Natural Diuretic Foods

Similar to dehydration, water retention can be equally harmful. People suffering from heart ailments, kidney and liver related problems, high blood pressure, edema, sciatica, and others are more likely to complain of retention of water. However, this mild bloating and water retention is highly common in women. One can relate this problem to hormonal fluctuations leading to breast fullness, bloating, and mild ankle swelling, especially premenstrually. Though doctors prescribe diuretic medications to overcome water retention problems, most of them are too strong to treat premenstrual swelling, further causing reduction of potassium levels.

As such, it is best to look out for natural diuretic foods that relieve PMS and help in treating water retention as well. Being natural, you can count on their benefits without getting bothered of any side effects. Below is a list of natural diuretic foods that can be easily incorporated in your regular diet. Take a look! List Of Natural Diuretics Asparagus Improve the functioning of your kidneys by consuming generous amounts of asparagus. It contains the chemical alkaloid called asparagine that helps in removing wastes from the body effectively. Parsley An herb with mild diuretic properties, parsley aids in stimulating urine, thereby flushing out toxins from the kidneys. Add fresh parsley to your recipes for additional benefits. For most effective and diuretic benefits, use parsley to prepare tea. Ginger Apart from adding flavor to food, ginger helps in relieving the nausea caused premenstrually and acts as a helpful diuretic. To extract the benefits of ginger, consume it as a tea during meals and eliminate excess fluids from your body.

Celery Seed Derived from the flowers of the celery plant, celery seeds are highly effective in stimulating urine production and reducing fluid retention. The seeds are available in tablets and can be purchased from any medical store. Alternatively, prepare a hot tea from the celery seeds and enjoy sipping in between meals. Cranberry Juice Cranberry juice is known for maintaining the pH level of urine and helps in diluting the same. Also, it assists in increasing the frequency of urination. As a result, cranberry juice aids in improving and maintaining the functioning of the kidneys. Dandelion Leaf With natural diuretic properties, dandelion has proved to increase urine production and lessen fluid retention. It is also a good source of potassium mineral that is generally lost with frequent use of prescribed medications. Melon Melons, such as watermelon and muskmelon, are a good source of water, potassium, and sodium.

Thus, they assist in the process of eliminating toxins from the body and increasing the production of more urine. Other Foods To get rid of water retention, other natural diuretic foods include raw fruits and vegetables (cucumber, lettuce, onion, horseradish, radish, tomatoes, carrots, artichokes, oranges, celery, Brussels sprouts, and beets), herbs (juniper berries, goldenrod, golden seal, nettle, and fennel), and foods such as garlic, oats, watercress, coffee, tea, Gingko Biloba, and Buchu extract. With this list, you have a significant number of natural diuretic foods to include in your diet. Give them a try and see their significant effects over the next few days.

Herbal Diuretics

Herbal diuretics are herbs that help deal with conditions and/or diseases like edema, fluid retention, kidney disease, urinary tract infection, and more. They do so by helping drain the excess liquid that is retained in the body’s tissues instead of being drained out normally or via the body’s regular excretory functions. They are excellent alternatives to or substitutes for the usual over the counter or doctor prescribed medicines because they increase urination without depleting body electrolytes, which many prescription or over the counter drugs can bring about when they drain excess fluid from the body. As a matter of fact, certain of these diuretics can even be combined with prescription medicines for those who require more intensive diuresis.

However, just like prescription medicines, these herbs have to be used only with the supervision of a qualified practitioner. Some of these herbs may have certain side effects, especially if taken in excess, such as nausea or diarrhea. Some can even result in an overall reduction in the volume of blood or even dehydration if too much is taken, and this can obviously be very dangerous. So health professionals should always be consulted before one resorts to taking these treatments.

Some popular herbal diuretics are dandelion, chicory, nettle, mint, golden seal, marshmallow, fennel, hops, spearmint, saw palmetto, skullcap, yarrow and wintergreen. These herbs listed also rank among the safest to use to help with draining excess fluid from the body. Dandelion root, for instance, is one of the most popular of these herbs for diuresis because it is famed for being easy on bodily systems, can be taken on a daily basis, and will not result in depletion of the body’s potassium reserves like many over the counter drugs.

To relieve your edema or other conditions, if you can find prepared capsules or diuretic herbal mixtures in your local stores, you can try taking these. Otherwise, you can make raw herbs – leaves or roots – into tea, eat them raw, or include them in meals or salads. For tea preparations, you will need to combine just a teaspoon of your herb of choice with a cup of boiling water, steep for around 15 minutes, and then strain before serving (if desired, you may serve it with a natural sweetener such as honey). Again, you should ask a health professional just to be certain that you are doing the right thing. Many professionals recommend no more than four cups or three capsules of these preparations, but exceptions may apply depending on specific cases.

In addition, it is also important to back your herbal diuretics and treatments up by making sure to drink at least eight glasses a day of pure water. It might seem like a contradiction, but if the body does not get enough water it will retain whatever water it has, resulting in edema in many cases. So in addition to taking these treatments, one should take in enough water for one’s needs and health to prevent water retention.