Your kidneys are brownish colored bean-shaped organs located on each side of the body beneath the diaphragm muscle and near the low back. Each kidney contains 1 million filtering units and filters your blood at a rate of 2.2 pints per minute to produce about 2.5 pints of urine per day. Your hard-working kidneys benefit from lots of water and the right foods. Some foods are particularly cleansing for the kidneys. Check with your doctor before using foods to treat a medical condition.
Raw Foods and Diuretic Teas
Herbal teas and foods with diuretic properties -- the ability to promote increased urine production -- are first choices for cleansing the kidneys, according to nutritionist Cherie Calbom, M.S., author of the book "The Coconut Diet: The Secret Ingredient That Helps You Lose Weight While You Eat Your Favorite Foods." Calbom recommends a seven-day kidney flush that cleanses the kidneys and promotes water weight loss. Herbal teas you may use during a kidney cleanse include agrimony, marshmallow, juniper and buchu. Add raw foods such as tomatoes and avocados to breakfast meals and load up on salads, soups and stews at lunch and dinner.
Liquid Diet
A three- to five-day liquid diet, as outlined in "Healthy Healing: a Guide to Self-Healing for Everyone," by naturopath Linda G. Rector-Page, N.D., Ph.D. may offer the bladder- and kidney-cleansing effects you seek. Drink cranberry concentrate with water each morning. Cranberries have the ability to inhibit kidney stone formation. At lunch, a vegetable juice made from carrots, beets and cucumbers is refreshing and cleansing. Watermelon seed tea at mid-morning, made with 2 tsp. of watermelon seeds in a cup of hot water, improves kidney function. At dinner, carrot juice with spirulina provides an energy boost along with the cleansing power of chlorophyll.
Cornsilk Tea
Celery, carrot, parsley, cilantro, cranberries and pomegranate have diuretic effects, as do most fruits and vegetables with high water content, according to Larry Trivieri, author of the book "Alternative Medicine: the Definitive Guide." Other notable diuretic foods include grapes, beets, onions, cabbage and citrus. Trivieri also recommends drinking cornsilk tea to enhance the kidney-cleansing benefits of these foods. Cornsilk has diuretic and anti-inflammatory properties that are soothing to the membranes that line the kidney's many small filtering tubules.
Foods to Avoid
As important as foods to consume during a kidney cleanse are those you will want to avoid during this time to reduce stress and congestion in the kidneys, according to Naturopath Linda Page, author of "Linda Page's Healthy Healing: A Guide to Self-Healing for Everyone." Avoid heavy starches, red meats or processed meats, many of which contain nitrate chemicals that are toxic and add a burden to your kidneys, which must filter them out of the bloodstream. Also avoid dairy foods, except for yogurt or kefir, which are partially digested and contain healthy probiotic bacteria that fight kidney and bladder infections. Additionally, avoid salty, fatty and convenience or fast foods, as these inhibit your kidneys' filtering ability.
References
- "The Coconut Diet: The Secret Ingredient That Helps You Lose Weight While You ... "; Cherie Calbom; 2005
- "Healthy Healing: a Guide to Self-healing for Everyone"; Linda G. Rector-Page; 1997
- "Cooking for Healthy Healing: The Healing Diets, Book One"; Linda Page; 2002
- "The Dictionary of Wholesome Foods: a Passionate A-to-z Guide to the Earth's ... "; Embree De Persiis Vona; 2006
- "Linda Page's Healthy Healing: A Guide to Self-Healing for Everyone"; Linda Page; 2004
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