Urinary Tract Infection: Your Food is your Medicine!
More then 50% of women suffer from
urinary tract infection at least
once in their life time. Not only that,
if you get a urinary tract infection once,
you have a probability of getting it again. So,
today we will talk about hot to know if
you are suffering from urinary tract infection, what
precautions you can take &, how
food you food can be your medicine for
your urinary tract infection. Lets get started…..
You may have urinary tract infection if you are suffering from:
- Pain/burning sensation when passing urine
- Cloudy or red urine
- Strong, frequent urge to urinate, but you are able to pass only small amount of urine
- Strong smelling urine
- Abdominal pain
- Feeling tired and exhausted.
You are at high risk of getting urinary tract infection if you are:
- Pregnant
- Women with menopause
- Diabetes
During these phases, your immunity becomes low and
your chances of catching infection increases.
3 Precautions to take if you are suffering from urinary tract infection
1)Drink plenty of water
Drinking less water is very common reason to get
urinary tract infection. Due to lifestyle changes,
everybody stays in air conditioned rooms. So
there is lack of thirst and you
forget to drink water. This leads to
less passage of urine and because of that,
urine in bladder become more concentrated. It is
necessary to drink at least 2.5—3 litres of
water per day so that your urine will flush
properly along with the bad bacteria.
2)Pass urine frequently, don’t suppress your urge of urination.
Many young girls and also mothers have habit of
suppressing their urge of urination as
either they are lazy or they don’t have
time to urinate due to heavy work load. But,
this habit can also cause some other
serious problems other than infection. That’s why
you should pass urine whenever you get an urge or
once in every 2—3 hours.
3)Keep your private part dry and clean.
As bacteria grow fast on wet area, it is a must
to keep your private part dry and clean. This is
very important – avoid wearing tight jeans or
synthetic material especially during summer. As during summer,
you sweat a lot & it is very much necessary to
wear loose cotton cloths. They will help you to
keep proper aeration around your private parts. If you
already know about these points, start following them 😊.
Now let us see,
Food that can help you to cure your urinary tract infection:
CURD ( PROBIOTICS)
Probiotics establish new bacteria in your
urinary tract, which will protect you from
frequent infection. You can have curd
directly else you can also have butter milk. Butter milk will
also help you to increase your liquid intake.
GARLIC
Garlic is used traditionally since ancient time due to
its medicinal properties. Freshly cut raw garlic contains
Allicin. Cloves of garlic contains alliin and when
cloves are cut and crushed, an enzyme- alliinase is
released. Alliinase and alliin react to form
allicin, which is considered major biological
active compound. It is Having antibacterial as well as
antifungal properties. You can have garlic in both
raw and cooked form. Another food that help you in
urinary tract infection is…
ALFALFA
Alfalfa is said to be a good diuretic (that means
one which help to increase passage of
urine easily). It does not kill the bacteria but
help by stimulating more frequent
passage of urine. You can sprout alfalfa and
can have, else you can grow alfalfa green, add it
to your salads. But a word of caution here-
it should be avoided in pregnancy and autoimmune diseases.
Consult your doctor if your urinary tract infection
persists for more than 2-3 days….
That all for today.
See you next Tuesday with another Tuesday tip.
Till then….
Take care….
Providing simple solutions for the complexities of life.
Dr. Bhumita Makwana
Your Dietitian & Cosmetic Clinician.
