This is maybe the unhealthiest grocery haul I've ever made!
With their added sugar, added salt and added fats these 5 foods considered healthy can
literally KILL YOUR KIDNEYS.
LET'S SEE WHAT'S INSIDE
Hello, how are your kidneys doing? this is Katherine, welcome to 00Kidney.
Usually, when you see me in my kitchen I'm preparing something good to keep the kidneys
healthy in a tasty way!
Today instead, I'll show you 5 foods that consumers eat regularly.
Because they're blissfully unaware of how dangerous these supposedly healthy foods truly
are! these 5 foods considered healthy can literally
KILL YOUR KIDNEYS.
Are you eating them?
Do you know what they are?
The good news is that if you stop eating these supposedly "healthy" foods, you can lower
your creatinine and start to support your kidney health right now!
There are a lot of misconceptions in food.
We live in a society where the FDA is supposed to control everything that ends up on the
supermarket shelf, so people should be able to safely shop without worrying, without checking
the labels.
But this is clearly not true.
And we can thank for this the marketing departments of the big food and beverages companies.
These companies have been using marketing tricks to make you think you're eating healthy
foods, when you're actually eating sugar packed, kidney killers food items.
Well, let's just say that all these foods are a lot less healthy than they look.
In fact, the opinion of the general public on the "healthy" way of eating, is so biased
by the commercials and the advertisings, that we end up eating the most unhealthy things
when we think we are eating healthy.
So, what happens if you actually go shopping around without checking if what you're eating
is actually healthy or just sold as "healthy"?
You may end up eating foods like...
Number 5... let's see what's inside... fruit juices!
They told us that everything that comes off a tree is healthy.
Yes, in fruit juice there are vitamins, minerals, antioxidants... but are they really healthy?
Quick answer: no they are not! fruit juices have been associated with an
increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.
A real danger if you want to keep your kidneys healthy!
And yet they keep selling this as healthy!
What the commercials forgot to tell us about fruit juices, is that all the healthy fibers
of the fruit have been carefully removed and replaced with sugar!
So, you think you're drinking a glass of fruit, but what you're basically drinking is a glass
full of sugar!
And I'm not exaggerating, just take a look at the label of any fruit juice and you'll
see.
If you're drinking a cup, or 250 milliliters of fruit juice, you're ingesting up to 30
grams or 8 teaspoons of sugar!
And, while this is unhealthy for everyone, kidney patients are exceptionally susceptible
to the insulin spike caused by an excess of sugar.
An insulin spike can damage the tiny blood vessels inside the kidneys.
An insulin spike destroys the filtering units of the kidneys
the nephrons and cause serious kidney damage
In fact, diabetes is the number one cause of kidney disease because of this process.
And there's even more!
The liquid calories contained in fruit juices, and in other sugary drinks like sodas and
alcoholic beverages, are actually known to cause even more troubles.
They don't provide any filling effect, and as I said, will cause a blast of sugar into
the bloodstream.
All this sugar will stimulate the production of insulin, a hormone related to the feeling
of hunger.
So you're not just introducing a lot of calories from sugar, you'll even end up eating more!
Yes, I too used to think that I was drinking liquid health when I drank fruit juices, but
they're basically... liquid diabetes.
Bottom line, even if they used to be perceived as healthy, it is better to avoid fruit juices
and other sugar-sweetened beverage if we care about our kidney health.
Number 4... let's see what's here... diet sodas!
Now, you may think that if you remove the sugar you remove the problem, right?
Well, no.
Not at all.
Let's talk about diet sodas.
These diet drinks are actually sugar free, and are artificially sweetened with Aspartame
or Saccharin or other synthetic sweeteners.
Diet sodas have virtually no calories, so they get marketed towards diabetics, health
conscious people athletes and people who want to lose weight.
Seems, straight forward, right?
You reduce your sugar intake and your health will benefit from this.
There's just a problem with diet sodas.
Diet sodas and other artificially sweetened beverages may be even more dangerous for our
kidneys and overall health than fruit juices and sugary beverages.
How is it possible?
Diet sodas are full of tooth-eroding additives, possibly carcinogenic food colorings and artificial
sweeteners that are proven to cause risk of stroke, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and
kidney disease.
Now, if this isn't bad enough, there are even studies showing a direct correlation between
the regular consumption of diet sodas and chronic kidney disease.
The synthetic sweeteners, like Aspartame or Saccharin present in diet sodas have been
proven to cause a sharp decline of kidney function in people that consumes them regularly.
So, in short, there are some big studies that have compared the kidney function of people
who drank water to the kidney health of people who drank 2 cans of diet sodas per day.
After 10 years the group of people who drank diet sodas had a rate of decline of kidney
function 30% faster than the group who didn't drank diet sodas.
So this means that if you drink diet sodas regularly, your kidneys are going to be damaged.
All the test subjects who drank diet sodas got some kidney damage, nobody got out clean.
This is actually pretty scary, if you ask me: these beverages, marketed as "healthy",
are actually doing more damage to our health that their already unhealthy sugary counterparts.
So, if the risk of death caused by the tooth-eroding additives and the possibly carcinogenic food
colorings present in diet sodas wasn't enough, there's even proof that diet sodas are killing
the kidney health of people, now.
What to do, then?
Avoid artificially sweetened sodas and never look back.
In fact, you don't actually need anything besides plain water, if you want to keep your
kidneys healthy.
You shouldn't drink any calories at all.
So no soft drinks, no fruit juices, no diet colas.
But, if you absolutely can't resist some sweetness in what you drink, make yourself a smoothie.
Drinking real fruit pureed raw is a lot healthier than drinking fruit juices or diet sodas.
I've just made myself some watermelon juice!
Yummy
Number 3 salads Ok, what could be wrong with salads now?
People are eating more salad when they want to be healthier, and green vegetables are
actually one of the best foods to support our kidney health.
Yes, eating salad is an healthy way to improve kidney function naturally...
but you may be undoing all the benefits if you dress it too much!
Have you ever watched someone eating a salad with a ton of croutons, and salt, and dressing,
and oil in it... do you actually think that's healthy?
I don't think so.
Yes, heavily dressed salad can be really unhealthy, when you think about all the ingredients we
are adding to the salad.
That's not a salad anymore, it may be tasty but it's actually junk food!
Salt covered junk food, absolutely not healthy for a kidney patient or for anyone else!
Number 2, oh this is a big one, I'm wondering what it may be...
fruits and veggies too rich in potassium
Why are these unhealthy?
Potassium is a micronutrient way too familiar to kidney patients.
If you're in an advanced stage of chronic kidney disease, there are really high chances
that you're on a low potassium diet.
When the kidneys cannot filter the blood well enough to remove all the wastes and toxins
they should be removing, potassium is one of the most dangerous things that can start
to accumulate.
Hyperkalemia, the excess of potassium that kidney patients risk when they eat too much
bananas or potatoes for example, can cause symptoms as severe as chest pain, trouble
breathing Palpitations, irregular heartbeat and even heart attack.
While fruits like bananas, oranges and veggies like spinach are perfectly healthy for most
of the population, kidney patients should avoid them..
So avoid fruits like: bananas, oranges, cantaloupe, honeydew, apricots,
grapefruit, prunes, raisins And vegetables like
potatoes, spinach, broccoli, canned tomatoes, canned beans
The kidneys of an healthy person are always able to remove the excess of potassium from
the blood.
But, for a kidney patient the symptoms of too much potassium can be as severe as an
heart attack.
So avoid potassium rich fruits and vegetables.
Also avoid canned and packaged foods in general, if you need to keep potassium levels down.
They are full of potassium and sodium and the FDA doesn't even require food producers
to label potassium levels!
So be careful.
1 energy bars Sold as a healthy supplement for active people,
energy bars are consumed by a large number of individuals who think they have found a
convenient source of nutrition, vitamins and minerals to fill a nutritional gap.
And that also tastes great, since they make them in all the flavors.
But are energy bars actually healthy?
And are they suitable for a kidney friendly diet?
Let's see what's in them.
Let's take a look at the label.
there's a lot of sugar in here!
Well, they may be less healthy than people think.
A lot less healthy, actually.
First of all, don't be fooled by the word "energy".
It just means sugar.
Yes, that's it.
And it's not even a lie, since sugar actually provides energy, which is just a synonym of...
calories.
In fact, a medium sized energy bar will pack about 200 calories.
So there's nothing special about the energy contained in energy bars, there's nothing
magical about them and they won't give you a boost in focus or strength... unless you're
actually starved.
Some energy bars are so full of sugar they should be considered candy bars.
And while replacing meals with energy bars is unhealthy for everyone, kidney patients
should be really careful with them since energy bars usually pack a lot more protein than
their kidneys can safely manage.
So, lots of sugar, lots of protein lots of calories... energy bars are definitely a big
no-no, if you want to eat foods that support your
kidney health.
This is all for today, thank you for watching!