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Protecting Your Kidneys: The Essentials

Your kidneys are extraordinary organs. They work constantly, filtering your blood, removing waste, and helping balance essential minerals. Unfortunately, modern lifestyles, diets, and environmental toxins often damage them. It’s crucial to know what can harm your kidneys and what you can do to protect them, especially as you age.

How Your Kidneys Work

Each kidney contains around a million tiny filtering units called nephrons. They sift through your blood, filtering out waste, excess water, and toxins. Whether it’s from junk food, medications, pollution, or alcohol, your kidneys manage it. Poor lifestyle choices can speed the process of these filters shrinking and dying off, leading to long-term damage.

Kidneys also produce hormones that regulate your blood pressure and encourage the production of red blood cells. So, when your kidneys are in trouble, you may face a cascade of health issues.

Kidney Stones: A Major Threat

Kidney stones are one of the biggest threats to kidney health. These hard deposits form in your kidneys from crystallised minerals, often causing severe pain and lasting damage if not treated. Most kidney stones are calcium oxalate stones, but others form from uric acid.

Foods to Avoid

To lower your risk, avoid foods high in oxalates. These include:

  • Almonds
  • Spinach
  • Beets
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Peanuts
  • Swiss chard
  • Chocolate
  • Cassava and tapioca
  • Cinnamon and clove (although used in small amounts)

Even “healthy” foods like spinach and almonds can be harmful to your kidneys if consumed in excess, especially if you’re prone to kidney stones.

What Worsens Kidney Function?

It’s not just oxalates that you need to worry about. Too much salt can also cause trouble. While salt helps maintain fluid balance in the body, overconsumption can worsen conditions like gout and pseudo-gout. Pseudo-gout occurs when calcium-based crystals form in the joints, mimicking the painful symptoms of regular gout caused by uric acid crystals.

Managing this requires careful control of your sodium intake.

Gut Health and Kidney Damage

There is a significant connection between gut health and kidney function. If your gut isn’t absorbing nutrients properly—due to conditions like Crohn’s, celiac disease, or inflammation—your kidneys may suffer. Malabsorption can lead to excess fat binding with calcium, freeing oxalates to enter the bloodstream and end up in your kidneys. If you’re on a high-fat diet like keto or carnivore, poor fat absorption could also contribute to kidney damage.

The Sugar Problem

Sugar, especially in a high-carb diet, is the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease due to diabetes. Constantly high blood sugar levels cause oxidative damage to your kidneys, essentially “rusting” them. When the kidney’s filters are damaged, glucose leaks into your urine, worsening the situation.

This is why low-carb diets can be protective for kidney function. Properly balanced low-carb diets are safe unless you have specific medical conditions. In fact, ketones—produced during low-carb diets—may even benefit kidney health.

Monitoring Kidney Health

Doctors can run several tests to assess kidney function. Two common markers include:

  • Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN): This measures the amount of waste protein in your blood. High levels indicate your kidneys aren’t filtering properly.
  • Creatinine: High creatinine levels in your urine may indicate kidney damage. However, it can also increase if you’re eating a lot of cooked meat or taking certain medications like ACE inhibitors for blood pressure.

If these markers are elevated, it may indicate that your kidneys aren’t functioning well.

Natural Ways to Protect Your Kidneys

There are several natural methods to support kidney health and prevent issues like kidney stones or oxidative damage. Here’s a rundown of what you can do:

  1. Increase Water Intake: If you’re prone to kidney stones, aim for about 2.5 litres of water daily. Staying hydrated dilutes your urine and reduces the risk of crystal formation in the kidneys.
  2. Reduce Sugar Intake: Sugar is a major culprit in kidney disease, especially for people with diabetes or those at risk. Switching to a low-carb or carnivore diet can help protect your kidneys and reduce oxidative damage.

Keep Your Kidneys Healthy Long Term

Maintaining kidney health should be a priority throughout your life. Making these lifestyle changes can significantly reduce your risk of kidney disease and help maintain healthy kidneys well into old age.

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