Creative Ways to Avoid Kidney Stones

If you've ever had the unfortunate experience of having kidney stones you can understand how excruciatingly painful they can be. A kidney stone is formed from substances in urine. They eventually form into hard pieces of calculus that can range in size from a tiny grain of sand to an average sized golf ball. The stone will either stay in your kidney or break apart and take the journey down your urinary track. Smaller kidney stones can pass without causing an awful lot of discomfort, but a larger stone has a greater possibility of getting stuck in several places. This is where the horror begins. A stuck kidney stone, large or small, can cause a great deal of pain. The best way to avoid the pain of kidney stones is to treat your body right so that you don't get them in the first place. So, to that end, here are four great tips to aid in the prevention of kidney stones:

The wonderful Professionals at Web MD encourages us to follow these simple guidelines to prevent kidney stones. I have added some creative things to what they have said to make their suggestions a little easier to swallow:

Drink 8 to 10 Glasses of Water per day:

Go out and pick up an inexpensive water bottle and decide to implement this particular suggestion into your everyday lifestyle because the benefits of drinking water are immeasurable for maintaining the health of the human body.

Get More Fiber into your Diet:

Up your intake of fiber with foods like beans, oats, potatoes and yams. You could try adding uncooked rolled oats to foods that would be helped by a firmer consistency like meat loaf, meatballs, muffins, taco meat, stuffed peppers, etc. And, who doesn't simply love oatmeal cookies? Try oatmeal butterscotch cookies instead of the everyday oatmeal raisin variety. Also, if you're a lover of oatmeal as a breakfast cereal as am I, you could try this great recipe for scrumptious oatmeal: How to Make Slammin' Oatmeal

Eat Less Beef, Pork & Poultry:

Ground beef has become the working mom's fast and easy "go to" meal because it is inexpensive and easy to prepare. One tip that is always better for your health would be to substitute ground turkey for ground beef wherever you can, especially in most of those recipes I listed above (meatloaf, meatballs, etc.). Plus, it would probably be a good idea for all of us to cut down on our overall intake of meat products on the whole. Instead of larger cuts of meat, we could always opt for more fruits vegetables on our plates.

Cut out Added Salt:

Excessive salt isn't good for anyone and one of the best ways to get away from added salt is to experiment with more herbs and spices. I used to be the type of person who salted my meals before I ever tasted them, now I don't even buy table salt any longer. By adding different herbs and spices to your meals you'll find that your food simply tastes better. Plus, you can try out more kinds of exotic dishes when you get used to using the different varieties of herbs and spices. If you are unfamiliar with how to use herbs and spices you can get better acquainted with them here: Herb & Spice Guide

If you search the internet you will likely find even more tips for the prevention of kidney stones. As you can plainly see, all of the suggestions on this list are good for everyone's overall health. The fact that they can help prevent kidney stones is just an added side benefit. As always, it is recommended that you consult your physician before making any kind of radical change to your diet. Whatever you choose to do, bon appétit!