Draft: not yet reviewed by a clinician
Use this page to prepare questions for your care team. It does not replace their advice. Your own targets and doses come from your nephrologist, diabetes team and renal dietitian.
Cinnamon-sugar popcorn¶
Plain popcorn is a whole grain with fiber and very little potassium or sodium. Microwave popcorn usually comes salted; popping your own lets you skip the salt and choose the flavor. A serving is 3 cups.
Serves 2 · 5 minutes · Lower potassium · Lower phosphorus · Vegetarian
Carbohydrate per serving
23 g carbohydrate (about 1½ carb choices of 15 g). Count it for insulin like any snack; your team tells you whether a snack needs its own insulin.
Per serving¶
| Energy | Carb | Protein | Potassium | Phosphorus | Sodium | Fluid | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 162 kcal | 23 g | 3.2 g | 83 mg | 88 mg | 3 mg | none | 3.8 g |
Checked by scripts/build_handbook.py: sodium at most 140 mg per serving; "lower potassium" means at most 200 mg and "lower phosphorus" at most 100 mg per serving. See how recipes are checked.
Ingredients that are not in the app's food list (herbs, spices and a few others) add about 3 mg potassium per serving; they are counted above.
Ingredients¶
| Ingredient | Amount | Grams |
|---|---|---|
| Popcorn, air-popped, unsalted | 6 cups air-popped popcorn (about ¼ cup kernels) | 48 g |
| Butter, unsalted | 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted | 14 g |
| Sugar, granulated | 2 tsp sugar | 8.4 g |
| Cinnamon, ground | ½ tsp ground cinnamon | 1.3 g |
Steps¶
- Pop the kernels in an air popper, or in a covered pan with no oil, shaking it often.
- Mix the sugar and cinnamon.
- Drizzle the butter over the popcorn, toss, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar and toss again.
Why it works for kidneys¶
- Salted microwave popcorn has about 300 mg sodium in 3 cups; this has under 5 mg.
- Popcorn is a whole grain, but it is lower in phosphorus than nuts or seeds: about 86 mg in 3 cups.
Make it fit you¶
- Savoury: skip the sugar and use garlic powder and black pepper, or a salt-free herb blend without potassium chloride.
- Less carbohydrate: use sucralose in place of the sugar.
Log it in the app¶
Log one serving as these foods from the app's food list (grams per serving), or save them once as a meal (Planning and menus):
- Popcorn, air-popped, unsalted: 24 g
- Butter, unsalted: 7.1 g
- Sugar, granulated: 4.2 g
Sources¶
- USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy): every ingredient value, through the app's food list and the SR Legacy records listed in
handbook/data/recipes.yml. - Satellite Healthcare: food labels: under 600 mg of sodium per meal; AKF Kidney Kitchen: potassium per meal: 600–700 mg of potassium per meal on a low-potassium diet. The recipes use 600 mg for both as a review line.
- NKF: potassium and your CKD diet: 200 mg or more of potassium in a serving is high; AKF phosphorus food guide: 100 mg or less of phosphorus is low.
- FDA claim definitions: "low sodium" means 140 mg or less per serving.
Not yet reviewed by a clinician. Facts and sources last checked 2026-10-06.