7 Dietary Concerns that Can Trigger Incontinence This Summer
Everything you might love about summer—eating delicious fried chicken at picnics, enjoying ice cream after a day in the sun, and sipping endless glasses of cold iced tea—are also the things that remind you how frustrating incontinence can be during the warmer months.
While some foods like whole grains, lean proteins, and nuts can promote bladder health, other foods can aggravate incontinence symptoms. That’s why it’s important to listen to your body so you know which foods and drinks may be problematic. Here are some you might want to eliminate from your diet this summer.
Caffeinated Beverages
Caffeine is a diuretic that stimulates the muscles of the bladder, causing an involuntary contraction that contributes to the increased urge to go. This doesn’t mean you have to completely give up coffee or tea. Try to restrict your intake to one cup a day.
Alcohol
Alcohol also acts as a diuretic that can trigger the symptoms of urinary incontinence—both in frequency and urgency. If the bladder is weak, the increase in urine flow can result in more leaks. Additionally, alcohol is a depressant, which suppresses the area of your brain that tells your muscles to contract, which can interfere with your ability to notice urges, increasing the chance of accidents. Just like caffeine, it’s important to limit your consumption to one alcoholic drink.
Carbonation and Artificial Sweeteners
The bubbles and fizz in carbonated drinks like seltzer, soda, and other sparkling waters can irritate your bladder, increasing symptoms of urinary incontinence. Another bladder irritant is artificial sweeteners like sodium saccharin, acesulfame K, and aspartame. They can be found, not only in carbonated drinks but also in frozen desserts, yogurt, candies, baked goods, chewing gum, breakfast cereals, gelatins, and puddings. As much as possible, limit the consumption of these foods and beverages.
Fired or Fatty Foods
Greasy and fatty foods can also irritate the bladder, leading to an increased urgency to urinate. To help reduce the symptoms of urinary incontinence, avoid or limit fried and fatty foods like bacon, processed lunch meats, mayonnaise, fatty cuts of beef and pork, and fast food.
Spicy Foods
Spicy foods like hot peppers, hot sauces, and wasabi, can inflame the lining of your bladder, triggering bladder symptoms and making it harder to control the frequency and urge to urinate. If you love the flavors of spicy foods, try adding additional herbs and spices to your foods instead of spicy irritants.
Citrus Foods
While fresh fruits are a healthy dietary choice, if you live with urinary incontinence, the citric acid in some fruits may cause problems with bladder control and increase incontinence symptoms. It’s best to avoid consuming lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits and instead opt for fruits like watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew.
Dairy Products
Dairy is another trigger of urinary incontinence, so you may want to consider going dairy-free or choose milk, cheeses, and other dairy products that are lactose-free to help reduce the symptoms of incontinence.
It’s important to remember, not everyone reacts to foods in the same way, so try to determine your tolerance level and reduce the foods and beverages that are the most problematic to your urinary incontinence condition.
Use Men’s Liberty External Catheter to Manage Your Bladder Problems
Don’t let incontinence stop you from doing what you love this summer. In addition to the dietary tips above, choose a dependable urine collection device like Men’s Liberty to help you manage your bladder problems.
Our innovative, patented external catheter for men is trusted by thousands of satisfied men. They can now enjoy life to the fullest without having to fine-tune their routine around their condition of incontinence.
Stay Dry 24/7 with Men’s Liberty. Regain your confidence today!