Replacing Cranberry Juice for UTI

Options
SummerLovesPhil
SummerLovesPhil Posts: 242 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I'm chugging my usual cranberry juice trying to shake a UTI. It always works, but it is a metric butt-ton of sugar. Is there something else that works as well and doesn't have 880 calories? :noway:
«1

Replies

  • gatorginger
    gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
    Options
    I heard yogurt helps
  • jinna86
    jinna86 Posts: 93
    Options
    I take cranberry extract supplements, and also apple cider vinegar supplements for UTIs
  • VegKate
    VegKate Posts: 55 Member
    Options
    Drink A LOT of water. Water helps flush out the infection just as well with 0 calories. Last time I started to feel a UTI coming on I drank a whole lot of water and the next morning it was gone.
  • jennkain97
    jennkain97 Posts: 290 Member
    Options
    cranberry supplements
  • kevinjb1
    kevinjb1 Posts: 233 Member
    Options
    I know I'm a guy so forgive me becuase I don't know what you are going through. But I was reading up on asparagus yesterday and apparently it can help with a UTI. Something about it makes you have to pee a lot. Sorry I don't have many details because I skimmed over that part. :wink:

    Hope you feel better soon!
  • tonightokayalright
    tonightokayalright Posts: 289 Member
    Options
    I take cranberry extract supplements, and also apple cider vinegar supplements for UTIs

    This^. I buy cranberry pills. Probably about the same cost. One pill per day while you're feeling any symptoms. Can keep taking them as preventive care, too.
  • mindyrae22
    mindyrae22 Posts: 19 Member
    Options
    Short term (just while you have the UTI) your best replacement is simply A LOT of water. Thinking long term (if you get them quite often) start taking cranberry pills. I swear by them! They are available most places that have a vitamin section. If you are not against medication I would also go to the doctor if you havn't. An antibiotic will have it completely gone in 5-7 days with symptoms gone within the day. If the pain and irritation is bad they can often give you a second medication for that (it takes it away the irritating symptoms within an hour or so). If you do not go on antibiotics it can easily turn into a Kidney infection if it doesn't clear up completely.
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
    Options
    Antibiotics for 12 days are like 70 cents if you have health insurance... Last year with my ex we used lube for the first time on Valentines to try it out. We both got a UTI.
  • juliec33
    juliec33 Posts: 238 Member
    Options
    Lots and lots of water! You can also get unsweetened cranberry juice...no added sugars, just the ones from the berries. It's not the "light" cranberry juice. I get the Just Cranberry by R.W. Knudsen. It's in the organic section of my local grocery store. If you mix it with diet Sprite it makes a pretty good drink when you feel a UTI coming on.

    I mix about 4 ounces of unsweetened cranberry juice with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (you can mix in a little water if it's too strong) and have it pretty much every morning when I wake up. Good for the liver (supposedly) and helps keep the UTI's at bay. The first 3 days it was tough to get it down.....now I love how it tastes. You can also put in some artificial sweetener if you want.

    Edit: 8oz of the unsweetened juice is 70 calories and only 8 grams of sugar. If you could drink an entire bottle in one day, it would still only be 280 calories.
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
    Options
    Antibiotics for 12 days are like 70 cents if you have health insurance... Last year with my ex we used lube for the first time on Valentines to try it out. We both got a UTI.

    No!!!

    Don't take antibiotics when you can treat something naturally.
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
    Options
    Cranberry pills do the job.
  • mindyrae22
    mindyrae22 Posts: 19 Member
    Options
    I don't know if the doctor was correct or not (I sure hope so :( ) but she had told me that the cranberry pills take 3-4 weeks to "line your bladder", which is what prevents or helps prevent UTIs. So they might not be the best treatment when you already have a full blown infection. Definitely recommend them as a prevention though!!!
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
    Options
    Antibiotics for 12 days are like 70 cents if you have health insurance... Last year with my ex we used lube for the first time on Valentines to try it out. We both got a UTI.

    No!!!

    Don't take antibiotics when you can treat something naturally.
    Okay, hippie. You probably wouldn't be alive if things like penicillin were never discovered.
  • mindyrae22
    mindyrae22 Posts: 19 Member
    Options
    Antibiotics are the safest way to get rid of one that is already set in, even if there might be some natural ways to try to get rid of it. If you are just starting to get symptoms, by all means use natural ways, but once it is set in as a full blown UTI it is safest to do the five days of antibiotics. If drinking water and cranberry juice does not get rid of it completely it can EASILY turn into a Kidney infection (much more pain and worse for you) which you cannot get rid of "naturally". Kidney infection can then lead to much worse. I am not in support of going on medication for anything and everything but when it comes to UTIs you don't want to risk it once they set in. People don't realize how quickly it can become much more serious. I have had bladdar infections since I was 10 years old, multiple times a year (until I found Cranberry pills) and a few of them really threatened my health because I didn't treat them soon enough. And if you let them go, you will have to be on antibiotics for weeks instead of days.
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    Options
    Try 100% cranberry juice and water. Trader Joe's seems to be the only place that sells 100% cranberry juice @ $3.99 per bottle.
  • mindyrae22
    mindyrae22 Posts: 19 Member
    Options
    [/quote]
    They can--until they don't, and then you wind up in the hospital with a full-blown kidney infection. I'm not saying don't try to stave it off with fluids and cranberry, but if it last more than a day or two, just take the antibiotics.
    [/quote]

    Thank you!! This is the SAFEST way!
  • jinna86
    jinna86 Posts: 93
    Options
    They can--until they don't, and then you wind up in the hospital with a full-blown kidney infection. I'm not saying don't try to stave it off with fluids and cranberry, but if it last more than a day or two, just take the antibiotics.
    [/quote]

    Thank you!! This is the SAFEST way!
    [/quote]

    Yes, if the cranberry or ACV doesn't help after a couple of days, just go for the antibiotics. I've never had a kidney infection, but I've definitely had a UTI escalate into a bad fever (I'm prone to recurring UTIs)
  • Tam2oh
    Tam2oh Posts: 27
    Options
    I was reading a novel based in ancient times and barely water was mentioned. I was wondering what it was and googled it and found it was great in helping UTIs. Well, I actually got a UTI a little while later and made of the barley water (it is like a tea) and the pain was gone within a few hours. I really chugged it though and probably drank 2 quarts in that time period.I used this recipe as a base:

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/barley-water-recipe/index.html

    You can use less honey or none at all to control the sugar content. Hope this helps.
  • SummerLovesPhil
    SummerLovesPhil Posts: 242 Member
    Options
    Thanks, all, for your great suggestions! I won't get started on antibiotic overuse, just that a little UTI (rare with me) is not something I would jump to antibiotics for and I don't have insurance anyway. They definitely have less sugar though. I'll give apple cider vinegar a try.
  • MzPix
    MzPix Posts: 177 Member
    Options
    Hi. I’m not a big fan of antibiotics either, so our family uses natural remedies as a first line of attack almost every time.
    Here are a few suggestions:
    Drink a lot of water. Chew ice.
    Unsweetened herbal teas. Particularly goldenseal, orangeroot, echinacea/cornflower and dandelion.
    A tablespoon of baking soda in water several times a day.
    Avoid citrus, alcohol, caffeine, and sweets until the UTI clears up.
    Cranberries in their natural state too. Also, blueberries, huckleberry and sometimes gooseberries or bearberries. Drinking the juice is great but also throw some on your cereal or in your yogurt, or blend them with some ice.
    Some people swear by pineapple as well. We don’t do this because of the high sugar content and acid.
    Drink even more water.
    Hope that helps. Hope you get well soon.

Categories