In this post, we are going to talk about the foods that are bad for UTI and how bad are they for UTI.
because some of them may be bad for the uti but are not so bad that you shouldn’t eat them at all and some others can be very bad for the uti. so that if you have a uti you can eat just very little amounts of the bad foods or maybe you are not allowed to eat them at all.
so there are varying degrees of how bad they are to your condition of uti.
on the other hand, some of them may carry both benefits and harms for the uti but the harms may exceed the benefits. while others may have been not extensively researched yet but they may carry some possible harms to the people having UTI.
so if you are a person who has a uti keep away from those foods, because if you do so you may notice some improvement in your condition without having to take medications or pay a visit to the doctor.
so here is a list of the foods not allowed for the UTI or the foods that are harmful for the UTI:
1_ chocolate
2_ spicy food and foods that have a strong stingy taste
3_ cakes and cookies and similar stuff
4_ red meat (harmful to uti only if you have kidney stones)
5_ vegetables (harmful only in high amounts)
6_ pizza and other flour-based foods
7_ salty food (harmful to UTI only if you have kidney stones)
but keep in mind that they vary in the degree of harm that they may impose on the person having a UTI. next, we will discuss each one of them individually and tell you why is that food harmful to uti and how much harmful it is on the UTI.
but before we do that I want you to know some little piece of information which is that the UTI is caused by bacteria (in most cases it’s the E. coli bacteria).
the bacteria that cause UTI just like any other bacteria do not prefer an acidic medium in other words high acidity kills the bacteria or at least makes things more difficult for the bacteria.
so if the urine was acidic the growth and spreading process of the UTI bacteria will be weakened. on the other hand, if the urine was alkaline the UTI bacteria will find it easy to grow and spread to other areas which is something you don’t want to happen.
I know that because I’m a pharmacist and I have seen the effect of acidic conditions on the bacteria. not to mention that there are some acids like (acetic acid) are used medicinally for their antibacterial activity meaning their activity to kill bacteria and that is because of their acidity that the bacteria cannot endure.
ps: acetic acid is used to treat ear infections.
but how can you find out if your urine is acidic or alkaline?
now let’s get the foods that are in the list and break them down for you:
1_ chocolate:
the reason why chocolate is bad for UTI is that it contains caffeine, high amounts of it, now what does caffeine do to people with UTI?
well first it is a urinary tract irritant, more irritation means more bacteria which means a worsened UTI.
the bacteria will gather around those areas where the urinary tract inner walls have been irritated which will even worsen the UTI condition.
irritation to the urinary tract means more bacteria leading to worsened UTI.
the second thing that caffeine does to the person suffering from UTI is that it has diuretic activity, in other words, caffeine can make you go to the bathroom and pee more often. increased urination can make you consume all the water in your body and make you dehydrated.
Because basically what caffeine does, is that it takes the water from all around your body and puts it in urine. Even if caffeine is not a powerful diuretic, if you consume enough amounts of it on a regular basis it can make your body somewhat dehydrated.
Dehydration is the worst thing that can happen to you if you have a UTI. when there is no water to flush it out the bacteria can play freely in your bladder, ureter, or even your kidneys.
in general, if you are dehydrated the bacteria will have more freedom in your urinary tract to do the harms that they usually do when they get the chance. and if you think that by drinking a lot of water you can compensate for eating a lot of chocolate then you are wrong.
because the diuretic effect of the caffeine in the chocolate will make it faster for the water to get out of the body through urination. which means there still will be times where your urinary tract and even the whole body is dehydrated which as we said is very bad for the UTI.
in conclusion, chocolate and the other foods and drinks that contain caffeine (like coffee or tea) are bad for UTI but you can still have one of them every now and then. ps: coffee is equally bad for UTI as chocolate.
2_ spicy food and foods that have a strong stingy taste:
in India, they like spicy food a lot and they put different kinds of spices on almost every type of food they eat.
even though it’s delicious eating spicy plates like the Indian plates or similar plates that contain a lot of spices are not good for you if you have a UTI.
eating spicy plates or plates that has pungent or a stingy taste can irritate your bladder or urinary tract in general which will make the process of treatment a lot more difficult.
although there are some studies that suggest that there are some spices that have an antibiotic activity which can be a good thing for people with UTI.
still, those studies need to be extensively researched before we can say for sure that those particular spices have some antibiotic activity.
so till now, the results lead to one thing and that is spices and spicy food is bad for you if you have a UTI.
so keep away from them if you want your treatment process to move swiftly. but you can have some of them when you have treated the UTI successfully but not too much.
3_ cakes and cookies and similar stuff:
because of the amount of the refined sugar that is in them and not only that, it’s not just sugar and that’s it.
it’s cooked in the oven or whatever and when the sugar is put in high temperature it undergoes a series of chemical reactions making it more complex sugar.
and when we eat it, it will be a lot harder for the body to neutralize or regulate those complex sugars. a lot harder than if it was just the simple sugar that is not cooked.
any type of food and drink (but here we are only talking about food) that contain refined sugar should be eliminated from your diet or at least you should have as little as you can from it.
because the sugar will decrease your immunity.
in fact, even if you do not have diabetes your body will take some time (probably about 3 to 4 hours) to neutralize the amount of refined sugar that you ate.
during that time your immunity will be weakened by the refined sugar so you will be more exposed to disease and bacteria like the UTI bacteria during that time and if you already have a UTI then things will be even worse.
in addition to the amount of refined sugar that is in the cookies and cakes they also contain a significant amount of carbohydrates.
carbohydrates will be turned into sugar inside the body, so in addition to refined complex sugar in the cakes and cookies and similar desert plates there will be the sugar that is coming from the carbohydrates.
now while the carbohydrates that are turned into sugar by the body while they are not as dangerous as the refined sugar. if you take them at the same time as you take those refined complex sugars which is what will happen when you eat cookies and cakes… etc then you will be in danger.
so reduce the number of cookies and cakes and similar dessert plates to the least amount possible if you have a UTI or better if you do not eat them at all during the course of your treatment.
after that, you can return to eating them but only in reasonable amounts. while cakes, cookies, donuts, and others can impede your immune system and reduce its ability to fight infections like UTI, supplements like centrum and centrum silver for the elderly can do the opposite.
centrum and centrum silver contain the vitamins and minerals required by our immune system to keep fighting foreign infections like UTI and to work at full strength.
we need vitamins and minerals like vitamins A, B, C, D, E, potassium, magnesium, manganese, and others to strengthen our immune system and also to keep our body very healthy.
check the price of centrum or centrum silver from here on Amazon.
4_ red meat:
if your UTI was caused by kidney stones or if you previously experienced the problem of kidney stones or if you know that your kidneys are prone to forming kidney stones then you should reduce the amount of red meat that you consume in a day.
the protein in the red meat is going to be metabolized into uric acid by the body.
this uric acid compound, this compound is either directly responsible for forming uric acid kidney stones, or indirectly responsible for forming other types of kidney stones through increasing the acidity of the urine.
now, what do kidney stones have to do with UTI?
well, first kidney stones will be a source of attraction to the bacteria and second kidney stones when they move through the kidney and ureter and bladder and the parts of the urinary tract, in general.
they will cause wounds and scratches to the inner walls of the urinary tract those wounds and scratches will attract more and more bacteria and the process will be too much painful.
there are many types of kidney stones.
if your kidney stones were of the uric acid type (usually they called uric acid kidney stones), then you should decrease the amount of red meat that you eat significantly.
because the red meat is responsible for the formation of that kind of kidney stones. while if your kidney stones were of the calcium oxalate type or any other type of kidney stones then it’s O.K. to eat red meat, but only in moderate amounts.
if you exceed the proper limit then you will increase the chance of kidney stones formation.
but if your UTI was not caused by a kidney stone and has no association whatsoever with any type of kidney stones then feel free to eat as much red meat as you like.
but do not go crazy because eating too much of anything is not healthy in general.
5_ vegetables:
although vegetables are very healthy and are advised to be included in our daily dishes by a lot of food experts, in spite of that, vegetables can also contain some harms for us.
although most or all the vegetables contain important vitamins like vitamin A and vitamin C and vitamin E and vitamin B and other important vitamins and minerals in varying amounts.
vegetables also contain some toxins and some bad chemicals like cyanide and tannins and others which can have numerous bad effects on the body.
especially on the gastrointestinal tract which is the stomach and the duodenum and the colon.
it has been found that some vegetables are responsible for some cases of gastrointestinal infections and that they are related directly to those infections.
which means that vegetables can bring infections to the intestines which are the first step toward getting a urinary tract infection (uti). because as we mentioned earlier if there are harmful bacteria in the intestines especially in the colon these bacteria can travel from the colon to the bladder and lead to uti.
I should mention that this is how most people get infected with uti.
so vegetables are not always good.
but you should know that the possible harm that you might get from vegetables is mostly coming from the raw uncooked vegetables and especially if these raw vegetables were not too much clean.
so you must take good care of the hygiene of your vegetables especially if you gonna eat them raw.
ps: most of the toxins and harmful compounds in the vegetables can be neutralized by adequate cooking so if you gonna eat vegetables try to cook them and incorporate them with meals.
in this way, vegetables will only be healthy and good for you and they will contain no harm to your health.
although vegetables might contain some harmful compounds and chemicals in them these compounds are not found in high amounts in vegetables.
so you will have to eat relatively high amounts of vegetables to get some harmful results out of the vegetables. even if they were raw and uncooked. but if they were not clean that’s a whole other issue.
at the same time vegetables contain a whole bunch of healthy nutrients and vitamins and minerals that you will benefit from.
so the degree of danger that you might get from vegetables if you have UTI is not very much high.
but you need not eat high amounts of vegetables but rather you can eat moderate amounts of it. and better you can cook those vegetables so you can get rid of all those possibly harmful compounds in it and then you can eat as many vegetables as you like.
6_ pizza and other flour-based foods:
because of the number of carbohydrates that are found in these types of food, these foods can carry some dangers for people suffering from UTI.
these flour-based foods like pizza and other stuff have lots of carbohydrates, more than your body needs.
so it will end up for these extra carbs that you have consumed to be turned into sugar which gonna circulate in your body for some hours before your body can neutralize it.
and during that time it can lead to a reduction of your immune system’s strength. also, some of it will go to the urinary tract where it can be a source of attraction that the bacteria will feed on it and that will lead to worsening of your UTI condition.
so you will need to get a little low with that pizza you wanted to eat.
you will not need to cut down every flour containing food from your meals but rather you will have to decrease the amount of flour containing foods or you can cut them down until the UTI is healed.
after that, you can return to eating moderate amounts of it. I said moderate not eating that delicious pizza like crazy haha.
7_ salty food:
you might think that what does salt have to do with uti?
well, it has to do with a lot of things for people who have UTI, especially if their UTI was a result of a kidney stone or a kidney disease.
while if the UTI was not caused by a kidney disease or a kidney stone then it’s ok to put salt in your food but just know that high amounts of it are not good for your overall health.
first of all what is salt or what is table salt?
salt or table salt which is the type of salt that humans mostly consume and put in their foods is sodium chloride.
this sodium chloride is a key contributor to the formation of kidney stones inside the body although it contributes to other kidney diseases as well.
kidney stones are one of the major factors that can lead to UTI because it can cause wounds and scratches that can attract bacteria as it moves inside the urinary tract.
so if you have uti that are caused by some sort of kidney disease or by a kidney stone then you must refrain from eating salty foods or incorporating salt in your meals.
but if you do not have a kidney stone then it’s ok to consume salt in your meals moderately.
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in the end, I want to thank you for reading this article till the end and I wish you the best of health and safety. thank you and goodbye.