This week I am giving some tips on how to keep your kidneys healthy when living with diabetes!
Lots of people living with diabetes often worry about the complications that occur due to persistent hyperglycaemia. So, I decided to write a series on how to keep organs and systems healthy, and preventing complications from occurring, aside from keeping sugar levels stable!
So be sure to check out How to keep your eyes healthy with diabetes!
1. Drink up!
Drinking adequate water is essential for optimal kidney function. The role of the kidneys is to filter the blood and remove toxins. Without adequate water intake, the efficiency of toxin elimination decreases, which makes the kidneys work harder!
Therefore, it is vital to drink at least 2 litres of water a day (more if you are active!) to aid kidney function and toxin elimination.
To make water more interesting and fresh, add fruits such as lemon, lime or strawberries!
2. Keep your blood pressure in check!
Having high blood pressure can put stress on the blood vessels and filtration tubules in the kidneys. This can lead to weakness and damage, causing protein to leak into the urine.
Having persistent high blood glucose as well as high blood pressure increases the risk of getting kidney disease.
Therefore, it is imperative to control blood pressure as well as blood glucose. This can be achieved by:
Eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight (summary below):
– Avoid processed foods and table salt. Season food with natural sea salt as your source of sodium.
– Eat brown and wholemeal carbs to aid blood glucose control and to add fibre.
– Choose unprocessed protein sources such as chicken, turkey, beans and legumes.
– Eat the rainbow to pack in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Challenge yourself and try to eat 7 a day!
– Get your omega 3’s! Found in salmon, walnuts and chia seeds.
Exercising!
-Try to get a mixture of cardio and resistance training in your weekly regime. Different types of exercise have different benefits so always try and incorporate both types!
–Cardio helps to decrease blood pressure and strengthen the heart, and resistance training strengthens bones and builds muscle!
3. Alcohol and smoking
Drinking excessive alcohol can make the kidneys less effective at filtering the blood and removing toxins. Alcohol also causes severe dehydration that could contribute to the formation of kidney stones, infections and other conditions that will cause kidney damage.
So make sure you are watching your alcohol intake and drink sensibly!
Smoking is a no go! Cigarettes are packed with chemicals that increase your risk of developing high blood pressure, blood clots and many more diseases!
So if you smoke, I urge you to try and quit. Smoking causes damage to not only the kidneys, but all organs and body tissue.
4. Get your checks!
In the UK blood and urine checks are carried out at least twice a year.
These check ups are vital in looking at your general health and to catch any complications of diabetes early!
If you have any kidney damage this will be picked up on urine and blood tests so doctors can act quickly to prevent further damage.
So please make time for these appointments and put your health first!
Thank you for reading How to keep your kidneys healthy with diabetes! I hope you found this information useful and this post helps you to make positive lifestyle changes! Be sure to subscribe and follow me on Instagram!
If you liked this post, be sure to check out Simple guide to fitness with diabetes! and 5 foods diabetics should be eating!
