Food On Friday: Ezekiel Bread

March 4, 2023March 4, 2023 / healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

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.

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.
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.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

7 Exercises You Should Not Do After Age 50!

December 31, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / 1 Comment

Happy Fitness Friday, and Happy New Year’s Eve! I will be at work all this weekend, so no fun festivities for me tonight!

I talk a lot about exercise and fitness on this blog. That would make sense since it is a Health and Wellness blog. I tell people all the time you should not just jump into exercises that you have never done before without some kind of practice and guidance first. But, did you know there are actually exercises that you should not do after age 50? Now if you are an athlete, no walking around the block every day does not make you an athlete, or you are doing these exercises under the guidance of a Physical Therapist, then that may be OK for you. But, for the average every day 50 years old the 7 exercises listed below should be not done. I will try to find a video for each one, and or a picture description, since reading it doesn’t always make sense. There are several reasons for this including changes in joints, muscle strength, and it takes much longer to heal from an injury after age 50.

Leg extensions on a machine
Back extension on a Roman chair
Pull downs or pull ups behind the head. OK, these are hard enough when you are not 50, just saying.
Plyometric exercises. That one is a bummer, lol.
Overhead presses. OK, I will admit I do these. That might explain my shoulder pain aggravating me. I think if you do one arm at a time rather than both, as long as you have no pain, it may be OK.
Heavy weights. If you can’t do 10 reps without dying it is too heavy.
Sprinting. According to the article I read some people over age 50 can do a 7 minute mile, but not most without injury. That bummed me out because I have been working on a 10 minute mile and couldn’t get to it. I can do a 15 minute mile fairly easy as long as I don’t talk, lol. Oh well I guess I have to give up the 10 minute mile goal.

I am not an athlete. I don’t even really like high-intensity exercise. I am age 52 and getting injured is not a goal of mine. But, I do want to continue to avoid muscle wasting, and issues with bone disorders especially since I have CKD. Exercise is a vital part of that goal.

Having good muscle tone, balance, and bone density are super important after age 50. You do need to exercise, just choose wisely in what you do. Weight training is an important part of that. Lightweights should keep your muscles strong as well as your bones. Walking is a great exercise and almost anyone can walk. Ask me about my Walking Buddy plan. Before anyone asks me that is not me in the image below.

Disclaimer

My Top 10 Posts For 2021!

December 30, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

Well, the year is almost over. Another year is gone and a new one is set to begin. How was your 2021?

2021 was a stressful year for me. I had so much family drama, work drama, and just plain society drama. I hate drama. It drains me. That doesn’t mean I don’t deal with it. I am not a stick my head in the sand kind of lady. But, that doesn’t mean I enjoy it. I had good times too, with lots of laughs, and fun. I was able to get back to stage 2 CKD, maintain a 20-pound weight loss for over a year, met some awesome fitness goals, and I have started some new classes to start my profession in a different direction. I have been an LPN for my whole life since I was 17, which is almost 36 years. I love bedside nursing, with a passion. But, I am almost 53 years old and with about 10 more years to retirement my body is tired. Lifting, pulling, pushing, standing on my feet 12 hours a day, and that is just the physical stress of being a nurse. My body is tired, and I had a shoulder injury over the summer that took 7 months to fully heal, and now I have strained a neck muscle in that same arm from pulling on a very heavy patient. I just am not going to continue to do this to my body. So, two weeks ago I started a medical billing and coding certification class. Yes, this will be a desk job which I am not sure I will really enjoy, but I do know it is what I need to do to stay in the health care field. Once I am certified, which I hope won’t take more than 3 months, I will actively search for work in that field. So, things may change here on the blog. They may not, either. Just stay tuned. I also sit on the Board of Directors of a local dog rescue and will become the Secretary in the new year. This is a new adventure for me, as I have never been a secretary of anything, lol. I am learning to write grants for them. My last child will graduate high school in 2022 which means my homeschooling career will end. I am not sure how I feel about that. But, I do know change is good, and it is necessary. I am ready for whatever 2022 brings, I hope, lol! I still will be offering my coaching plans, so be sure and ask about them if you are interested in some Health Coaching.

I think I am going to stick with the monthly topic themes. They keep me on a good blogging path. Also, starting in the new year I will be sharing the slides from the Kidney Coach program that I have not been able to do live since Covid. I will do one to two slides a week. Each slide will have a written explanation with links to the topic with further information. I am an American Kidney Fund Kidney Coach and I have been given permission to do this here on the blog to reach and educate as many people as possible. A lot of these topics I have already discussed on this blog, but not from the AKF program. I hope people will find this helpful. I really would like to do these in video or voice-over form to be uploaded to Youtube. We will see if I can figure that out, lol. I also would like to do some basic cooking videos and how I adapt them to CKD. That probably won’t happen until my husband no longer works from home sometime in 2022. So, for now, you will just have to read about it. One topic that has really intrigued me over the past month is a pantry or shelf-stable cooking. I think this would be near to impossible on a long-term basis for someone with CKD, but I will be doing some food posts about this. I generally avoid these types of foods and feel that is why I have had such good success with improving my kidney function. But, maybe there are some better options.

So, back to the topic at hand. What were my top 10 blog posts for 2021? Be sure and check out the very end where I share the most popular post of all time on this blog. They are not in any particular order.

The number one post on this blog since I wrote the post, is this one about which cheese is best for CKD. It actually should be a top 10, but I didn’t write it in 2021 so I didn’t include it. This tells me that people are searching for info on food and CKD.

That is my year in review! Here’s to 2022 and hopefully no more Covid! I am so over Covid and everything that goes with it. Leave me a comment wishing me a Happy New Year and I will reciprocate.

Disclaimer

Do Processed Foods Cause Kidney Disease?

December 23, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / 1 Comment

Welcome to another Thinking on Thursday topic and it is the day before the Night Before Christmas. How exciting!

There are lots of thoughts about what causes kidney disease and how to prevent, and treat it once you have it. There are lots of different reasons someone may get kidney disease. What about processed foods? When I talk about processed foods I am talking about highly processed foods, though processed foods have their own issues as well. Highly processed foods are processed foods that don’t just have added fat, salt, and sugar, but also have other chemical additives, colors, preservatives, etc. There are studies that show that the body does not know how to break down these chemicals in these foods and that it caused the kidneys to work harder and can even damage them. If you read here often then you know I have been able to get back to stage 2 CKD after being diagnosed almost 5 years ago. I do attribute a lot of this to allowing my kidneys to heal from the damage of years of eating processed and highly processed foods. I mostly consume organic, home-cooked meals now. I do indulge in unhealthier options, it is a given in this world these days, but before diagnosis and a stressful job with kids at home, we were consuming these types of meals daily. Below you will see links to articles, studies, and videos that explain this topic and how increasing both fiber and resistant starch can actually help to start to heal at the very least the metabolic issues of CKD and at best the damage that has been done to the kidneys. If you don’t like to read research studies, like I do, just read the conclusion. That is the only part that really matters, lol. You can buy resistant starch right off of Amazon, and make your own baked goods using it. The video is short, but she explains the idea of brown food, or baked diet, as the concept to ultra-processed fiber deprived foods and CKD.

If you would like to learn how to cook your own meals and reduce eating processed meals, plus how to meal plan for when you work, use the contact form at the end of the post to message me and I will talk to you about my health coaching options.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7547583/

https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/090112p22.shtml This article does not reference CKD but does talk about weight and metabolic issues.

Disclaimer

Fun Fitness Friday!

December 3, 2021December 3, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

It’s Friday, woot woot! If you work just weekends, like me, then Friday isn’t really all that exciting, lol. Since I do work just weekends now, at my nursing job, I don’t get to do Sweating on Sunday posts anymore, so I have moved that topic to Fitness Friday. This post will be a conglomerate of topics all squished into one.

First off if you are a member of my newsletter then you know that my Health Challenge for November was to maintain the 7-pound weight loss from October. I did not think I met that goal and I was bummed. However, I have noticed over the past month, remember I weigh myself daily due to CKD, that my fancy digital scale really seemed to be off. I wasn’t sure if it was off higher or lower though. I changed the batteries and had not changed my eating habits enough to warrant a weight gain. My clothes were not tighter and I was certain I was not adding any more muscle mass because I was not really lifting weights in November. Anyway, to make a long story shorter, I did some research and my hunch was right that the scale was no longer balanced, or zeroed out. So, I purchased the old-fashioned kind of scale and it came last eve. To my surprise not only did I maintain but I lost 1 pound off my October weight. Yay! I also did my measurements this morning and while not anything huge I continue to lose parts of inches off my waist and hips. This is the area I most want to lose fat from. I have plateaued quite some time ago in weight loss, but the fat loss continues in small increments. I can work with that. But, if you want to learn more about plateauing for weight or fat loss and how to overcome it, watch the short video below. He explains it much better than I could by writing it. But, basically, you lose more weight at the beginning of your weight loss journey and then your body actually burns fewer calories as a sort of protection mode. Even if you plateau maintaining that weight, is a hefty goal to have. Keeping cardio low and slow is what burns fat.

My December Health Challenge is to challenge myself to be more consistent with weight training. I am aiming for three days a week, and I only use light weights with higher reps, at this point in time for several reasons. I am not a fitness trainer so I am not comfortable creating workouts for clients. However, I can share ones that I find on Youtube that I do, and I like. If you would like to check out my Health Buddy Walking plan, click here. Anyone can walk! The second video below is the upper body program I did 3 days this week. If you are new, or haven’t lifted in a while, or are over age 50 this is a great little video to start with. If there are any of the exercises you can’t do just modify them to your needs, or skip them. Rest whenever you want to. It is a video no one will know.

The weather is beautiful here in Florida, and it is a great time to get out and walk, do some gardening, or just take some beautiful pictures. Share in the comments how you are enjoying your Friday.

Disclaimer

Sign up for my Mailchimp newsletter!

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Gift Idea #3 For People With Dementia!

December 2, 2021December 2, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

Hola! That means hello in Spanish. I am learning Spanish! I actually remember quite a bit from years ago when I was doing it with my son for Middle School Spanish. I do know some basic words but really can not put a sentence together. That really has nothing to do with the gift idea for today, but it is an update to the topic of Dementia prevention which is to learn a new language.

While it is true that a lot of Dementia is related to memory issues, but there are also socialization issues as well. Today’s gift idea is thinking games, especially games that can be played in a group with family or friends. Did you know from my research that the #1 game that was shown to help people with Dementia was Tetris? Do you remember Tetris? I used to play it on the Nintendo 64 as a teenager. I just downloaded it from the Google Play store for free. If your loved one has a smartphone help them to download it and play away. I am sure they probably have it in a plug-and-play version for the TV or is available on the laptop.

These ideas are from this article.

Card games. If your loved one is like my loved one they probably played card games a lot when they were younger. If they have mild cognitive decline ask them which ones they loved to play. Pinochle was a big one for my loved one. Then learn how to play it and set up a game. You can play easier card games like War, Go Fish, and Memory. Memory can be very fun if you attach pictures of loved ones, or pets to the cards. Or, old magazine ads I think would be super fun. Have a discussion about those ads, events, or loved ones.
Bingo. Where I work the ladies used to love to play Bingo. It has kind of fallen out of favor recently but every afternoon they used to sit down to play Bingo. They really only liked it though if there was a snack for a prize, lol. If you are playing in a group of Dementia residents be sure and have someone available to assist those that need it.
Visual Games. This is similar to the Memory cards I mentioned above.
Word Puzzles. This does not mean Soduko or crossword puzzles, though those are amazing if your loved one can still do them. Word search puzzles, hidden object puzzles are awesome! Way down at the bottom of that link I shared is a topic about Memory Cafe’s. Which sounds awesome, btw. There are none near me, but my loved one is in a facility where activities are done daily. Anyway on that website is a free game called Memory Joggers. It is perfect as a word puzzle game.
Video Games. I have already talked about Tetris, but what about other video games. They can help with hand eye coordination, as well as memory.

Some games not mentioned are games about music from their generation. Board games like Chutes and Ladders, Dominoes, Uno, Operation, and possibly others. I found this game that was precisely designed for people with Dementia.

Just remember to be Mindful of their Dementia. You don’t want anything too complicated, or that goes too fast. A game that maybe they played before Dementia might be easier as they may remember the rules and how to play. My loved one absolutely loved Pac-Man, while she couldn’t play it on a smartphone she could play the plug-and-play version of the game.

Search the archives and see the other two gift ideas! Ask me about my Health Coaching and how it can help meet your health goals.

Disclaimer

Sign up for my Mailchimp newsletter!

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

This Modifiable Dementia Risk Factor May Shock You!

December 1, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

Hello, and welcome to December! November just whizzed right by. If you stop by often then you know November was Dementia awareness month and I have extended it into December. I am not sure that I will still get all of the information covered, but it gives me something to talk about for next year, lol.

If you remember, the first modifiable risk factor was education, especially in early life. Today, I am going to discuss hearing loss and how it is connected to Dementia.

When I first read the study I was shocked to learn that hearing loss is a risk factor for Dementia, especially since I live in the USA and hearing aids are not covered by Medicare or even most private insurance. Plus, they are very expensive! This seems like such an easy issue to fix in some regards by just making hearing aids more accessible to people. I mean the risk is huge! We can do better than this America! The video below is an Audiologist talking about hearing loss and the risk to Dementia.

Before I talk about diagnosing and treating hearing loss, I want to talk about why hearing loss is a risk factor for Dementia. You can read the article here, but to sum it up hearing loss may lead to faster brain atrophy, can lead to isolation, depression, and decreased communication skills. Plus, loss of hearing, believe it or not, can affect balance when you walk, which can affect safety and lead to falls.

What are signs that you may have hearing loss?

The most obvious would be that you turn TV, and radio up to very high levels.
You might say huh a lot when talking to others. You might not understand what others are saying in a conversation.
Twisting your head or body to hear better.
You miss phone calls, knocks at the door, doorbells, or even alarms going off.
You feel exhausted in group conversations due to straining to hear what is being said.

How do you have your hearing tested?

If you are over 18 a hearing test every 3 to 5 years is recommended, unless you have existing hearing loss already. An Audiologist can test your hearing and give you advise.
There are actual hearing self tests you can do on your own via phone apps. I just put one on my phone. I don’t think I have hearing loss, matter of fact mine is pretty acute, but I would like to test my husband as well.
Hearing loss could be as simple as wax build up in the ear. That is why your doctor looks in there, or one of the reasons.
The whisper test, and tuning forks are other ways that hearing can be tested.

How is hearing loss treated?

The most common way that people think of treating hearing loss is with a hearing aid. As I have already discussed most people don’t have access or funds to purchase a hearing aid. This website has the most comprehensive information on programs to help people afford a hearing aid. Please check it out, if you or a loved one has hearing loss.
Remove ear wax blockage. That one just makes sense. Just make sure you have a trained professional do it.
There are some types of hearing loss that can be fixed by inserting tubes into the ears, or other procedures, to improve hearing.
Cochlear implants which may actually be covered by Medicare or Medicaid are the newest option for hearing loss. I will be talking a lot more about Medicare in the near future.

The bottom line is to please have a hearing test done at least every 3 years to catch hearing loss early. I can not recall exactly when I had one done, but it wasn’t too awful long ago.

Do you have Health Goals you would like to meet? Why not use a Health Coach to help you get there? Use the communication form at the end of this post to send me a message about what goal you would like to meet. Check out my Walking Buddy coaching option.

Disclaimer

Sign up for my Mailchimp newsletter! The next one goes out later today.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Gift Idea #2 For People With Dementia: Companionship

November 30, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

Welcome to Tuesday! Yesterday, I shared to life-like Joy dog as gift idea #1. If your loved one is still able to care properly for a real pet they make great companions. No affiliate links.

Obviously, they would need to remember to feed, water, and potty the pet at the very least. A way for the pet to get exercise would also be important, plus vet services. Dogs are awesome, I love them! There are tons that are waiting for homes in shelters and rescues all across this country. But, sometimes dogs can jump and or trip an older person. There is also the risk that the dog could get out and not come back. Being sure the dog is chipped, and is wearing proper ID tags will help the dog return home when found. Getting the dog basic dog training would be a great gift idea as well. Cats are another option if your loved one can’t handle a dog.

If your loved one can not take care of a pet anymore, or maybe is in Assisted Living, there are lots of ways to provide them companionship. Hopefully, they are taking advantage of the community outings and activities. Isolation and socialization issues can lead to depression which can make Dementia worse. Visiting them as often as you can, in person, is a wonderful gift for someone with Dementia. Maybe they can have friends visit too. Sometimes these visits may seem to cause agitation after the visit is over, but usually, it is short-lived and they resume their normal daily activities. FB Live and or Messenger are great ways to use video so your loved one can see and hear you. Zoom, Skype, and other video platforms can also be used. Facetime, for iPhones and so many others, is out there now. If your loved one can still handle technology devices Amazon offers an Echo item that you can do video calls on plus many other great features. Obviously, any of these technology gifts may need assistance to use, so be mindful of that when you purchase them as a gift. You don’t want it to frustrate them or cause them to be angry.

For adults that still live at home all of the same ideas still apply. Plus, there are community programs your loved one can sign up for. Do a search for Elder Day Cares or community groups for elders in your area. Help them if they need it to find these programs, and hopefully, they will allow you to assist them. Not all people who suffer from Dementia are willing to accept help, unfortunately.

Do you have any thoughts? Leave them in the comments.

Sign up for my Mailchimp newsletter!

Gift Idea #5 For People With CKD

December 5, 2020December 2, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

Updated 12/2/2021: I did get an air fryer for Christmas, and if you have a larger family the smaller one shown in the post is really not going to be great. I do use it a lot for reheating food though, and it is awesome for that.

Happy, Happy Saturday! I hope everyone is well and staying away from the Covid.

Today, I chose an air fryer as gift idea #5 for people with CKD. Why? People with CKD are more prone to Heart Disease and decreasing fat intake is part of prevention of Heart Disease. Air fryers are a great replacement if you love deep fried foods, but don’t want all of the fat. I actually asked for one of these for Christmas. Not that I really love deep fried foods, but I do love the crispiness of deep fried foods. With the air fryer I don’t have to heat up the house with the oven, or the stove, to get crispy fried chicken or french fries. I can not wait to get mine and play around with it. My husband ordered mine at Belk because they had an awesome Black Friday deal. It is similar to the one shown below and it can be bought at Amazon. All of the major department stores are selling these. But with Covid it might be safer to order online. The air fryer may benefit everyone in your home by decreasing fat intake.

Read about air fryers here, and how much they reduce fat intake, here.

Be sure and research what breading, or batter is best used for CKD when frying. As always this is confusing as different websites say different things. I like to use a mixture of baking soda and all purpose white flour, with herbs and spices added in. Bread crumbs and batters can be very high in sodium and phosphorus, and sometimes potassium. I use the bare minimum of breading needed and depending on what else I ate that day instead of an egg dip, I may just use water.

A note about my daily meals. My daughter is having pizza today, but I decided to make bbq pulled pork, with the leftover pork, and have it with fried cabbage and onions. The pork needed to not be wasted and I am still working my way through that large head of cabbage. If I had my air fryer I could try putting the cabbage in there, Yum. For my work dinner I will just take a large salad. You are probably thinking that is way too low of carbs. Well you would be correct, except I had homemade sunflower bread for breakfast, two slices with over 50 grams of carbs.

Disclaimer

Sign up for my Mailchimp newsletter!

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Gift Ideas 3 and 4 for people with ckd, plus my weekly meal plan

December 4, 2020November 29, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

I totally forgot to post gift idea #3 yesterday, so today I will do 3 and 4. Before I get to that I want to mention that today was grocery day. I really do quite hate grocery shopping, lol, and I hate going to various stores to get better deals. I can tell you one thing. There is no way I can only spend 50 dollars a week if I want to shop at Publix, which I do because I love their Greenwise products. It is just too expensive. But, I may have to sacrifice the budget a little, because when you start reading ingredients I really do much prefer organic items. For example, I needed Ricotta Cheese. Aldis, where I went first, had none at all. So, I went to Publix. I was going to get the one that was 4 dollars cheaper, and then I read the ingredients. Nope, spent the extra 4 dollars. But, with that said I don’t need to buy everything organic. I like grass-fed meats, and organic cheeses, and some other things. But fruits and veggies, honestly I don’t really notice any difference as long as I rinse them well. That goes for frozen too, but I do always check the ingredients on anything I buy. I might be able to do it if I did just their buy 1 get 1 free offering, but those are all processed foods almost completely and that is what I don’t want. So, I did go to Aldi’s first, and unfortunately, the Aldi’s near me is not really all that affordable. I save more at Save A Lot and Walmart in the smaller town near me. But, that is the point of me challenging myself. I learn through keeping track of where I really do get the most for my money. I went over budget and spent 70 dollars. Some of that was for baking stuff for Christmas cookies which we give as gifts. But, I left it in the budget for my daughter to see how easy it is to go outside the budget especially at holidays. I will subtract it from next week, and only have 30 to spend. I don’t know, though because our inventory of meat, and veggies are just about used up, so I may need to spend more. I did stick to my list though and bought no extras.

My meal plan for 12/4-12/11 just dinners.

12/4- Leftovers. There is pork, coleslaw, and sweet potatoes

12/5- Homemade pizzas. Aldis had flatbread so I bought those. We already had cheese and sauce. I have some leftover mushrooms and onions for mine, and my daughter will put pepperoni on hers. This is a work day for me, so I don’t worry about my carbs too much as I am constantly moving. Same with 12/6

12/6- Ravioli, bread and butter, salad. I am not sure how I will handle this meal, being low carb. I will share what I decide.

12/7- Chicken alfredo and broccoli. I bought some chickpeas to make a sauce for me, as I don’t like Alfredo. I am not sure it will be low carb, though, maybe.

12/8- Grilled cheese and tomato soup. This is our busiest day of the week and we always have something quick and easy. I have some of my Ole tortilla wraps still and I will just make grilled cheese with one of them.

12/9- Pancakes with sausage. I can tell you already I only eat 1 pancake. They are high in carbs and sodium.

12/10- Homemade lasagna. I probably just won’t eat the pasta. Side salad, and texas toast. No Texas toast for me either.

12/11- Leftovers

For my 3rd gift idea I chose a robotic vacuum. Now, technically I would like one of these, but it is not at all something I need. I have a teen who sweeps, lol. But, if you have CKD, especially stage 4 or 5 housework can be exhausting. This is a bit of a pricier gift, but I picked one with 5 stars, and it is on sale. It is on Amazon, click here. Obviously, you don’t have to pick that one. It is just an idea.

Gift #4 is a great cookbook with great recipes for CKD. I picked this one, because I have read this one, and I loved it. Please note, I have noticed that a lot of these kidney cookbooks do not focus on Phosphorus. Be alert when cooking as to Phosphorus amounts.

There you have it. 2 more great gift ideas for anyone with CKD on your gift giving list. Come back tomorrow for gift idea #5. If you would like to learn more about any of my health coaching services. Please use the contact form at the bottom of this post to message me.

It is difficult to follow a limited protein, low sodium, and a low carb diet at the same time. Plus, be mindful of potassium and phosphorus.

Disclaimer

Sign up for my Mailchimp newsletter!

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Living Life With CKD

The Promise Of A New Day

healthbuddymelissa

Food On Friday: Ezekiel Bread

7 Exercises You Should Not Do After Age 50!

My Top 10 Posts For 2021!

Do Processed Foods Cause Kidney Disease?

Fun Fitness Friday!

Gift Idea #3 For People With Dementia!

This Modifiable Dementia Risk Factor May Shock You!

Gift Idea #2 For People With Dementia: Companionship

Gift Idea #5 For People With CKD

Gift Ideas 3 and 4 for people with ckd, plus my weekly meal plan

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this: