23 Delicious Ways to Dine Your Way to Kidney Health

9. Drink More Water

Beyond eating right, ensuring your body is properly hydrated is another great healthy habit that everyone should be following. Staying well-hydrated is not only great for your skin, brain, blood, heart, and pretty much every organ in your body, hydration effectively helps the kidneys get rid of toxins and excess sodium from the body. Drinking water is also one of the best ways to avoid painful kidney stones from developing as well. When there is too little water in the body and too much waste in urine, crystals begin to form, which then can develop into painful, irritating kidney stones. Drinking enough water helps to dilute a person’s urine and prevent the chemicals in urine to create crystals, leading to kidney stones. Patients who are experiencing kidney problems or kidney failure may need to restrict their fluid intake as it can lead to edema, but for those who want to improve the functioning of their kidneys, drinking between one to three liters of water a day is a healthy target to aim for, which is between six to eight glasses of water. The amount of water necessary to keep your body healthy depends on your personal health needs, as well as how much you sweat and if you have other health issues.

10. Be Wary Of Drugs And Alcohol

With confirmation from their doctor, patients who suffer from kidney disease should immediately stop or wean themselves off of any drugs and alcohol they may be dependent on. Kidneys filter the toxins into the patient’s bloodstream, which can also affect the acidity of the patient’s urine, the condition of their kidneys, circulation through the kidneys, and the flow of urine. Drugs such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, and inhalants all speed up the progression of kidney disease and can cause kidney damage or failure. Approximately thirty-three percent of patients who end up in the emergency room due to cocaine-related complaints develop acute kidney failure.