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Q: Dr. Krishna, I have kidney stones. What diet restrictions should I follow?

Krishna: Your kidney stones will be analysed to know what they are made of. Depending on the results of the analysis, your doctor would recommend your diet restrictions. 

Based on the type of kidney stones you have, you may be able to prevent kidney stones by making changes in how much sodium, animal protein, calcium, or oxalate is in the food you eat.

You may need to change what you eat and drink for these types of kidney stones: Calcium Oxalate Stones, Calcium Phosphate Stones, Uric Acid Stones, Cystine Stones.

Calcium Oxalate stones: Foods rich in calcium, such as milk-based products, are recommended to help reduce kidney stones of this type. A person should include foods rich in calcium, particularly if consuming foods that are higher in oxalate such as spinach. The calcium and oxalate bind together in the intestines, reducing the formation of stones.

Spinach, nuts and nut products, peanuts—which are legumes, not nuts, and are high in oxalate, rhubarb, wheat bran are some foods that should be restricted for this type of stone formation.


Calcium Phosphate Stones.Reduce sodium
Your chance of developing kidney stones increases when you eat more sodium. Sodium is a part of salt. Sodium is in many canned, packaged, and fast foods. It is also in many condiments, seasonings, and meats.

Talk with your doctor about how much sodium should be in what you eat. See tips to reduce your sodium intake. Limit animal protein. Eating animal protein may increase your chances of developing kidney stones. Limit the amount of beef, chicken, and pork, especially organ meats, eggs, fish and shellfish, milk, cheese, and other dairy products you take.
Although you may need to limit how much animal protein you have each day, you still need to make sure you get enough protein. Consider replacing some of the meat and animal protein you would typically eat with some of these plant-based foods that are high in protein. Legumes such as beans, dried peas, lentils, and peanuts, soy foods, such as soy milk, soy nut butter, and tofu, nuts and nut products, such as almonds and almond butter, cashews and cashew butter, walnuts, and pistachios, sunflower seeds..
Get enough calcium from foods. 
Even though calcium sounds like it would be the cause of calcium stones, it’s not. In the right amounts, calcium can block other substances in the digestive tract that may lead to stones. Talk with a health care professional about how much calcium you should eat to help prevent getting more calcium phosphate stones and to support strong bones. It may be best to get calcium from plant-based foods such as calcium-fortified juices, cereals, breads, some kinds of vegetables, and some types of beans. Ask a dietitian or other health care professional which foods are the best sources of calcium for you.

Uric Acid Stones. Limit animal protein.
Eating animal protein may increase your chances of developing kidney stones.
Losing weight if you are overweight is especially important for people who have had uric acid stones.

Cystine Stones.
Drinking enough liquid, mainly water, is the most important lifestyle change you can make to prevent cystine stones. Talk with your doctor about how much liquid you should drink.

Tips to Reduce Your Sodium Intake. Adults should aim to consume less than 2,300 mg a day .3 One teaspoon of table salt has 2,325 milligrams (mg) of sodium. If you have had calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate stones, you should follow this guideline, even if you take medicine to prevent kidney stones.

Here are some tips to help you reduce your sodium intake: Check the labels on processed foods and avoid high salt foods. Also check labels for ingredients and hidden sodium, such as sodium bicarbonate, the chemical name for baking soda, baking powder, which contains sodium bicarbonate and other chemicals, disodium phosphate, monosodium glutamate, or MSG, sodium alginate, sodium nitrate or nitrite.

Q: Can Homeopathic and Ayurvedic medicines cure kidney stones? Which treatment is better?

Krishna: Science says Homeopathic medicines can't cure anything! They just have placebo effect. 

Here is my evidence...

Homeopathy ineffective, study confirms

1,800 Studies Later, Scientists Conclude Homeopathy Doesn’t Work

Another Review Finds Homeopathy Worthless

Homeopathy officially doesn't work, according to Russia's top scien...

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org...

This is what a liver transplant surgeon told me recently...

Ayurvedic doctors say they can cure kidney stones too. But you don't have reliable research on the subject. Without evidence, I am skeptical about it. Moreover, several ayurvedic medicines have severe side effects which are not studied properly. 

I, therefore, go with  Western medical practices that has reliable evidence. My vote goes to it.

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