How To Strengthen Liver And Kidneys Naturally
Because your kidneys are so important to your general health, you should take steps to improve their health wherever possible, though you might be wondering exactly how to do this. The best way to improve or maintain your kidney health is by leading an active, health-conscious lifestyle, but if you have a chronic health condition that increases your risk of kidney damage, there are other ways to naturally strengthen your liver and kidneys, such as:
How To Make The Best Low Potassium Potatoes
This garlicky mashed potato recipe is kidney-friendly and perfect for those looking to lower their potassium intake!
Kidney or renal nutrition recommendations can differ depending on your Chronic Kidney Disease stage and can make planning a kidney-friendly diet feel baffling. Since potassium is so widespread in food, it is important to be extra careful with foods that are traditionally high in potassium.
We want to ensure that you have a kidney-friendly recipe that will work for you at mealtimes and holidays in the future.
Keep on reading to learn more about a kidney-friendly diet and our low potassium potatoes.
How Diet Can Impact Kidney Health
The kidneys are filled with tiny blood vessels that help filter waste and extra water from your blood and remove them from your body. If you have CKD, your kidneys cant filter blood as well as they should, causing excess waste to build up in your body.
Diabetes and hypertension are the two leading causes of kidney disease. High blood sugar levels in uncontrolled diabetes and high blood pressure can damage the kidneys blood vessels, leaving them unable do their job properly, says Krista Maruschak, RD, a registered dietitian with Cleveland Clinics Center for Human Nutrition.
Untreated or uncontrolled diabetes and high blood pressure can have a significant effect on the development of CKD over time, says Maruschak.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 10 percent of the U.S. population has diabetes and over a third of adults have prediabetes, while about half of American adults age 20 and over have hypertension. These individuals are also at an increased risk of developing CKD.
A healthy diet can help you prevent or manage conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, in part by helping you to maintain a healthy weight, says Maruschak. In turn, this supports your kidney health.
As part of a kidney-friendly diet, you may also need to limit certain foods to help prevent further kidney damage.
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Foods To Limit With Kidney Disease
Depending on the amount of kidney function you have left, you may need to limit or avoid certain foods. Everyone with kidney disease should avoid high-sodium foods. Depending on your blood test, your healthcare provider may also instruct you to limit foods high in potassium and phosphorus.
Foods high in sodium:
- Ham, bacon, sausage, or lunch meat
- Pickled foods
- 1 slice angel food cake
- Water, apple juice, or other kidney-friendly beverage
Food That Should Be Eliminated
Given below is the list of food items that are considered unsafe food for damaged kidneys:
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How Can I Make My Kidney Strong
Here are some tips to help keep your kidneys healthy. Keep active and fit. Control your blood sugar. Monitor blood pressure. Monitor weight and eat a healthy diet. Drink plenty of fluids. Dont smoke. Be aware of the amount of OTC pills you take. Have your kidney function tested if youre at high risk.
What Fruit Is Good For Kidneys
If you have kidney disease, a variety of fruits can be beneficial to include in your diet as long as they dont contain excessive amounts of potassium and phosphorus.Other fruits that may be recommended for promoting kidney health include: Pears. Peaches. Clementines. Nectarines. Mandarins. Plums. Satsumas. Watermelon.
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Very Nutritious And Low In Calories
Just 2 fresh apricots provide (
- Vitamin A: 8% of the Daily Value
- Vitamin C: 8% of the DV
- Vitamin E: 4% of the DV
- Potassium: 4% of the DV
Furthermore, this fruit is a decent source of beta carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, all of which are potent antioxidants that help fight free radicals in your body .
Its best to enjoy apricots whole and unpeeled, as the skin boasts large amounts of fiber and nutrients. Be sure to discard the stone, as its inedible.
Summary Apricots are low in calories and fat while also an excellent source of vitamins A and C.
Foods That Are Actually Damaging Your Kidneys
Do you think you take adequate care of your kidney health? If you are a religious yoga practitioner, you must remember the instructions of breathing in deeply so you can feel the air fill up your kidneys, and even though we all know it hardly makes any sense, we can still feel the potency of breathing into our kidneys, right?
You see, the kidneys are the most essential organs within the body and they have an extremely important job of filtering the bloodstream clean of all waste products. The kidneys are tucked right underneath the rib cage, on either sides of the spine, and they are no larger than the size of your fists.
Research reveals that our kidneys filter nearly 200 quarts of blood every single day, along with filtering out 2 quarts of waste products. The kidneys filter out the waste products, from there, the waste products and water travel to the balder, from where they get excreted in the form of urine. This is extremely detrimental process, and if the kidneys fail to perform this function adequately, it can lead to a great many ailments and haywires across the body.
Unluckily, there are countless foods that can cause harm to the kidneys, lead to the developments of kidney stones and even cause kidney failure. Weâve picked out the 7 most harmful foods for the kidneys so you can reduce their intake or eliminate them entirely. Here, take a look:
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Importance Of Kidney Disease Screenings
Kidney disease screening from Life Line Screening uses a simple finger-stick test to assess how well your kidneys are functioning. It uses an FDA-approved device adopted by more than 250 hospitals across the country.
Common risk factors for kidney disease include increased age, family history, race and ethnicity , diabetes, high blood pressure, hereditary factors, and abnormally elevated creatinine levels or decreasing glomerular filtration rates .
If you have any of the above risk factors, or if youre over the age of 60, you should seriously consider a kidney disease screening. Learn more now or contact us with any questions you might have.
Life Line Screening 2021 update
Learn more or schedule a screening today at lifelinescreening.com or give us a call at . Wed love to help.
Control Your Portion Sizes
Eating too much of anything, even healthy foods, can be a problem. The other part of a healthy eating plan is portion control, or watching how much you eat.
Good portion control is important in a kidney-friendly eating plan, because you may need to limit how much of certain things you eat and drink.
To help control your portion sizes:
- For packaged foods, check the nutrition facts label to learn the serving size and how much of each nutrient is in one serving. Many packages have more than one serving. For example, a 20-ounce bottle of soda is really two-and-a-half servings.
- For fresh foods that do not have nutrition facts labels, such as fruits and vegetables, ask your dietitian for a list of nutrition facts to measure the right portions.
- Eat slowly and stop eating when you are full. It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that you are full. If you eat too quickly, you may eat more than you need.
- Avoid eating while doing something else, such as watching TV or driving. When you are distracted, you may not realize how much you have eaten.
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Eat The Right Amount Of Calories
Calories are like fuel and give your body energy. Calories come from the protein, fat and carbs in your diet. How many calories you need depends on your age, gender, body size and activity level.
You may need to adjust how many calories you eat to stay at a healthy weight. Some people will need to limit the calories they eat. Others may need to have more calories. Your doctor or dietitian can help you figure out how many calories you should have each day.
Packaged Instant And Premade Meals
Processed foods can be a major component of sodium in the diet.
Among these foods, packaged, instant, and premade meals are usually the most heavily processed and thus contain the most sodium.
Examples include frozen pizza, microwaveable meals, and instant noodles.
Keeping sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day may be difficult if youre eating highly processed foods regularly.
Heavily processed foods not only contain a large amount of sodium but also commonly lack nutrients .
SUMMARY
Packaged, instant, and premade meals are highly processed items that can contain very large amounts of sodium and lack nutrients. Its best to limit these foods on a renal diet.
Swiss chard, spinach, and beet greens are leafy green vegetables that contain high amounts of various nutrients and minerals, including potassium.
When served raw, the amount of potassium varies between 140290 mg per cup .
While leafy vegetables shrink to a smaller serving size when cooked, the potassium content remains the same.
For example, one-half cup of raw spinach will shrink to about 1 tablespoon when cooked. Thus, eating one-half cup of cooked spinach will contain a much higher amount of potassium than one-half cup of raw spinach.
Raw Swiss chard, spinach, and beet greens are preferable to cooked greens to avoid too much potassium.
However, moderate your intake of these foods, as theyre also high in oxalates. Among sensitive individuals, oxalates can increase the risk of kidney stones (
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A Brief Overview Of The Kidneys Role In Preventing Bone Loss
As your kidneys filter out toxins and excess acid from the blood, they also put a buffer or acid neutralizer back into the bloodstream in the form of bicarbonate. This shows how crucial it is for your system to be alkaline, and its also why the kidneys get overworked when, for example, you take a lot of medications and/or eat an acid-forming diet.
And just as there are certain foods that help cleanse and alkalize the body and ease the load on the kidneys, there are also foods that are not only acidic, but actually damage these important organs.
Talk To Your Doctor About Whether You Need To Limit Phosphorus And Potassium
Phosphorus and potassium are minerals that your body needs for certain processes. Phosphorous helps build strong bones, while potassium helps regulate your heartbeat and keeps your muscles working properly.
If you have CKD, however, these minerals they can build up in your blood, causing problems throughout your body. High levels of phosphorus can pull calcium from your bones, making bones weak and more likely to break, and may cause itchy skin and bone and joint pain. You may need to limit foods high in phosphorous, such as animal protein, dairy, and dark-colored sodas. High levels of potassium can cause heart problems. Your doctor will run blood tests to check your potassium and phosphorus levels. Be sure to ask if youre not sure whether you need to keep tabs on your intake of these minerals.
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List Of Unsafe Food For Damaged Kidneys
Kidney disease requires a lot of care and cautions in order to get back into the right condition. Eating healthy is very necessary when we have damaged kidneys. There are certain nutrients that are required to be prevented from entering the body by any means. Once these unhealthy nutrients enter the human body they exert pressure on the kidneys. The ill kidneys could not make the best out of these nutrients and as a result, it accumulates within the body and causes a medical condition called uremia. This condition contributes to the worsening of kidneys health. This is why it is suggested to eat good food for bad kidneys.
In order to eat healthily, it is important to know about the right food. The two leading causes of kidney diseases are diabetes and high blood pressure and if they come under control then major issues related to kidneys would be under control. In order to support the health of the kidneys for good, one should put control over the consumption of sugar, salt, fat, sodium, excess phosphorus, potassium, and protein. This blog would help you to learn about unsafe food for damaged kidneys.
Foods To Avoid With Kidney Disease And Diabetes
Your kidneys are organs that play several important roles in your health. They help filter your blood, remove waste products, produce hormones, keep your bones strong, regulate fluid balance, and regulate your blood pressure.
Unfortunately, your kidneys can get damaged and become less efficient over time. This is commonly called kidney disease, and it affects around 10% of adults globally (
2 ).
Prolonged high blood sugar levels may damage your blood vessels, including those in your kidneys. As a result, about 1 in 3 adults with diabetes also have kidney disease .
Dietary guidelines for kidney disease and diabetes vary based on the stage of kidney disease. The goal is to prevent the buildup of various chemicals, nutrients, and waste products in the blood to preserve kidney function.
People with kidney disease and diabetes should monitor their intake of sugar and the minerals sodium, potassium, and phosphorus.
Generally, people with kidney disease should consume no more than 2,300 mg each of sodium. They should also monitor their potassium and phosphorus intakes according to their doctors advice 30726-5/fulltext” rel=”nofollow”> 3).
The National Kidney Foundations most recent Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative guidelines dont set specific limits on potassium or phosphorus 30726-5/fulltext” rel=”nofollow”> 3).
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What To Eat And What Not To
Food is not just the fuel that makes your body run. What you eat forms the building blocks for your cells. You really are what you eat. So, your food can, and does, affect your health. When you have CKD, one way to feel better and protect your kidneys is to take a fresh look at what you eat. See if you might want to make some changes to your diet. Your care team may give you some tips as well.
Foods that are close to nature like fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, beans and peas, whole grains, and lean meats are best for your body. Food that comes in a can, box, jar, or bag has been processed in a factory. Most processed foods have lots of chemicals, preservatives, and fillers . Some, like natural peanut butter, canned beans, or frozen vegetables, are good choices. How do you know which are good? READ LABELS. When a food has more than a few ingredients or a fresh food, like meat or fish, has an ingredient list at all be wary. Look for foods that have no more than five or six ingredients. You may want to make a fresh choice.
Most food cans in the U.S. are lined with bisphenol A . BPA has been linked with high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. Many canned foods tend to be very high in salt or sugar and highly processed, too. Glass jars or shelf safe cartons dont have BPA.
Limit Phosphorus And Calcium
You need these minerals to keep your bones healthy and strong. When your kidneys are healthy, they remove the phosphorus you donât need. But if you have CKD, your phosphorus levels can get too high. This puts you at risk for heart disease. Whatâs more, your calcium levels begin to drop. To make up for it, your body pulls it from your bones. This can make them weak and easier to break.
If you have late-stage CKD, your doctor may advise you to get no more than 1,000 milligrams of phosphorus mineral each day. You can do this by:
- Choosing foods with low levels of phosphorous
- Eating more fresh fruits and veggies
- Choosing corn and rice cereals
- Drinking light-colored sodas
- Cutting back on meat, poultry, and fish
- Limiting dairy foods
Foods that are high in calcium also tend to be high in phosphorus. The doctor might suggest you cut back on calcium-rich foods. Dairy foods that are lower in phosphorus include:
The doctor might also tell you to stop taking over-the-counter calcium supplements and suggest a phosphorus binder, a medicine that controls your phosphorus levels.
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