- Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are bacterial infections in the urinary tract system and can cause a variety of symptoms like painful urination, pelvic pain, and frequent urination.
- Avoiding spicy, acidic, caffeinated, processed, and fried foods and drinks can help alleviate your pain during UTI recovery and prevent further complications.
- You can implement certain lifestyle changes like wearing loose clothes, taking probiotics, and staying hydrated to prevent chronic UTIs.
- Seeing a healthcare professional about your UTI is super important, especially if you’re prone to them. You may have other bladder issues that can cause this flair-up.
- With lifestyle and dietary changes, you can relieve your UTI symptoms faster and prevent them from coming back.
While certain foods can be beneficial for UTI relief, some foods can exacerbate UTI symptoms and increase the risk of infection. By avoiding these foods below, you’ll give your body time to make more healthy bacteria like lactobacillus for your recovery. There are also at-home remedies and lifestyle changes that you can incorporate into your UTI prevention efforts.
Foods to Avoid for UTI Prevention
Think about your diet and see if you can reduce consumption of any of these foods to aid in your UTI prevention journey.
Spicy Foods
Yes, that means you need to stop asking for extra spicy for your sauces to go with your favorite meals and maybe cut back on the spice you use for seasonings. Spicy foods can cause irritation, pelvic pain, and sometimes a burning sensation while you’re urinating if it’s too much for your body.
Acidic Foods
It’s easy to get confused with acidic foods and fermented foods since they go hand-in-hand. But if you’re already sensitive to these types of foods, while you have a UTI is not the moment to try sauerkraut for the first time.
Avoid Sugary and Caffeinated Drinks
We all enjoy a beautiful cup of coffee or sipping on a sugary drink but sadly they are associated with increasing the risk of developing a UTI. Avoiding sugary and caffeinated drinks is not only better for your overall health, immune system, and weight loss, but your urinary tract will also thank you. We’re not saying to completely cut them out of your diet, but consuming sugar-sweetened beverages at least once a day increases your risk of developing a UTI by 1.8-fold.
If you’ve already developed a UTI, sugary and caffeinated drinks can increase your symptoms such as pelvic pain and a burning sensation when you urinate. If your symptoms don’t go away after trying these at-home remedies, then it’s important to see a healthcare provider to ensure it doesn’t go untreated, making your side effects worse.
Alcohol
Skip your nightcap to prevent any mishaps while recovering from a UTI as alcohol can cause you to get more dehydrated.
Processed and Fried Foods
Processed and fried foods can contain e.coli, especially if the conditions of the restaurant are not up to par so it’s best to avoid it altogether when you’re looking for UTI relief!
Home Remedies for UTI Relief
The pain and discomfort caused by a UTI is something we hope to never go through again. Fortunately, there are a few home remedies to help alleviate symptoms and promote healing.
Try some of these out before seeing a urologist:
Use Heat Therapy
The heat helps reduce pain, especially in the world of urology. By using heat therapy, you can minimize your overall pain and start to feel more comfortable in your body.
Take D-mannose Supplements
Taking D-mannose supplements can significantly reduce the symptoms of a UTI, providing better relief than not taking the supplement at all. This supplement helps with urinary health and works to prevent UTIs from occurring.
Practice Good Hygiene Habits
Good hygiene habits include drinking plenty of water, urinating after sexual activity (even if it’s just a small amount of urine), and wiping front to back to prevent infections in your urinary system. Good hygiene plays a huge part in your bladder health as it helps your urethra rid your body of toxins without bacteria getting in the way.
Photo by Bluewater Sweden on Unsplash
Lifestyle Changes for UTI Prevention
Managing stress is an important way to help prevent UTIs. As we said earlier, stress can weaken the immune system and alter the balance of bacteria in the gut and urinary tract, making it more susceptible to infections.
Here are some lifestyle changes you can implement in your life to prevent UTIs from developing:
Urinate Frequently
When you have to go, go! It’s as simple as that. Holding your pee can cause UTIs and bladder infections so it’s crucial that you don’t wait too long to go to the bathroom.
Wear Loose Clothing
Incorporating loose clothing into your wardrobe is super helpful in preventing urinary tract infections. Cotton underwear, loose pants, and breathable shorts are great options. We’re not saying you need to throw away your entire closet, but wearing tight-fitting clothes isn’t the most helpful when preventing a UTI.
Take Probiotics
A study found that women who took probiotics containing Lactobacillus crispatus experienced a 50% reduction in the incidence of UTIs over a 12-month period compared to the control group. But where do you even start? Lucky for you, Happy V has a great prebiotic and probiotic blend to start with!
Stay Hydrated
Drinking plenty of water is key to maintaining optimal bladder health and is great for UTI treatment. Consuming hydrating foods and drinking water allows your urethra to flush out toxins from your system, leaving you refreshed!
Seeking UTI Medical Advice
While home remedies and lifestyle changes can be effective for UTI relief and prevention (and honestly more convenient and affordable for some), it’s important to seek medical advice from a urologist if you experience severe symptoms of a UTI.
It may feel silly to go to a urology expert for this, but it’s important for your urinary health to receive quick and effective treatment for many reasons.
Accurate Diagnosis
An accurate diagnosis of a UTI means you’ll be treated for it quickly instead of waiting a few days and wondering if it actually is a UTI. Depending on your body, self-diagnosing can mess with your urinary system greatly and lead to other infections.
Proper Treatment
An accurate diagnosis leads to proper treatment, and more importantly, quick treatment. Let’s knock out this infection quickly and get back to living a normal life!
Monitoring for Complications
A lot of complications can arise from developing a UTI so going to a doctor allows them to monitor for other infections that can make you even more sick.
Prevention Strategies
Learning prevention strategies from an expert can ease your mind and encourage you to implement them in your everyday life.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Final Thoughts
Dietary changes and avoiding certain foods with UTIs can help prevent recurring infections! Once you implement these lifestyle changes and start on your Happy V probiotics, you’ll say goodbye to those pesky UTIs and hello to a new pain-free lifestyle!
Don’t forget to complement your efforts with the power of Happy V D Mannose + Cranberry Stick Pack drinks on the go. Boost your wellness journey by introducing these into your routine to say hello to a happier, healthier you!
Sources
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Butler CC, Francis N, Thomas-Jones E, et al. Variations in presentation, management, and patient outcomes of urinary tract infection: a prospective four-country primary care observational cohort study. Br J Gen Pract. 2017;67(664):e830-e841. doi:10.3399/bjgp17X693509.
Gharbi M, Drysdale JH, Lishman H, et al. Antibiotic management of urinary tract infection in elderly patients in primary care and its association with bloodstream infections and all cause mortality: population based cohort study. BMJ. 2019;364:l525. doi:10.1136/bmj.l525.
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