Not enough water and to much acid foods

[lauriemp4]

For me I know it's the way the I was eating. I loved vinegar and tomtao sauce,salsa, and aged cheeses.

I abused these foods on a daily bases since I was very young. They were a comfort to me.

I didn't drink enough water, and I did not balance these foods out with other healthy variety of fruits and vegtables and alkaline foods. Now I can't have them at all.

I am now trying to find all natural products for me and my home,like detergents cleaning product, shampoos, facial products.

I can use some tips on what products work for you.

[flowerangela]

laurie,i agree about the food and water.. i strugged with those myself too. i also believe heredity and stress/anxiety have a lot to do with it.

[JeanAnn56]

Hi Laurie

I have been alkalizing my body and my IC is getting better. I eat oranges, apples, almonds, tofu, green vegtables, almond butter,

I have been doing this for a week and my ph is 7 now..it was at 5 and my bladder was killing me. Now I have now pain and am feeling so much better.

It may behove you to look on line about alkaline and acid foods. Becasue some of the foods we think promote and acidic environment dont like oranges...they actually turn alakaline in our bodies.
I feel so much better and when I would eat bread, or cheese (only a little mind you) my body became acidic again. So today i am eating only alkaline forming foods. The therory is an alkaline body is a healing body and can not get sick. When the body is acidic all kinds of things can happen ie: cancer, arthritis, all kinds of disease. Actually my arthritis is not as bad. I am sure it will take months before I can introduce some acidic foods....They also suggest that as the body ages in becomes more acidic.

Any way hope you are feeling better. This is working for me and I have hope...

jean ann

[cmclien]

Unfortunately its not that simple, please see this link on urine ph and body ph:

http://www.ic-network.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66925

I don't disagree that I feel better when my urine is 7 vs 5. I achieve that by using magnesium and calcium citrate which are alkalizers. This is better then eating foods which will hurt the bladder and cause pain.
Oranges are not good for IC no matter what because its not just about the ph. Citrus fruits cause us pain yet they are very alkaline in the body too. I wish it were just about ph because then it would be so easy to solve! Meats are very acidic yet they are good for IC...see what I mean?

Water, bad diet, ph all of this stuff effects our IC but it doesn't cause it. Probably because our bladder linings are compromised all of these things effect it. If we had normal bladder linings we could eat vinegar and tomatoes and coffee and cocoa and the list goes on

[JeanAnn56]

Not to disagree or offend

I read all the threads that you included and the one Julie included, none of them really explained how the body process's foods....some of the research talks about the body processing what we think of as acidic foods, ie:lemons, oranges and grapefruit to be alkalizing, now if one were to put lemons on a cute of course this would hurt, because the lemons have not gone through the alkalizing process...

I am activly eating this way and i feel better....perhaps my body is different and what works for one will not work for all...it is even helping my painful arthritis.....
time will tell and I plan to do this for at least 3 months...unless the pain comes back...then back to the drawing board....

Jean Ann

[cmclien]

Jean Ann
I hope what you are doing works for you and no one says you have to follow the IC diet it just helps lots of people. Its ok to do your own thing, I just thought I should point that out when I saw your post.

When I saw my urogynecologist last month and he diagnosed me he gave me a list very similar to the diet here excluding these types of foods. The list was for both OAB and IC and the biggies to avoid were all the same as those here.

I think there is something intriguing about PH but like Julie said even if you eat foods that turn acidic all day long your body will do all it can to maintain a PH of just around 7. I DO agree that when my urine ph is 7 or even 6 there is less burning then if it is lower. I guess my point was you can maintain the IC diet and get your urine to be more alkaline by taking citrate supplements.

Good luck with it all!

[lauriemp4]

HI JeanAnn,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience with the alkaline foods. I am so happy to here the this diet is working for you! It sounds like you have done your studying and no how foods are processed in the body. I am still doing some studying myself and don't know what works for me yet. I guess it's just trial and error!

I am on my first two weeks of being on the IC network diet and I will stick to that for two months until I have some success, and then I will try other foods.

Thank you for the tips I will look into the information you gave to me about these foods and please let me know if these alkaline foods continue to bring healing to your body.

[lauriemp4]

I agree with you flowerangela!

[lauriemp4]

Thank you Cmclien for sharing your thoughts with me.

[JeanAnn56]

I had a full no pain day

We own rental property and I had to drive an hour there and clean!!! I took all my food with me and supplements. I did a wonderful job, drove back and I have had no bladder pain or frequency.

I am grateful for this place. We can always agree to disagree. What works for one may not work for another.

I have been diagnossed with IC since 2001. I was in remission and forgot I had it. Had 3 operations and 6 sinus infections then in September my ic flared again!!! Been trying to get it under control since. i feel that I am on my way....

i dont only do this diet (alkaline foods) I also drink herb tea desinged to coat the bladder and other supplements...

It is trial and error, but I have learned so much from being on this board. its absolutely wonderful..

I pray all of us find our solution....and share them too..

Love
Jean Ann