Our Kidneys: How They Work and How We Can Manage Kidney Disease

Kidney disease is one of many diseases that are on the rise. But before you can understand what kidney disease is, you need to understand the function of our kidneys and things that may effect them.

First, our kidneys (yes, we have two of them) are bean shaped. They are about 4 to 5 inches long. They are located in the middle of our back, below the rib cage on either side of our spine.

The kidneys act as filters for our body. They filter waste and water from our blood and bloodstream. This waste and water then leaves our water through our urine.

Inside our kidneys are about a million tiny filtering like units that work to remove this waste and water. On the average day, our kidneys may filter about 200 quarts of blood a day. Now you might start to understand why they are so important to our bodies.

They also work to make sure certain chemicals are balanced in our blood. If our kidneys are healthy they will know when there may be too much of one chemical. They will then begin eliminating this chemical from our body in the way of urine.

When one is taking medications, for whatever purpose, our kidneys also act in removing them, when the medication has done its job. If our kidneys are not functioning properly and we are taking medications our bodies do not need, the medications will work overtime and build up in our systems.

Our kidneys also releases some hormones (these are substances that help our bodies to regulate activities) as our bodies need them. For example, they release the hormone erythropoietin. This hormone is the one that informs our body when it is time to make new red blood cells.

Since our kidneys do all of the functions, now you may understand why kidney disease is a disease that needs to be taken seriously. There is no cure for kidney disease. But there are treatments that may help, such as medication, changes in one's diet. Here are some more examples of what you can do if you have kidney disease of if you just want to maintain good kidney health, before a problem arises:

Eat a well balanced diet

Avoid a high diet of protein (meats and dairy products)

Eat more grains, fruits, and vegetables