- Hey, this is Dr. Berry.
For just a few minutes,
let's talk about a very important topic.
Which diet is best for your kidneys?
Is a low-carbohydrate, high healthy fat diet
best for your kidneys?
Or is a high-carb, low-fat diet best for your kidneys?
Let's dive into this topic
because there are so many people that wanna know.
In fact, there's an epidemic of kidney failure
in the United States today.
The incidents of kidney failure has doubled since the 1970s.
And so obviously something's going on,
that's destroying our kidneys
and we need to figure out what it is.
So if you know someone who maybe has some kidney problems
or is even on dialysis, then share this video with them,
but better yet, share it with their family members
so that they won't have to go through the same ordeal, okay?
Now let's talk about this.
Something has to be causing all this kidney damage
in the United States and in the world as a matter of fact.
What is it?
Is it too much fat?
Is it too much protein?
Is it too many carbohydrates?
We really need to find out the answer to this
because back when I was a kid,
I don't even know of there being a dialysis clinic
within 150 miles of the small town that I grew up in.
And now almost every small town in America
has a dialysis clinic.
And that's where you go if you have kidney failure
and you have to have dialysis.
So that's terrible.
There shouldn't be that many dialysis clinics
in the United States in these very, very small towns.
And we shouldn't need that much dialysis.
Why do we have all these episodes of kidney failure?
What's going on?
So, a lot of people wanna say,
Oh, if you're worried about your kidneys
then you should cut back on saturated fats, right?
But when you actually look at the research,
there's not a single link that can be made scientifically
between a high saturated fat diet and kidney failure.
There's no research that even suggest that that's the case.
So I'm not sure why some people say that.
Then also you hear a lot about,
Oh, well, too much protein will damage your kidneys, right?
But the problem is,
is when you look into the research behind that,
there's none.
There's nothing that shows that eating a,
even a high protein diet will increase your risk
of kidney damage or kidney failure
if you have normal kidney function.
And so I'm not sure where that's coming from.
I actually posted a couple of links down below
to research study.
So you can look into this in more detail yourself
but that only leaves one more macronutrient
to talk about and that's carbohydrates.
And so what looks like has happened
from the 1970s until today is that we've steadily increased
the amount of highly processed sugar and wheat and grains
that we eat on a daily basis.
And so, the leading cause of chronic kidney disease,
do you know what that is?
Can you guess what it is?
It's not fat overdose and it's not protein overdose.
It's diabetes.
That's the leading cause of kidney failure
in the United States.
And then a close second is high blood pressure
or hypertension.
And so, if we could just take control of those two things
we would wipe out the epidemic of kidney failure
in the United States and perhaps even the world.
Now, there are other causes for kidney failure, of course
but these are by far and away the most common causes.
And so they're the ones we need to focus on.
There are in the 80%.
And so we need to focus all of our energy
and all of our resources on stamping those out.
And so if it's not high-fat,
then we don't have to worry about that.
We can eat as much healthy fat as we want,
that won't harm our kidneys.
And then when you really look at the research
and ignore the expert opinion,
but just look at the actual research,
protein looks pretty darn safe too.
So we can stop worrying about those.
But so, when you eat carbohydrates,
especially sugars and grains,
that immediately turns to glucose
in your bloodstream and it spikes your blood sugar.
And then that causes your pancreas
to excrete lots of insulin.
So you have an insulin spike
to try to pull that blood sugar spike back down.
And so, chronically higher blood sugar
and chronically higher insulin, both cause inflammation.
And they both cause damage in the tiny arteries
that feed your kidneys, okay?
And that damages those arteries and they start
to close off and you start to have tiny infarcts
or dying of little amounts of tissue in the kidneys.
And before long, you don't have enough kidney function left
to clean your blood, which is what the kidneys do.
Basically, the liver breaks down toxins.
It doesn't store 'em, as a lot of people say
it doesn't do that, it breaks them down.
And then the kidneys excrete the broken down products
into your urine.
So you pee out the poison.
That's what your kidneys do.
But when you've lost enough kidney function
then you have kidney failure
or chronic kidney disease or CKD.
And so we stage it.
Stage one, stage two, stage three, stage four,
five, and then dialysis.
And so what I would love to do is prevent you
from ever even developing stage one chronic kidney disease.
And to do that, I need you to start eating this diet, okay?
It's the most protective diet for the kidneys
that I've ever seen.
And it's the ketogenic diet or the low-carb,
high healthy fat diet.
Now the ketogenic way of eating that I recommend
is a moderate protein.
But even if you decide to do a higher protein version of it,
I don't think that it will harm your kidneys at all.
And I don't think there's any research that shows that
to be the case.
So I need you to protect your kidneys.
And in order to do that, I need you to cut down
on the amount of carbohydrates that you eat.
Most importantly, cut down on the sugars,
cut down on the grains.
And the highly processed combination of these two
that we mix with vegetable oils.
And then we put in cereal boxes and cracker boxes
and bread bags and pretend that those things are healthy
because they're not, okay?
So, what destroys your kidneys?
It's not too much fat.
It's not too much protein.
It's too many carbohydrates.
And then especially the worthless empty carbohydrates
of sugar and grains.
So please keep doing your research. Keep learning.
If you have early kidney disease,
you've gotta catch on to this, okay?
Even if your doctor tells you
Oh, you need to avoid too much protein,
it'll harm your kidneys.
Respectfully say,
Doctor, I'd love to see the research that backs that up.
And see what he produces.
And if he does produce a study that shows it,
please email it to me immediately 'cause I'd love to see it.
So, if you wanna know more about this ketogenic diet
that I'm talking about, I've got a whole series of videos,
that I'll put either here or here.
I'm never sure which way it shows up.
But you can watch those videos for free
and you can learn all about this diet
that will protect your kidneys better
than any other diet can, okay?
This is Dr. Berry and I'll see you next time.