Did you know that the foods that you eat can really have a big impact on your bladder function?
Today we're going to go through foods and drinks that are commonly available
that can really contribute to bladder urgency and overactive bladder problems.
Hi, I'm Michelle, and today we're going to take you through some of the foods that can
really cause havoc with your bladder. We're going to be looking at caffeine,
we're going to be looking at acidic foods, we're going to be looking at alcohol, and we're also
going to be looking at spices and condiments. And then finally, we'll finish off with just
taking a look at some of the types of foods that can really cause havoc with your bladder
when you're going out. So these are the types of foods and drinks that you might want to avoid.
Now remember, the foods and drinks that I'm about to talk about I'm not necessarily foods
that you have to avoid all the time. There just may be foods that you might like to
be aware of and if you'd like to eliminate them for a week or two and then reintroduce
that's fine but this is just intended as general information, not a dietary guide.
So, it may come as no surprise to know that caffeine is one of the big bladder irritants
but what is surprising is some of the places that it's actually found. So, we all know that coffee
contains our caffeine as well as black tea, but what's surprising is that green tea also has a
high caffeine content and also to decaffeinated coffee. So, these things can both irritate the
bladder lining, and also too the caffeine has a diuretic effect. So it actually pulls extra
fluid into the bladder and causes the muscle to contract causing your urgency. So other drinks
that actually contain caffeine your energy drinks so these are a big one, your Cola drinks and just
because you're having decaf doesn't mean that it's not going to irritate your bladder. Cola
can be very acidic so the acid in the Cola can also irritate the bladder as well as the caffeine.
Now, finally in our caffeine section chocolate. So this is a bit disappointing, isn't it? We've got
our dark chocolates. So obviously the darker the chocolate for this is 85-percent chocolate that's
going to have a much greater effect because of the higher Cacao content then say a 60% chocolate and
this one's one of your job but double whammies isn't it? It's a dark chocolate with chili so
that's something that you really want to know about from reading your ingredients in terms of
the type of irritant chocolate irritant. Cacao can be in chocolate powder pops, chocolate ice creams,
there's a range of areas that it can be in so it's really important to read your
ingredients to know where your chocolate is. Oh and that bit of chocolate needs some tidying up.
So let's now move on to alcohol. Alcohol is the second blood irritant I wanted to talk
about today. Alcohol can have a two-fold effect it can actually dehydrate you so it increases
urine production and it also - decreases or slows the signals from your brain to your bladder the
emptying signals. So I've got two bottles of wine here a red and a white. White typically
have the lower alcohol concentrations so, if it comes to comes down to choosing between wines for
your bladder you might want to choose a white wine say a Riesling or a Sauvignon Blanc over
a stronger red wine. Now, carbonated wines and alcohols are more problematic than your
flat white wines and this is because the bladder doesn't like carbonated drinks and that includes
soda water and standard mixes as well. So, we've got our carbonated beer here and also to your
carbonated white wines, and champagne. So these are going to be more problematic than your flat
white wines and because of the combination of both elements of the carbonated factor as well
as the alcohol. Now if we move along here looking at spirits so we've got some double whammies here
haven't we? We've got he's a coffee like you are so you've got the alcohol combined with coffee or
the caffeine that we've already spoken about and this is one of my personal favorites limoncello,
love it! But it's also in addition to the alcohol it's got the lemon so the
lemon is acidic so you want to be mindful of your liquors, orange, lemon liquors,
and those types of alcohol liquors that can also contain acidic flavors as well.
Finally, we've got our typical Scotch, Vodka, these types of drinks again,
high in alcohol content and so you and you also need to think about the mixers so, if you're
mixing with a diet coke or a caffeine drink then you've got to think about the added effect of the
alcohol and the caffeine so then to decrease the effect on your bladder you might want to just have
a drink on ice less alcohol but ideally, you're going to go for your lower alcohol types. I'll
be discussing some of the more preferable alcohol types in my next video “on bladder
friendly foods to choose” so you might want to subscribe to that below to catch that video.
So moving on now to some of our acidic foods that you might want to know about. Obviously Tomatoes
of one of the biggies so many of us know that Tomatoes can be a big issue but you might not
know that yellow tomatoes a lot of tomatoes are a lot less acidic than the red tomatoes so if you
can't tolerate red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes might be a little option that you can try.
If we look at in terms of vegetables, onions, raw onions are highly acidic so they're going
to really irritate the bladder lining. Other acidic foods that will be likely to irritate
the bladder lining include capsicum, we've got obviously our citrus foods, our oranges,
our lemons, and our limes, pineapples, and also to our Kiwi fruits here as well.
Now, some of the other acidic elements conclude our condiments so things like pickles obviously
vinegar that's extremely acidic, soy sauc,e and so there are other condiments and spices
that you might want to know about are things like your mustard, so mustard is obviously
going to be a bladder irritant and we've also got things like our spices so we've got our chilies,
we've got Chilli and paprika and these are the types of things that will also have an
irritating effect on the bladder but then you need to also need to remember to read
your ingredients so your salsa will often have ingredients like your paprika and your chilies
hidden away. So think about reading your ingredients for hidden spices as well. You
might not know that some artificial sweeteners can also irritate the bladder particularly artificial
sweeteners that consist of Saccharine or Aspartame. So, be careful with the use of
Aspartame you might want to choose a product like Splenda or stevia instead and notice where your
artificial sweeteners are contained so they're sugar-free candies or chewing gum also - all
contain artificial sweeteners so be mindful of your intake of those so also join medications
some common headache tablets contain caffeine vitamin C tablets and also multivitamins so all
these things can be tension from potentially hidden that can be affecting your bladder.
Now finally there are some foods that are more likely to increase overactive bladder problems
when you're eating out. Unfortunately, these are some of our favorite international cuisines with
dishes such as spicy Indian curries and bindler's. Spicy Thai foods, and also Mexican foods
particularly those at a tomato-based combined with hot chilies instead try to choose plain
meat or vegetable options from these cuisines along with grains such as plain rice and bread.
So as you can see there's a huge range of potential bladder irritants that you might
want to know about we've talked about caffeine, we've talked about alcohol,
we've talked about spices, we've also talked about acidic food,s and we've talked about
artificial sweeteners. So don't forget to your double whammies such as your chocolate
leek yours or your Chile chocolates. So I really hope this provides you with some information that
you didn't already know that helps you address your overactive bladder in my next video don't
forget I'll be covering alternatives to these foods. So, if you'd like to catch that video
don't forget to subscribe below. I'll see you next time thanks for watching. Bye for now.