Prevent kidney stones with water

What if I told you that it's not the amount of water that you drink, but the amount of water that goes out that helps you prevent kidney stones. Let's talk about that.

Let's talk about that.

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.

Hi, I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse.

So, this is all about water today, but it's actually a little more complex than just drink more water. And we want to prevent stones, but what do we actually have to do to do that? And how does water really play such a key role?

Yes, it you know it is right Oxalate is always the m- most common thing. But then the next thing, "Jill, how much water, how much water, how much water?" And I annoyingly say to Theresa, that's asking, "Theresa, it's about what's coming out." "Oh, Jill, why? Why can't you just give me the answer?

Why can't you just say, 'Drink 75 oz of water,' so I know?" Because we're all different and it is annoying. I know it.

I know, cuz I would put myself in the viewers' position or my patients' mind and I'm like, "I know you're going to be mad at this, Estelle. But let me tell you, it ain't about what you're drinking in." Because Jeff and I can drink the same amount of water, and I may pee more than Jeff does. Why?

Because I have a lower sodium diet maybe than Jeff. Jeff has a good, very good diet, by the way. Obviously.

But I'm I'm just going between the two of us.

I could eat less sodium than he does, so I'm going to retain less water, so I'm going to pee more. I could eat more added sugar than he does, so he will pee more. We all know that sodium makes us bloat, but so does added so does added sugar, by the way, folks.

That's one of the reasons that there is a goal as well. So,

Maybe Jeff and I go work out together. I sweat more a lot. I sweat more than he does, so I'm going to lose fluids through my skin, so he may pee more.

So, there's many different reasons why if Jeff and I drink the same amount of water, he's going to pee more than I do. I have a lot of bowel issues, so a lot of the fluids I take in come out the other end.

So, if I were to do a urine collection, the doctor may say, "Jill, you're not drinking enough." But I am drinking enough. It's just not it's just it's not It's coming out the wrong way [laughter] because I have bowel issues. So, when we're talking or when I'm talking to patients that have Crohn's and colitis, I'm very careful.

I'm like, "Listen, Cheryl, I see that you have colitis, so I'm not going to necessarily tell Cheryl

That she should be drinking 100 oz of water cuz that could make her colitis worse and she's going to lose all these fluids through her stool. Or somebody who has an ileostomy. I had an ileostomy for several months when I was re- recovering from a surgery.

If I drank more, that bag would feel more. So, it wasn't hydrating me. It was dehydrating me more because I'm losing it through stool.

So, you know, again, and this is why a lot of people are walking around without their stones being prevented. If this was easy,

We wouldn't have this channel. But it's not. You got to talk to people.

You got to find out what they're dealing with. And especially if you're dealing with bowel disease patients, not everyone is not everyone is as open as I am. And if they're going to talk about, "Look, I'm pooping too much if I drink much," or, "I have bowel disease," or, "I have a lot of diarrhea." People that's there's there's there's Not everyone is as open with that.

Cuz I'll say, "Did you talk to your doc?" "No, Jill, I don't want to talk to them about that." So,

You got to you got to disclose with the doctor what's going on because otherwise, the doctor's hollering saying you're not drinking enough. And the And I said, I have said to patients, "Did you tell the doctor that if you drink more, this will happen to you?" "Well, no, Jill." So, people are embarrassed, you know? So, again, there's more to it.

So,

Typically, what I drink Say I'm drinking 90 oz a day. I may pee more than that. Why?

Because I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, too, by the way. So, that's another thing. Jeff and I can drink the same amount.

He's going to pee more than I do just simply because fruits and vegetables have so are so water-based, right? So, there's so many different factors. So, you need to understand

If you're on a lower sodium diet, paying attention to the kidney stone goals, you'll actually need less water to produce more urine. We want at least two and a half liters. We want at least two and a half liters to minimize stone risk.

The more you pee, the less saturated your urine is with these crystals. So, if you're peeing, peeing, peeing, these crystals are flying out of you, flying out of you. If you do not drink, and you do not pee,

These crystals sit in your kidney and they're like bumper cars hitting each other until they finally connect to each other and start clumping together to form stones. This is why it's the number one thing. You must drink enough water.

All fluids count. You're drinking milk for your calcium? God bless.

Beautiful. You're drinking orange juice because you're trying to keep your pH up a little and also getting the calcium fortified?

Great. That counts. You had a beer tonight cuz you needed one, you had a crappy day?

It counts. 17 beers don't count, cuz you're going to be peeing so much, you're going to be dehydrated, unless you're drinking water every time with those beers. But you know darn well, I'm not going to say you should have 17 beers.

And people say, "Well, I drank beer to pass my stone." It wasn't just beer, it was cuz you were drinking a lot of fluids. Okay? So, anyway, I digress.

But so all fluids count.

Water is best. But if you're having maybe you want a smoothie, that's fluid, it counts. Okay?

So, how can you check? "Well, Jill, I you know, I am not doing a urine collection every day. How do I check?" Well, if you've done a urine collection, which everyone who watches this channel should be getting one ordered, you can always save that jug.

And random days, you know, if six months down the line after you do a urine collection, you can just do, you know, pee in the jug for a day.

And ladies, save the hat that goes under the commode. And save it and once in a while I have a lot of patients that do this. Every six months they're like, "Let me just see what I'm doing." And they can say, "Oh, my god, I've fallen off track," or, "I'm great." And just from a daily basis, if your urine is looking pretty clear every day, you're pretty well-hydrated.

So, that's a good indicator, too, without having to slap a hat on the toilet and keeping the orange jug in the bathroom. But

Enough fluids to produce two and a half liters a day, and that's one of the biggest that is the biggest thing to decrease stone risk. People will say, "Jill, I'll do your diet, but I can't drink more water." You will still make stones. You have to flush those crystals out of your system, out of your kidneys, specifically.

That's it, Jeff. Did I miss anything?

No, I think that's Yeah, I think that's perfect. But if you do have a question and you're out there, you can leave a message for the show at call.show/kidneystonediet or click the link in the description below. And when you're ready to prevent kidney stones for good, head over to kidneystonediet.com, where you can work directly with Jill on in her private consultations or a more self-guided approach

Through the free email newsletter, the meal plans, the prevention course. We have absolutely everything you need at kidneystonediet.com to prevent kidney stones. With that, we'll wrap and we'll see you next week.

Bye, everybody. Have a great week.