Below is a photo of calcium oxalate crystals in urine…

calciumoxalatecrystalsinurine-pd

I just got the pathology back on the stone that I passed, and this is the type of crystal I passed. However, it was a great deal larger at 3 mm.

It’s the most common type of kidney stone, apparently.

It was black in color and jagged all over to the naked eye.

My doctor gave me some dietary restrictions in order to prevent this from forming again…And I’ll do all I can not to pass one of these babies again!

I wanted to pass these on to you, who need to watch what they eat to prevent the formation of these crystals.

I will list them in order of importance, as laid out for me.

General Suggestions:
1. Water -You are supposed to drink enough water to keep the volume of the urine great than 2 liters that you pass per day (that’s equal to about 2 quarts).

* Tip: My naturopath gave me a neat formula to determine how much water a person should drink on a daily basis, just to be normally healthy:  Body Weight / 2 (divided by 2) and this is the number of ounces you are to drink in a day.

Basically, both my urologist and naturopath say that if your urine is yellow, you’re creating stones…it should be clear or very pale yellow in color. If it’s not, keep drinking water.

2. Salt - Don’t add any salt to your diet…No salt on your food, and reduce the salt you use to cook with. Plus, much less pre-packaged, canned or cured foods, as they use a lot of salt in processing. Eat more naturally.

3. Citrus Fruit - Fresh citrus fruit inhibits formation of kidney stones…Oranges are the best to counteract calcium oxalate kidney stones…other citrus is good too though.

4. Calcium - Most patients benefit from consuming a moderate amount of dairy products spaced throughout the day, such as 1 glass of milk, a piece of cheese, a small yogurt, etc. 2 or 3 times per day.

* Tip: Although you benefit from eating dairy, you must eat it with a meal. Never have it as a snack by itself. What happens is the calcium (a major part of the calcium oxalate kidney stones) starts forming stones when it’s the only thing available to the body to digest. If it’s eaten with other foods, it “coagulates” with the food, making it unavailable to the body, which is a good thing for us!

5. Oxalate - This is the major component of this type of kidney stone. It is found in beer, chocolate, some teas, most beans, nuts, rhubarb, kiwi, grapes, many berries, cinnamon, pepper, beets, turnip, squash, popcorn and asparagus. (These are the most common high oxalate foods in most diets.)

* Tip: I’ve always added a dab of milk to my black tea to “coagulate” the tannins in the tea, which stain your teeth. However, my uroligst told me that by adding milk to your tea, will also “coagulate” the oxalate, making it unavailable to make stones with. Yeah!!!

6. Meat/Protein - Limit your meat intake to 8 oz per day, as it can form uric acid, which is a common component of kindey stones.

7. Alcohol - Limit your intake of alcohol, as it too can form uric acid, which is a common component of kidney stones.

8. Fiber - A diet high in natural fiber is helpful to prevent kidney stones.

* Don’t forget…This doesn’t mean you can’t live and enjoy these foods ever!

The key here is to increase your water intake when you do eat these foods, to be sure your urine is clear in color, and to eat these foods in a limited fashion, and moderately. When you do eat them, don’t eat a ton of them!

***

I hope this Urinary Tract post is extremely helpful to you on Your Health Today! Until next time…

Prevention is the Best Policy,

Kimberly Edwards :)

P.S. Apparently, you can get supplements that you can get to prevent yourself from getting them. Believe me, I’ll be investing in these…I NEVER want to go through that again:


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