Sugar Alert – Respect the Bean Shaped Organ
By Dean L. Jones, C.P.M.
Sadly, developing kidney stones is increasing and medical reports reveal an average of over 1 million Americans annually suffer serious urinary tract complications. Doctors’ projections estimate that 10% of the U.S. population will have a kidney stone at some point in their lives. Kidney stones can be jagged or smooth and range in size from microscopic specks to the size of a fingertip. There are four kinds of kidney stones: calcium stones, uric acid stones, struvite stones and cystine stones.
Happily, knowing how to eat certain foods and liquids can prevent ever having to endure the pain of kidney stones. For the record, when the salts and minerals normally found in our urine become out of balance, kidney stones form. Kidney stones, medically termed renal calculi, are accumulations of mineral salts that can lodge anywhere along the course of the urinary tract. Should the protective compounds in the kidneys become overwhelmed or the immune system become depressed, the mineral salts may crystallize and the crystals can clump together, eventually forming stones large enough to restrict urinary flow.
Located near the middle of our back, just below the rib cage, are two kidneys are bean-shaped organs, each about the size of our fist. Amazingly, every day our kidneys process roughly 200 quarts of blood to flush out about 2 quarts of waste products and extra water, which together become urine that flows to our bladder through tubes called ureters. After our body takes what it needs from what we ingest, the kidneys work processing that blood to remove wastes and toxins. In addition to removing wastes, our kidneys help control blood pressure, make red blood cells and keep our bones strong.
Prevention of kidney stones is simple, but requires discipline. Reduce your intake of potassium and phosphates by eliminating any salt or potassium chloride, salt substitute, and above all avoid carbonated soft drinks. Use only distilled water for cooking and add trace mineral drops to your drinking water, which should be 8 to 12 cups of water per day.
The toughest discipline is to minimize your consumption of animal protein, or eliminate it from your diet altogether. Ingesting animal protein causes the body to excrete calcium, producing excessive amounts of calcium, phosphorus, and uric acid in the kidneys that cause kidney stones. Identically, ingesting processed sugar and sugary-filled products will wrongly stimulate the pancreas to release insulin and cause an excretion of too much calcium into the urine.
Regularly ingesting foods containing vitamin A helps to prevent stones within the urinary tract. Vitamin A enriched foods include alfalfa, apricots, cantaloupes, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, squash, fish, cod liver oil, broccoli & broccoli leaf, kale, spinach, pea, collard greens, cantaloupe melon, papaya, and mango.
Dean L. Jones is a marketing strategist with the Southland Partnership Corporation, a public benefit organization. He has published a series of consumer alert articles based on his view of barefaced mismanagement of food/beverage products. @�U��
