3 Healthy Habits That Cleanse Your Kidneys
And a healthy diet plan!
Hello every one, hope you are all doing well. You might have already guessed what I’m going to discuss, so lets dive in!
I have come across many people in my life who are diagnosed with kidney problems at young ages. So I wanted to know things that cause kidney problems, and in addition I compared those things with other people whose food habits I know. So I believe personally that those habits may have effect on kidneys.
Kidneys are the one organ that work continuously without rest. It’s work is to filter waste from blood. The average person has around 5 litres of blood circulating through his or her body. The kidneys filter that blood about 40 times per day. when we eat food, some chemical reactions in the cells of your body breakdown the nutrients. Some of the waste is the result of these chemical reactions and some other are just stuff your body doesn’t need. Kidneys also balance the volume of fluids and minerals in the body.
So let’s go through 3 simple habits that can help reduce stress on your kidneys.
Drink plenty of water
In these busy lives, many people neglect to drink more water. They forgot it due to their work. Most of software people don’t feel thirsty because they don’t have much physical activity and spend their day sitting at the desk. People doing physical jobs such as agriculture, teacher, policemen etc., feel thirsty.
So it is good idea to keep water bottles near to you so it may help you easy to drink and it will become your regular habit to you.
The daily requirement for women is minimum 3 litres per day and for men it’s 4 litres per day. If you can drink more, you can! Nothing is wrong with it. Best time to drink water is early mornings, you can have about 1 litre on empty stomach. As we are on fast for few hours, it’s best time to clean our kidneys.
We all know that drinking plenty water makes you urinate more, the more you urinate, the more harmful chemical substances and waste washes out.
Reduce Salt Intake
Salt is everywhere in foods. We consume salt in various forms — with fruits, with curries, with curd etc., High salt intake can be dangerous and reduce kidney function. Your body removes excess water by filtering blood through your kidney. This requires a balance in sodium and potassium in the body to pull the water from the blood streams into the kidneys. A high salt intake will alter this sodium balance, causing kidney to have reduced function and remove less water resulting in high blood pressure. Kidneys spend 40 to 50% of their energy to remove excess salt every day.
A high salt diet can also increases the amount of calcium lost in urine, which can cause kidney stones. A number of studies have shown that a reduction in salt consumption can reduce calcium excretion and also reduce reoccurance of kidney stones.
Our kidneys has ability to filter only 4 grams of salt per day without stress, but the average salt intake is about 8 grams daily.
Americans eat on average about 3,400mg of sodium per day. However, the dietary guidelines for Americans recommends sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day. When Kidneys lose the ability to control sodium and water balance, you may experience thirst, fluid gain, high blood pressure, and discomfort. By using less salt, you can control these problems.
People already at risk of kidney diseases and kidney failures should ensure that salt intake is less than 4 grams.
You can try some natural spices as an alternative to salt such as chilli powder, smoked paprika, lemon zest and dried oregano.
Eat more veggies and fruits
How many of you eat fast foods as an evening snack? It has become a habit for us, isn’t it? In these days, fast foods with high salts have become favorites from children to adults. It is ok if you take them as a party snack on weekends, but if you take daily, these can be deadly on your kidneys. Instead, we should take veggies or fruits as an evening snack. Fruits and vegetables contain fiber and nutrients that are helpful for strengthening kidneys to filter easily.
Fruits like blueberries and grapes are very good for kidneys.
Bonus: Diet
One must add nutritional food in daily routine like fruits, sprouts, dry fruits, leafy vegetables etc. I will show you my daily diet. I am following this diet from past few months, it has helped me in numerous ways including, but not limited to, balancing weight, feeling active throughout the day.
Morning breakfast: Sprouts 1 bowl (black eyed peas, green gram, Bengal gram), 1 Banana/apple, 1/2 cup dry fruits (almonds, walnuts and dates).
Lunch: 1 large cup brown rice, leafy vegetable curry and one other vegetable curry (anything you like), one egg, curd without salt.
Evening: 1 cup fruit salad(any combination of grapes, apple, pomegranate, banana, guava), whole wheat bread with peanut butter.
Night: 3 rotis with paneer curry (if you are young and healthy) or any juice (for older people and people who wants to lose weight). Finish this before 8 pm.
That’s my diet and I am following this from few months. If you notice, I have totally stopped having regular breakfast foods like dosa, idli etc., I eat them on cheat days — like once/twice a month.
So guys any part of our body has ability to repair by its own, but kidneys cannot.
Hope you got something out of it, Thank you!
