# Are you drinking enough fluids to prevent kidney stones? Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/ep/are-you-drinking-enough-fluids-to-prevent-kidney-stones/ Published: 2021-10-12 --- [![Kidney Stone Diet Podcast](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Podcast-1-1024x1024.jpg)](https://kidneystonediet.com/podcast/) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHYEo9wzT70)[Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/are-you-drinking-enough-fluids-to-prevent-kidney-stones/id1528474326?i=1000538343316&uo=4)[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4fSfZU4lIqam7SQAxPsOs2)[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0868148d-adfd-411d-b3f2-71a0ad1461ec) October 12, 2021 --- ![Jeff Sarris](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Jeff-Sarris-150x150.jpg) Jeff Sarris Host ![Jill Harris](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Jill-Harris-150x150.jpg) Jill Harris Host This week Jill answers a listener question about tracking fluid intake and how to make sure we’re pacing our fluids throughout the day.\ \ Have a question? Leave us a voicemail at (773) 789-8763.\ \ **= Stop your kidney stones once and for all =**\ • [Kidney Stone Prevention Course](https://kidneystonediet.com/kidney-stone-prevention)\ • [Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans](https://kidneystonediet.com/mealplans/)\ • [24 Hour Urine Collection Analysis](https://kidneystonediet.com/24-hour-urine-analysis/)\ • [Private Coaching](https://kidneystonediet.com/coaching/)\ \ **= FREE Kidney Stone Resources =**\ • [Kidney Stone Diet](https://kidneystonediet.com/)\ • [Free Kidney Stone Diet Resources](https://kidneystonediet.com/resources/)\ • [Oxalate Food List](https://kidneystonediet.com/oxalate-list/)\ • [Kidney Stone Diet Recipes](https://kidneystonediet.com/recipes/)\ \ Find more episodes of the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast at [kidneystonediet.com/podcast](https://kidneystonediet.com/podcast)\ \ —\ \ **= Who is Jill Harris? =**\ [youtube.com/TheKidneyStoneDiet](https://www.youtube.com/TheKidneyStoneDiet)\ \ Jill is a nurse and health coach that specializes in educating patients on kidney stone prevention. For more than 20 years she’s helped patients understand that kidney stones can be prevented with the right treatment plan. It’s one thing to be told to lower oxalate or drink more water, but HOW do you do it? That’s where she comes in. Through the educational resources at [kidneystonediet.com](https://kidneystonediet.com), stone formers can learn everything they need to know to significantly lower new stone risk.\ \ —\ \ **= Who is Jeff Sarris? =**\ [youtube.com/jeffsarris](https://youtube.com/jeffsarris)\ \ Jeff’s co-founder of [SPYR](https://SPYR.me), a branding agency based out of Chicago, where he and his business partner Dave help awesome people like Jill create online platforms that make an impact.\ \ He’s also a certified health coach, Executive Producer of the Netflix documentary Minimalism, and host of the [Starting Now podcast](https://SPYR.fm/now).\ \ Reach out on Twitter! [@jeffSARRIS](https://twitter.com/jeffSARRIS) ## Chapters - 00:00:00 Standing Desk Setups and Simple Equipment - 00:02:35 Methods for Pacing Daily Water Intake - 00:04:49 Hydration Consistency and Preventing Concentrated Urine - 00:07:07 Managing Sleep Disruption and Daily Urine Output - 00:10:04 24 Hour Urine Collection Jugs and Supplies ## Transcript ### Standing Desk Setups and Simple Equipment 00:00:00 Jeff Sarris Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet podcast, the show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your best life. I'm your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris. 00:00:20 Jill Harris And I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse. Hey Jeff, how are you? 00:00:24 Jeff Sarris I'm good. I got my standing desk going. We have a whole different setup that anyone who's watching on YouTube is going to notice. We have a, kind of a two-camera simultaneous setup, and then we'll cut to just Jill at times. But, yeah, changing it up, trying to experiment with different things. And, yeah, so far, so good. 00:00:43 Jill Harris Jeff, you always, you always make the most beautiful podcast, so, you know, everyone says that. What was I going to say? The fact that you get to stand up, I've got to figure that out over here because, you just get sick of sitting, right? Plus I like to move, so I think I You know, the standing up thing is a great You could project more, not that I need to do that, but it just feels good to stand up, right? 00:01:06 Jeff Sarris Oh, yeah. For sure. And, yeah, I have this nice, I think I mentioned on a different episode, but this nice standing desk, just a little crank one from IKEA. It's really, I love that it's manual. I know not everyone wants it manual, but there's something about not having, like, needing any electric or anything at all. It's just, it just works. It just functions. 00:01:22 Jill Harris Oh, 100%. I have this coffee table, because I live in such a small place, that converts into a dining room table, actually, and it's very simple. It's all mechanical. There's no special nothing. And I swear to God, like I have a Jeep Renegade, simple. By the time I got it home from the dealership, I knew how to work everything in it. I always feel like the less stuff, less mechanical stuff, the less problems you'll have. Plus, I it's just way more intuitive that way. So, I get it. Like, the manual way is the way to go. I'm not that high tech, as we all know. Jeff, you are, but I think you just have an appreciation for just like, really well-made, simple-designed things, right? 00:02:04 Jeff Sarris Oh, yeah, for sure. It's that minimalism that comes out for me. It's like, the things that straddle that line between, sort of modern tech and not being overdone. I don't want something overdone. Like, I love cars, 00:02:14 Jill Harris Yes. That's what I love about IKEA. 00:02:16 Jeff Sarris Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and just like you said, I love cars that are the more analog, the better. There's just something about it. 00:02:22 Jill Harris Yes. Yes. 00:02:24 Jeff Sarris But, yeah, so, should we dive in to this week's question? 00:02:28 Jill Harris Oh, what are we here for? Oh, yeah, kidney stones! Yeah, let's do it. Let's see what we got on the docket today. ### Methods for Pacing Daily Water Intake 00:02:35 Jeff Sarris Yeah, this is from a Robert. 00:02:37 Jill Harris Okay, Robert. Hello, my name is Robert. I live in Rochester, Minnesota, home of the Mayo Clinic. And, my question for Jill is: What is the We all know that we're supposed to drink, at least two and a half to 3 L of fluid a day. But what is the best method Or phone app for dummies Or standalone device that you can carry in your pocket or whatever to help pace the water intake? That's one of the things I struggle with, and I know a lot of other people struggle with, is forgetting to, when to drink the water and to spread it out throughout the waking hours. Thanks. Robert, I love that question. I always say I love that question, but they're all good questions, and so this is a great one. So, often patients Most of the time there's it's a black or white issue here. There's no middle in the road, otherwise it wouldn't be a problem. Either people are forgetting to drink their fluids, they just forget, they get busy, whatever, they're out all day, So they don't want to have to find a bathroom, especially during COVID, or they're drinking too much, and then they're up all night. So, his question is great. How the hell do I pace this, by the way? And he asked there's another little question in there, too, about apps. So, I love apps for certain things. I happen to be pretty good about drinking water. I'm talking about kidney stone prevention all day long, So it's I'm I'm I'm deep in it, people. So, I'm pretty good at remembering to drink, but there's sometimes I'm super busy. Maybe it's a Saturday, and I'm out doing errands. I'm I'm telling you right now, not the best with it. So, this is why I always say to patients, and to anybody that listens to our podcast, we are not striving for perfection. We're striving for the best we can do with what's given to us on that day. ### Hydration Consistency and Preventing Concentrated Urine 00:04:49 Jill Harris I will say this till I'm blue in the face. The diet industry wants us to think we're either on something or off something. So, if we're not drinking water, we're going to form a kidney stone by this afternoon. That's not going to happen. Now, ideally, one of the things you really want to be rather consistent with is drinking water. A lot of nurses, and doctors, and pilots will say, "Look, I don't got time to drink all day, Jill. But as soon as I get home, I drink, drink, drink, drink, drink." Well, remember, during that 8-hour period when you were at work and couldn't drink, you're dehydrated. Your urine is concentrated. It's saturated with these crystals at this point. So now, you can go home and start drinking, but that doesn't make up for the time you were not. You can not make up for the time you were dehydrated. That ship has sailed. But now, you can get hydrated or rehydrated in the evening, okay? So, I just want to throw that in there. Now, as far as a device to help you remember to drink your water or pace your water, I would suggest I do not use apps. Dr. For this, Dr. Coe has a nice article on his website at kidneystone.uchicago.edu, and he actually asked patients, "What devices do you use? What apps do you like for tracking water?" So, you could check that out on his website. A lot of people just go to the App Store, and they look through free apps. Don't be paying for no apps. Lots of times, first check them out for free, then if you love it, pay your two bucks a month or whatever it is. But, go to the App Store, find one that is appealing to you, physically, and also how it works. Find one that you will like using, just like anything with a diet or lifestyle change, you've got to do the things that you like, so you'll keep doing it. So, find the app that works for you And see if it's helpful to you. Sometimes, people just put a reminder on their phone for, you know, They'll set it every hour to drink. Then, once it goes off, they shut it off, reset it again. Some people do that. Some people, I mean, those are the most the biggest things that I know people do. ### Managing Sleep Disruption and Daily Urine Output 00:07:07 Jill Harris Sometimes, I use trigger words. Like, every time somebody says the word "kidney stone" when I'm talking to them, I take a sip of water. People don't know that when I'm talking to them, But I do that. So, there's all kinds of different ways that you can remember to do it. Now, as far as pacing yourself, we do not want to drink so much water that we're peeing 5 L out. I mean, you really don't need to do that, okay? So, that's really important. You need to drink enough throughout the day and into the evening. I always say cut it off a couple hours before bed. Maybe take a few sips here and there, but you don't want to be peeing all night long, because what happens then is you're, you know Look, most of us are already older anyway. We're already getting up a couple times. I get up two to three times a night anyway, and that's with cutting it off a couple hours, except a sip here and there, before bed. So, I already get up a couple times, three times a night, and I don't want people I'll get patients that say, "Hey, I'm up six, seven times a night, Jill. And when I get up, I drink, too. I can't deal with this," because they're exhausted the next day. You don't want to exercise. You don't want to eat the right foods. Nobody's maintaining a healthy lifestyle when they're exhausted. There's just no way. You're not going to meal prep. You're not going to get to the gym. These things don't happen when we're exhausted. So, sleep is so very important. So, I don't want you to be drinking so much that you're interrupting your sleep six times a night. I want you to think about it. Maintain a 2 1/2 to 3 L of output every day. You know if you're peeing that much, because once in a while, you want to measure it. Save your orange collection jug, get some Tupperware, whatever you need to do. See about how much you're producing every day. You can get some collection materials on Amazon, a hat to put under the toilet lid for ladies, the orange jug, men can pee directly into that. It's easier for them. The ladies can also get the orange jug along with the hat, like I said. And once in a while, See what you're doing, because what you think you're peeing, and what you really are, two totally different things. And always remember, this is one of the reasons we ask you to do the yearly urine collection to make sure you're staying, accountable with your lifestyle changes. I also want to throw in a small reminder that water is best, but all fluids count. That don't mean a six-pack of beer every night. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying, if you're having a beer with dinner, that counts as fluid. If you're having a glass of wine with dinner, that counts as fluid. It's when we overdo alcohol that, again, we don't make healthy lifestyle choices, and that can lead to dehydration going forward. So, what else did I miss, Jeff? You know, I go off on so many little detours. Go ahead. 00:09:55 Jeff Sarris Oh, no, it's perfect. I was just curious, the orange jug, is that a specific Is it a jug meant for this that's orange, or is it like a orange juice jug? ### 24 Hour Urine Collection Jugs and Supplies 00:10:04 Jill Harris No! I'm glad you asked. So, for people that haven't done a urine collection, people that have done 24-hour urine collections know that when you get your supplies to do it, there's always that orange jug in there. And I think they make it orange because, you know, people may have to carry that around, so people want some discrepancy when they're carrying this big jug. Not that there's anything, you know, you're not noticing when you're carrying a big old jug to the bathroom, but people don't want to show that their urine's in there. So, it's an orange jug that comes with the 24-hour urine collection kit. You can get those things just separately, though. You can just say "urine collection jug" on, Amazon, or, "urine collection hat," and you can get these items on Amazon. And or in your neighborhood medical supply store. 00:10:54 Jeff Sarris Yeah, makes sense. Yeah, so I like that you also You've mentioned in the past that you leave a glass of water sort of spread around the house, which I think is a really smart idea. 00:11:04 Jill Harris All over! All over. That's a good, yes, it's a Therefore, because, despite everyone thinks I'm like the most disciplined person in the world, I am, but there's things that I'm not so great at, and I would be very quote unquote "lazy" if I didn't have that reminder, too. So, I do like having In every room, well, there's only there's only three rooms in here. But in every little nook in my in my little apartment, there are water jugs that I just love. Usually, I find I love going to a thrift store and getting like the brown dark, little bottles. I love I love bottles, and I love jars. So, typically, it's in something like that, and my favorite color is the color orange. So, If it's not a glass jar, it's a plastic orange jar of some sort. And so, yeah, that motivates me. 00:11:53 Jeff Sarris Yeah, very cool. Well, yeah, I think that was a great answer to the question. And if you have a question for a future episode of the show, the number is 773-789-8763, and we will answer it on a future episode. 00:12:10 Jill Harris Yep! 00:12:11 Jeff Sarris But, yeah. If you want to dive deeper, we have the Kidney Stone Diet, course, the meal plans, everything is found on at kidneystonediet.com. If you're watching the video, you'll see the link, just below, but head to kidneystonediet.com where you can sign up for the email newsletter. You can get all of the free blog posts, the weekly message from Jill on the email, the, the course, the links to the prevention, group on Facebook. There's so much free content out there, but if you want to dive deeper, we also have you covered there. So. 00:12:44 Jill Harris Yeah, kidneystonediet.com. Also, I want to ask you guys watching this: Can you please help Robert out? If you have a favorite app or a favorite trick that you like to, monitor your water or fluid intake each day, can you please help him and write that in the comments? That would be a great service, and one of the things that Jeff and I want to foster here is a robust community. We have a really robust community on the Facebook page. I really like to cultivate a robust community where we're helping each other in the comment section, motivating each other. Share your tips and tricks, because there's people new all the time here, and some of you who have been with us for a long time, you're a wealth of information. So, we would love for you to share your tips and tricks. It will be very helpful for new audience members. And if you are new, what the heck? Please! Press the subscribe button! It don't mean nothing, except people can find us better. What the hell are you doing? You're watching the video, subscribe! Whenever I'm out watching somebody's YouTube channel, they're always screaming about, "Press the subscribe." And I'm like, "Why don't people do it? It's nothing." This way, boop, you do it, but then people can find us better. Like the video if you like it. If you don't like it, just say nothing. You don't got to press the hands down. 00:14:02 Jeff Sarris Yeah. But, yeah, it really goes a long way, and I think as like a viewer, we don't always know that, but it makes a big difference and helps us reach more people, and that's that is the reason we're here is to reach as many people as possible. So, yeah. 00:14:14 Jill Harris Yes. 00:14:15 Jeff Sarris Thanks again for listening and watching, and we will see you all next week. 00:14:19 Jill Harris Robert, that was an awesome question. Thanks, guys. See you soon.