kidney class will be in a section all by itself so it is easy to find as I add new information each week. There are 65 total slides and they are the copyrighted information for American Kidney Fund. So, please don’t take them and use them without permission. I am an AKF Kidney Coach and I have just completed the newly updated class that focuses a lot on prevention. I decided to leave the old slides on this blog because they are not bad information. If you would rather take the whole class with me all at once, rather than wait for weekly posts, you can email me at healthybuddymelissa@yahoo.com and I will work with you to set that up.

A little background in case you are new here and you would rather not read through 4 years of posts. I have CKD. I have managed to get myself back to stage 2 with lifestyle and diet changes. Zetia may or may not have helped as well, as I was hovering just below stage 2 before I began taking that in October of last year. I wish I knew more about prevention for CKD, or if someone put it in my face more often. While I am a nurse, we often tend to not take care of ourselves while we take care of everyone else. I would say parents, and anyone who works a job would fall under this category as well. We are always busy, always going, and often don’t take time to care for ourselves. Prevention of CKD takes a Mindful attitude to what we eat, how we relax if we exercise, and so much more.

While it is true once you have CKD, you always have it. There is no cure. However, it is possible to prevent it, slow its progression of it, and even possibly improve it though most doctors will say that really isn’t possible.

These first two slides are really just an introduction and some topics for you to think about. See if you know off the top of your head the answers to these questions. I dropped my phone and it has a crack on the screen so the images have a funny mark through them.

Here are the questions.

  1. What are kidneys and what do they do?
  2. What is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)?
  3. What are ways to prevent CKD and Kidney Failure?
  4. What are treatments for Kidney Failure?

My disclaimer for this set of topics is as follows. This information belongs to AKF. I have been given permission via becoming a Kidney Coach to facilitate and share this information with you. I can add my own personal experiences with CKD and thoughts. It is intended to educate and inform. It is not intended to be medical or nutritional advice.

I would love to hear from you. Your input makes these classes all the better. Share your thoughts, concerns, etc. If you have CKD or love someone who does, share your experience. I do moderate comments, but all valid comments and questions will be allowed.

Meal Plan/Prep Monday: Week 2

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Good Monday morning! Welcome to week 2 of my meal plan/prep challenge. The reason this is a challenge is that I am trying to stay within a 100-dollar-per-week grocery budget for 3 adults, and when we have company for dinner. While this is absolutely feasible, it is difficult to do when everything is so expensive, especially if you have a chronic disease. Last summer I did a few posts where we tried to stay under 75 per week. It was OK, but with inflation, we had to increase our limit. The budget is for food only. Another thing we don’t always include in the budget is coffee. Coffee is something that my husband and I both agreed is a must and will not include it in the budget unless I am buying smaller packs at the grocery store. In general, I buy coffee on Amazon where I get the best deal, but it is like 30 dollars. You will see coffee in the grocery haul below, which was done on Friday of last week. I spent 19 dollars over, and if you read last week’s post, it is because someone else was shopping with me. This is the #1 way to not stick to your budget. Try to shop alone, or just say no.

There are several good reasons to create a food budget and stick to it. For us, it is the easiest place to cut spending from, allowing us to save more money for fun things, or to pay down debt. Don’t worry we are not starving. The hardest part is I like organic, grass-fed meats, and of course snacks. We all like snacks, unfortunately. Snacks are very expensive and everyone likes something different. This is an area I need to continue to work on. I would much rather buy more actual food, than snacks.

Leftovers are always for lunches, and we always have sandwich options, soup, fruit, and veggies.

I don’t really prep a lot of meals. My husband does not like frozen meals, and he does not like leftovers frozen and used later. But, I do prep fruit, and fresh vegetables, so they are easy to just grab and eat. You will see a bag of oranges in the image. I cut them into small wedges and put them in the fridge. I did not buy bananas this week. All veggies are washed and cut for easy use. I am going to start cutting onions ahead and putting them in the fridge, and lettuce as well. We always have canned and frozen veggies on hand. I don’t keep a ton of food on hand anymore. I find it doesn’t get used and it just goes to waste.

My menu plan always starts on a Saturday and ends on Friday. I do not always shop on the same day. It all depends on my work schedule. This week I have a Dr. appt in the city where Aldis is located. I am going to shop there this week and see if there is a big enough difference in the number of food items I can get as compared to my local Walmart. If it is I may consider the drive to Aldis a good idea.

We had bought a second turkey at Thanksgiving when they were marked way down to move. I don’t remember the size, but it was a good-sized turkey for 11 dollars. We had that on Saturday for dinner for our monthly family dinner. Today is Monday and I still have enough meat left to make sandwiches for lunch. You can make broth and soup, but it is really warm here right now and soup is not desirable. I may not eat all of the items in the food haul. I may eat a variation or smaller portions if needed.

Meal Plan for this week:

Saturday, March 4th: Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dinner rolls, green beans and my son brought ice cream for dessert.

Sunday: Tacos. I eat a taco salad.

Monday: Pizza a note about frozen pizza and CKD. Most of them I don’t like, this Walmart brand one shown in the image is pretty good. However, normally I only eat one piece and have a big salad. Last week I ate two pieces and had a massive headache. The preservatives or extra sodium, or both, were most likely the reason for my headache. So, if you have CKD and you experience headaches after eating processed foods, cut back your serving size or avoid if possible.

Tuesday: Macaroni salad with egg or tuna. We are quickly moving into warmer months and our Summer menu. We eat a lot of salad and sandwiches. I hate to use the oven. I did get a new, larger air fryer for Christmas and I am hoping it won’t warm up the house.

Wednesday: Pizza I will not eat pizza this day.

Thursday: Big Mac in a bowl. This is one of our favorite warmer month recipes. You will see it a lot. You will see in the picture I spent the extra few dollars to get the three-pack of organic ground beef. To me, it is worth it if I am going to eat red meat.

Friday: This will be a new recipe for me but as you can see there is a whole carton of half and half in the picture. I will probably make this a few weeks in a row so it doesn’t go to waste. I tried it in my coffee, but yuck. I will be making my own alfredo sauce. I tend to not like the store-bought jar varieties, even the organic ones. This meal will be chicken alfredo, pasta, and broccoli.

I threw away my receipt by accident so I don’t have the prices for each meal. I promise next week I will.

These posts are one of my most popular topics on this blog. If you would like me to write about something in particular, let me know in the comments. Wednesday will begin the weekly slides for the new AKF Kidney Classes. I finally got to the new class and am ready to begin teaching it. I will post a new one each Wednesday. If you would rather do the whole class at once, you can contact me below and I will work with you to set something up.

My disclaimer is short and sweet. None of the information on this blog is intended to be medical or nutritional advice. It is for informational purposes only and to spark a conversation.

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March Health Challenge

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Since I am still getting back into the groove of regular blogging, I forgot to write about last month’s challenge. A health challenge does not just mean diet and exercise. For the month of February, I challenged myself to de-clutter all of my electronics of old photos, files, emails, etc. Every day I de-cluttered at least 20 things from my electronics. As the weeks went along I found I was just doing more each day because it felt good to get rid of all that saved stuff.

For the month of March, I am challenging myself, and my readers, to do pushups every day. A woman of my age, ahem 53 should be able to do anywhere between 7 and 10 pushups. That sounds like a joke, right? 7 pushups. But, if you don’t do pushups, trust me 7 is a lot. Below, you will see a video for a starter pushup, or for people who can not get on the floor, or have shoulder issues. If you find you can do these easily you can modify them as the video states, or move them to the floor. Once on the floor, you can start on your knees before working up to a full pushup. Men in my age group should be able to do 10-12 pushups. You can see the chart of pushups here to find how many you should be able to do.

Pushups strengthen your arms and core. They can help improve strength for everyday activities of daily living such as carrying your own groceries, mowing the grass, picking up grandbabies, etc.

I challenge you to do 10 pushups every day. If you have a day where you are already doing some heavy work, such as I did today raking, then skip that day. An injury is not the goal. Strength is the goal. If you can’t do 10 build up to 10 by the end of the month. If you feel pain, stop, and rest a day, or more if needed. If you have been told by your doctor not to do such activities then don’t. If you are sedentary, which means you do no physical activity at all, talk to your doctor first.

I will be doing 10 a day and hopefully work up to 14 full push-ups on the floor. I will let you know at the end of the month how it goes. You can let me know in the comments if you are joining in.

My disclaimer is short and sweet. None of the information on this blog is intended to be medical or nutritional advice. It is for informational purposes only and to spark a conversation.

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Food On Friday: Ezekiel Bread

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Updated 3/4/2023 this post is from 2019. I have not bought this bread in quite some time. With inflation it is just not economical to buy bread only one person in the house will eat.

Welcome to Food on Friday!  Today, I am going talk to you about, Ezekiel Bread.  The kind I buy is the whole grain kind.  There are other varieties, but this is the one I chose to start with.  This is my first time trying this bread.  This is not a paid post.

First, let me start by saying this is not the most delicious bread I have ever eaten.  Matter of fact it isn’t delicious much at all.  So, if flavor is super important to you, this particular bread may not work.  This bread is also the first Organic bread I have tried.  No one else will eat this but me, lol, at my house.

So, why did I buy this bread?  There are several reasons, and they are listed below.

  1.  I follow a low-sodium diet.  Most sandwich bread, or rolls, has at least 140mg of sodium per slice.  So just the bread for a sandwich would have at least 280mg of sodium.  So, I stopped eating bread, for the most part.  With Summer coming, and it is brutal in Florida, we don’t cook a lot with the stove or oven.  That means sandwiches are on the menu.  If I toast this bread, I like it even more, and it makes a nice sandwich for me.  One slice of this Ezekiel bread has only 75mg of sodium.
  2.  I like that it is Organic, very low fat, has a low glycemic index, a good amount of Iron, and Fiber per serving.

There are some downfalls, though.

1.  Besides flavor, this bread is kind of high in Phosphorus, 8% per slice.  So, one sandwich and I am at 16% for the day, and that percentage is for someone who does not have CKD.  So, I have to make sure I am paying attention to other Phosphorus I may get throughout the day.

2.  It is not cheap, but I don’t find most of the non Organic good bread is cheap either.  I can remember when bread was .25, that is how old I am, lol.

3.  It has to stay refrigerated.  This is a pain for me because it is just one more thing taking up space in the fridge, but I deal with it.

4.  Because it is Organic, with no preservatives, it has a much shorter shelf life.  In the Summer months this will not be an issue, because like I said we eat sandwiches.  But, I probably will not buy this in the Winter months, because I just won’t eat it fast enough.  Which brings me to the last point.  We live in Florida.  We get hurricanes, and even without a hurricane, losing power is always possible.  As such, we have had to evacuate once, in the 15 years we have lived here.  We had no power for a week.  This bread would most likely not survive that, as I wouldn’t be able to refrigerate it, without a generator.  I will be doing a post, probably next week about disaster preparation, for people with CKD.  I did one before, on my homeschool blog, but it needs updating, and lots of new info learned.  I can tell you there are not a lot of Organic foods I can stock-pile due to shelf life that are OK for CKD.  So, that has to be kept in mind.

You can read the rest of the info about Ezekiel Bread, by looking at the images below.

My disclaimer is short and sweet. None of the information I share on this blog is intended to be medical or nutritional advise. It is for informational purposes only and to spark a conversation.

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I Have CKD But No Insurance!

/ healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

Today is day 2 of National Kidney Month. Maybe you are at risk of getting CKD or were just diagnosed, and you do not have any health insurance. This can be a daunting feeling as you will need regular medical monitoring moving forward. There are some options, that may be helpful, and I am going to go through them. The #1 thing you can do, in my opinion, is to make the lifestyle changes necessary to help you either prevent getting CKD or prevent the progression of CKD for as long as possible.

As you know, I have CKD. You can read my history all the way back to the beginning of this blog. I was underinsured for many years of my adult life, some by choice, and some not. I truly feel my kidney disease could have been diagnosed many years earlier than it was had I been under proper medical supervision. I am very fortunate now, and for the last 10 years or so to have very good insurance. Before Obamacare, or the ACA as its technical name, pre-existing conditions, and many other limitations were put onto the American people via the health care industry. It made lower income families much harder to afford needed medical care, even just basic prevention. I feel like a yearly urine test falls under prevention for CKD.

Here are some options to consider if you are underinsured, or uninsured, but may be at risk for CKD, or already have it.

  1. You could buy urine dipstick test strips and monitor protein in your urine. These are available online and at drug stores. Just be sure to follow the directions to get accurate results.
  2. Many clinics and labs offer a sliding scale fee for those eligible.
  3. Care Credit is a credit card for medical care. Of course, you have to apply and be approved, and pay it back with interest. We actually have used this for pet care, and when my son needed very expensive dental surgery.
  4. Health Savings Plans. I don’t feel like these would work well for someone who is only making minimum wage, but I also don’t know much about them. My husband had one and after a year it had 150 dollars in it and he bought new glasses. So, maybe more of a supplemental thing.
  5. KEEP Healthy from the National Kidney Foundation. This is a free screening done for the public. You have to visit the screening site. If you are at risk for CKD you can get the urine screening for free. The other items in the screening are available to everyone who visits.
  6. Since pre-existing conditions can no longer be excluded if you are uninsured and find out you have CKD you could sign up for your employer-based health insurance. Of course, this most likely will not be free. There used to be a time when employers would offer health insurance to single adults for free, I remember, but I am pretty sure not many do anymore. Yes, I am old, lol.
  7. Florida actually has a pretty extensive Medicaid Insurance Plan. There are 3 options for adults, and one for children call CHIP. If you are not a senior, disabled, or a child the requirements to be approved are pretty stiff. You can read more here, and here.
  8. You can visit a Community Health Center. I am in a rural area, but when I looked up my zip code, down at the bottom of this page, there are actually several near enough to me should I even need this option. These health centers are in rural areas and underserved areas.
  9. Another option is your local Public Health Center. They may not be able to manage your CKD, but you may be able to get some prevention tests for free and counseling as to where to get affordable health care.
  10. The last option and I find this kind of depressing is Medicare. It doesn’t feel like there is a lot of hope for underinsured, and uninsured people at risk and with CKD. Once you reach stage 5 you can sign up for Medicare despite your age. Stage 5 is considered End Stage Renal Disease. Medicare covers 80% of medical costs. So, you would still have to pay the other 20%. I found this webinar from AKF on Youtube. I encourage you to watch it.

My disclaimer is short and sweet. Nothing on this blog is intended to be medical advice. It is for informational purposes only and to spark a conversation.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

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