Ever thought about what happens when you have kidney disease and diabetes together? About the effects of kidney disease and diabetes on the human body?

Wondering what foods you should eat when they have kidney and diabetes together?

Mykare Health is here to help you get an idea about how you should manage your diet, and what are the things you have to avoid if you have both kidney disease and diabetes.

Before we dive into the diet management part, let’s do a quick recap of what kidney diseases and diabetes are.

What are Kidney Diseases?

Kidney diseases are mostly disorders that cause malfunction in the normal operation of the kidneys. It can be anything ranging from kidney stones to kidney infections and chronic kidney conditions.

In basic terms, the normal function of the kidney is to filter the excess fluid from the bloodstream. And later, the excess fluid is eliminated through the urinary tract in the form of urine.

If there is a gradual decrease in the kidney functioning, then you surely have a problem. There are a vast range of kidney problems that you can experience. Here are some of them:

• Chronic kidney disease: It can be defined as a condition in which there is a gradual loss of kidney function. Over a period of time the disease progresses slowly.

• Acute kidney injury: It is a condition where there is an abrupt reduction in your kidneys' ability to filter waste products, which occurs within a few hours or a few days.

• Kidney stones: If there is a formation of hard minerals in the kidney, you may get kidney stones. These can occur due to a decrease in urine volume or excess of formation substances in the urine.

• Nephrotic syndrome: It is a condition in which there is too much protein in urine while urinating due to a kidney disorder.

What is Diabetes?

Before knowing what diabetes is, let us make you familiar with the term, ‘insulin’, as this will be used more often later.

In the very basic manner you can assume insulin as the hormone that regulates the glucose in your blood.

Now the major question is what is diabetes? In simple terms, diabetes is a chronic condition in which either the pancreas is not able to produce enough insulin for the whole body or the whole body is not able to process the insulin produced by pancreas.

There are basically 4 types of diabetes. These are:

• Type 1 Diabetes: In this condition a person’s immune system destroys the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. This is also known as auto-immune condition.

• Type 2 Diabetes: Here, the insulin produced by the body is not enough to maintain the blood sugar level.

• Prediabetes: When the blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not enough to categorise it in type 2, it falls under Prediabetes.

• Gestational diabetes: It develops during the period of pregnancy and goes away after the baby is born.

Do You Have Both of Them?

And here comes the question that we’re focusing on today. What happens if you have both of them? According to medical experts, there is an inter-relation between diabetes and kidney. Or in more simpler terms, diabetes is the leading cause of kidney diseases. Every 1 out of 3 diabetic individuals have been seen to have kidney problems.

The anatomical term for this condition is diabetic nephropathy. In this severe medical condition, diabetes affects the kidney’s ability to filter waste products or excess fluids. And this condition is applicable for those suffering from both type1 and type 2 diabetes.

Over a period of time, diabetes starts affecting the cells present in the kidney. This causes a heavy damage to the kidneys, which in turn, affects the functioning of kidneys. A diabetic person should be cautious about this condition and try to avoid it.

Precautions You Should Take

This is a severe medical condition that needs a lot of precautions. Precautions can lower the consequences of it and give a much better chance for health restoration. Here are a few points you should keep in mind.

• Maintain blood sugar level: To avoid any further damage to the kidneys, you should always try to maintain the blood sugar level.

• Maintain the blood pressure level: Maintaining the blood pressure level can help in keeping damage away from other crucial organs.

• Regular check up: Timely visits to your doctor can help a lot, as this will tell you about your current situation and what you can do about it.

• Better diet: Try to have a better diet, by avoiding some fruits and vegetables. And also by adding some good food.

Here are some foods that play a crucial role in managing both diabetes and kidney problems.

Foods to avoid

We were telling you about avoiding some foods.

Try to avoid these foods and it would be easier to recover from kidney damage and diabetes.

• Foods high in sodium: Consumption of too much sodium can also lead to fluid retention and increased blood pressure.

• Limit processed food: Try to limit the usage of processed meats, canned soups, and pickled foods.

• Foods high in potassium: Fruits like bananas, oranges, and apricots, as well as potatoes and dried fruits, are high in potassium. Avoiding these items will help to prevent excessive potassium intake.

• Trans fats: Foods containing trans fats are like a slow poison for you, such as fried foods and processed meats, and can increase the risk of clogged blood vessels. Avoid foods high in trans fats, like fried foods and processed meats.

• Added sugars and sweeteners: Totally avoid processed foods that contain any type of added sugars and sweeteners, as they will only contribute to weight gain and worsen diabetic situation and kidney disease.

Kidney diseases are obviously very dangerous for health and even need a high amount of care to be cured. Meanwhile, if you have kidney diseases and diabetes together, you need to be careful about everything you put in your mouth.

There are few things that should be followed very carefully like:

• Protein is something you should think about ten times before consuming it. High amount of protein is the cause of many kidney diseases.

• The consumption of water should not be limited and the higher the amount of water you drink, the better the kidney health will be!

• Food with any kind of hard minerals like potassium and magnesium should be avoided to prevent any stones formation.