Vegan: To be or not to be?

I had the first vegan meal of my life just over a month ago when I visited my best friend Tiffany in California. We went to this very hipster place that felt soo “LA”, everyone was overly cheerful and in touch with feelings I clearly didn’t have. I was out of my element but determined to make it through the experience; I proceeded to scan the menu for what would be my first (and hopefully last) vegan meal. No surprise here, nothing sounded good and I was so thankful I had eaten half a cheese and pepperoni pizza a few hours prior. I realize I am being a bit dramatic about the whole experience but vegetarian was one thing; vegan was on a whole other level. After discussing the fact that “almond cheese” was actually just shaved almonds meant to look like cheese, and feeling rather defeated, I selected a hummus and veggie wrap.

To my surprise, it actually came out looking delicious. However, it tasted OK. I understand people eat vegan for all sorts of reasons, I just didn’t feel like this was a choice I could ever make. It was a great experience and a wonderful dinner with a great group of people—no regrets here.

Call it karma, call it irony, but Monday after I returned home from Cali, my kidney specialist laid the news on me that it was time to start reducing my protein intake. And by reducing my protein intake, he meant that a good place to start would be to stop drinking the additional 30g of protein in my daily breakfast protein shake. In addition to changing my breakfast meal of choice, the words vegetarian and vegan were soon mentioned and all I could think about was my recent vegan meal, and I knew I was in trouble.

 Insert PKD relevance—twice now I showed up at the doctor with lab results showing the protein content in my urine was elevated enough to raise concern. Especially because 6 months after my first appointment, my levels were even more elevated. Healthy kidneys don’t allow significant amounts of protein to pass through their filters; damaged kidneys don’t filter properly and let protein pass. Long term effects of consuming large amounts of protein have shown to be damaging for people with kidney disease. Since at the moment there is no pharmaceutical option for PKD (***Praying for the approval of tolvaptan***), diet is one of the only things a person with PKD can control.

Anyone who has shared a meal or happy hour with me knows that for me, cheese is a food group. I love cheese in every form (melted, sprinkled, by itself—the list goes on) and on anything. Unfortunately for me, cheese is also a high source of protein. Besides protein I was also advised to significantly reduce my sodium intake, as sodium can lead to high blood pressure which is a disaster for people with bad kidneys. For now, Chardonnay is still in the clear (praise!)—but I received fair warning that kidney patients end up with a laundry list of medications which usually restrict the amount of alcohol one can consume. One day at a time though, and tonight, Chardonnay is still in my glass ;)

 Just as Rome was not built in a day, it’s going to take this girl more than a day to even consider the possibility of becoming a vegetarian and the even more remote possibility of becoming vegan. I was relieved to have recently watched a webinar sponsored by the PKD Foundation; where Renal Dietician, Kelly Welsh, noted that maintaining a low protein diet on a regular basis was important but stressed that it is long term effects of over indulging in protein that cause damage. This means that you most certainly will find me indulging in a filet or juicy burger every now and then.

I’ve been experimenting with my new found relationship with vegetables and for the past several weeks have consistently been able to avoid meat during the week. I’ve even been able to forego packing my “vegetarian” lunch some days and have found some veggie options at lunch spots I love to frequent. Below is tonight’s dinner—an item that has been on the menu several nights a week since I got the low protein memo. This is my attempt at “cooking” something vegetarian—zucchini, yellow squash, bowtie noodles, minced garlic, diced onions, olive oil, and a sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese. 

Sincerely,

Chardonnay

What's in my glass...

Copa Di Vino single serve Chardonnay- this little gem is amazing. I picked this up at Walmart tonight for all of $2.50. Single serve wine—genius. With a plastic single serve glass and plastic top, you can literally take this anywhere. Months ago David and I had seen this wine on an episode of Shark Tank and I’m impressed it has now made it to a shelf near me. {https://www.copadivino.com/}

P.S.  PKD

The next part of my post I’ve reserved to be more informative. I’ve promised to share what I learn, what works and what doesn’t. For those of you without PKD, tuning out is expected, I won’t take it personally. For those of you with PKD, this is good stuff.

First and foremost I highly recommend signing up for the PKD Foundation’s email updates; this is where I found out about the recent nutrition webinar I watched. {https://www.pkdcure.org/}

The same woman, Kelly Welsh, Renal Dietician, who delivered the webinar, also writes a “Health Notes” blog for the PKD foundation which I’ve found very informative. {http://pkdhealthnotes.org/}

Next on my book list is her book about being kidney wise:

 http://www.amazon.com/Brilliant-Eats-Delicious-Recipes-KidneyWise/dp/0981616607/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374457299&sr=8-1&keywords=brilliant+eats