Five Easy Ways to Keep a Urinary Tract Infection Away
If you've ever had a urinary tract infection (UTI) then you know how painful they can be. Every time you have to pee, it burns. The urine can smell really bad, have blood in it or be an off, cloudy color. You might feel like you have to suddenly pee but then when you get to the bathroom hardly anything comes out. You could even run a fever. No matter what symptoms you experience, none of them are any fun.
So how do you keep the infection away? Here are five easy ways:
1. Drink lots of clean, clear, filtered water every day. You should be drinking about half of your body weight in water every day. Your body is made up of about 75% water and it is really important to keep that replenished.
2. Reduce the amount of acidic beverages you consume each day. Acidic beverages include coffee, sodas, and alcohol. In other words, about everything other than clean, clear water and herbal teas.
3. Reduce the amount of acidic foods you eat. Acidic foods include non-organic fruits and vegetables that come to your local grocery store with pesticide and herbicide residues still on them. They also include fast food and meats raised in the confined animal feeding operations (CAFO).
4. Increase organic foods that contain D-Mannose in them. These foods include green beans, blueberries, blackberries, apples, oranges, peaches, hibiscus, rose hips, broccoli, and mushrooms. Studies have shown that this constituent has the ability to keep E-coli from attaching to the cells along the walls of your urinary tract. E-coli is the bacteria that is responsible for 90% of infections you get in the urinary tract.
5. Empty your bladder completely each time you feel like you need to, including after having sex. Each time you go pee you are flushing out any bacteria that may have found it's way into your urinary system. Remember, mom always told you – there's a bathroom – try to go even if you don't feel like you have too.
The body has a tube, called the ureter, which takes urine from the kidneys into the bladder. This tube is only meant to have the urine travel in one direction. If you fail to empty your bladder when it is full, and there is no more room for incoming urine from the kidneys, back pressure builds up and can cause permanent kidney damage (Occhiogrosso, 2021). Much better to drain your bladder on your own than having to end up in the emergency room getting your bladder drained by them.
References
Carter, A. (2019). Can D-Mannose Treat or Prevent UTIs? Retrieved from the Healthline website at https://www.healthline.com/health/d-mannose-for-uti
Cooper, T. E., Teng, C., Howell, M., Teixeira-Pinto, A., Tong, A., & Wong, G. (2020). D‐mannose for preventing and treating urinary tract infections. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020(5), CD013608. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD013608
Domenici, L., Monti, M., Bracchi, C., Giorgini, M., Colagiovanni, V., Muzii, L., & Benedetti Panici, P. (2016). D-mannose: a promising support for acute urinary tract infections in women. A pilot study. European review for medical and pharmacological sciences, 20(13), 2920–2925.
Mannose FAQs (2021). Retrieved from the NOW website at https://www.nowfoods.com/healthy-living/FAQs/mannose-faqs
Occhiogrosso, J. (2021). How to Improve Your Urinary Health. Retrieved from the BensNaturalHealth website at https://www.bensnaturalhealth.com/blog/how-to-improve-urinary-tract-health/
Wong, C. (2021). The Health Benefits of D-Mannose. This supplement is said to prevent urinary tract infections. Retrieved from the VeryWell Health website at https://www.verywellhealth.com/d-mannose-for-bladder-health-89443
