Everyone knows the feeling when, in the evening, your ankles swell, your rings press, and your jeans cut into your waist, even though you haven’t eaten anything new. This is not weight gain. This is fluid retention, caused not so much by salt, but by improper drinking regimen, stress and what we drink.
Even if you try to eat clean and avoid fast food, some daily habits can cause swelling. For example, coffee on an empty stomach, green tea in liters, dehydration during the day and compensation for it with evening soups with salt. The body retains water not because of salt itself, but because of electrolyte imbalances, especially magnesium and potassium deficiency. Add to this a sedentary lifestyle, stress and lack of real water, and you get ideal conditions for chronic edema.
Often, fluid retention is caused by drinking more than two cups of coffee a day, dehydration when consuming less than 1.5 liters of water, evening smoothies with banana and yogurt, soups and broths with salt after six hours, as well as energy drinks or so-called detox waters with ginger and lemon on an empty stomach. If you regularly experience swelling, try eliminating these habits for at least five to seven days.
Instead, drink at least 1.5 liters of water per day, starting in the morning and distributing portions in small sips. Herbal teas without sugar help well: mint, chamomile, nettle or lingonberry leaf. It is worth adding vegetables with a high potassium content to your diet: cucumbers, zucchini, zucchini, spinach and asparagus. For fruits, choose kiwi, pineapple and watermelon, but it is better to eat them in the first half of the day. Proteins help keep water inside cells rather than in tissues. Use only sea or Himalayan salt, and add it to food no later than four o'clock in the afternoon.
In the morning, be sure to drink a glass of water before coffee and breakfast. Try not to drink a lot half an hour before and during meals. Prepare dishes without salt, and add some salt on the plate if you feel the need. In the evening, do a simple routine: lie on your back, raise your legs and vigorously flex your feet for a minute, then stroke your legs from your ankles to your hips. At night, you can place a pillow under your calves. This improves fluid outflow.
If swelling does not go away for more than two weeks, is not related to nutrition and is accompanied by shortness of breath, weakness or pain, be sure to consult a doctor. Sometimes this is a signal of problems with the kidneys, heart or thyroid gland.
Question and answer:
How to remove swelling without diuretics?
Replace coffee with water, remove salt after 16:00 and eat more vegetables with potassium.
What to do in the evening?
Lie on your back, raise your legs up for 10 minutes and lightly stroke from bottom to top.
Does water help with swelling?
Yes, but only if you drink it evenly throughout the day. Dehydration is the main cause of water retention.
