Kidney stones are becoming more prevalent today and the major cause of it is drinking less water.

Research has shown that there are two major types of kidney stones found:

• Calcium oxalate stones.
• Uric acid stones.

However, the good news is that you can exercise control over the kidney stones to a large extent with the help of right diet.

Recommended Diet for Kidney Stone Patients

• Try to consume less or no oxalate in food. Avoid eating peanuts, spinach, beets, sesame seeds, and sweet potatoes as these have high content of oxalate.
• Also, avoid taking too much salt. It contains sodium and excess sodium in blood increases calcium build-up, instead of being excreted out it’s concentration increases and thus kidney stones.
• Try consuming food that have high water content in them such as cucumber, water melon etc.
• Avoid eating non-vegetarian food, that is, consume low animal protein, and replace it with soya milk, tofu, lentils, peas, walnuts, sunflower seeds etc. so that your protein consumption is not cut down.
• Persons who have uric acid stones should consume less sugar and fruits that have less sugar especially fructose. Consumption of fructose rich fruits leads to calcium, uric acid and oxalate retention inside the body and thus stones.
• Limit the intake of alcohol, especially those who are having uric acid crystals.
• Try taking food that contains high amount of calcium in appropriate content. For this, you can eat plant based foods such as calcium fortified cereals, juices, bread etc.
• Drink plenty of water, because less water causes the waste materials to bind with each other, that do not come out with urine and thus creates discomfort.
• Avoid eating processed food and canned food. Try cooking at home as home-made food is best for such patients.
• If consuming food outside or buying something from outside, check labels for ingredients and the level of sodium in them too.
• Try eating refined sugar as it is packed with fibre and is released slowly inside the body.

Planning a diet described above can cut down levels of waste materials, drinking plenty of water avoids binding them from each other thus preventing stone formation and discomfort.