Diet
           pkd pld alkaline diet polycystic kidney disease alkaline diet polycystic liver disease alkaline diet

Upon awakening: Drink one drop of solé in a full glass of mineral water or spring water or filtered water or water that has been allowed to sit out over night to dissipate any residual chlorine that might be present. Then drink freshly squeezed lemon juice adding enough water to make a 1/4 cup. Wait twenty minutes after having any citrus before eating something else. Throughout the day, if permitted, drink water equal to twice your output to help turn off vasopressin, a hormone that stimulates cyst growth.

Diet
Plant based alkaline diet geared toward kidney and liver health
1200 mg sodium
[Himalayan pink salt]
0.6 grams protein/kg - neutral protein

3 Liters of water

For your reference
Menus [130KB PDF]
Enjoy Foods
 [135KB PDF]
Avoid Foods
 [135KB PDF]

For your reference
PKD Diet Kidney [eBook Apple iBookstore]
PLD Diet Liver
  [eBook Apple iBookstore]

Breakfast: One slice of non-yeasted rye or spelt bread toasted. Almond butter on the toast along with some chopped parsley or garlic for a savory toast or a bit of tupelo honey or an all fruit cherry spread. Fats like almond, cashew butter, or avocado are some alternative spreads. Some have tried sautéed mushrooms on toast. Heating fats destroys and changes the fat soluble vitamins. This altered fat starts seeking and depleting the body of its vitamin E and anti-oxidants.

One breakfast could be raw fruits in season and ripe: figs or kiwi, or kumquats or a pear or a grapefruit or an apple, or a clementine; if in the tropics—rambutan, mango, papaya, lanzones, jack fruit (the biggest and one of the sweetest fruits in the world and it hangs ripening from a majestic tree), lychee, pomelo, atamoya, or cherimoya avoid starfruit. During berry season, a bowl filled with red raspberries, black raspberries and blackberries from the wild might be a start for the day. Strawberries are a bit too acid forming and joins fruits to be avoided, especially starfruit, rhubarb, and plums or prunes.

Or another breakfast , prepare 1/2 cup of spelt kernels that have been soaked overnight to diminish phytic acid. Whole spelt kernels has a taste similar to a bowl of ground nuts. The following morning I cook the spelt together with chopped dates. I might top it with some fresh blueberries, banana or with cinnamon and apples.

A use for a rice cooker, is to place 3 cups of water add 1 cup of oats. In the steamer tray sliced apples can be added. Turn the rice cooker on and fifteen minutes later breakfast is ready - oatmeal with stewed apples with a sprinkle of cinnamon if desired.

RECIPE for almond milk:
Almond milk for hot porridge: Pour 3 cups of water over 2 cups of raw almonds soaking this overnight to diminish phytic acid. Place the pre-soaked almonds in a sieve and rinse with running water. Add twice the amount of fresh water to the almonds. Place all in a blender; blend until it resembles milk or cream. Line a large sieve with double thickness of cheese cloth or unbleached muslin. Place this over a bowl and let drain. Then grab the corners of the cloth, hold securely and squeeze to extract all of the milk. Almond milk or cream will keep for 3 days once refrigerated.

Another morning warm essene bread and spread with almond butter.

Another day avocado with corn tortillas; or homemade spelt chapattis; or other non-yeasted flat breads such as parathas, crackers, and spelt dosas taste so much better when freshly prepared. The dough (flour and water mixture) for baking these breads is allowed to rise for about 7 hours before it is baked. Unlike yeasted breads which rise quickly; non-yeasted breast release their digestive enzymes in the lactic acid ferment that takes place. For a recipe for non yeasted bread click here. After eating non-yeasted spelt bread many have noticed that they never come away with a bloated feeling. It is the same with nuts, beans, legumes and seeds which have all been pre-soaked to lessen their phytic acid content. With large ever expanding cystic organs, it is useful to minimize bloating. Many with liver cysts take H2 blockers. In theory this slows down secretin and prevents liver cysts from expanding.

Mid morning Snack: Juice a quarter wedge of cabbage with 5-7 almonds (a handful), enough to produce 2 ounces of juice.

Sometimes one can prepare fresh juice from oranges or grapefruits or pineapple or raspberries with grapefruit or a favorite juice of my friend HG. It is a juice called blood. Juice 3 large apples, a half a lemon peeled, a small slice of ginger root (or galangal, also known as Thai ginger) and 1/4 of a beet which has been peeled and scrubbed.

Some days a smoothie, a mixture of pineapple, banana, apple and orange. Place the whole fruits in a super fast 5 hp blender. Peel and core the pineapple, banana, and orange. Include the skin of the apple as it is high in pectin, selenium, and silica. The seeds of the apples should be discarded as they contain cyanide. One or two seeds may not hurt you but if you juice many apples, it is best to core them. Different fruits can also be used.

Many no longer eat dairy. If you do, cultured organic dairy is preferable—an ounce of cottage cheese with a rye crisp sesame cracker (made without yeast or wheat) or one of Aunt Gussie's all spelt onion sesame crackers. Another alternative is a half a cup of nonfat plain yogurt mixed with additional powdered acidophilus.

If one must have cheese, then Enmenthaler or Swiss cheese, or soft goat cheeses are better choices. An ounce of cheese is the size of one dice. Swiss cheese provides the body with tyrosine amino acids. Some stores stock Enmenthaler cheese made from organic raw milk and rennetless. Almond cheese had too many preservatives and additives to make it really a vibrant food.

A friend named Kindra from Persia made a wonderful tasty cheese. She used organic skim milk and made her own yogurt. Then once the yogurt was formed she tied the yogurt in a cheese cloth and let it drain. If I were doing this I would probably drink the whey. I love the fluid that drains from yogurt much more than yogurt itself. This whey is loaded with natural enzymes. The drained yogurt then forms a soft cheese and Kindra sprinkles this with finely chopped fresh mint. We spread this on home baked bread. It was delicious.

About 15 minutes before lunch try some type of alkaline fruit—a golden delicious apple or a Fuji apple, a yellow pear, a yellow speckled banana, a kiwi, papaya, fig, cherries, or a slice of a smooth skinned melon. A basket filled with fruit has always meant prosperity.
Lunch:
A good broth soup with plenty of garden vegetables like carrot, turnip, onion, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf. By soaking beans, barley, spelt, or lentils in numerous changes of water for three days diminishes their phytic acid and converts them toward the alkaline, Another friend Katharina cooks up a large batches of pre- soaked beans and freezes them in small enough quantities to be able to add them daily to freshly prepared soups.

A salad of greens, greens, greens - baby spring greens, spinach, kale, cabbage, red cabbage, endive, romaine lettuce, bean sprouts (rich in calcium) is wonderful when taken at the noon meal.The addition of edible flowers makes these salads truly remarkable. The forests of the Eastern USA mountains contains violas or violets; roses are edible; rose geranium adds a wonderful fragrance to dishes; nasturtiums are a member of the watercress family and give salads a peppery flavor. Broccoli once a week helps kidneys. Vegetables are such strong releasers of stored toxins, it is beneficial to drink sufficient water. Interesting reading is Water, a possible cure for PKD?

During asparagus season, many have noticed that urinary pH registers acid, a pH of 5.5. The reason for this is that asparagus is such a potent alkalizer, eliminating much of the body's old residual acids, that is the one time the experience of an acidic pH is a positive thing as it is riding the body of stored acids and converting them to a cleansed alkaline. A few drops of nettle extract in a cup of hot water will hasten this process converting urinary pH to alkaline.

One can make your own salad dressing from cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and chervil, basil, cilantro, or tarragon, using plenty of parsley (it is a great blood pressure regulator), and a bit of raw fresh garlic. If you have digestive problems both raw garlic and raw ginger and raw beets may be too difficult for you to manage. If this is the case with you, then It is best to roast, bake, or steam, these. A vegetable-garlic walnut paté or a vegetable pate´ sandwich. For an easy vegetable paté try cooked chestnuts placed in a food processor along with onion, carrot, lemon juice, parsley, cilantro and zip, zip, zip until it resembles pate´ or I might grind (soaked over several days to rid them of phytic acid— then cooked and ground) garbanzo beans similar to humus spread or try guacamole from avocado, garlic, lemon juice, onion, and cilantro. I use all living and vibrant foods. I avoid any vinegars, pickled, bottled, canned or fermented additions to any of my food. Vinegars create an alcohol ferment. So does yeast in yeasted breads. Alcohol as it goes through the body wipes out the normal flora that lay in its path. Then food coming along behind this does not have sufficient good bacteria to aide in its digestion. Bloating and painful gas may follow.

If I want something sweet - midday is the best time to have it. I eat a date or a dried fig. While in Germany, I tasted a really delicious moist dried fig. This company also makes apricots that are plumped up, moist and sweet. These dried fruits taste as if they been dipped in honey.

The time when I usually have a sweet is about 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon, it could be a fresh fruit tart, or perhaps tart de pomme, apple tart that is so simple—it is baked sliced apples decoratively whirled around into a fanned wheel. If you prefer an extra sweet, drizzle this with a little tupelo honey.

Avoid eating nut breads unless you wish to gain weight. The combination of a starch and a protein such as in nut breads or bread made into a meat sandwich or pasta with a meat sauce is a combination which will assist you dramatically to gain weight. When I needed to gain weight I used these combinations to pack on the pounds. It is fine to have pasta with vegetables and herbs. I often make a vegetable pasta such as a colorful red beet pasta, a spinach green pasta, an avocado pasta or even I have seen in the marketplace Jerusalem artichoke pasta. There is also a Jerusalem artichoke flour. If you need more protein and are vegetarian, soak garbanzo beans over several days, dry them in the oven, then grind this into channa flour for masala dosas. Spelt grain is higher in protein than wheat. Cabbage, broccoli, and other cruciform vegetables are high in protein.

A few with diminished kidney functioning, working with their nephrologists, they have been incorporating some ideas from the late Dr. Mackenzie Walser's program Coping with Kidney Disease. He treats individuals by first assuring that they remain alkaline. Once protein in the urine begins, he drops the daily protein intake to 3 grams per kilogram of body weight. He has had good luck halting not reversing nephritic syndrome, with a low potassium, low protein, low phosphorus diet, by supplementing with essential amino acids specifically from Gambro or from Calwood pharmaceuticals. His website.
To counteract any tiredness I might experience, sometimes I take one B complex tablet, one B6 , one B12 and folic acid twice daily with food. If I take B vitamins after 3pm it keeps me awake at night. If you are having difficulties absorbing nutrients from the food which you eat, Vitamin B5 (choline) is a good catalyst to activate this. My most recent blood work has verified that I am obtaining adequate nutrients from my diet—iron, protein, vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, folic acid, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium all good. When I take supplements, I do not always take them. Generally I take them for a month, then I stop them for a month, checking myself. The B vitamins are often depleted when liver disease is present. Another vitamin which seems to be lacking if the pancreas is affected is vitamin A. Sweet potatoes are significantly high in vitamin A. I am a whole food type of person and tend to go with foods to treat myself as opposed to supplements and pills.

Coffee substitutes I have tasted are: roasted whole spelt kernels, Roma™, Caro™, Teeccino™. My favorite is Yannoh. Many different countries have these drinks of roasted grains, in the Philippines roasted red rice has been used, roasted barley with chicory is another favorite.

To replace black or green tea, I drink a tea from crushed veronica leaves an herb that was used throughout Europe during war time as a tea replacement. Caution with herbs, some are detrimental. With, veronica I have experienced its benefits for my own kidneys and liver. Additionally while drinking it I did not notice any pains. I use chamomile, fresh lemon thyme, lemon grass, rose hips, watermelon seed tea (I have read this is especially good for kidneys), as a tea infusion. To make fresh lemon thyme tea, use scissors to get about 3 tablespoons of little thyme leaves. Tie it with a string or place it in a tea basket and drop it in a tea pot. Allow it to infuse for about ten minutes or simply drop it a pot of boiling water and allow it steep, strain and drink or allow it to infuse all day in a crock pot - just throw the leaves, stem and all.

Tupelo honey is made from the black gum tree flowers, a traditional Creek Indian honey. This honey will not cause any highs or lows like many concentrated sugars. It is useful for individuals with liver cysts and pancreas diseases such as diabetes. It is high in a sugar called levulose and low in sucrose and fructose sugars. This honey bypasses the liver in its absorption. Tupelo honey will never crystallize. It is for this reason that I have always seen raw tupelo honey.
A half an hour after lunch I will drink a half a cup of tea. I take a half teaspoon of saffron. I simmer it with 1 cup of water until it is reduced to a half a cup. This takes about twenty minutes. I strain it and sip it slowly. I have experienced that saffron has taken away my kidney and liver pains within moments. I have taken saffron tea daily now for going on eight years. There are no clinical studies to date about the benefits of saffron. I have just read that the Japanese have a medication on the market which is saffron based and said to be useful to treat Alzheimer's. Saffron is useful for diminishing psoriasis. Download a paper on saffron and its usefulness in kidney disease.

Mid afternoon snack: I will have some vegetables, usually crudities such as raw broccoli, raw cauliflower, raw carrots or cucumber with some type of a vegetable pate´ as a spread or dip. I will drink a glass of mineral water with a fresh squeeze of lemon or lime. Or I will drink a warm saffron almond milk or coconut milk. Or I will eat 5 radishes, especially good for the kidneys. Or an egg size portion of raw Jerusalem artichoke which tastes similar to jicama. I try to have daily at least two servings of raw vegetables to include some of the above. I might have a carrot-beet-parsley juice.

Evening meal: About ten minutes before dinner, I eat another piece of alkaline fruit. If I can find organic this is best for these are higher in silica, a natural ingredient which comes from the earth to nourish the body. I choose at least 3 of the following vegetables for dinner: sweet potatoes, red beets, turnips, beet tops, swiss chard, yellow squash, acorn squash, Jerusalem artichokes, jicama, fennel, rutabaga, All of these vegetables are high in the B complex vitamins.

Once a day I drink two ounces (diluted with 1 ounce of water) of 100% cranberry juice (Northland brand is delicious especially the cherry-cranberry or the grape cranberry.)

When cranberries are in season, I juice cranberries on their own and serve it in a beautiful crystal glass that makes it sparkle. Since I have been drinking cranberry juice, I have noticed the added benefit of my facial skin becoming incredibly soft and smooth. Huckleberries, blueberries and lingonberries have similar properties to cranberries. The blueberry and huckleberry are known to be of added benefit to macular eye degeneration from diabetes. Also something called goji berries is useful for the eyes.

Cranberry juice (avoid the whole fruit) is great for decreasing urinary tract infections, for decreasing pyrines, and for healing the kidney of any scar tissue. Scar tissue is the one symptom Dr. Grantham noticed immediately with Polycystic Kidney Disease.  He has always remarked upon this incredible inflammation which takes place with PKD and the resultant formation of scar tissue. Researchers have felt there is something contained within the cystic fluid which causes this to activate. Dr. Grantham with the help of Google, a major search engine on the internet, found the molecule contained within cystic fluid is similar to forskolin. Forskolin is a cyclic AMP signaling activator. To download an article click here.

For additional snacks throughout the day I choose raw vegetables, raw vegetable juices, raw fruits, raw fruit juice. I snack on carrots, or raw cabbage. I have read that once the cabbage hits the saliva glands it begins to help the chromosomes. What I have experienced with cabbage juice is it has turned my hair brown and it has diminished graying. Others have had similar experiences. I freely use cabbage, garlic, thyme, lemon, onion. Rarely I might enjoy a very small slice of hot chilies using the fresh raw chili, not the pickled. These have too much salt and the vitamin C content has been destroyed.

In the evening if I tested a pH of 5, I drink a large glass of freshly squeezed citrus juice such as orange, grapefruit, tangerine, or lemon or have a large quantity of melon or melon juice or I may have additional apple juice. All juices are freshly prepared and drunk within twenty minutes of being pressed. Drinking freshly prepared juices seems to change the urinary pH to 6.5, 7.0, 7.5 .

To calculate portions when dining out, the size of a deck of cards is equivalent to approximately 3 ounces of meat. A dice is equivalent to a one ounce of cheese. These are dietary portions often given to us by dietitians. E-mail about how you are doing with any foods you have tried and how you feel. If you would like to share any recipes or to receive recipes, send an E-mail

In the evening I will place a huge glass of water with a teaspoon of solé in it for myself and my husband to drink in the morning or throughout the night. Solé is made from a chunk of Himalayan pink seasalt crystal. It dissolves in a water solution creating a constant concentration. Then I take one (1) drop up to a teaspoon of this solution and place it in a tall glass of water. A friend does this daily drinking 3 liters (quarts) per day. All his laboratory values have returned to normal: cholesterol, blood work, billirubin and more. He does not have cystic organs.

At first I thought the drink was too salty, so I placed a few drops of the solé into the glass of water, almost a homeopathic dilution. I have found that Himalayan crystal pink salt or Halite does not cause a rise in blood pressure. I limit my use of this salt to less than a quarter teaspoon per day both in baked breads and as a seasoning for foods. I eat no prepared foods other than those I prepare. For more about solé try this website.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What did you eat today?
Lemon juice on arising.
Breakfast left over baked acorn squash with kumquat infused water and tupelo honey. This was followed by a golden apple.
The next breakfast day, I ate 6 ripe persimmons, fresh from the tree with a large cup of chamomile tea with tupelo honey. This was preceded by a drop of solé in mineral water and freshly squeezed Myer lemon juice in hot water.
Snack a spelt English muffin with all fruit pomegranate raspberry fruit spread or 5 roasted almonds with a cup of grain beverage like roma or caro.
Lunch salad: cucumbers, carrots, red onion, cabbage, spelt croutons, parsley, romaine lettuce, fresh thyme leaves with olive oil lemon juice and garlic dressing. Hot vegetable soup carrots, onions, turnips, yellow squash. Dessert is blueberry crisp with blueberries, tupelo honey, spelt flour, oats. Thyme tea.
Snack raw carrots, sunchokes, tangerine juice
Dinner avocado sandwich on spelt non yeasted toast with raw garlic, romaine lettuce. Beef soup without the beef and with many vegetables long simmered on the stovetop with a dollop of brown rice.
The next dinner was eye of the round roast cooked in a crock pot with turnips, rutabagas, garden carrots, yellow onions, and cabbage. I ate the veggies and broth with my Dad and husband enjoying the meat.
Snack Kumquat cookie with a thumb print of cherry all fruit spread and a cup of chamomile tea. Then after drinking the tea, I place two previously used chamomile tea bags in the refrigerator overnight and place them over my closed eyes in the morning to diminish any morning puffiness. When traveling, I squeeze citrus juices each morning.

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last updated: Sunday, July 13, 2014 7:45 PM