Natural Food Diuretics to Help with Weight Loss & Water Retention

What are Food Diuretics?

Food diuretics are food that are mostly comprised of water, causing a diuretic effect when digested. Fruits, certain vegetables, and some liquids cause this effect.

How it Works

Food diuretics increase your need to urinate. When the body receives excess water from food, it causes the bladder to expel more water, reducing water weight that accumulates and causes bloating around the abdomen. Reducing water weight flattens the stomach and shrinks the waist temporarily, making you look slimmer.

Food diuretics also fill you up faster and are low in calories, causing you to lose weight. Replacing high sodium foods with food diuretics slowly reduces weight and rehydrates you. If you aren’t eating these foods now, you should.

Foods that cause a diuretic effect include:

Celery. Celery is packed with water, and some believe it actually helps the body burn calories.

Asparagus. Raw asparagus causes a diuretic effect.

Artichoke. Although it is slightly higher in fat, the fiber in artichokes are great for any diet.

Melon. Melons also contain numerous vitamins.

Watermelon. The most famous of all diuretic foods, watermelons are great for fulfilling any sugar cravings.

Liquids With a Diuretic Effect

Certain liquids also produce a diuretic effect. It puts pressure on the bladder, causing it to expel more water. Caffeine is the main chemical that causes this effect.

Liquids that cause a diuretic effect include:

Water. Ironically enough, water also helps the body shed excess water weight.

Green Tea. The caffeine in green tea lowers water weight.

Coffee. Caffeine causes the body to shed water weight, along with speeding up the metabolism.

Sodas. Diet or regular, soda contains the same effect as coffee.

Cranberry juice. It helps ease bloating as a result of high sodium foods.

How to Incorporate Food Diuretics Into Your Diet

According to NutraLegacy, using diuretics as an alternative to prescription diuretics is a safer way to reduce bloating and stomach distension. It safely reduces bloat without affecting your electrolyte balance and causing dehydration.

To incorporate these foods into your diet, try the following:

• Replace high calorie snacks with sliced fruit.

• Eat more vegan salads.

• Aim for two cups or more of green tea per day.

• Wake up with a cup of coffee or soda.

• Drink cranberry juice regularly after a workout.

• Drink eight cups or more of water per day to hydrate yourself.

• Incorporate asparagus or celery into stir fry dishes or pastas.

Making simple changes to your diet will help your body shed excess water weight that causes temporary weight gain and bloating, making you look slimmer instantly. Make sure to lightly cook these food diuretics, or if you can, eat them raw to retain those benefits – cooking it too much zaps the water from it.