Your kidneys are yours for life! It's important to take care of them! It is often the deciding factor of whether you will develop disease or not! Time to arm yourself with knowledge. Let's learn the basics about the kidneys and what they do.
Your kidneys are the main channels of elimination for your body. All of our trillions of cells produce waste each and everyday just from keeping us alive. The job of the kidneys is to eliminate these wastes and toxins. When these wastes are not eliminated, we then see all kinds of diseases showing up in the body; and depending on your genetic weaknesses from your family line, that is where the disease will show up.
The sad truth is, we often go through life without thinking about the health of the kidneys, until it is too late and our kidneys require dialysis.
We shouldn't rely on getting someone to donate one of their kidneys to us when the time comes. Reason being is that the person that usually is willing to donate one of their kidneys to you is an immediate family member, but people fail to realize that family members have the same kidney genetic weaknesses as themselves! Meaning, that kidney is not going to last very long. Reason number two is that every person needs two kidneys to function because each kidney cleans each side of the body. Your left kidney cleans the left side of your body. Your right kidney cleans the right side of your body. If you lose one of these kidneys or give one away, the respective side of the body will start to fail.
There are ways to see if your kidneys are unhealthy right now, so you can do something about it! Check to see if you have any of these signs. Let's take a look at them now.
1. Do you have bags under your eyes? This is a dead giveaway that someone has kidney problems.
2. Do you have mid-to-low back aches, stiffness, or pains on either side?
3. Do you have any swelling going on in your body? Your feet? Puffy Face?
4. Do you have any skin conditions? Example: unexplainable itching, redness of the skin, skin allergies, skin problems like acne, eczema, psoriasis or irritations?
5. Do you have trouble holding your bladder? Is your urine flow restricted?
6. Are you fatigued often throughout the day?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, your kidneys need some working on!
But what can you do to start healing the kidneys you may ask? Well, first thing that should be done is asking yourself what is causing your kidneys to not function at their best? The main causes of weak kidney function are:
1. High protein consumption: If your diet involves meat of any kind in your meals, or other animal products high in protein like eggs and dairy products, it is doing major damage to your kidneys and your body in general. Society pushes high protein consumption because meat industries have their financial ties in what we are taught in school as children and young adults, what doctors are taught in medical school, what nutritionists are taught, and the meat, egg, and dairy industries have their hands in the government too (hence, the food pyramid). It's all about the money. The human body does not need more than 20-40 grams of protein a day. However, the average American consumes 4-6 times that amount! Cut the protein!
2. Lack of raw foods (specifically fruit) in the diet: If you are someone that doesn't eat much fruit, like doesn't make one of your meals a complete fruit meal, then we have come to another one of the reasons why your kidneys are weak. If you are not eating high-water fruits like watermelon, oranges, grapes, etc, then you are officially dehydrated in your body. Dehydration=damaged kidneys. The number one food in the world that heals the kidneys and keeps them in proper functioning order are fruits! This is because fruits are the most hydrating and astringent foods on the planet - meaning that they are self cleansing! Fruits literally clean your body squeaky clean as you eat them and provide tons of energy, what with their easy digestibility and simple sugars that give your body and brain energy to function!
3. Stress and Lack of Sleep: If you are a night owl, like myself, you must learn to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier. Make sure you are getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night! Sleep is optimum time for your kidneys to heal and regenerate themselves. If you lose sleep or have trouble sleeping due to stress, a busy life-style, or insomnia, this is something you need to work on if you want to heal your kidneys.
Where do I start to heal my kidneys?
*A raw and vegan diet to start cleansing your body would be a good place to start. At the very least, eliminating animal products and incorporating lots of fruit daily into your diet.
*Taking herbs to help detoxify the kidneys and restoring their function is a smart idea to incorporate along with the diet change above. Take these herbs either fresh or in a tincture/pill form.
-Herbs for the Kidneys: Dandelion Leaf, Stinging Nettle Leaf, Corn Silk, Coriander Seed, Parsley Leaf, and Horsetail Herb.
Until next time,
Happy Healing!
Ailin Duran D.S.