What do you know about your kidneys? Most of us know that they are responsible for producing urine which is how we get rid of waste products, but that's about it right?
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My next-door neighbour passed away last month - from some kind of kidney failure. He'd been on dialysis for a couple of years so I assume he was on the waiting list for a transplant, but sadly, it didn't happen in time. I'd known him since 1989 when he was fit and well and working full-time. Witnessing his is keto bad for kidneys decline over the years was sobering to say the least.
And figures from the US, show that in 1995 more than 3 million people had some type of kidney condition such as an infection, kidney stones or cancer.
If we are to avoid becoming one of those statistics and going the same way as my poor neighbour, it's time to talk about kidney success instead of kidney failure and that means making sure we have healthy, happy kidneys. To do that, we need to better understand what they do and how to take care of them. Now as you know, I'm neither a doctor nor a nutritionist and 'kidneys' are a complex subject, so keeping things nice and simple and in layman's terms, here we go...
What Your Kidneys Do - in a nutshell
You'll find your kidneys (two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of your fist) in the middle of your back, just below your rib cage, on either side of your spine. Although the kidneys are small organs (about 0.5% of your total body weight), they receive about 20% of the blood pumped by your heart and that enables them to do the following:
- Regulate the composition of your blood and eliminate wastes
- Influence your blood pressure
- Stimulate the making of red blood cells
- Maintain your body's calcium levels and vitamin D activation
So let's look first at the function we all know about:
Once your kidneys receive the blood, it's processed and returned to the body free from the wastes and other unwanted substances which have been filtered out to be expelled via the urine. Urine flows from the kidneys to the bladder where it's stored until we take a tinkle.
But I bet you don't know that your entire blood volume (about 7 to 8 litres) gets filtered approximately 20 to 25 times each day, on a good day. That's a lot of filtering! And given that there is a limit to how many molecules can be filtered out in a given period of time, you can appreciate how easily we can overtax our kidneys when we introduce too many toxins into our body through diet, drugs and pollutants.
Kidneys and Calcium
I've talked before in this newsletter about the relationship between your kidneys and calcium. Your body stores calcium in your bones, but it also relies on maintaining constant levels of calcium in the blood through diet.
If the blood calcium level falls, then a hormone is released which increases calcium reabsorption in the kidneys to restore the blood calcium level. The same hormone, along with Vitamin D, also stimulates calcium release from bone and calcium absorption from the intestine, so healthy kidneys, along with diet, are important in protecting against osteoporosis. Kidney stones are often caused by problems in the kidneys' ability to handle calcium.
3 Surefire Ways to Kidney Success
- #1 - Reduce the workload you place on your kidneys by curbing your intake of toxins and acid forming foods eg. red meat, salty foods, tea, coffee, additives, too much booze, cigarettes etc.
- #2 - Increase your intake of foods that strengthen kidney function. My favourite grain Quinoa is an excellent choice, as is Barley. Aduki, Black, Kidney and Mung beans will all help. Salmon and Trout are a good idea, as are the following vegetables and herbs - fennel, onions, spring onions, celery, beetroot, parsley, chives, garlic, ginger, cloves and dandelion.
- #3 - Make sure you drink enough water. This will help keep your kidneys flushed of excess acid. Enough is at least 2 litres over a day.
Follow these 3 pointers and you will certainly improve your kidneys' health. It might also reduce lower back pain too and, as an added bonus, your hair will be beautiful, fast growing and strong.
Go on - because you really are worth it.
In Oriental Medicine, the nature and quality of food including its flavour, taste and heat/cold nature, determines its healing potential and its ability to balance or unbalance the body, through affecting the Blood, Qi and other body fluids.
There are many 'diets, and the aim of this perspective on food and nutrition, is not to give you another 'diet' to follow rigidly, but rather, to give you some simple guidelines from a combined western and oriental perspective. These will give you a way to gently nurture and support your body from the inside.
The Water Element which governs the Kidney and Bladder organs in Traditional Chinese Medicine, relates to the season of winter, and it the most yin part of the seasonal cycle. It is the time for introspection, rest, putting oneself into a receptive mode and storing energy, nutrients and Chi. It is also about warming the body's core.
The flavours that support the Water energy are the salty and bitter flavours, because they promote a sinking, centering quality.
Bitter foods include lettuce, endive, watercress, turnip, celery, asparagus, alfalfa, rye, oats, quinoa, amaranth and citrus peels.
Salty foods include, miso, soya sauce, seaweeds, millet and barley.
The Kidneys in Traditional Chinese Medicine are seen as the core of the body and are the foundation of all yin and yang qualities in the body.
The Yin energy is about nurturing, supporting, stabilizing, moistening and building the body. The Yang energy warms, energizes, and animates the body. The Kidneys also store the Jing essence, which is the Qi (vital energy) passed on from the parents. Jing determines the constitution and health of the person, and once it is used up, life ceases. Certain foods nourish Jing, and will promote the growth, renewal and development of the body and mind, resulting in more vitality, longevity, increased reproductive capacity and protection from premature ageing.
The Kidneys can manifest a deficiency of Kidney Yin and/or Kidney Yang, Deficient Kidney Qi, (which is not as deep as a Kidney Yang deficiency and Jing (essence) deficiency.
Symptoms of Kidney Yin deficiency are those which indicate a drying up of internal fluids and an increase in deficient heat symptoms. For example, dry mouth and throat, fever, dizziness, tinnitus, constipation and spontaneous sweating.
Symptoms of Kidney Yang deficiency include cold extremities, an aversion to cold, lack of sexual desire, frequent clear urination, weak knees and back and a pale complexion.
Foods that nurture Kidney Yin include millet, barley, tofu, string beans, black beans, kuzu, watermelon, berries (black, mulberries, blue) potatoe, seaweeds, spirulina, chorella, black sesame seeds, sardines, crab, clams, eggs, pork and cheese.
Foods that nurture Kidney Yang include cloves, fennel, anise, black peppercorn, ginger, cinnamon, onion family, chicken, lamb, trout, salmon, quinoa and walnuts.
Foods that build up the Kidney Chi include parsley, wheat berries and sweet rice.
Foods that nourish Jing essence include chorella, spirulina, fish, liver, kidney, bone and marrow, almonds, milk, ghee, royal jelly, bee pollen, plus vitamin A and B12.
A common imbalance in the Bladder is a condition known as Damp Heat in the Bladder, in western terms a Bladder infection. This indicates that dampness and heat have combined in the bladder, producing symptoms of burning, painful or frequent urination, sometimes fever, thirst and a sensation of urinary fullness.
Bitter, cooling and alkanizing foods help reduce dampness and heat.
Useful foods for damp heat conditions include aduki beans, lima beans, celery, carrots, winter squash, potatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, lemon and cranberries.
Eating lightly (vegetable broths) and drinking plenty of fluids is the best recommendation, especially in the acute stage of the infection.