For tonight's dinner I baked off some turkey sausages, sauteed peppers, onions, and mushrooms and then scrambled it all into two eggs. And of course, I had to add my woooooster sauce.
But, often when I am having meals like this that are quite high in animal products, my mind wanders to veganism. My Dad has been a vegan for about a year now, which in the grand scheme of things is a relatively new vegan. I look at the meals he has and I automatically have a checklist in my mind ticking off all the things I am not allowed to eat, or only eat in limited quantities.
The vegan diet is high is fruits and vegetables, legumes, pulses, nuts, seeds, nut milks and butters, whole grains, and soy. All of these thing are high in potassium and phosphorus. I think to myself, if I ate like a vegan for just one day, I could very much end up dead.
Potassium and phosphorus restrictions aside, I would also have to look at getting my daily requirements of protein. Dialysis patients need extra protein because some is lost during our treatment. We need to replace that within our diet. Not only does it make us strong, it also helps us fight infection. Chronic kidney disease patients' immune systems are fickle at best and are prime targets for any nasty bug going around.
Don't get me wrong. I don't sit here and eat a whole cow every day all day. I'll even have days when I go vegetarian, but to sustain a vegan diet while on dialysis I think would be impossible while also trying to meet my nutritional requirements, and keeping within my strict guidelines.
Just a few thoughts. I would love to know if there are any vegans out there as well as on dialysis. It would be interesting to know what they eat.