Chiu-Nan Lai, PH.D
The kidney is one of the most important organs. It is responsible for the body’s metabolism, toxin elimination, excretion, and maintenance of the balance of bodily fluids. All bodily fluids pass through the kidney 20 times an hour (the metabolic wastes transported by the blood are excreted as urine). The maladjustment of the kidney can trigger off lumbodorsal aching, edema, high blood pressure, urethritis, exhaustion, insomnia, hair loss, slow response, depression, fear, the presence of urotoxin in the blood and even mental derangement.
The kidney depends on 2,000,000 Nephrons to filter off the pollutants in blood. Everything that enters the body passes through the kidney. These include food, drinks, foreign particles, and toxins. The greater the quantity of the pollutants, the heavier the workload on the kidney. The first symptoms of an overworked kidney are kidney blocking and inflammation. Long-term effects are impure blood, calculus, and hypofunction. More serious conditions may be life-threatening, and dialysis will be required.
Prevention is better than cure. The best we can do is to avoid harming our kidney. Below are a number of factors which contribute to kidney maladjustment:
- Over-consumption of animal food such as meat, eggs, etc. High protein foods cause the formation of uric acid which strains the kidney.
- Over-exhaustion and lack of relaxation.
- Consumption of Western medicine, such as Penicillin.
- Pollution of the water, air, land, and sound.
- Over-consumption of alcoholic beverages, coffee, aerated and soft drinks.
- Cold and humid weather.
- Inadequate consumption of water.
To protect your kidneys, shun the above factors from your daily life. Eat more organic vegetarian food, have enough rest, drink Reverse Osmosis water. Choose a day every week where you consume only fruits and water for the whole day. Refrain from exposing your lumbo to the cold in winter, massage the lumbodorsal, and practice “Waidangong” or Qigong to fortify your kidneys.
Below is a 3-day kidney food-therapy originated from Turkey:
Crush a cup of watermelon seeds and mix it with 12 cups of water which has been boiled for 3 minutes. Leave 4 cups of mixture at room temperature, put the remaining 8 cups in the fridge. Drink 1/3 of the mixture every hour. For 3 days, follow the following diet programme:
Breakfast – watermelon
Lunch – yogurt, whole-meal bread/ rice and uncooked vegetables.
Dinner – steamed pears or apple sauce mixed with yogurt and soya milk.
After 3 days, continue to consume the watermelon seed drink and watermelon for breakfast for 14 days. After that, meals should be based on organic vegetables and fruits for best results.
Below is a folk prescription for kidney food therapy:
- For kidney failure resulting in one’s inability to excrete urine – drink boiled parsley roots in water.
- For calculus
- Eat a dozen lemons a day for 5 days.
- Boil a spoonful of desiccated (taraxacum?) root with 4 cups of apple juice for 10 minutes.
- Drink 3 times a day, 2/3 cup each.
For hypofunction, replenish Magnesium intake. Dark green leaves, grains, beans and peas are all rich in Magnesium.