Advice for healthy kidneys please?

sukifr
sukifr Posts: 70 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi guys

I'm just looking for some nutritional advice please on what's best to eat to prevent the development of kidneys stones. I've just suffered from a recently bad UTI and the last thing I want to develop are kidney stones.
I've been reading up on foods to avoid and it says nuts, fruits, eggs, spinach and green veg.
Can that be true?!
I've been doing really well recently losing weight and my basic diet has been these foods as I love them!
Shall I totally omit these items from my diet or can I have them in small amounts?
Is there anything else I should avoid?
I believe in prevention and would like to do my best to avoid getting kidney stones, but I also want to continue to lose weight and feel really confused as I feel everything I have been eating has now been making me ill.

Replies

  • Ramen237
    Ramen237 Posts: 264 Member
    I'd also be interested in knowing good nutrition for the kidneys. That list of foods to avoid is pretty long, isn't it?... I know I would never in a million years be able to cut out all those items from my diet.

    Anyone try any herbal teas for healthy kidney support?
  • jmoneycgt
    jmoneycgt Posts: 80 Member
    Lots of water and not a lot of sodium. Try to drink your 8 glasses a day MINIMUM and stay under 2500 mg of sodium more often than not and never shoot way above it.

    Soooo...

    Be careful with soups, canned foods, cheese, pork, chinese food, take out food in general and adding salt to your food unless absolutely necessary.

    There are some others but that is all I got off the top of my head.
  • lisaabenjamin
    lisaabenjamin Posts: 665 Member
    I wouldn't know what to say about the foods you found to avoid...I tend to be skeptical about 'advice' to avoid any kind of foods unless you have a genuine and diagnosed allergy, intolerance or medical condition. It is always good to keep sodium low, though.

    The most important thing to avoid kidney stones is to drink lots of water. The kidneys filter substances from your urine, and if you're not taking on board enough water and passing urine frequently enough then these substances can build up and crystalise, causing stones.

    Haven't had them myself, but my mum has, and from what I understand they are Painful with a capital P! Mum works as a radiographer in a hospital and claims she never has time to drink throughout the day. Sometimes she'd go a whole day having had just one cup of tea in the morning!

    ETA: I wouldn't have thought a UTI would put you at increased risk of kidney stones per se, unless the reason you got the UTI was because you're not passing urine enough. Drink! Drink! Drink! (Water that is).
  • UandI1985
    UandI1985 Posts: 55 Member
    WATER WATER WATER....and then more WATER
  • craftywitch_63
    craftywitch_63 Posts: 829 Member
    From the Mayo Clinic:

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/kidney-stones/basics/prevention/con-20024829

    It says to reduce your intake of certain calcium-rich foods because kidney stones are usually made of calcium, the article does not advise to avoid them altogether. But I really think you're prematurely worried about something that hasn't happened. Unless you have a family predisposition, one UTI =/= renal calculi.

    Oh, yeah, and drink lots of water! That seems to help the kidneys the most.
  • sukifr
    sukifr Posts: 70 Member
    Ok thank you!

    So basically I need to drink more water, I normally drink 2ltrs a day, and don't panic :smile:

    The mayo clinic advice is similar to the NHS advice I've read which means avoiding, rhubarb, sweet potatoes, spinach etc, but that would be really sad as they are my favourites.
    I don't have a lot of salt anyway and prefer to home cook my own foods rather than have takeaways or processed foods, so I know what goes in the food. I don't cook with salt but add it to a meal only if I think I need it.

    Thank you all very much for taking the time to answer this post :flowerforyou:
  • Ramen237
    Ramen237 Posts: 264 Member
    I remember hearing that watermelon is good for your kidneys - for the same reason as water, it flushes them out.

    But I agree that the #1 thing you can do for kidney problem prevention is DRINK H2O!
  • kuolo
    kuolo Posts: 251 Member
    I'm not sure you need to worry about kidney stones from having one UTI, and cutting all those things out of your diet doesn't seem healthy...
    My understanding is that if they are caused by a UTI then there's not much you can do about it bar treat the UTI. Otherwise vitamin D and calcium come into play but again you don't want to be limiting those things unless you know you have a problem already.
  • ValeriePlz
    ValeriePlz Posts: 517 Member
    Hereditary causes are also a huge reason for kidney stones.

    Also, as others have said, UTIs and kidney stones are caused by totally different things.
  • sukifr
    sukifr Posts: 70 Member
    Yeah I've read watermelon is good too, but it won't be available here for another couple of months or so.

    My UTI is the second I've had in 15months, but I don't know if that's a problem?

    My true concern is that I had pancreatitis 8 years ago and nearly died, and I'm frightened whenever anything isn't right.

    I don't know if kidney problems are linked to what the pancreas does, but I panic and just thought if I can stop this happening again with having healthy kidneys, then I'm preventing anything else happening.

    I drink like a fish (water) and piddle like a race horse!
  • lisaabenjamin
    lisaabenjamin Posts: 665 Member
    Nope, kidneys and pancreas do totally different things. Your pancreas produces the insulin and glucagon that help keep your blood sugar in check, while your kidneys filter urine before it passes out of your body. They're not linked -you can rest easy.

    UTIs are pretty common in women because we have a short urethra (pee-pipe!) which is relatively close to our poo-pipe! This is why we are told to wipe front to back not the other way around (TMI, sorry!) Two in 15 months obviously isn't pleasant, but it's not freakishly uncommon. Practice good toilet hygiene and drink water water water water water!

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