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Stop cursing your genes, body weight and environment for kidney stone problems and start looking into your diet. Are you eating the right diet? If no, then what are the dietary changes required for kidney stones? Diet is certainly a major factor that can stimulate or prevent kidney stone formation. Having said that, the first step in inhibiting kidney stone formation is finding out what causes the stones. Based on which, a diet can be suggested to prevent further damage.
If you have calcium oxalate stones, then you will have to limit oxalate in the diet. If you have calcium phosphate stones or uric acid stones, you need to limit the intake of food that causes the same. One universal solution to keep all kinds of kidney stones at bay is drinking enough fluids. This will flush out toxins from the body that turns to stones. Let us discuss the various dietary changes required for different kidney stones.
Various Dietary Changes For Kidney Stones
Calcium Oxalate Stones
Having high oxalate stones in kidney is quite a tricky situation as most of the healthy food choices contain oxalate content. So, people who have high urinary oxalate levels should strictly follow a low oxalate diet, whereas others can moderately have it. Which are the oxalate rich foods? Spinach, mustard greens, beets, rhubarb, berries, nuts, sweet potatoes, dry beans and chocolates are few foods rich in oxalates.
So, by now you know which ones to avoid. Also, it is highly recommended to control the amount of salt and increase the amount of fiber in the diet. Researches have proved that low amount of calcium in your diet can increase the chance of developing oxalate stones in the kidney. Calcium in diet is mandatory to fix oxalates in intestines. Once the body absorbs less oxalate, stones are less likely to be formed. Hence, it is better to include calcium rich foods in your diet.
Calcium Phosphate Stones
Are your kidney stones categorized as phosphate stones? Check your intake of poultry, meat and fish. You need to bring down the amount of animal protein consumption to less than 170 grams a day. Dairy products also have too much protein, but they are considered to be relatively safe.
The calcium content in dairy foods also poses less risk to aggravating phosphate stones. Avoid beverages like diet sodas and those with citric acid content, canned soups, hot dogs, and processed foods as they are high in sodium content. Sodium is not recommended for patients with calcium phosphate stones in kidney.
Uric Acid Stones
Diagnosed of uric acid stones? Drinking a good amount of water is the first step towards dissolving kidney stones of uric nature. You can drink water, blackcurrant juice, tender coconut water, barley water and carrot juice. Recent researches have proved that cranberry juice causes kidney stones, because of the oxalate content in it.
Increasing calcium intake and bringing down foods with animal source of protein and high purine content such as meat, sweet bread and sardines are not suggested for patients with uric stones. It is also highly recommended to avoid high protein food such as sprouts if you have uric stones, as sprouts increase the uric acid level in the blood.
Struvite Stones And Cystine Stones
Patients suffering from Struvite stones and Cystine stones are generally told to drink plenty of water and reduce protein intake.
