It is time to diagnose our beans this summer. The “beans” mean the bean-shaped organ of our body that is “kidneys”. The article talks about kidneys health on its significant facts, functions and preventing techniques to overcome the effects caused.
Facts about kidneys:
Just a small organ in our body which receives about 25% of heart's output.
Kidneys weigh 125 to 170 grams in male and 115 to 155 grams in females.
Kidneys secret various hormones and maintain the internal balance of our body, most importantly blood pressure.
Functions that kidneys assist in our body:
The well known and common function of kidneys is waste excretion in the form of urea and uric acid.
Added to this, kidneys play a significant role in re-absorption of valuable nutrients to our bodies such as glucose, amino acids, sodium, phosphates, bicarbonates, water and essential ions like Chlorine, Magnesium, and Potassium.
The roles and responsibilities of kidneys do not end here; they continue to maintain normal pH level in our body from 7.38 to 7.42 by reabsorbing and regenerating bicarbonates from urine and excreting hydrogen ions (Fixed acids).
Regulates osmolality that is body's electrolyte-water balance to prevent dehydration.
What if my kidneys stop their assistance?
Each one of us may or may not be thinking over that in our busy schedules but let us think for a while during this summer to overcome imbalance in our body to lead a balanced life as we know health is wealth.
If Kidney Fails?! Means that your kidney has lost the ability to function less than 15% than the normal kidney's functions. Kidneys can’t filter the blood as they should do. This position is said to be 'chronic'. Kidney damage happens over a long period of time results in many other health issues too.
Chronic Kidney Damage (CKD) is more common in the United States among the adults. Nearly 30 million of adults in the US may have CKD which they were not aware of it in most of the cases.
How to detect Chronic Kidney Damage (CKD)?
Similar to other major disease early symptoms of CKD is unpredictable. Our Kidney owns better capacity to carry out their job needed to keep us healthy despite the damage during the initial stages of chronic kidney damage.
The CKD can be detected by testing blood and urine in initial stages. When it is getting worse causes edema, swelling in feet or ankles because kidneys cannot filter the excess fluid and salts.
Major symptoms of CKD:
Itching, dry skin, chest pain, muscle cramps, nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, weight loss and majorly increasing or decreasing urine. Other health problems like increasing the chances of heart attack or stroke on worse conditions.
Ill-effects of Kidney failure:
Diabetic nephropathy due to long-term diabetes.
Kidney Stones: Deposition of excess salts in the Urinary Track and kidney.
Kidney infections caused by bacteria in the path of bladder travelling to the kidney. This is most common in women than in men.
Renal failure, Kidney tumour (Kidney cancer), Kidney hydronephrosis (Excess fluid in kidney) and Nephrotic syndrome caused by increased cholesterol level are some of the notable diseases as a result of kidney failure.
Will Kidney Disease affect day to day life?
Many people generally afraid to know or take up the test for kidney disease because they think that kidney problem leads to dialysis but the truth is that not all the kidney related disease results in dialysis. On the worse conditions, when no preventive measures are taken, then dialysis is the promising way.
Even though if you suffer from kidney disease, you can still lead your day to day life at ease by some of the natural remedies like changing the food habits, adding more nutrients to your diet as nutrient supplements or cooked nutrients (cooking loses essential nutrients in some cases).
Even before you are subjected to kidney disease, it is advisable to take precautions and add these practices to the daily routine to prevent it.
How to maintain kidney's health?
The rule of thumb to have healthy kidneys are very simple, just eat right. A person can prevent or delay or even cure a health issue in general by intaking right nutrients, same formula applies to kidney disease too.
Eating right is nothing but in simple terms, categorizing what to eat and what not to eat to prevent or cure a particular dizziness.
High blood pressure and diabetes are the roots of kidney failure. First and foremost method is to prevent diabetes and increased blood pressure by enough fitness practices and in taking necessary herbal supplements, this avoids kidney failure in the future.
Drink plenty of nature's gift-Water, which keeps you away from most of the health issues especially during summer.
Supplements-Be cautious about taking supplements because overdosing drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen etc., can damage the kidneys. Not all the dietary supplements are good. Using natural/herbal supplements may reduce the risk of kidney damage.
Reduce the intake of sodium salts to a maximum of 2300 mg per day to avoid excess deposition of salts in the urinary tract or bladder and kidney to prevent kidney stones.
Consumption of alcohol: Not more than a drink per day. (One drink approximately is 12 ounces of beer/5 ounces of wine/1.5 ounces of liquor).
Quit smoking because tobacco restricts the blood vessels.
Finally, most importantly the sleep and stress control is must live along .At least 7 to 8 hours a night sleep is necessary for an adult. In worse conditions such as insomnia to handle stress natural remedies, cum herbal supplements can be an option.
Medical Nutrition Therapy: Why to know about MNT for preventing kidney disease?
MNT on the other word said to be nutrition counselling by a dietician to promote a medical goal,
Importance of knowing nutrition therapy for kidney related diseases:
Calories-If CKD progress, people lose weights because they find no taste in foods, which results in less consumption of calories (unit of energy in food).
Proteins-The building block of our body is an essential part of any diet. They fight against diseases but when considering under kidney diseases eating more proteins needs kidneys to put on more efforts to break down and remove the complex molecules which reduce the fastness in functions of kidneys.
The right portion of meat to be consumed for proteins for all in general based on a 3-ounce size of meat which is one palm size of a person,
High protein meats-Ground beef, Salmon, Halibut, shrimp, Tuna and Roasted chicken.
Low protein meats-Chilli con crane, beef stew, egg substitutes, tofu and imitation crab.
Fats- Too much of fat consumption blocks blood vessels and results in heart attack or stroke. Therefore, people with kidney disease should reduce the risk of it by limiting the intake of fat (saturated/trans-fat) leads to high cholesterol deposition in blood.
Types of fatty acids that can be eaten more often and less often are mentioned below to reduce the risk of kidney failures,
List of Less often fat to be consumed:
Saturated fat- red meat, poultry, whole milk, butter, and lard
Trans-fatty acids-French fries, doughnuts and baked goods.
Hydrogenated vegetable oil-margarine, shortening
List of more often fat to be consumed:
Corn oil, Safflower oil, Olive oil, peanut oil and canola oil on a nutshell, Keeping the kidneys in full working condition is important for overall health.
HerbaNutrin, wholly owned by Brunhild Pharmaceuticals Private Limited, is a global health supplement company dedicated to changing people’s lives through our great products. Our heart health, aging, digestion, brain and memory, weight and stress management products are available to customers around the world. We are dedicated to empowering individuals to proactively tackle their health issues and combat the effects of aging by offering high-quality products, at economical prices, that inspire individuals to live more active and healthy lifestyles.