Keeping my Kidney Healthy by drinking Old Orchard Cranberry Juice

Now a day, keeping myself healthy is my main objective. I realized that no matter how much I earn; this will all go to waste if I will spend it on medicine and hospitalization. I have doing some hard core things lately to detox myself and keep my internal organs in top shape. I do hope that I’m doing the right things because I want to be able to enjoy life to the fullest after my children graduated. One by one, little by little; there are things and food that I started avoiding and replacing them with more nutritious and power pack vegetable and fruits. I detox, I boiled different herbs and leafy vegetable and do a lot of juicing as well.

Speaking of juicing, there is time that I too tired to do the juicing and opt to replace it with much available juice in the market.

I did mention that I am trying to protect my internal organs and one of them is my kidney. We all know that our kidney plays and important part in our body and if it damaged; then we need all the help and money to keep us alive.

I now have this notion of; prevention is better than cure. For my kidney; I find that drinking cranberry juice is the best. Every time that I do my shopping at the grocery store; I made sure I indulge myself by purchasing a bottle of cranberry juice. A bottle would cost around P200.00 plus and it sure is a chunk of cash especially for me who always had to budget my finances. But if you think that I feel guilt doing it then the answer is no. If I would not shed this cash now a days, I might spent much more when I had to be hospitalized and spent my hard earned money on medicine.

I am sharing this to you to let you know that it is better to spent a bit on ourselves to make sure that we become healthy and be able to take of our children longer. What is one thousand pesos and more compared to the happiness that we will share with our children. It is our life and we must take care of it and it that means spending a bit then so be it.

If you want to fully understand the benefits of drinking cranberry juice; let’s start with the basic

What is cranberry juice and what are its benefits.

I was invited recently to an eye open event and this is about Cranberry juice by Orchard.  I found out that we need to drink at least a glass of cranberry juice everyday but for more optimum result; we can drink 2 glasses a day.

What’s in every serving of cranberry juice? Each eight-ounce serving of 100% Old Orchard Cranberry Juice counts as two servings of fruit. Did you know that the American Cancer Society recommends that you eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day? Old Orchard 100% Juices can help you meet your “Five-A-Day” goal.

Apart from getting our daily fruit intake requirement, Cranberry Juice helps prevent kidney disorder. Kidney failure is the 9th leading cause of death among Filipinos. One Filipino develops chronic renal failure every hour and there is more than 14,000 Filipino patients undergoing dialysis yearly.

Kidney 101

According to healthline.com, the kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that extract waste from blood, balance body fluids, form urine, and aid in other important functions of the body. They reside against the back muscles in the upper abdominal cavity and sit opposite each other on both sides of the spine. When it comes to components of the urinary system, the kidneys are multi-talented powerhouses of activity.

Some of the core functions of the kidneys include:

• Waste excretion: There are many things your body doesn’t want inside of it, and the kidneys help get rid of some of them. The kidneys filter out toxins, excess salts, and urea, a nitrogen-based waste created by cell metabolism. Urea is synthesized in the liver and transported through the blood to the kidneys for removal.
• Water level balancing: As the kidneys are key in the production of urine, they react to changes in the body’s water level throughout the day. As water intake decreases, the kidneys adjust accordingly and leave water in the body instead of helping excrete it.
• Blood pressure regulation: The kidneys need constant pressure to filter the blood. When it drops too low, the kidneys increase the pressure. One way is by producing a blood vessel-constricting protein (angiotensin) that also signals the body to retain sodium and water. Both the constriction and retention help restore normal blood pressure.
• Red blood cell regulation: When the kidneys don’t get enough oxygen, they send out a distress call in the form of erythropoietin, a hormone that stimulates the bone marrow to produce more oxygen-carrying red blood cells. 
• Acid regulation: As cells metabolize, they produce acids. Foods we eat can either increase the acid in our body or neutralize it. If the body is to function properly, it needs to keep a healthy balance of these chemicals. The kidneys do that, too.

Because of all of the vital functions the kidneys perform and the toxins they encounter, the kidneys are susceptible to various problems. Acute kidney failure is a condition in which the kidneys suddenly lose their ability to function properly. This can occur for many reasons, including:

• Infection
• Blood-clotting disorders
• Decreased blood flow caused by low blood pressure
• Acute tubular necrosis, or death of the tubular cells that deliver urine to the ureters
• Autoimmune kidney disorders
• Urinary tract infections
• Complications from pregnancy

Under the Love Your Kidney Campaign, Old Orchard aims to build awareness to the importance of drinking cranberry juice. Cranberry Juice has been proven in several studies to reduce the risk of urinary tract infections or UTI due to the proanthrocyanidin content and hippuric acid that helps prevent the bacteria from sticking to the urinary tract. Cranberry Juice is not the cure for kidney diseases, but it is a way of preventing it from happening and worsening. Cranberry Juice acts as a defense against heart disease and contains anti-cancer properties, Vitamin C and dietary fiber. It also decreases the probabilities of having dental caries.

Old Orchard is recognized as the 2nd largest frozen juice brand and 4th largest bottled juice brand in the USA. Old Orchard has a wide selection that caters to different age groups from kids to adults.

Old Orchard’s variants are as follows:

1. Juice Cocktails – Apple Cranberry, Apple Raspberry, Apple, Cranberry, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Apple Blueberry, and Apple Berry

2. 100% Juices – 100% Apple Juice and 100% Grape Juice

3. Healthy Balance Juice Cocktails – Healthy Balance Cranberry and Healthy Balance Apple Cranberry

4. Organic 100% Apple

 Photos by Arcee Miranda

Get creative and challenge yourself with this healthy meal plan. Start your breakfast with 1 cup of steamed rice, 6 tablespoon of corned beef, 1 piece of banana, 1 cup of coffee or tea. For your morning snack, try a 1 pack of low fat yogurt and partner it with an 8oz Old Orchard Cranberry Juice Cocktail. Have your lunch with 2 parts baked chicken, 1 cup of mixed buttered vegetables, 1 cup of mashed potato and 1 piece of apple. End the day with a light but delicious dinner consisting of 2 slices of grilled tuna belly, 1 cup of eggplant ensalada, ½ cup of steamed rice and 1 piece of Kiwi fruit.

With Old Orchard Cranberry Juice in your daily balanced diet, you get to take care of your kidney while enjoying the sweet, tangy flavor of cranberries!

Old Orchard is exclusively distributed by Fly Ace Corporation. It is available in all leading supermarkets nationwide.

Connect with Old Orchard at https://www.facebook.com/healthyfruitjuicesPH #ilovehealthyfruitjuices. Learn more at http://oldorchard.com/