A mum who was diagnosed with a devastating kidney condition and told she would never have children is now an aspiring nutritionist, who claims that switching to a fruit-based diet has helped her with her fertility issues.
Polina Petruk, from London, was diagnosed with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) - a rare condition which causes scarring to the kidney and damages its blood-cleaning abilities.
Yet, after altering the food she ate, she astonished doctors by going on to have her daughter, Maia, with her partner.
She currently consumes 80 to 90 per cent of her daily calories from fruit and the rest from vegetables, nuts and seeds. Instead of eating three large meals a day, Polina eats six or seven smaller fruit meals to make sure she is getting enough calories to stay healthy - and she says doctors are amazed by how clean her blood is thanks to her fruitarian habits.
Commenting on her new diet in a recent interview, Polina stated: "My case has left the doctors confused because they’ve never seen anything like it, as the prognosis for this condition is not good, with a 50 per cent chance of death in the 10 years following diagnosis. I only went to the doctor because I had been feeling off, never expecting to be told I had a kidney problem and would have to take so many prescription drugs to manage it.
"So, I started experimenting with how increasing the amount of raw food in my diet would affect how I felt, my symptoms and the drugs I had to take, beginning slowly by eliminating all animal products. Soon I realised I was starting to move better, my blood pressure was stabilising and my kidneys were filtering better."
"I decided to have Maia against medical advice. She was born as a planned C-section at 37 weeks because the pregnancy was damaging my kidneys, and although she was small and cold and grumpy, medically she was fine and we were allowed home with her two weeks later.
"I am convinced that following a plant-based diet was what allowed me to give birth to her despite my dire diagnosis. But the pregnancy had been hard on my kidneys. Before having Maia, I’d used my diet to get them back to 95 per cent normal function, but after my pregnancy, I was told I had lost 70 per cent of their normal function."
She added: "The doctors are amazed that I am able to maintain my levels of energy as well as how clean my blood is. My uric acid levels and phosphate levels are as good as those of a person doing 12 hours of dialysis. Also, I have great cardiovascular health and no diabetes which is common with patients with my type of diagnosis and I know it’s down to my high fruit diet ...
"That’s the most important thing when you choose this diet. You have to make sure you get the recommended daily calorie intake, so I do measure everything and I have an app on my phone that helps me do that."
If you or anyone else you know has kidney problems, then please consult your doctor before making a radical change to your eating habits.
