How to Avoid Foods That Cause Water Retention

If you can't button your pants, your rings won't budge from your fingers and your feet are squeezed into your shoes, you are probably retaining water. Many factors contribute to water retention. Medications can be responsible for uncomfortable edema, or swelling, in the legs. Hormonal fluctuations can cause water retention in the hands, abdomen and feet. Food allergies can contribute to extra water weight as well. A change in diet is the easiest way to remedy water retention, or at least get the process moving in the right direction. Certain foods should be avoided while others should be added.

Instructions

Foods to Avoid

1. Eat fewer carbohydrates. When carbs break down in the body, they create water that gets retained. Limit starchy foods like breads, pasta and rice. When reading food nutrition labels, avoid the ones with the words "refined" or "enriched" in the ingredients.

2. Cut sodium out of your diet. Sodium hides in foods so it can be hard to recognize how much you're ingesting. Tomato juice and sauces, frozen meals and canned vegetables have enormous amounts of sodium. Switch to low and no sodium canned goods and skip the frozen meals altogether. Fresh is always better when it comes to eliminating water retention.

3. Add more fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables to your diet. Their naturally high water content will help flush out your system.

4. Rinse canned vegetables thoroughly before eating them. This will wash away much of the sodium the veggies were soaking in.

Foods to Add

1. Eat foods high in potassium. Potassium helps eliminate fluid retention by maintaining a proper balance of electrolytes. Next time you feel bloated, reach for a banana, melons, avocado or chicken.

2. Drink water. Even though water seems like the problem, drinking water helps move salt and other junk from your system.

3. Get more calcium in your diet. A couple glasses of milk and a cup of yogurt each day can help eliminate extra fluid. And if your tummy is a little bit off, the active cultures in yogurt can help regulate digestive troubles.

4. Add more protein to your plate. Meats contain fat, but they're great sources of protein. Try to get at least 15 grams of protein in each meal in the form of lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs and lean dairy products.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• About Water Retention
• Water-Retention.net
• Water Retention Diet