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Kidneys are as important to your health as your heart or lungs. Shaped like kidney beans and about the size of your fist, your kidneys are located on either side of your spine under the lower ribs. Their main task is to remove waste products and excess fluids from the body through the urine. The kidneys also ensure that the blood supply to your body's tissues has the proper balance of water, minerals (sodium, potassium, phosphate, calcium, and magnesium) and other substances that the body needs to work properly.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the permanent loss of kidney function. CKD may be the result of physical injury or a disease that damages the kidneys, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. When the kidneys are damaged, they do not remove wastes and extra water from the blood as well as they should.

Your body needs protein every day for growth, building muscles and repairing tissue. After your body uses the protein in the foods you eat, a waste product called urea is made. If you have lost kidney function, your kidneys may not be able to get rid of this urea normally. You may need to reduce the amount of protein you eat to avoid buildup of urea in your body. Protein is found in two types of foods:

In large amounts in foods from animal sources such as poultry, meat, seafood, eggs, milk, cheese and other dairy products.
In smaller amounts in foods from plant sources such as breads, cereals, other starches and grains, and vegetables and fruits.
Chronic kidney disease is caused by damage to the kidneys. The most common causes of this damage are:

High blood pressure.

It causes another 30% of all kidney disease. Because blood pressure often rises with chronic kidney disease, high blood pressure may further damage kidney function even when another medical condition initially caused the disease.
High blood sugar (diabetes).
Diabetes causes about 35% of all chronic kidney disease. High blood sugar levels caused by diabetes damage blood vessels in the kidneys. If the blood sugar level remains high, this damage gradually reduces the function of the kidneys.

Most people don't have any symptoms early in the disease. Once the disease progresses, the symptoms can include the following:

 Feeling tired
 Feeling weak
 Loss of appetite
 Swelling of the feet and ankles

Changes in urination -making more or less urine than usual, feeling pressure when urinating, changes in the color of urine, foamy or bubbly urine, or having to get up at night to urinate.

Swelling of the feet, ankles, hands, or face -fluid the kidneys can't remove may stay in the tissues.

When your kidneys can no longer do their job well, you have to control the kinds and amounts of food you eat. Together, you and your dietitian will make a daily eating plan which will:
1. Meet your nutritional needs
2. Cut down the workload on your kidneys
3. Help keep the kidney function that is left (before starting dialysis)
4. Control the build-up of food wastes like urea
5. Reduce symptoms like fatigue, nausea, itching and bad taste in the mouth