The kidneys are one of the seven filters inside your body. Most people beat their kidneys up over time, without even knowing it. How do you know if your kidneys are healthy?
Many people judge health based on how they feel or look, but it’s much more than that. You could look and feel good, not have any symptoms, and still have cancer or heart disease.
Health is based on function. You can have an organ start to shut down, without even feeling it. I cover that in more detail in my book.
On average, you don’t feel symptoms of organ failure, until you get to 60% functionality!
But the kidneys? They could go down to 10% functionality before you even notice anything is wrong!
Our kidneys are responsible for filtering our blood. They filter all of our blood 12 times an hour. They’re working all the time, and the things you eat and do can either help them or make them work harder.
Symptoms of Kidney Failure
Knowing that our kidneys could lose up to 90% functionality, before major symptoms set in, it’s important to know the signs of kidney failure. If you experience any of these, you might have kidney issues:
- A change in the frequency or quantity of urine that you pass
- Blood in Urine
- Change in the color of the urine – if you’re taking B vitamins, and your urine is more yellow, that’s okay. Pay attention if your urine is brownish or orange.
- Puffiness in the legs and ankles
- Pain in your back, especially in the rib area
- Painful Urination
- High Blood Pressure
Severe Kidney Failure Symptoms
If your kidneys begin to fail, the symptoms will start to change, including:
- Extra fluid building up in your blood
- Feelings of tiredness, and an inability to concentrate
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea
- Shortness of breath
- Itching
- Bad Breath
Conditions That Make The Kidneys Work Harder
Other health issues can cause the kidneys to work harder to clean our blood, including:
- High blood pressure – It’s important to understand your blood pressure numbers and the natural solutions that fix the cause of high blood pressure.
- Diabetes – diabetes is a huge strain on the kidneys because there’s excess glucose in the system.
- Established heart problems – oftentimes heart problems are putting pressure on your kidneys, especially if you’ve had a heart attack or stroke.
- Obesity – if you’re obese, there’s extra blood flow and extra circulation in your body. The kidney has to work harder to filter extra blood.
- Old age – if you’re over the age of 60 or have a family history of kidney failure, you’re going to want to keep an eye on your kidneys.
- Smoking
It’s necessary to keep an eye on the symptoms above if you want to keep your kidneys healthy and toxin-free.
Natural Remedies for Kidney Disease Prevention
Now that you know some of the symptoms and causes of kidney failure, what can you do about it? Here are 10 natural remedies you can do on your own to improve kidney health and functionality:
Control insulin and glucose
This is by far the most important. It takes the pressure off the kidneys. There are large molecules of sugar floating around in your bloodstream, slamming up against the filters (the kidneys). It’s like the drain that’s clogged in your shower with a bunch of hair in front of it. We’ve got to unclog that thing.
Some of the sugar particles will get through, and end up in the urine. The more sugar you have in your urine, the bigger the molecules are in your blood. That’s what creates problems, so constantly having your blood sugar up overworks the kidneys.
You want your fasting insulin between 2-6 as the ideal range. Your glucose levels should ideally be under 100.
It’s not about going keto, paleo, vegetarian, or taking drastic measures. It’s about eating real food, and understanding what spikes your blood sugar and insulin and what doesn’t. We cover this in the Livingood Daily Lifestyle.
Measure Track and Change Your Blood Pressure
It’s shocking to me how many blood pressure sufferers are not tracking their blood pressure on a daily basis to find out what makes their blood pressure spike.
You should be tracking blood pressure at the same time, with the same arm, at the same angle each day, and write it down. Then figure out what is causing any changes.
How do you know what your blood pressure is going to do if you don’t track it regularly?
There are some great articles on drlivingood.com that will help you understand and measure your numbers for your age. If you’re over the age of 60, your normal number can be a lot higher.
Drink More Water
You should be drinking at least ½ your body weight in ounces daily. If you weigh 160 lbs, drink 80 ounces of water per day.
If you don’t drink a lot of water, drinking that much may seem like a tall task at first. Work your way up to it. The more water you get in your system, the easier it is for your kidneys to do their job of purifying.
The kidneys like hydration, but there’s a big difference between drinking a lot of water and absorbing a lot of water. That’s why I use the Greens powder or the Energyze powder to drive water into the cells.
You can also use a little bit of sea salt to accomplish this. A little bit of salt is okay for kidneys, but don’t overdo it.
Avoid Over The Counter Medications
NSAIDs are over the counter pain drugs that are in your medicine cabinet. I don’t have a medicine cabinet, I have a wellness cabinet. NSAIDs such as ibuprofen, aspirin, and Motrin have been shown to create swelling in the kidneys and body.
Electrolyte imbalances throw the kidneys off. NSAIDs have been tied to creating electrolyte imbalances.
NSAIDs create swelling, electrolyte imbalances, and acute deterioration. PubMed has research showing that NSAIDs are terrible for the kidneys. If you have kidney problems, stop taking aspirin, Motrin, and ibuprofen.
I recommend taking omegas + turmeric instead of NSAIDs. Studies show taking 1500mg of Omegas + Turmeric (4 capsules) is equivalent to taking NSAIDs for pain relief.
Avoid Proton Pump Inhibitors (Acid Reflux Drugs)
Also known as the purple pills, these include Nexium, Prilosec, and Prevacid. If you or a family member is on Nexium, Prilosec, or Prevacid, there are a 28.4 times increased likelihood to get chronic kidney disease, especially when you take it long-term.
These drugs can be very dangerous. Instead of continuing to take the medication long-term, you need to find the root cause of your acid reflux and fix it.
Control Salt, Phosphorus, and Potassium
Salt, Phosphorus, and Potassium are essential to proper body function. But the amount you take in needs to be controlled.
- Salt – Eat real salt. Avoid processed salts that are in packaged goods, such as chips, crackers, and grains. If you’re controlling your blood sugar levels, you are probably controlling your salt levels.
- Phosphorus – There’s many foods that are very high in phosphorus. However, if you’re sticking to a clean, non-processed diet, you’re not at risk
- Potassium – Can be found in green leafy vegetables. You do not have to overdo it, but eating good, clean vegetables is essential.
Clean Up The Protein
You don’t want too much protein in your diet, especially if you have a known kidney issue. Too much protein adds another molecule in the blood that pushes up against the kidneys.
You don’t want excess protein, but you also don’t want too little. This will leave you under- or malnourished.
What you want is moderate amounts of clean protein. Some good sources of this are:
- Collagen
- Grass-fed beef
- Free-range chicken
- Free-range eggs
- Wild-caught fish
Stay away from muscle milks, whey, dairy and too much protein powder. My protein powder is 11 grams of protein. You don’t need as much as you have been told. The ideal amount of protein per meal is 15g for women and 20g for men.
Marshmallow Root
Marshmallow root is a fascinating root that helps flush the kidneys of excess fluid. It is a diuretic that is included in our GI support supplement. It helps with swelling and detoxification.
Milk Thistle
Milk thistle is a liver detoxifier, but helps the kidneys as well. It also helps regenerate the enzymes inside the cells.
I have added this to my collagen as well as the detox bundle. I highly recommend the detox bundle for anyone with kidney problems.
Glutathione
Glutathione is the street sweeper of your body. It reduces oxidative stress. It carries toxins to the bile to be removed. It’s removing toxins from the blood and from the digestive tract.
Bolstering glutathione and the Livingood Daily Detox is a great addition to help out the filters.
Summary
We should all be concerned with kidney health. We need them for a long time. It’s no coincidence that people over the age of 60 are at risk for kidney failure.
You can keep kidney failure at bay by living a healthy lifestyle and doing the 10 steps above.
If you don’t know where to start, grab the free Livingood Daily Book to assist you with creating a healthier lifestyle. You can check out our store for any of the supplements that we mentioned to help you in your journey to real health.
