Juice recipes

This is just to quickly share what has worked for me in the juicing department:

Watermelon Juice
Lots of sources talk about watermelon to solve kidney problems. I think this is because they have a diuretic effect and therefore clense the kidneys. I've been consuming about a watermelon a week for about 5 months now and can't say I've seen any particular benefit but you never know...

The fastest way I've discovered to consume watermelon is:

• Fill a blender with slices of watermelon (seeds and all)
• Blend
• Strain and serve

Carrot Juice Combinations
The best tasting carrot juice combinations I've discovered are:

• Carrot Juice and Lime (about 1 lime per big glass)
• 70% Carrot, 30% Beetroot, Lime
• 50% Carrot, 50% Pineapple

Gluten

For some reason I discovered that some people recommend gluten-free diets for autistic people. This sparked my interest both because of my apparent sensitivity to wheat and its possible relation to my kidney problems, and the fact that (coincidentally or not) my personality has autistic tendencies.

http://www.autismweb.com/diet.htm

What I found extremely interesting is that they claim that gluten, a protein, can have an opiate effect on the brain, giving rise to the desire to eat more gluten. Ever since first trying to stop eating wheat a few months ago I have consistently lapsed as the desire to eat wheat was so strong. Currently I have been basically wheat-free for around two months, with the great result that my intestinal gas problem has disappeard, yet I still find myself attracted to odd bites of wheat products (even though I think it's bad for me and may even raise my blood pressure).

Searching, I discovered a lot of cases where gluten-free diet has apparently solved kidney problems (including those with proteinuria). I can't believe I didn't specifically look for this before, or that I didn't read anything about it in my regular kidney research:

http://books.google.com.mx/books?id=w9rGR_rZ__AC&lpg=PA76&ots=uJi7jbE3WR&hl=en&pg=PA76

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/428155
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3046136
http://ndtplus.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/extract/2/2/161

So it's settled, I'm going to have to overcome my addiction and try a strict wheat-free diet for six months and see if it has any impact.

Test results

Did another mini-blood test to see how things are going. I was especially curious as my blood pressure has been fairly low lately (without medication) and so I thought (hoped) that might things were improving in the kidney department.

Unfortunately it was not the case and curiously the results came back with EXACTLY the same numbers as 6 weeks ago:

Serum Creatinine 2.4 mg/dL > (normal: 0.8 - 1.5 mg/dL)

Blood Urea Nitrogen 11 mg/dL (normal: 9 -20 mg/dL)

Although it's disappointing not to see ANY improvement after so many lifestyle changes (diet and less work hours), I have to admit that I do feel much healthier for them and so should feel grateful rather than cheated... on other hand, maybe it means that indulging in some of the pizza I crave from time to time isn't going to make anything worse!

Results so far

This blog was created to chart my progress in trying to cure my chronic kidney disease, in the hope that it may help others. Three months later I really can't report any tangible improvement in my kidney function, however I can say that:

1. It hasn't got worse! And it's current level is perfectly acceptable (Serum creatine 2-2.5)

2. By adjusting my diet my general health and wellness has improved significantly, and my blood pressure has dropped dramatically (from 150/90 to 125/70).

Therefore I definitely recommend experimenting with your diet to see what works for you. For me fasting was a beneficial experience as it brought me in closer contact with my body and made me realize that many of my eating habits were just that: unnecessary habits. The general diet recommendation is:

Less: Salt, Meat, Eggs, Dairy, Wheat and other Grains, Cooked Food.

More: Fresh Fruits, Fresh Vegetables.

The big downside to this diet is the amount of time it takes to prepare and eat the volume of food required to feel satisfied! My solution has been to try and consider food preparation time as a relaxation time and turn it in to meditative experience... even so, many delicous fruits and vegetables go bad in our house because I never get around to preparing them.

I still believe that the ultimate cure (to any health problem) is in being happy, loving yourself and opening yourself up to "universal energy" (or God, or Love, or whatever you like to call it). I believe that adjusting your diet is a step on this path.

Grains

I came across this nicely researched article that outlines some of detrimental effects of the dramatic increase in human grain consumption in the last 10,000 years. While on one hand human populations boomed after grain agriculture, the incidence of many diseases and nutritional problems increased.

http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Cereal%20article.pdf

The relevance to chronic kidney disease is that grains are also implicated in auto-immune diseases, although, as usual, nothing is very clear.

At a personal level, I had been suffering from a lot of abdominal gas and, after doing some research, decided to try cutting out wheat completely. After a few days there was a definite reduction in the amount of gas. Relevance to the kidneys? My research has led to think of the body (including the mind) as a single organ and that symptoms in any part are caused by an underlying probleming. I believe that eliminating any symptoms (even, or especially, pyschological ones), by treating underlying causes, are important steps on the path to wellness.

Cures

Not much to report by way of results but I have continued to research possible cures and continue to be astounded by the wealth of information out there (thank goodness for the Internet age!). It is also quite interesting that there seems to be a lot general concurrence in ideas about physical life, even though the terms or perspectives may change between disciplines/teachers.

The general idea that I keep coming across is that true healing of chronic illness can only come from within. There are three main, very compatible, ideas for creating the conditions for this to happen:

1. Diet: Eliminating "toxic" foodstuffs from the diet (which may be causing the auto-immune reactions which cause the chronic condition). "Toxic" foodstuffs are generally considered to be animal proteins (meat, dairy, eggs) and a bunch of other candidates, like wheat (gluten) and an excess of grains/starch in general.

2. Energy: Chinese medicine has the concept of "energy balance" and "energy blockages", which can be fixed, or brought back into balance, by nerve stimulation (acupunture, etc.) and diet. Reiki is "curing with energy". Meditation is also considered to be able to restore energy flow within the body. I think prayer is probably a form of opening yourself to "universal energy" and so could be included in this category.

3. Pyschological: Removing the pyschological issues (self-dislike, need for attention, etc.) that prevent the body from sending the chemical signals required to regenerate the needed cells, or stop the body sending the signals that are damaging itself.

All of these ideas are basically compatible and, in my conclusion, revolve around the key idea learning to love yourself (and hence avoid cumpulsive habits like eating, overworking, etc.).

Test Results

Another set of test results came back today. I don't think there are any really significant changes. On one hand this is a little disappointing. I keep hoping to see a dramatic reduction in something. On the other hand stability is a lot better than deteriation!

Triglycerides have risen beyond the target level (bad), probably due to eating more carbohydrates (maybe I should be more disciplined about avoiding wheat... it just tastes SOO good!). Uric Acid has dropped below the target level (good), probably due to the medication Xyloprim.

For those who like numbers here are the current results with (target level) in parenthesis.

Serum Creatinine 2.4 mg/dL Ideally this would be below 2mg/dL. Normal is < 1.5mg/dL

Glucose 86mg/dL (< 110mg/dL) No change.

Triglycerides 190mg/dL (< 160mg/dL). Last month 133mg/dL

Cholesterol 154mg/dL (< 200mg/dL) Last month 131mg/dL

Uric Acid 5.9mg/dL (< 7.0mg/dL) Last month 9.2mg/dL (before medication)

Hematocrit 35.1% (> 32%) Last month 36.5 %

Overall the results show a decline in blood quality (after an improvement last month). Maybe it's something that naturally varies. Or maybe it's because I've become less enthusiastic about eating fruit, drinking gallons of water, etc.

The results of the urine test are basically the same as those of two months ago. Proteins in urine was 100mg/dL compared to 300mg/dL previously but I think this number is highly variable in a single sample (which is why I've had to do 24 hour urine collections, fun, fun, fun).