Ok let's face it: if you want to beat kidney disease, you're will have to beat anemia too.
If you have symptoms such as fatigue, cold hands and feet or headaches, it's probably
anemia.
Now some good news: there are home remedies, superfoods and supplements that work to manage
and treat anemia.
And most important, when you'll beat anemia, you're not just going to feel a lot better,
you're also going to repair your kidneys.
Because Anemia is known to accelerate the progression of kidney disease,
You see?
It's a vicious circle you need to stop.
so never let anemia go untreated if you care about your kidneys.
My name is Katherine and this is 00kidney I've been working with people suffering from
chronic kidney disease for 7 years.
And if you are new here on 00kidney, welcome to our journey together to a better kidney
health!
Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell!
Here's what I'm going to talk about in today's video,
these are also the segments you see in the progress bar.
First, how anemia affect your kidneys.
Second, how to tell if you have anemia.
Symptoms and tests you can do.
Third, the treatment for anemia in kidney disease.
Very important to improve your kidney health 4rt, the nutrients you need.
5th, the foods to beat anemia.
This is very important, with the right meal planning you can get very significant improvements.
6th part, the supplements.
And the last bit of the video is the conclusion.
But Let's not jump to conclusions yet, ok? even if you could with the new progress bar
feature of youtube.
Ok, Now picture this: you wake up one day and you're no more tired:
You feel rested and you have the energy to do what you want.
Because you have defeated anemia!
Sounds wonderful, right?
Well, let's do it!
Very first thing to do is to know the enemy.
I'll be quick here because as usual I want to focus on the solution, not on the problem.
Here's what you need to know about anemia to beat it.
Anemia is a condition in which the body has fewer red blood cells than normal, ok?
(INDICA SCHERMO).
Red blood cells carry oxygen to tissues and organs, so, if you don't have enough red blood
cells, you're going to feel really tired.
And the kidneys need this precious oxygen too.
Like any other organ in the body, they're not going to be healthy if they don't get
enough oxygen.
Also, this is going to make kidney disease progress faster.
Not what we want.
Anemia commonly occurs in people with chronic kidney disease because the kidneys produce
erythropoietin or EPO, a hormone required for the production of red blood cells.
With ckd there's not going to be enough EPO to do this.
You see, it's a circle.
And we are going to break it.
Anemia begins to manifest when GFR falls below 60.
That's between stage 2 and stage 3 of ckd.
Also notice that anemia tends to worsen as CKD progresses.
What not many people know, and this include also doctors, is that it's very beneficial
to treat anemia early in the course of CKD.
However, this proactive thinking has only shown up in recent years; a good portion of
doctors are still going by old standards.
This means that if you think you are not receiving the correct treatment for anemia, you should
get informed about it.
So it's worth knowing the symptoms of anemia and the medical treatments to stop it, ok?
Let's see.
So, how to tell if you have anemia?
In people with chronic kidney disease, symptoms of anemia include
weakness.
fatigue, or feeling tired.
headaches.
problems with concentration.
paleness.
dizziness.
difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.
chest pain.
So, if you have CKD and have one or more of these symptoms, your doctor will probably
order a Complete blood count or CBC test.
These tests are used to check the number of red blood cells, the hemoglobin and how much
iron you have in your body, alright?
So, if you haven't been diagnosed already, talk to your doctor.
Because, the sooner you get diagnosed the better.
Your goal is to begin the treatment for anemia earlier, so you will be able to prevent it
from damaging your kidneys.
How?
Here are the Treatments doctors usually prescribe.
Iron supplements The first step in treating anemia is raising
low iron levels.
Iron is very important for anemia, ok? even the diet that we'll see in a moment is
aimed to raise your iron levels.
and your doctor may also give you iron supplements as pills or as a shot.
then there are Drugs called erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs)
These will help your body make red blood cells.
Your doctor will give the ESA to you as an injection under the skin.
Some patients may also need Red blood cell transfusion - A red blood cell
transfusion is a procedure to increase the number of red blood cells in your body by
giving you red blood cells from someone else's body through an IV.
This can temporarily improve your anemia symptoms.
Blood transfusion are also practiced especially in dialysis patients.
All these are treatments your doctor can prescribe you at his discretion.
Now, something that really helps and that many doctors leave out are the nutrients you
need to get more of.
These include
Iron.
A common cause of anemia in people with CKD is lack of iron from the diet.
You can get iron from animal foods and from plants.
Iron from animal foods is called heme iron.
It's easily absorbed and it's found in meat, poultry, and seafood.
Iron from plants is called non-heme iron.
It's found in many healthy plant foods, but it's harder for the body to absorb.
But if you eat non heme iron rich foods in combination with
- vitamin C, both from supplements or from foods, the body is going to absorb it a lot
better.
More about this in a moment.
The other vitamins you need are - Vitamin B12, this is really important for
the body to make red blood cells.
- and Folate, a form of vitamin B9.
These are the 4 nutrients you need if you want to beat anemia.
Now, I don't know if you have watched my video about the renal vitamins, but these 4 things
here are what most kidney patients need to get from supplements most frequently.
And I will show you what the best supplements are to get these at the end of this video,
ok? but if you can also get these vitamins and
iron from the diet is obviously a lot better.
Getting nutrients from food is not the same thing as getting them from pills.
So let's take a look at how we can get more of these nutrients.
Let's see where to get some iron in the diet.
Ok, in this slide we can see many greens that are rich in iron
Spinach, kale, swiss chard, collard, beet greens and beetroot.
Now, all of these have also some potassium in them.
These two minerals, iron and potassium, are often present in the same foods.
Now, some kidney disease patients prefer to completely avoid potassium rich foods not
to take any risk.
Others prefer to still eat them, with portion control.
So, if you don't have a potassium restriction or your potassium levels are not high, you
can consider these very healthy greens.
Of these, swiss chard and beet greens are lower in potassium, while spinach and kale
are higher.
You need to cook them if you want to absorb iron better, ok?
But remember than when you cook them, they're going to lose volume, so a one cup portion
may look small.
But it still has the same potassium it had before cooking.
However, if you have doubts, ask your doctor or dietitian if these foods are safe for you,
ok?
The other thing we can see here are legumes.
Chickpeas, lentils, cannellini beans and tofu are great sources of iron.
But, just like the other foods of this slide, they contain potassium and phosphorus.
The safest one here are chickpeas and tofu.
Almost all kidney patients should be able to have them in their diet with the right
portion control.
Nuts and seeds such as chia seeds, flax seeds and almonds should be considered too.
These are very healthy.
Now, all these foods have something you want, iron, and something you don't want, phosphorus
and potassium.
So, you want to maximize the absorption of iron from them, ok?
so you can get more iron from a smaller portion.
To do this, the most important thing to do is to eat them in combination with some vitamins
C rich foods, such as Lemons, oranges, red peppers, strawberries
and kiwis.
All these fruits are very healthy and suitable for a renal diet.
And consuming vitamin C-rich foods together with foods rich in non-heme iron, like those
from this slide, may increase the absorption of iron by up 300%
Be sure to have some of these when you eat something rich in non heme iron.
Now, in this list I've also included kale, broccoli, collard greens and swiss chard.
These greens are both rich in iron and vitamin c.
So, if you can, find a way to add these powerhouse foods to your diet.
And obviously talk to your doctor before doing any significant change to your diet, alright?
Now, there are some other tips worth knowing about how to maximize your iron intake and
beat anemia.
How to do that
When eating plant based iron rich foods, follow these guidelines:
Avoid coffee or tea.
These beverages are known to block iron absorption.
Eat iron-rich foods with vitamin C-rich foods, like those we have seen in the previous slide.
Eat iron-rich foods with foods that contain beta carotene to improve iron absorption.
These include apricots, carrots, red peppers, beets, kale and spinach.
Notice that these last three foods are sources of almost everything you need to fight anemia,
ok?
beets, kale and spinach are basically your best friends.
Also use cast iron cookware: Foods prepared in a cast iron pan tend to provide two to
three times more iron as those prepared in non-iron cookware.
Especially when you cook acidic foods such as tomatoes and lemon.
So, if you're marinating some fish in lemon for example, do it in iron cast cookware,
ok? this way iron will leak into your food.
Also, eat a variety of heme and nonheme iron foods throughout the day to up your iron intake.
Heme iron is from meat, ok?
Red meats and organ meats like liver are really rich in it.
And I know that these foods are not really recommended for kidney disease patients, but
you can also consider sardines.
Sardines are one of the best sources of omega 3 and are also rich in heme iron.
Definitely something kidney disease patients should eat weekly.
So, when you eat sardines, be sure to add a nice side dish of kale or beet greens, and
sprinkle with lemon juice generously, ok?
Also, add foods rich in folate and vitamin B-12 to support red blood cell production.
Now, folate is found in many healthy foods that are also rich in vitamin c.
Spinach, broccoli, oranges and lemons.
These should always be present in a healthy renal diet.
On the other hand, Vitamin b12 is something many kidney disease patients should supplement,
because is mostly found in meat.
Sardines and eggs are two good dietary sources of this vitamin that are also safe for kidney
patients.
In any case, also consider taking a specifically formulated multivitamin.
There are products on the market specifically made for kidney disease patients.
And these usually contain many of the vitamins you need to fight anemia.
This could be helpful with anemia because following a renal diet means limiting or avoiding
a lot of healthy foods.
Like those rich in vitamin B12.
Low or deficient numbers of this vitamin will contribute to anemia.
But kidney disease patients, especially in the advanced stages cannot take regular multivitamins.
Because some vitamins can accumulate when not properly removed by your kidneys.
And you may risk being too low on some other vitamins.
So taking renal vitamins may be a good way to get just what you need.
Today there are even supplements made specifically for people with anemia.
This one for example contains iron, folate, vitamin C and vitamin b12.
Now, while you can find products like these on amazon.com,
my advice here is to talk to your doctor and see if these supplements are safe for you
before you take them.
The other supplement that can help you with anemia is L-Carnitine
this carrier molecule is great to improve anemia.
Because the lack of l-carnitine can cause several issues.
So this is another thing that can help.
Ok, the conclusion now.
The bottom line.
if you have symptoms of anemia such as fatigue and paleness and you've not been diagnosed
or are not being appropriately treated, talk to your doctor, ok?
Also, add to your diet these foods: kale, spinach, bets, sardines and lemons.
These are the best things to eat when you are anemic.
If you can, eat many of them in the same meal, without drinking tea or coffee at the same
time.
And get prescribed renal vitamins and iron, if you aren't already taking them.
If you take these steps, chances are that you will feel a lot better in a short amount
of time.
And your kidneys will thank you.
Ok guys, this is all for today, I really hope this video was helpful and, as usual thank
you for watching.
See you next Friday!