Foods That Help (and Hurt) When You Have A UTI

Transcript:

Melanie: Hello, and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. If you're listening to today's episode, you may be the one of many women who have experienced a urinary tract infection or UTI. Did you know that UTIs are the most common outpatient infection for women? In fact, 50 to 60% of women will get a UTI in their lifetime.

So chances are statistically, if you are a woman, you will have or have experienced a UTI at some point in your life. And not only that, but about 40% of women will get another UTI within six months of the first infection. So it's no wonder that this is such a requested topic here on Dishing Up Nutrition and a common concern that our clients come to us with. So I am excited about this topic.

Britni: Yeah, me too.

Melanie: I think it's been a long time coming.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Melanie: And giving some women relief is huge. And in today's episode we'll share what causes a UTI, how food can make a difference. Surprise, surprise, food makes a difference.

Britni: Absolutely.

Melanie: And some key supplements to take as part of your prevention and recovery plan. But first, we'll take a moment, introduce ourselves. I'm Melanie Beasley. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian.

Britni: I'm Britni Vincent, also a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. And I've been here, I had recurring UTIs for probably five years. And they are not fun.

Melanie: They are not fun.

Britni: And it got to the point where my doctor just gave me a bottle of antibiotics in case I got one.

Melanie: You just were, that was a different world.

Britni: It was a different world. I hope that is not still happening anymore.

Melanie: You know and Britni, I also was like you. I had chronic UTIs in my forties.

Britni: Wow.

Melanie: And they put me on low dose antibiotic that I was on for a year and a half. Every day took an antibiotic and a bladder spasm medication.

Britni: Yikes.

Melanie: Yeah. So we get this.

Britni: Yeah, we get it. We've been there.

Melanie: They're absolutely miserable.

Britni: They are. But, and we're going to talk about too, like what helped ours and also these antibiotics that you're being put on, we're going to talk about what are the negative effects of all of those as well? And I think that there are probably some people wondering how can a dietician help my UTI?

But we're going to dive into the microbiome and how diet and your microbiome play a huge role in recurring UTIs. And I know there are a lot of you out there like Melanie and I, that know that discomfort and that pain very well.

Melanie: Are you or even an aging parent or a grandparent that struggles with these?

Britni: Yes.

Melanie: I feel like this is actually kind of a simple fix.

What causes a UTI?

Britni: Yeah. They're easy answers. You can get some relief quickly. And I do think that these individuals that have the recurring UTIs, they're willing to make some changes just to get some relief. So I want to start by first talking about what causes a UTI.

Typically, they are caused by unwanted E. coli bacteria entering the urinary tract through the urethra. Which is this little tube that connects the bladder to the outside of your body. And I know most people think E. coli and they think of food poisoning, which is true. But also we all have E. coli in our, in our body. It's just a matter of keeping it at bay, making sure that there doesn't become an overgrowth of it.

Melanie: Yeah. And there's certain places we don't, we're not supposed to have E. coli.

Britni: Exactly. Which is in your bladder, your urethra. So in the case of a UTI, what happens is that E. coli bacteria gets into the urinary tract where it shouldn't be, spreads up the urethra toward the bladder, and that bacteria can very quickly multiply to reach the point of becoming an infection.

Mel: And further, if you don't address the bladder infection, it can create a kidney infection. And that's a dangerous situation.

Britni: Very dangerous. Yeah. And I mean, I know someone that, that happened to. They had to be hospitalized because of it. And you might also be wondering, typically you just hear of women getting UTIs, and the reason for that is that the fact is that females have a shorter urethra, so that just allows for an easier introduction of bacteria to the bladder.

Melanie: Of course, we're special. But I have, I did have, a couple male clients that as they aged 'cause their urine flow was not great, they kept getting bladder infections.

Britni: Yes. It can happen. I've seen it too.

How would you know if you have a UTI?

Melanie: Well, let's talk about how would you know you have a UTI or a urinary tract infection? A lot of the common symptoms are burning during urination, or you have intense or frequent urges to urinate, or your urine might be cloudy or might be off colored, or it might have a strong odor. There might also be pain or pressure in your abdomen. You might see mucus in the urine.

So, pelvis, lower back, even fever and chills. Blood in the urine can occur in more severe cases. And if you experience these symptoms, you can go in for a urine test at your doctor's office I would recommend immediately.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: Or urgent care. And they can confirm whether you have an infection or not.

Britni: Then you know, typically UTIs are going to be treated with an antibiotic to clear out that E. coli or unwanted bacteria. But if it doesn't clear up, which sometimes happens, individuals may need multiple rounds to treat the symptoms. And like we said earlier, many women who get a UTI will get another one within six months.

Melanie: Yeah. Terrible. And I don't know about you, but I was definitely one of those women that had to go through multiple courses and if they don't, the antibiotic is geared towards specific bacteria. So each UTI has a different bacterial cause of the infection.

So different strains can cause different infection and if they don't target it properly, guess what? It didn't go away. And you're going to have it again. And I'm one of those individuals ended up in the ER.

Britni: Oh, that's awful.

Melanie: Yeah. It just kept creeping, you know, up. And it's extremely painful. It's, and in elderly, it can cause confusion. So if you have someone that you care for who's a senior and they start seemingly very confused, especially females, it could be urinary tract infection without any of the complaint of the symptoms.

Britni: Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned that. And another, you know, another reason why for some women they can become recurring is E. coli is very smart and persistent. So it actually can attach itself to the lining of cells and it can create biofilms, which is like little communities of bacteria and they can be really difficult to get rid of. So maybe the antibiotic gets rid of some of them, but not all of them. ‘Cause they're just kind of hanging on for dear life on your bladder.

Melanie: Survival. They’re trying to survive.

Britni: Exactly. So then, you know, in any of these scenarios, within few weeks, few months, another UTI appears and then you need another round of antibiotics. And you know, of course sometimes these antibiotics are necessary 'cause you definitely don't want to develop a kidney infection, but then the problem is these ongoing antibiotics long term can be extremely problematic for your microbiome and also contribute to some of these repeated infections.

Melanie: Yeah. Because remember, antibiotic, anti means against; biotic means life. So it wipes out all the life everywhere, not just the bladder.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: When your microbiome gets out of whack and becomes unbalanced, that's called dysbiosis, which is defined as an imbalance of microbial species. So the bad bugs outweigh the good bugs.

More reasons UTIs can become recurrent

Britni: I also want to share, you know, we talked about a couple reasons why these can become recurrent infections, but I want to share a few others. So incomplete bladder emptying. I know that a lot of individuals have that. Urinary incontinence.

Vaginal atrophy. So that especially is going to happen, you know, when you're post-menopausal. So I've had women who've never had a UTI in their life, now they're post-menopausal and they've become a major issue and, and this is part of the reason why, and then diabetes is, is another risk factor.

Melanie: Yeah. All that sugar running around in your bloodstream feeds that bacteria.

Britni: Sure does.

Melanie: I'd also like to say that food allergies and intolerances can cause inflammation. So anywhere if you're eating foods that you're allergic to, that food and that allergen touches everywhere, there's blood. So wherever there's a blood supply, which of course is in your bladder, your urethra, your kidneys.

So they can become just as irritated as maybe your gut or your joints or your brain. So if that is an irritation, then guess what? When your bladder is continuously irritated or your urethra, that irritation allows bacteria to adhere better. Because it's of the inflammation.

So that was my situation. When I was removed from gluten, dairy, corn, and sugar by a very smart allergist, I was off three prescription medications in six weeks. I didn't need them anymore.

Britni: Amazing.

Melanie: It was amazing. I had been scoped for cancer, everything, and it was food intolerances.

Britni: Wow. So, well, I'm so glad you shared that because that is definitely not a connection that people are going to think of and I do think, unfortunately, a lot of people have food intolerances out there

Melanie: And it's on the rise.

Britni: It is. Yep. And you probably don't know it, you know, everything's relative, right? You eat the food all the time. You're not going to necessarily know that that's the issue.

Melanie: So a little tip would be, do you feel like you have urinary urgency? Do you feel like it burns when you go to the bathroom sometimes? Do you see cloudy urine but you get tested and there's no UTI? That all of that is indication of irritation, which I would hazard to say a good percentage, nine times out of 10 if you remove some of these allergenic foods, even the, you know, people start feeling better.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: That goes away. Suddenly they don't have to find every bathroom everywhere they go. Yeah,

Britni: Yeah, that's amazing.

Melanie: So often when I've met with clients, they get the infection, they take the antibiotic to clear the infection, and then they'll end up with a yeast infection after the antibiotics; also, a risk for more UTIs is if you have yeast overgrowth.

And now we have double the trouble, and this can be such a vicious cycle of infection, antibiotic and yeast, and clearing the yeast and then getting an infection again. It's very miserable. You and I have sat in that soup. And it is not a happy place to be. It feels like this is my life now?

Britni: Yeah.

Support the microbiome to prevent recurring UTI’s

Melanie: So today we want to offer some solutions to keep you out of that loop, or if you're already in that loop and you've been there and done that, and you don't want to go back, how do you break that crazy cycle that you're already in?

Britni: Well, let's go back to the microbiome. You know, when we think of microbiomes, typically we think about the intestinal microbiome like our digestive tract. Many of you listeners have probably heard of the gut microbiome, but lesser known is that our microbiome is not limited to the gut. Some examples are our mouths.

We have an oral microbiome. Our skin has its own microbiome, as do the lungs, our eyes, our reproductive organs, and the bladder is definitely no exception. The bladder also has a microbiome, and that good bacteria in our microbiome is the first line of defense in our immune system. So we can keep out those bad invaders or prevent them from developing an overgrowth.

So after taking rounds of antibiotics for bladder infections, it's going to clear out the bad guys, but it's also clearing out the good guys. So that just puts you even more susceptible to developing an overgrowth of bad bacteria.

Melanie: Yeah. Really well said, and you know, just to revisit, the microbiome is just a garden of bacteria.

Britni: Yep.

Melanie: Our Garden of bacteria lives and competes with yeast.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Mel: It occurs naturally and both together and they're always sort of battling each other. And when you take an antibiotic, it wipes out the bacteria so the yeast can now flourish. And that's why you end up with thrush or a vaginal yeast infection or, you know, a yeast infection anywhere. It could be a rash.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: So if you think of this garden of bugs we're supposed to have on our skin, in our digestive tract, we're supposed to have this, but it's supposed to be in a certain format. And that's what we call a “healthy microbiome” without overgrowth of one or the other.

Britni: And there are more bugs in our microbiome than there are human cells, so they have a lot of control over how our body functions.

Melanie: Yeah, yeah. It's kind of scary and gross to think about when you put it that way.

Britni: Just a little bit. As dietitians, we always focus on how to build up resilience, strengthen our microbiome through real food or a food plan that's going to limit inflammation as much as possible. So we are going to take a break and when we get back we are going to explain what a diet like that actually looks like.

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Avoid inflammatory sugar & flour from ultra processed foods 

Melanie: Well, many times on Dishing Up Nutrition, we explain that sugar and flour from ultra processed foods are inflammatory. We've said it a lot, so keep in mind that sugar feeds yeast and bad bacteria, and when blood sugar is high, our immune system is weakened. So think about the foods you're currently eating that might be causing inflammation.

And I'm not just talking about sugary treats. I'm talking about foods that also convert to sugar, such as starchy crackers, bread, pasta, potatoes. Those convert to sugar very rapidly because they're so high in carbohydrate. And when you eat these foods, the body has to deal with the stress of all that sugar. And like I said, that sugar feeds the bad bacteria.

So if someone is more prone to UTIs, staying away from sugar is something we have to be really conscious of. The doctor that I mentioned, that wise allergist that I went to, had me off sugar for a year.

Britni: Wow.

Melanie: No maple syrup, no honey, no sugar, no brown sugar, none of it. Nothing for a year. So it cleared up everything. Yeah, it worked. And I owe my life to him, but I was, I remember thinking as a dietitian, 'cause I had to be gluten, he told me, you need to be gluten, dairy, corn, and sugar free. And I was a dietitian. I wasn't working here. But I remember thinking. What am I going to eat?

Britni: Oh my gosh.

Melanie: Like there's all these other foods. But I was still like, sort of dumbfounded.

Britni: Yeah. And you're so much healthier now.

Melanie: Yeah.

Britni: Yeah. So I want you to think about how you feel after eating, after certain foods; how that inflammation manifests in your body. Picture a huge plate of pasta or, you know, maybe it's pizza for you. How does your body feel within a couple hours? Or how do you feel when you wake up the next day? Maybe you feel bloated, maybe you feel puffy. You notice it in your face, or you can't get your rings on and off. Your joints might hurt a little bit.

Melanie: Well, that sour gut, you know? People feel like, oh, just sour gut. And I had diarrhea the next day.

Britni: Yes. Yeah. They're tired.

Melanie: Puffy eyes. Bags under their eyes.

Britni: Well in that same exact way, that could be how your bladder's feeling. So I tell my clients, if you are having an outward sign of inflammation, imagine what's happening inside.

Melanie: And by the time you get a symptom, and I've said this before, by the time you get a symptom, it means that inflammation is built up so much in your body, that symptom is your body's flare gun. It says it can't handle it anymore, and it's sending out, you know, an SOS in the form of a symptom. Bloating, gas, heartburn, diarrhea, sticky eyelids, puffy face, under eye bags, vaginal, rectal itching. All of those are symptoms.

Britni: I think that's, that is very helpful to picture all of that. And we don't always necessarily know what's going on internally, but in the situation of a UTI or if you're just eating very inflammatory foods, that inflammation can go to that bladder, inflame those tissues. Then turn those tissues into being very susceptible to collecting that bad bacteria; turning into a UTI, just like you explained earlier with the food intolerances and the food allergies, so basically long story short, sugar, ultra processed carbohydrates that are going to turn into sugar, feed those bad bacteria, create inflammation, and increase the risk of developing a UTI.

Avoid/limit dehydrating beverages & bladder irritants & what to include for hydrating

Melanie: I think a lot of those foods are really, really dehydrating. So now the bacteria, we're not flushing out, so we can't, we have to mention caffeine, which is one, it's a bladder irritant. And two, you may notice after drinking coffee or caffeinated beverage that you have to go to the bathroom more frequently.

Soda: extremely inflammatory because it's both, a lot of times it's like a Coke or a Pepsi. It's both caffeine and sugar. And caffeine is a diuretic, so it's going to make you excrete liquids faster and you're going to get more dehydrated. Urethra and bladder are much more susceptible to a UTI.

So I'm not saying that you have to completely eliminate caffeine. You just have to be aware for I think for every cup of coffee we recommend two to three glasses of water.

Britni: Yeah. And drink water in the morning before you start drinking your coffee. I think that's so important.

Melanie: Because you fasted overnight both food and water. So you've got to start rehydrating those tissues. Dehydrated tissue harbors bacteria. So then if you're drinking caffeine with sugar, you know it's a double hit. So we want to eliminate sugar. You know, if you have a chronic UTI, I would say decaffeinate and to help your bladder and your kidneys.

So, and also focus on some purified water, herbal tea, you know, there are things that are delicious. I'm decaffeinated 'cause I can't sleep on caffeine, but you know, I have lots of delicious things that I like to drink and it's usually like herbal tea. Sometimes I'll do a Zevia soda, which is basically bubbly water and flavoring and stevia.

You know, there's nothing in there. And then if you want a hot beverage, there's lots of great tasting teas out there. You know, we've got the Key Greens, chocolate, and espresso with some hot water.

Britni: That’s yummy.

Melanie: You can make a mocha and instead of soda, a sparkling water. Maybe a little flavored stevia drops. We, there's even a root beer stevia drop. My daughter used to love that. So there are a lot of options for soda and coffee alternatives on the market these days because so many people want to avoid sugar and caffeine. But let's make sure that you're getting the water in.

Britni: Water should always be your primary beverage.

Melanie: Absolutely. So half your body weight in ounces of water.

Britni: Yep; spread out throughout the day.

Melanie: Not a Bubly, not a LaCroix. Half your body weight in water, and then the herbal teas and the little soda water or something like that, that is all extra.

Rebalance the gut after antibiotics & discussing key supplements

Britni: So, you know, we mentioned at the beginning of the show, taking antibiotics reduces our microbiome. Diversity gets rid of the bacteria that's making us sick, but also taking out the good bacteria in its path. So then there's an imbalance or dysbiosis of the gut. And then, like you described, Melanie, it increases the likelihood of that yeast overgrowth at that point. So when we go on a run of antibiotics, we want to rebalance our gut afterwards.

And this is especially important if you've gone on several rounds of antibiotics like most of us have, if you've had recurring UTIs. So we suggest adding in probiotics. I think this is so necessary to be able to get rid of them for good.

Melanie: Which sounds counterintuitive; right; that you're adding in bacteria when you think you have a bacteria problem. So tell us more about that.

Britni: Yeah So this good bacteria is going to help to kill off the bad bacteria and rebalance your gut. So instead of having too much of the bad stuff, you are going to once again have more of the good bacteria that increases your immune function. So just your ability to fight off an infection, it's going to reduce inflammation in your gut. And your microbiome's going to be a whole lot happier.

Melanie: A whole lot happier. And that was one of the things that the allergist put me on immediately was a probiotic.

Britni: That was the answer for me: Acidophilus. And when I finally got rid of them, that was about the time that I went gluten-free. So that probably had something to do with it. Never put two and two together

Melanie: Gluten-free, some acidophilus.

Britni: Yeah. So I haven't had a UTI in over a decade, thank goodness.

Melanie: That's fabulous.

Britni: Yeah. But I used a lot of acidophilus powder for a period of time just to crowd out that E. coli, and that bad bacteria drinking lots of water.

Melanie: So listeners are going to say, what's a lot, Britni?

Britni: If I felt like a twinge of uncomfortable feeling, you know, you know the feelings if you've had one. I mean, I would do a couple teaspoons and just drink it throughout the day.

Melanie: Yes.

Britni: And if you're just trying to prevent them, I would do at least a half a teaspoon before bed.

Melanie: Yeah. I did the same thing. We traveled to this tiny little beach house in Alabama, we were miles away from anything, and I had that twinge that something was coming, and I, at the time worked here, but I never travel without Acidophilus and a couple supplements that we're going to talk about because I just started hammering the water. The acidophilus, UT Soothe, the Cran Max, all of the things that we're going to talk about and it went away.

Britni: Because it works.

Melanie: Because I didn’t know what I was going to do. It was an hour to get anywhere.

Britni: Back then it was acidophilus powder, which is still a wonderful option. Another really great option is a probiotic called Women's Biotic Balance, which includes acidophilus. It also includes other bacteria, probiotics, that are more prevalent in your vaginal tract in your bladder; 'cause we actually have acidophilus in our bladder. Which is kind of interesting. So that would also be a good option. Preventatively taking one before bed if you felt a twinge, something, I would probably do three of those.

Melanie: Yes. I do have some women who are so prone to UTIs. I have them before intimacy, I have them do a half a teaspoon of acidophilus, a big glass of water, and a Cran Max and a scoop of UT Soothe.

Britni: I am really glad you brought that up because that's unfortunately another risk factor. A lot of women develop UTIs after intercourse. And so that is a really great protocol. And you could also have a little probiotic afterwards too later that day.

Melanie: Or even that night. Now I want to talk a little bit about, you know, the cranberry juice, 'cause everyone just runs out and buys cranberry juice. So where this information came from is cranberry does have an ingredient in it that it does help offset the risk of urinary tract infections.

And that's d-mannose. It's a cranberry extract. But drinking a bunch of cranberry juice, even if you were to get the concentrated cranberry juice that is so tart, you can hardly get it down.

Britni: Yeah. It's rough to drink.

Melanie: It's rough to drink, which I tried early days.

Britni: I did too. But we're, when you go out and you just get the regular cranberry juice, that is 90% apple juice and sugar. Sometimes even high fructose corn syrup. So you're feeding a problem.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Melanie: Not something that we want to do. So kick that cranberry juice to the curb.

Britni: Instead of cranberry juice, you can use a supplement called Cran Max.

Melanie: Love this.

Britni: So one capsule of Cran Max has the equivalent of eight ounces of cranberry juice,

Melanie: Real cranberry juice.

Britni: Yes. Pure cranberry juice, which I do not think you want to drink eight ounces of. I usually recommend one or two capsules of Cran Max daily as part of your UTI prevention plan. And then you mentioned another supplement.

Melanie: Yeah and I love, I love, love this supplement. When I have seniors that are in senior living, people come to me and say, my mom has chronic urinary tract infections. I love this product. It's called UT Soothe. And this is my go-to when I'm working with someone, anybody who even just walks in off the street into our clinics, they're battling UTI, immediately, I grab the UT Soothe.

And so if it's a real problem, early days, I might say a scoop in the morning, scoop at night twice a day and then until we get the microbiome built up with maybe the Women's Biotic or some Dophilus powder, acidophilus powder, and then they can even mix those two together in cool water. And drink it down twice a day. Always; I've not have even clients that I have that have to catheterize themselves, this has really cut, I would say 90% of the UTIs.

Britni: I agree.

Melanie: Yeah, so it's, it's great. It's a fabulous product and the, the upside, it tastes like sugar.

Britni: There you go.

Melanie: D-mannose tastes like sugar. So, and it doesn't raise your blood sugar, so it's not hard to get down. Here's what D-mannose does. D-mannose is that, it comes from cranberry and it binds and sticks to the E. coli so that it can’t stick to the urethra.

Instead it gets excreted in the urine, which is what we want. So you can just flush it away and you don't have it harboring an infection. So that's what I recommend for clients is again, one scoop of UT Soothe per night for prevention. And this is a great alternative to taking an ongoing preventative antibiotic, which is devastating your microbiome.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: And if you feel symptoms coming on, you can increase that dosage. I think I told you when I was in Alabama, I was taking it three times a day with Dophilus powder and lots and lots of water.

Britni: Yes, push the water.

Melanie: Push the water. And I think just the travel I'd gotten dehydrated and it was Alabama, it was hot.

Britni: Love this product. It is so helpful. And you know it's getting rid of that E. coli for good. So, you know, it's something you want to continue for a period of time until you're in the clear for quite a while. Or if you are somebody that just is at a higher risk of getting them it's not harmful at all to do it every day to make sure that you don't get one coming back.

Melanie: Imagine if we would've known about this.

Britni: I know. We would save, save ourselves when we bus ourselves a lot of damage to our microbiome and save us a lot of discomfort too. So I think this, along with the Women's Biotic Balance I mentioned earlier, great prevention plan.

Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated

Melanie: And now that we've talked about diet and key supplements, what are some of the lifestyle factors or food first things that we can do to help UTIs? 'Cause we are that food first company.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Melanie: The first thing I want to say is prioritize drinking water. Let's push that again. Half your body weight in ounces of water. I talked to a client just today and she needs about 80 ounces and when I met her she was only drinking 30. So guess what?

Britni: She's pretty dehydrated.

Melanie: She was dehydrated? She was having dry eye, she was having urinary tract infections. Probably one every two or three months. So, filtered water is always best 'cause you know, it, the chlorine. Our water is chlorinated, so you can get filtered water that pulls the chlorine out. That's ideal. And if you don't have filtered water, still drink your water.

Britni: Yes, for sure.

Melanie: If you're someone who's really susceptible to UTIs and don't like drinking water, just think, drink water, or get a UTI.

Britni: Easy decision.

Melanie: It's an easy decision. I'm going to get it down. If you like it cold, if you like it lukewarm, I find that you can get it more of a volume down when it's room temperature and has a straw.

Britni: Yep.

Melanie: And then put the number of rubber bands at the top of your water bottle that you need to fill it to get half your body weight in ounces. Every time you empty that water bottle, roll a rubber band down. All the rubber bands are at the bottom, you get to go to bed.

Britni: Perfect. Get a, I would also suggest get a water bottle that holds quite a bit of water.

Melanie: Yeah.

Britni: So then you're not having to fill it up as much during the day. And I have found that makes people more successful as well.

Melanie: Especially if you're someone like us and you are, you know, you're “Zooming” people or talking to people at the table, getting up and filling it, you, that's just not always an option.

Britni: Yep.

Melanie: So it's a good idea if you are someone who's working and you're talking, and if you are talking all day, you are using, you know, if you've ever fogged a mirror with your breath, you are using moisture. So you and I have to drink a big glass of water after this?

Britni: We sure do. I mean, optimally, I know I feel better if I drink more than half my body weight in ounces and I think it is just that if I'm talking all day.

Melanie: So we want you to aim for 10 to 12 glasses of filtered water daily. And limit those caffeinated beverages. Certainly remove the sugary beverages, but drinking water is a powerful, preventable habit. If your urine is dark gold, you are dehydrated. Your urine should always be a pale, pale, straw butter color. It should be very pale and it starts getting concentrated or cloudy you are dehydrated, so it's time to up your fluid.

Britni: And if you are taking like a multivitamin or B vitamins, you may notice your urine gets kind of neon colored and that's completely normal.

Melanie: Those are just the metabolites of activated B vitamins. So as a really good point, don't be alarmed if you're taking a multivitamin or you just started a multivitamin that has Bs in it and you're like, oh my urine is neon colored. What is happening? Those are just the metabolites of really good activated b’s. So no fear.

Recap

Britni: So to recap, bacteria like E. coli love sugar. And grows very rapidly from sugar. So think sugar equals more UTIs or think limit sugar in processed carbohydrates and you will reduce your chances of getting another UTI. Real food is always the best answer.  

Melanie: And you know, you know, we touched on food allergies. Gluten is the top offender. And gluten from wheat is the top offender, so I always remove it if someone has chronic UTIs.

Britni: Yeah, that's a good recommendation.

Melanie: Because it irritates everything.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: And then remember, you can include some key supplements in your daily routine like Cran Max, UT Soothe, the Women's Biotic, Dophilus powder, acidophilus. You can visit our product website, nutrikey.net to learn more about those supplements.

Shop Nutrikey Supplements

If you click on them, there's a whole bunch of information that you can read about them. And don't forget, water is your friend. Keep your kidneys and your bladder healthy, happy, and hydrated. We hope you've enjoyed listening today. For your best help with UTI prevention, we recommend coming in meeting with one of the dietitians here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness.

And we'd be happy to cater a whole supplement food plan for you that's specific to your body's needs, and then give us a call. If that sounds like something you want at 651-699-3438, or you can visit our website at weightandwellness.com to learn more. Thanks for listening to Britni and I today.

Britni: Thank you.