Have you ever woken up to swollen fingers or ankles? What about the feeling of a tire around your waist? When your body holds onto excess fluid, things can get really uncomfortable. Thankfully, there are a few ways you can beat fluid retention.
Along with cutting back on the iodized salt and working out more, your diet plays a large role in beating fluid retention. Below are 20 diuretic foods that work to stimulate the kidneys to produce more urine and relieve you of uncomfortable bloat. Along with helping you to de-puff, these foods will help you drop a few pounds and lower high blood pressure.
1. Lemon
One of the best things you can do for your health is to start drinking lemon water in the morning. Lemons don’t just make your water taste better. They also help reduce high blood pressure, alkalize the body, flush out harmful toxins, and feed the body beneficial vitamins and minerals.
If you aren’t a huge fan of lemons, don’t worry. You don’t have to eat the actual lemon wedges to reap their amazing health benefits. Rather, the potency comes from the juice. So add some lemon juice to warm water, stir in a little organic honey, and drink up!
Once you begin drinking lemon water, you may notice yourself taking more trips to the bathroom. If you’re urinating more frequently that means it’s working!
2. Oats
A lot of people link oats to heart health since they can lower high blood pressure and bad cholesterol levels. What a lot of people don’t know, though, is oats are also considered a natural diuretic. That’s because oats are rich in water-soluble B vitamins along with potassium, a mineral that regulates water levels in the body. It works by competing with sodium to make sure your body stays hydrated. So just in case you were looking for another reason to start your morning off with a warm bowl of oatmeal, you’re welcome!
3. Celery
This popular vegetable has an extremely high water content (about 95 percent). For that reason, munching on celery can help flush your system and get you to “go” more often. In addition to being a diuretic, research shows that celery helps reduce glucose and blood lipis levels.
Celery is one of many hydrating foods. If you don’t care for the taste of it or just don’t like the texture, try adding it to a diuretic smoothie with other fruits and vegetables found on this page. You’ll be giving your body a big boost of nutrition. Plus, fresh juice is extremely easy for your body to digest.
4. Brussels Sprouts
Brussels sprouts contain powerful nutrients that benefit the body in more ways than one. They help fight chronic disease, protect the heart, improve digestive health, alkalize the body, and work as a natural diuretic. Just a one-cup serving of brussels sprouts will help you meet your daily requirement of vitamins C and K. They’re also rich in beneficial minerals such as manganese, folate, B vitamins, and potassium. It’s thanks to those nutrients that this vegetable helps stimulate the kidneys and pancreas, remove excess fluids, and purify the body.
If you are someone who can’t stand the thought of a pile of brussels sprouts as your side dish, try mixing them with other vegetables or incorporate them into your main dish so you’re not just eating them straight.
5. Ginger
Ginger is one of the healthiest spices you can eat. It is loaded with nutrients and bioactive compounds that have been proven to have powerful health benefits. One effect this popular spice has on the body is to rid it of excess fluid. Ginger has a powerful cleansing effect on the body, which is why it’s often used in detox programs to help flush out toxins. So next time you’re grocery shopping don’t forget to pick up some fresh ginger root. You’ll be surprised how often you use it when you have it handy. You can either use it to zest food or steep it in hot water to make ginger tea!
6. Beets
Beets are another popular vegetable that are rich in potassium, a nutrient that helps the body pass sodium through urine. As mentioned earlier, too much sodium is a major cause of fluid retention. So it’s important to cut back on the iodized salt and eat diuretic foods like beets. Along with their many health benefits, beets also offer a pleasant flavor since they’re sweet.
When choosing what style of beet to eat, go for fresh beets that you can either grill, boil, or steam. While some beets are better for cooking, others are better for pickling. Unfortunately, most of the beets for sale in supermarkets are the pickled kind, so you may have to check out a farmer’s market or other vegetable stands to find fresh beets.
7. Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is like nature’s medicine. It has a number of uses for both health and beauty. Along with fighting chronic disease, balancing blood sugar, aiding weight loss, regulating the body’s pH levels, fighting acid reflux, and improving digestive health, apple cider vinegar can also be used as a natural diuretic. It encourages the body to purge itself of unneeded fluids, leading to better urinary function and overall health. To reap the diuretic benefits, add a little apple cider vinegar to a glass of water and drink it down! The best part is you don’t need to use a lot of it to notice the benefits.
8. Cabbage
When it comes to cabbage, you can buy either green or red (AKA purple). They both have powerful diuretic benefits since they have a high water content (green cabbage is 93 percent water and red cabbage is 92 percent) and are a good source of potassium. Along with its diuretic effects, cabbage has also been shown to fight cancer and reduce the risk of heart disease. One great way to eat cabbage is by adding it to soup. This entails chopping or shredding the cabbage and cooking it until it’s very tender. The key is not to use too much salt when you make your cabbage soup, as that would reduce the diuretic effect of helping the body release stored up sodium.
9. Cranberry Juice
Perhaps you’ve heard that cranberry juice is a powerful home remedy for urinary tract infections. Well, that’s mainly because of its antibacterial and diuretic properties! One noteworthy feature of cranberry juice is that it leaves your potassium levels intact and also provides extra antioxidants to help your body battle free radicals.
Before sipping down your cranberry juice, make sure to reach for a brand that isn’t loaded with sugar. Also, opt for organic cranberry juice so you can avoid conventional berries that were treated with chemicals during the growing and preservation process.
10. Eggplant
Eggplant contains few calories (only 35 calories per cup) and a lot of beneficial nutrients that help the body fight cancer, lower high cholesterol, improve digestion, boost energy, help build strong bones, and flush out excess water your body is retaining. Eggplant’s powerful diuretic effects are a result of its high water content and potassium levels. Plus, it’s extremely low in sodium.
Along with making regular eggplant dishes, some weight loss enthusiasts drink “eggplant water” as a way of blasting water retention and beating bloat. So what the heck is eggplant water? Well, it’s exactly like it sounds! Cut up an organic eggplant and boil it in three-to-four quarts of water. Then, strain the boiling water. Put the water in the fridge and drink it throughout the day. To boost eggplant water’s diuretic effects you can add a bit of lemon juice!