Do you suffer from kidney damage or disease? If so, you’ll know how frightening and life-changing it can be if these vital organs of ours underperform. It can lead to dialysis, kidney transplants or in the saddest of circumstances even death.
Our kidneys are our guardian angels. They are the caretakers of our capillaries; cleaning our blood from unwanted minerals and poisonous waste, balancing our bodily fluids and blood pressure and coordinating control of the right number of red blood cells.
It’s important you take good care of your kidneys – and a healthy lifestyle plays a pivotal role. Even if you’re suffering kidney failure, a healthy lifestyle can help you recover in acute cases – or, when kidney failure hits hardest, it can slow-down the impacts of chronic failure.
Natures’ Toolbox To Keep Care of Kidneys
We’ve scoured the seven seas seeking the best natural ways you can take better care of your kidneys – and condensed them into six digestible bites:
- Reduce Salt Intake And High-Protein Foods
With each pinch of salt in our food, we increase our consumption of sodium. It’s very easy to have too much sodium in your diet, resulting in raised blood pressure and your kidneys kicking in to overdrive – if you’re unlucky, you could even have kidney stones form! So try not to add excess salt to your food, avoid processed foods (which often have high salt levels) and especially avoid salty snacks!
High-protein diet also causes your kidney to work harder, which can deteriorate its condition. - Drink Healthily
Second in our list of top tips is to drink healthily – especially lots of water. Your kidneys need water to flush out the toxins and unwanted minerals, and replenish our blood’s balance of water and pressure. Try to drink at least eight glasses a day. Fresh juices are a healthy addition to water, to get more fluids and keep your kidneys running smoothly.
Remember tea, coffee and other drinks containing caffeine have a diuretic effect: don’t overdo them, and make sure you drink water with your caffeine to combat dehydration. Also, really try to limit your alcohol consumption, as it disturbs our hormones and electrolytes having adverse health impacts on our kidneys. - Treat Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and Heart Disease with Respect
Diabetes, heart diseases or high blood pressure can all lead to kidney damage. Therefore, controlling sugar levels, cholesterol and blood pressure by following a healthy lifestyle and following medication guidelines is essential for keeping kidney disease at bay. - Eat a Healthy and Well-Balanced Diet
Eating a balanced diet will ensure our kidneys don’t have to remove excess minerals, and eating healthy will reduce the build-up of cholesterol in our blood system and ensure the rest of our body is working in-tune with our kidneys.
There are also nourishing nutrition-rich ingredients that’ll help strengthen your kidneys. These include oily fish, greens and whole-grains. - Complement Your Diet with Daily Exercise
The health of our kidneys is strongly linked to our excess weight and the health of the system it’s caring for. Regular exercise, preferably thirty minutes each day, helps prevent excess weight and increases the strength and stamina of our heart and blood vessels. - Use The Bathroom When You Feel The Need
Last in our list may sound like common sense, but many of us will have held off a bathroom visit – perhaps avoiding a rest-stop till reaching destination, not wanting to pause a movie or interrupt a friend’s deep conversation. If you’re regularly ‘holding it in’, you’ll be putting extra pressure on your bladder – and, in turn, your kidneys.
