Your health fails when your kidneys fail. And the modern diet is doing everything it can to tax your kidneys beyond what they can handle. Fortunately, I’ve found that there’s an easy way to prevent and even reverse this problem.
By making a few simple changes you can turn your diet from acidic to alkaline, giving you more energy, lowering your risk for chronic illnesses and kidney disease, preventing weight gain, and even adding years to your life.
A study at the University of California San Francisco shows us why this is important.
When people suffer kidney problems and eat a high acid diet – meals that contain large servings of meat and few fruits and vegetables – they run an increased risk of kidney failure.
Chronic kidney disease is already a big problem stalking us because of the foods we’re offered as choices at the store and the market. And when your kidneys aren’t working as well as they can, fatigue and sluggishness are common, but only the beginning.
The California researchers analyzed the diets of people who were encountering serious kidney difficulties. What they found was that people eating a high-acid diet had three times the risk of kidney failure compared to people who ate a low-acid diet.
The study included data on more than 1400 people with chronic kidney disease who were taking part in research called the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES III). The study followed the people for more than 14 years.
“Patients with chronic kidney disease may want to pay more attention to diet consumption of acid rich foods to reduce progression to kidney failure, in addition to employing recommended guidelines such as taking kidney-sparing medication and avoiding kidney toxins,” says researcher Tanushree Banerjee. “The high costs and suboptimal quality of life that dialysis treatments bring may be avoided by adopting a more healthy diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables.”
According to Dr. Michael Cutler, some of the best foods for your kidneys include:
- Fresh fruit juice you make at home from scratch
- Sprouted grains. (Breads are acid, but sprouts are alkaline.)
- Fresh lime-aid (water, lime juice and stevia).
- Omega-3 oil foods: salmon, sardines, seeds and nuts such as flaxseed, butternuts, hempseed, walnuts, pecans, hazel nuts and oils (from kiwi, flax chia seed).
- Organic eggs. (Put one in your daily smoothie.)
And Dr. Isaac Eliaz gives us a wide-ranging list of the most acidic and the most alkaline foods here.
To decrease acidity in the body, Dr. Mark Sircus, author of “Sodium Barcarbonate Nature’s Unique First Aid Remedy,” recommends dissolving a level teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda in a tumbler of cool water (at least 8 oz.) and drinking it one to two hours after meals. For a tonic form, about one-quarter teaspoonful before meals.
Remember that your kidneys perform important detox functions for the body. Keep them working well and your body can deal with the acidic nature of our foods more effectively – an important benefit in a polluted world.
