How to naturally care for your kidneys?
Rejuvenating the kidneys and bladder is essential for optimum health
UNLESS you are extremely conscious of your liquid intake and measure how much water and tea you are drinking you may not be consuming enough or even too much water?
When you get up in the morning, do you have your glass of water? What about 1 hour before and 1 hour after meals?
On an average, we are supposed to have at least 4 to 10 glasses of liquids including unsweetened herbal tea per day (based on body-type) and the amount increases if you are overweight, have a regular intake of caffeine, smoke or exercise. Our kidneys do require fluids, but in the form of water. Our body is composed of about 50 to 60 percent water; therefore, we need to replenish the lost fluids from our body every day especially in the morning. Clean water in particular helps kidneys filter wastes, a process that helps the body to detoxify itself every day.
A natural Kidney/Bladder Cleanse and Detoxification Program
So, what can you do to keep kidney diseases at bay?
As mentioned earlier, drink plenty of water and only water. Keep track of your water intake by keeping a 2-liter water bottle with you. Try to finish it through the day. Again, this 2-liter recommended intake is for a person with average weight.
Fruits and vegetables: As they mostly contain water, they are high on the list of foods that you ought to have. Alternative health practitioners recommend a detoxing process known as a "kidney cleanse" where a person undergoes a fasting program while subsisting on vegetable and fruit juices. This continues for 3 to 5 days, as per a person's tolerance. A typical detox program would include cleansing juices like grapefruit (for Vata or Kapha type), watermelon (for vata or pitta type), barley water (for Pitta types) lemon (for Kapha or maybe Vata type) and/or cranberry (for kapha type only) juices as well as herbal remedies. To know more about detoxification and healing, please go here.
By maintaining your body weight and blood pressure, you would be doing your kidneys a great favor. Obesity and high blood pressure both pose an increased risk to kidney health, causing damage beyond repair.
Stop smoking if you want to be healthy --be it in terms of cardiovascular or kidney health.
Exercise, too, should be included as part of your daily regimen. Exercise not only helps in maintaining the health of your kidneys, it also maintains your blood sugar levels along with your blood pressure.
For kidney stones, it is highly recommended to have parsley water twice every day. First, take some parsley (around 8 to 10 strands). Wash it very well, strand by strand. Place it in a vessel and then, add 2-3 cups of water to it. Let it boil for about 10 minutes. You will see that the water has now turned light green. Cover it and have a cup of parsley water in the morning and a cup in the evening. Another great kidney-friendly food is asparagus.
About Kidney stones
Different stones in the body have different chemical make-ups. For example, gallstones are primarily formed from cholesterol, bile salts, and proteins. Pancreatic stones are formed from fatty acids, calcium, and proteins. And kidney stones themselves vary significantly. There are four types:
- Calcium stones are composed of calcium that is chemically bound to oxalate (calcium oxalate) or phosphate (calcium phosphate).
- If the acid level in the urine is high or too much acid is excreted, the uric acid may not dissolve and uric acid stones may form.
- Infection stones develop when a urinary tract infection alters the chemical balance of the urine causing stones to form from ammonium, magnesium, phosphate.
- In rare cases, there is a condition that results in large amounts of cystine in the urine, which causes the formation of cystine stones.
Eating foods low in salt (especially "table salt" or sodium chloride should be eliminated completely) is another precaution we can adhere to in order to keep our kidneys healthy, as this helps prevent the formation of kidney stones. A diet low in sodium also helps the heart (as it lowers blood pressure) and keeps fluid accumulation in the extremities (such as edema of the legs) at bay. Have two or three services of fruit between meals daily and have plenty of vegetables with each meal. Beware of red meats (such as pork and beef), oxalate rich foods (nuts, spinach, chocolate and beans), cold water fish, refined foods like white bread and fast foods.
Did you know that even 10 minutes of sunshine can help your kidneys? Yes, sun rays stimulate the production of Vitamin D that helps in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus levels in our body that helps our kidneys. Stress indeed stresses our kidneys, so relaxation is a great way to keep the kidneys healthy.
