Looking through prior blog posts, I noticed I had never written about how to eat during urine collection. Here’s an article about why you should do a urine collection—it’s the most critical thing you can do to see WHY you are forming stones. This article is a must-read.
First 24-Hour Urine Collection Day
If this is your FIRST urine collection, you should be eating and drinking like you did before you knew anything about stone prevention. I know you’re thinking, “There is no way I am going to eat spinach and almonds ever again!” Fair, but do everything else like you did. If you were not drinking much water, do the same thing on the first collection. Did you eat out a lot? Go out to eat during your collection. You want to see how that old way of eating changed your urine chemistry into that of a kidney stone maker.
And no, YOU WILL NOT MAKE A KIDNEY STONE IN 24 HOURS, nor will an existing stone grow in 24 hours. That being said, I am fully aware you might ignore this advice bc you have been traumatized by that kidney stone you passed or had removed! I am merely explaining what one SHOULD do.
If you do choose to ignore my advice (I will not have hurt feelings), please alert your doctor that you changed your diet to the kidney Stone Diet® during your collection so they understand why your results look so good! Because some of them come back to me and say, “Jill, these are a waste of time and tell us nothing. Why do you keep telling patients to do them?” I explained that you guys changed your diet, and the doctor understood.
Follow-Up Urine Collections
Follow-up urine collections are the only way to see if your lifestyle changes have the desired effect, which means they are lowering your kidney stone risk. Some of you will exceed expectations, and your results will show that your kidney stone risk remains low. That is an excellent feeling! Good for YOU!
Some of you will see that despite your best efforts, it might be time to bring a medication into the treatment plan. Please don’t give up hope; the meds used in kidney stone prevention have their place for certain people and can and will (in most cases) lower your kidney stone risk.
The follow-up urine collection is the day to show the doctor, me, and yourself how far you have come on the Kidney Stone Diet®. But I still want you to be reasonable. Do the Kidney Stone Diet® but on your average day. If you are still not near the sodium or added sugar goal, show where you are.
Eat as you usually do with the new changes you have incorporated. This way, you can see if your kidney stone lifestyle is having the desired results we are looking for to lower kidney stone risk.
Food Tracking on Follow-Up Urine Collection Day
Many of my patients and students write down what they eat on the day of both urine collections. It can be beneficial to see how well you choose foods, whether or not you’re getting enough calcium or still overeating salt.
When I go over urine collections, I will often ask if you remember what you ate, and this can help me help you identify foods that have salt that you might have overlooked. It happens a lot!
An Essential Side Note
Do you know how I always say that if Harvard didn’t study a food, eat that food once or twice a week in standard portion size? AND get your calcium needs met each day? Well, if you are eating a food that you don’t know the oxalate content of, please eat that food during the follow-up urine collection so that you can see if it is increasing your oxalate level.
I’m sure it isn’t, but I think you will be happy that you did it for peace of mind. My patients tell me this is excellent advice, and I think it will be for you, too.
Annual Urine Collections
Don’t forget to get your annual urine collections done. Your doctor most likely will NOT remind you but I can’t tell you how many patients don’t do this and wind up with another stone. Please read this article to discover why and ensure it does not happen to you.
Your friend and advocate,
Jill
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