Jackfruit and Kidney Disease | Jackfruit and Low Protein Diet for Kidney Disease

This video is about jackfruit which is a type of fruit that can be used with a low protein diet for kidney disease.

Low protein diet is one diet that’s highly recommended for people with kidney issues. If you decide to go on it, one of the problems people face is they’re always wondering what to eat. We do talk a lot about food on our channel so we have lots of videos to reference.

Today we’re going to talk about jackfruit, something I’ve never discussed before. This is actually a fig that grows in southeast Asia and it’s really cool. When you look at pictures online this fig is like 30 to 50 pounds. It’s really big and what they do is they cut it up and they use the inside as a meat substitute. It’s very big with vegan dishes and we’re finding it in more and more in kidney dishes. You can find this generally in your supermarket canned or in pouches.

The stand-up package pouches I‘ve been using one that’s coming from pouches from my local supermarket. It’s already been pre-cooked and seasoned. It’s a low amount of salt, it’s not a high amount. It’s not super low, but its low enough that I could fit it in a kidney diet. You have to see whatever you have access to, what’s available at your supermarket. It may come pre-cooked or you might need to cook it. You can cook it by boiling it. Throw it in a pan, sauteing it a little bit of oil or maybe use a little bit of water to just cook it through and you can add seasoning and spices.

For the most part I think it tastes pretty good. What they mostly use it as is a pork replacement. It looks like pulled pork when you break it apart and the consistency. In the taste it’s not exactly like pork but it’s not too far off and I find it to be really good. It’s got a softer texture. With jackfruit you can add it to tacos, you can add it to any sandwiches, you can make burgers from it, and what’s good about it is it’s low protein. Generally a cup has about two to maybe three grams of protein. What I made last night was some vegetable burritos with jackfruit. I only ended up using maybe a half cup, maybe three fourths of a cup so a lot of those values were a lot less– less sodium, less protein.

The one problem with it that some people may have an issue with kidney disease is that it is not really high in potassium, but it’s it’s got a fairly good amount of potassium. It’s around 500 milligrams of potassium per full cup. If you really got to restrict your diet because of potassium and you shouldn’t restrict potassium unless you need to it can fit into your diet. If you’re restricting it you might want to use a small amount, but even using a half cup is only going to give you about 250 milligrams potassium so that can fit even in someone’s really potassium restricted diet.

Knowing now that you shouldn’t restrict potassium unless you need to most people with kidney issues can can have it and can have it safely and really enjoy it. So that’s jackfruit; take a look on the internet you can read about it, learn about it, look at your store next time.

When it comes to diabetics and diabetic kidney disease even though jackfruit has a fairly good amount of carbs it’s about 39 grams of carbohydrates per cup it is low on the glycemic index which is one measurement of how much your blood sugar will rise according to the food. Some foods have a high glycemic index where they raise the blood sugar a lot. Jackfruit has a low one it’s 50 to 60 on the index so most people with diabetes will be okay with it. There’s even a lot of articles talking about how jackfruit is good for diabetics. Test your blood sugar and and see where it is, that’s the only way to really know. For the most part people with diabetic kidney disease can have it.