Excess water weight is a problem that many people experience at one time or another. While eating the wrong foods can cause a person to retain excess water weight, other reasons, such as the beginning of a woman's monthly menstrual cycle, may also be to blame. Some people resort to diuretics and other medicines to eliminate water weight, yet it's actually possible to flush out excess water weight just by changing your diet. Certain foods contain diuretic qualities and can reduce water retention.
Lettuce
Sometimes when a person feels bloated and full of excess water weight, a nice, healthy salad is the only thing they want to eat. This intuition is correct, since lettuce can help to flush out excess water weight. According to Columbia University's Go Ask Alice health answering service, potassium, which is a mineral found in lettuce, works in opposition to salt, reducing the amount of water that the body retains. Two cups of Romaine lettuce contains 324.8 mg of potassium, making it an excellent source of potassium, according to the World's Healthiest Foods website.
Celery
Registered dietitian, Katherine Zeratsky, who writes for the Mayo Clinic, states that fruits and vegetables that contain high amounts of water, such as celery, help to eliminate extra water weight from the body. Additionally, there are 344.4 mg of potassium in each cup of celery, according to the World's Healthiest Foods. You can add celery to a stir-fry or soup when you want to eliminate excess water weight, or top raw celery with some peanut butter and raisins.
Watermelon
Watermelon is a very high water content, according to Zeratsky. This means that when you eat watermelon, you increase your water intake and effectively help to flush out excess water, reducing edema and bloating in the body. While watermelon isn't an excellent source of potassium, it does have a fair amount of the mineral, with 176.3 mg per cup, according to World's Healthiest Foods.
Cantaloupe
Including cantaloupe in your daily diet is a healthy choice, which promotes a good fluid balance in the body. The World's Healthiest Foods website recommends eating a cup of cubed cantaloupe when you want to increase your potassium intake, because each cup has 494.4 mg of potassium, as well as many other minerals and vitamins. The high potassium and water content of cantaloupe allow it to help eliminate water weight from your body.
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