The Rolling Stones changed lives. So do kidney stones. Both can make you keel over like a rugby player who’s been kneed in the groin (for different reasons). Traditionally, keeping stones at bay (kidney stones, not the Rolling Stones) meant treating your body like an empty swimming pool and flooding it with water to flush it out.

That’s still a good idea. But now, there’s also evidence that a little addition and subtraction can dramatically reduce your risk for the stones that create intense pain (and we mean intense) in your lower back and side when you urinate:

What to add: Vegetables, nuts, legumes, nonfat dairy products and 100 percent whole grains. Pile ‘em on.

What to subtract: Sodium, sweetened beverages, and red and processed meats.

What it gets you: People who ate this way had a gigantic 40 percent to 45 percent reduction in kidney-stone risk (men saw the higher drop in risk).

Even niftier about this whole equation (even if you don’t like math) is that the diet the stone-free people were eating was similar to the DASH diet.

That simple diet has been shown to lower blood pressure — a major health boost, since high blood pressure will be responsible for more than 60,000 deaths this year in the U.S. alone.

The diet is also rich in nutrients the rest of your body loves for other reasons, and low in the stuff that treats your body the way pigeons do a statue. So add a little, subtract a little and reap the rewards.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 8th Sept 2009