Gillian McKeith's Food Bible (271 page)
Read Gillian McKeith's Food Bible Online
Authors: Gillian McKeith
Alternatively, supplement with 5-HTP—this can be converted into melatonin in the brain and is available from health-food stores.
Take the supplements magnesium, to help aid relaxation if you find travel stressful, and/or B vitamin complex if travel tires you out.
To make your own pick-me-up, add a few drops of astragalus and Siberian ginseng to powdered vitamin C dissolved in warm water.
KIDNEY STONES
Kidney stones can cause terrible pain in the middle back, traveling even to the stomach area. You can end up in agony. They are almost always made up of calcium oxalate, which is created when oxalic acid binds with calcium to form stones instead of coming out in the urine. It’s really crystalized calcium. One side effect is that you may find blood in the urine. Fever, nausea, and vomiting may occur, too.
CAUSES MAY INCLUDE
Poor diet.
Calcium oxalate buildup.
Uric acid buildup.
Too much coffee.
Overly refined diet.
Too much meat.
High sodium intake.
Lack of dietary fiber.
Action plan
This plan will help prevent kidney stones and is not designed to help pass them. It is essential that you are monitored by your GP if you have kidney stones.
EAT/DRINK
A cup of warm water in the morning when you wake up and another one before you go to bed at night. Squeeze a few drops of lemon into the water, as that helps to cut down on uric acid, a contributory factor with kidney stones.
Dark green leafy vegetables, seaweed, tofu, buckwheat, lima beans, pumpkin seeds, raw shelled hemp seeds, and fish, which all contain the mineral magnesium. Magnesium makes the oxalate calcium more soluble so it can leave the body when you urinate.
Rice bran has been shown in studies to reduce urinary calcium.
Brown rice, buckwheat, avocados, sunflower seeds, blackstrap molasses, and legumes contain potassium, to balance sodium, and magnesium, for the proper utilization of calcium.