OT Natural diuretic?

Okay, Butterfly, I tried this. Picture 4 barking, growling BIG dogs bouncing around in a small bathroom with floor space of about 2 ft. X 5 ft.! My HairyButt Gang are trained to voice commands only and my whistling brought them on the run- ready to defend and protect me from any and all strange noises. I laughed so hard that it had the same effect as whistling.... I guess that's a pretty good alternative??? Now I have company on every trip to the bathroom- just in case the mad whistler attacks me again and I need protecting? Sheesh!

Leslie & The Whistle Challenged Furbabies in MO.

Oh Leslie, I can hardly write for laughing >ggg< Boy, did I need a good chuckle. Don't know whether I dare form the mind picture - I might get thrown out of library and suchlike places, if it happens to cross my mind at the wrong time. Marvellous story! . In message , Leslie & The Furbabies in MO. writes

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO. wrote:

All those other posts had mucho good things to say. Here's my 50 cents.

I had somewhere between annoying and nearly incapacitating edema in my feet and lower legs and sometimes my hands for several years. Despite being on a diuretic blood pressure med. Despite walking a mile and a half every morning. The edema is basically gone. If I spend 3-4 hours on the computer in a row then my ankles get a little fat. Yes, some of the edema-banishment is due to losing 45 out of 90 lbs, but most of it due to my change in diet. Even before the weight started really coming off, the edema responded right away to a change in diet. I eat lean protein (no to low sodium - often a piece of chicken breast which I cook in batches once a week) for breakfast. I have an enormous salad (mixed greens) with some feta cheese and a good salad dressing for lunch. Then for dinner I have some form of protein, some whole grain something or other, and a veggie dish like carrots and ginger or celery sticks, or bell pepper slices or cucumbers or whatever and then fruit (or sometimes chocolate) for dessert. I do not snack and I find I am only hungry just when it it time for a meal. Unless I miss protein w/ my salad - then I get hungry around 4. I use no artificial sweeteners, no high-fructose corn syrup, no msg no artificial or "natural" flavors in anything I eat. I eat very little sugar at all. I limit starchy veggies to a little bit sometimes for dinner. Amazing how sweet that fruit tastes when you are no longer used to sugar and processed white flour. Even cucumbers are sweet! That whole 6-9 servings of veggies and fruits a day really made a difference. Especially when I chose to have more veggies then fruits. I also feel 20 times better, all the time. This diet is a funny combo of the venerable Carbohydrate's Addict Diet and the info from the National Diabetes Education Program. No, I don't have diabetes, but I also think that there are too many grains and not enough veggies in the normal food pyramid. I don't know what your general health is, Leslie, or how this plan I've used might fit w/ your life, but I do know that you ought to give your MD a call and ask about how any diuretic will interact w/ and prescriptions you may already have. Even a 'natural' diuretic.

liz young in cooling california - a recent convert to Good Food and Good Health

that depends... It all depends on your electrolyte balance. I was hospitalized a couple years ago for flu, pneumonia, and severe dehydration. After I got home, I was trying to make sure I drank lots of liquid and was told my doctor not to drink so much because my sodium and potassium levels were too low. Drinking too much liquid only diluted the electrolyte levels. Not a good situation. When in doubt, ask your doctor.

Julia in MN

There is a very old saying that will help you. "Take tea and P." Any sort of tea will work.

Eat asparagus. It is slow to start working so don't eat it for lunch or you will be up all night. Have it for dinner and it will do it's thing all night and the next morning you will be awake for the trips to the bathroom.

Drinking water rather than soda helps.

Debra in VA See my quilts at