Food Is Your Most Powerful Tool In Dialysis

My name is Andrés Falco.

I spent nine years on dialysis before I got my transplant.

Like many patients, I kept looking for something that would make me feel better.

More energy.

More strength.

Less fatigue.

I thought the answer might be a medication, a supplement, or simply hoping that one day I would wake up feeling different.

I was wrong.

The biggest change I ever made wasn't in my treatment.

It was on my plate.

Every Meal Is Part of Your Next Dialysis Session

One of the biggest lessons dialysis taught me is that treatment doesn't begin when you're connected to the machine.

It begins much earlier.

It begins with breakfast.

With lunch.

With dinner.

Every meal either helps your body recover or makes the next dialysis session harder.

That changed the way I looked at food forever.

I Stopped Eating for Culture Or Emotions and Started Eating for Wellness

This was probably the hardest change. Of course no big change is easy to accomplish.

I grew up eating the foods everyone around me ate.

Fried foods.

Soft drinks.

Packaged snacks.

Fast food.

Desserts.

Foods that are part of many cultures.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying food.

But I had to accept one difficult truth:

My body could no longer afford to eat like everyone else.

And honestly, none of us should wait until we have a disease to start eating the way our body actually needs.

Healthy eating isn't something only dialysis patients need.

It's something every human body benefits from.

But of course, I had to get the disease to learn it for real.

The Food That Helped Me Feel Better

I stopped asking myself,

"What do I feel like eating today?"

And started asking,

"What does my body need today?"

That simple question changed everything.

I focused on eating enough high-quality protein to help my body recover and preserve muscle.

I learned to be more careful with potassium so I could arrive at my next dialysis session feeling better. We can talk later about how bad having high potassium levels feels bad.

I also discovered something most patients are never taught clearly:

Not all phosphorus is the same.

Phosphorus that naturally occurs in foods like meat, eggs, dairy products, beans, and nuts is called organic phosphorus. Your body does not absorb all of it.

But the phosphorus added to many processed foods, packaged snacks, soft drinks, processed meats, and fast foods is called inorganic phosphorus, and your body absorbs much more of it causing a real problem to your veins.

That small difference completely changed the way I read food labels.

More Protein. More Recovery

One thing I noticed over time was that eating enough quality protein didn't just help maintain my muscle.

It helped me recover.

I had more energy.

I felt stronger.

I was able to train.

I slept better.

I could work with a clearer mind.

Recovery happens.

Your body needs the building blocks to repair itself after every dialysis session. You need this!

In Miami, KidneySPA Treats Nutrition as Part of Recovery

One of the biggest surprises I had when I visited KidneySPA was meeting their renal care team, including Dietitian Edith. Unlike many places that simply provide a standard list of foods to avoid, KidneySPA approaches nutrition as an essential part of a patient's overall recovery and well-being.

Over the years I've met many healthcare professionals; most focused on what I shouldn't eat.

KidneySPA, together with Dietitian Edith, approaches nutrition differently.

Dietitian Edith and the renal team take the time to understand each patient: their lifestyle, goals, blood work, and challenges. Instead of handing out the same diet to everyone, the team builds a nutritional plan that fits the person and their routine.

That immediately resonated with me because it's exactly how I learned to live well on dialysis. KidneySPA frames nutrition the same way I learned: meals are opportunities to rebuild, not just restrictions.

There is no single diet that works for every dialysis patient.

Meeting KidneySPA Dietitian Team confirmed something I've believed for years: recovery doesn't happen by chance. It happens when experienced professionals help patients build habits they can realistically maintain, one meal at a time.

If you're struggling with your nutrition, constantly feeling tired between treatments, or simply don't know where to start, I genuinely encourage you to speak with KidneySPA's Renal Team. Sometimes one conversation with someone who truly understands dialysis nutrition can completely change the way you see food—and more importantly, the way you feel every day.

Final Thought

People often ask me why I don't look like the dialysis patient they expected to meet.

The answer isn't luck.

It isn't genetics.

It isn't one miracle supplement.

It's thousands of small daily decisions.

For me, food became one of the most powerful ones.

Because every meal is the chance to recover.

Every meal is a chance to build more strength than yesterday.

And over time, those small decisions become the difference between simply surviving dialysis...

and truly living between treatments.

Written by Andrés Falco

CKD patient, transplanted athlete, and renal health educator