Water Retention

Lose up to 14 pounds in a week by shedding hidden water retention.

If you have great difficulty in reaching a normal weight, and if your doctor cannot find any medical explanation, the chances are that your fluid balance mechanisms have gone wrong and you are not excreting enough water. Your body usually consists of 50-60 per cent water, but if you have water retention,  your body weight may be 65 per cent water or even more.

Water retention can be very hard for a doctor to diagnose. Almost all your body’s tissues have plenty of capacity to hold a little more water without looking abnormal. For example, excess fluid could be making your tummy look rather large. When you pinch it, you can feel its normal covering of fat. You may easily believe that your tummy’s size is due to this fat. But if you lose your excess water retention your tummy may subside and flatten, so that you can see you have no more fat there than on the rest of your body. Of course, a tummy with slack, poorly toned muscles due to lack of exercise can also look big. Good muscle tone is very important for maintaining a good figure.

A genuine breakthrough

Until recently, there was no medical treatment for water retention, except diuretics, which have only a temporary effect and can worsen some types of water retention. Linda Lazarides’ Waterfall Diet is a new treatment. It tackles seven different causes of water retention and makes your kidneys (if they are healthy) permanently release the excess fluid.

Some people believe that water retention cannot be released permanently - that it comes back as soon as you go off your diet. For instance some people who have followed a low-carb diet for a long time lose water weight quite quickly. Sadly, they find all the water returns as soon as they reach their target weight and start to eat a few carbs again.

The Waterfall Diet is different. It is a plan of action in three stages. Phase I aims to get rid of water retention as quickly as possible. Phase II consists of a test which you carry out yourself to find your safe foods. Phase III is a long-term eating plan which is as close to normal as possible. It emphasises the foods which help to keep water retention away, and avoids any foods which in your particular case seem to aggravate it. In short, the Waterfall Diet puts you back in control of your weight.

How much weight can I expect to lose?

About one third of people lose 10 lbs in a week on this diet. Very occasionally people have lost 20 lbs in two weeks.  If you are careful this weight will not come back again. Even if you only lose 2 lbs, you will find that other diets work better once you have lost this water weight, as excess water cools down the metabolism.

The instructions for the Waterfall Diet can be found in the book with the same name. Or if you’re in a hurry to get started, they are also in Linda Lazarides’ E-guide: Low-Carb Dieting and the Waterfall Diet.

The Waterfall Diet aims to remove up to seven different causes of hidden water retention. It can help you safely lose excess water weight and can also combat problems such as swollen legs or tummy, idiopathic edema, high blood pressure and premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

The diet is not the same for everyone. The foods you need to eat depend on what is causing your water retention. There are two types of water retention and at least seven separate causes. The Waterfall Diet is a plan of action that helps you find out what is causing your water retention so that you can eliminate it. It also tests your reaction to different foods and helps you identify which foods are safe for you to eat.

Click here to learn about using the diet to lose water weight

Click here to learn about combating other problems relating to water retention, including high blood pressure, swollen legs and arthritis.

If you are interested in the origins of the Waterfall Diet, read The Story of the Waterfall Diet on Linda Lazarides’ blog.

• Low-carb diets help you lose body fat

• The Waterfall Diet helps you lose hidden water weight

Now for the first time in this condensed 36-page E-guide, Linda Lazarides explains how to lose more weight by combining both types of dieting.

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Swollen legs and ankles are caused by water retention. When your circulation has problems working against the effects of gravity, your blood collects in the lower part of your body. The extra pressure on your blood vessels makes them leak fluid into the tissues of your legs and ankles. This makes them swell, and your skin can become very discoloured;  in severe cases your skin may even weep fluid. Large veins on the surface can become swollen and painful - a condition known as varicose veins.

The technical name for this condition is “chronic venous insufficiency” (CVI) but not all swollen legs are caused by CVI. Get your legs checked by a doctor just in case you have a heart or kidney problem, which can also cause water retention in legs and ankles. Swollen legs are also common in pregnancy and are caused by the pressure of the baby on the veins in the pelvis.

Another condition which can cause swollen legs (as well as swelling in other parts of the body) is idiopathic cyclic edema (ICE). ICE occurs mostly in young women after sitting or standing for a long time.

Diuretic Medicines

The best treatment for swollen legs  due to a heart or kidney problem is diuretic medicines. These will normally be prescribed by your doctor. If your heart and kidneys have a clean bill of health, then be very wary of taking diuretics. With both CVI and ICE, the fluid that leaks from blood vessels into the tissues carries protein with it. This protein sits in the tissues, drawing water out of your blood. If you take diuretics, you will also urinate more, leaving your blood dehydrated. Your body will adapt by producing hormones which slow down urination,  and this aggravates water retention and makes the swelling worse.

“I haven’t seen my legs this small in a long time”

Exercise is important to prevent swollen legs, and your doctor has probably already recommended wearing support or compression stockings. But what is not so widely known is that CVI and ICE can often respond very well to eating the right foods. There are many foods which can help to strengthen the blood vessels in the legs and start to break down the proteins which have leaked into your tissues. Avoiding certain foods can also reduce levels of histamine in your body. Histamine tends to increase the “leakiness” of blood vessels and to aggravate water retention.

Based on these principles, British naturopathic nutritionist Linda Lazarides has designed a diet specifically to release water retention. Known as the “Waterfall Diet” it involves following a plan which takes 2-3 months and has had many good reports. The instructions for the Waterfall Diet can be found in the book of the same name, available from Amazon.com or from Amazon.co.uk.

Help For Swollen Legs, PMS, High Blood Pressure

Water retention can cause many health problems, including swollen legs, arthritis and high blood pressure. If you have premenstrual swelling or bloating, this is also due to water retention. Pre-eclampsia of pregnancy, idiopathic edema and chronic venous insufficiency are also water retention-related problems.

Most people use the Waterfall Diet to lose water weight, but in fact this diet can help to relieve any health problem which is mainly due to water retention. The following are case reports from people who have followed the diet.

Audrey: A Case of Swollen Legs and Varicose Veins
Audrey was in her sixties, and had suffered from swollen legs since being in a minor car accident five years previously. Lately she had also developed varicose veins on one leg. The swelling problem got very bad in hot weather, and Audrey had to sit with her feet up as much as possible. Her doctor said she had chronic venous insufficiency and could only suggest wearing support stockings, or removing the varicose veins as a last resort. The skin on Audrey’s legs was very discoloured, and the varicose veins were unsightly, sore and painful. Her daughter had read about the Waterfall Diet, and bought her a copy of the book to see if the diet could help.

Audrey was very enthusiastic about trying a diet. She bought the recommended foods and carried out the tests, and within only two weeks her legs were already smaller, and her ankles were beginning to regain their shape. When she pressed her thumb into her leg, it no longer made a deep dent. The varicose veins were also beginning to look less prominent, and were much less tender. Audrey was very pleased with the results.

Marianne: A case of Premenstrual Bloating
Like many women, Marianne, aged 35, always looked forward to getting her period. It meant she could drop almost a whole dress size, since her tummy got so bloated for a week before her period. Marianne did her best to eat a healthy, low-fat diet, with plenty of fruit and vegetables. She saw the Waterfall Diet book on a bookshelf and didn’t really believe it could help her, but curiosity got the better of her and she decided to give it a try.

It was two months before Marianne really noticed a difference. In fact it was only after her period started that she realised she had not had any premenstrual bloating. An added bonus was that for the first time in many years, Marianne did not get any cramps either once her period started.

Jonathan: A Case of High Blood Pressure
Jonathan was in his fifties and had just been diagnosed with high blood pressure. His doctor wanted to start him off with diuretic medicines. She said that reducing the amount of water in his body would help to keep down his blood pressure.

Jonathan wanted to avoid taking pharmaceutical medicines if at all possible so he did some research on the internet and found information about the Waterfall Diet. He reasoned that if water retention was causing his high blood pressure, then it would be healthier to follow a diet to get rid of it, rather than take prescription drugs which would never actually cure the problem.

Jonathan asked his wife if she could get the recommended foods and also help him to test for his safe foods, which is an important part of the Waterfall Diet Plan. So far everything has been going very well, and his doctor says he can continue without medication for the time being.

Karyll: A Case of Osteoarthritis
Karyll, aged 46, was walking up some stone steps when she wrenched her knee. It swelled up quite badly, and the swelling never really went down again. Karyll’s knee became permanently swollen, tight and painful. Three months later, her doctor diagnosed osteoarthritis and suggested giving her an injection of steroids into her knee.

Karyll succumbed to the injection, and it seemed to help for a while. But the problem did not go away completely, and also seemed to spread to the other knee. Karyll lived in a house with stairs and found herself having to take painkillers just to be able to go up and down the stairs in her house.

One day she was in a second-hand bookstore, and the Waterfall Diet book seemed to stand out. She said “My eye just kept getting drawn to it and in the end I had to open the book to take a look. Then I found a case report in it which was almost exactly the same problem I had. The woman had swollen knees, and was told she had arthritis, but when she went on the Waterfall Diet she discovered it was only water retention.”

Karyll found the diet hard at first, but persevered as the pain and swelling in her knees started to go down after only four days. She remains on the Waterfall Diet and is delighted that she no longer has to take painkillers in order to climb the stairs in her house.

The Waterfall Diet book is available from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. The instructions can also be found in the E-guide Low-Carb Dieting and the Waterfall Diet.

Water rich with oxygen and vitamins passes from your smallest blood vessels (your capillaries) into the surrounding tissues, where it nourishes your cells. But if something goes wrong with the pressure in your capillaries, or if they get too “leaky”, then too much fluid accumulates in the tissue spaces between the cells, and cannot get back into the blood. The tissue spaces can easily expand and allow more and more fluid to accumulate.

Water retention is a common problem. It can cause overweight, puffiness, bloating, breast tenderness and painful, swollen knees. Swollen legs and ankles are common, especially in older women and in pregnancy. Water retention raises the blood pressure, and in pregnancy this puts both mother and baby at risk.

It is sometimes hard to tell whether you have water retention. Your body can hold a lot of hidden excess water, which just makes you look overweight.

There are two basic types of water retention. With Type 1 there is too much water in the blood and in the tissues. With Type 2, there is too much water in the tissues and sometimes not enough in the blood. Type 1 water retention can be treated with diuretic medicines or herbs, but Type 2 can be made worse by these treatments.

Medical Treatments for Water Retention

The drugs which doctors use to treat water retention are known as diuretics. There are several varieties, none of which is a cure for water retention, as they have to be taken every day.

Loop diuretics and Thiazine diuretics
These have names like bumetanide, frusemide, hydrochlorothiazide and metolazone. They encourage your kidneys to excrete sodium. As the sodium is excreted, water is excreted along with it. These drugs can also cause large losses of potassium - a vital mineral which you need to replace by drinking plenty of fruit or vegetable juice..

Potassium-sparing diuretics
These have names like spironolactone and triamerine. They work in a similar way to the other diuretics, but do not cause such large losses of potassium.

Side effects of diuretics
Most pharmaceutical medicines change one aspect of our metabolism while at the same time unbalancing others. Diuretics increase your excretion of valuable minerals like potassium and magnesium. Some can cause gout. These medicines are important for treating severe water retention (oedema or edema) caused by a malfunctioning heart or kidneys. But if used in other types of water retention, such as those due to leaky blood vessels or histamine (see Causes of Water Retention), diuretics could aggravate your water retention; your body will hold on to fluid to avoid becoming dehydrated. In these situations, diuretics, whether of the pharmaceutical or herbal variety, are counter-productive. The best solution is to address the causes of your water retention with the Waterfall Diet.

Herbal Diuretics

These include herbs like dandelion leaf and boldo. They are much less powerful than pharmaceutical medicines but can still cause mineral losses. The Waterfall Diet book recommends several herbal medicines, such as red clover. But these are not diuretics, and do not stimulate your kidneys to release water. They help the Waterfall Diet to prevent problems such as swollen legs.

Some well-known causes of water retention include heart or kidney problems. These are due to a reduced ability of the heart or kidneys to do their job, and can cause severe swelling of the legs and ankles.

Weak circulation in the leg veins is probably the most common cause of water retention in legs and ankles. This occurs in pregnancy and causes swellings like those shown in the video. In older people this problem may also result in varicose veins.

A blockage or congestion of the lymphatic system can cause a type of water retention known as lymphoedema (lymphedema), which is common after some types of surgery, for instance. People who spend a lot of time immobile, e.g. those in hospital beds, wheelchairs, or on long-haul flights, even “couch potatoes” can develop water retention because without regular movement, it is difficult for your lymphatic system to drain excess fluid out of your tissues.

Premenstrual water retention is also common, and is caused by the hormonal changes of the menstrual cycle.

Salt

One of the main causes of water retention is eating too much salty food. The main component of salt is sodium, which the body dilutes with water if too much of it is present. Salt makes you thirsty, and your body will hold on to this water. Reducing the amount of salt in your diet will help you to release a little water retention but not usually more than about 2 lbs in weight. Even a relatively salty diet, although it can be harmful in many ways, will not normally cause gross water retention.

Lesser-known Causes

Hormones and Medicines

High levels of certain hormones can also make your body hold on to water. These include insulin, which is needed to process sugar; cortisone, which is produced when you are under stress; and the female hormones oestrogen (estrogen) and progesterone. The water-retaining effect is caused by the effects which these hormones have on sodium levels in your body, and on the hormones which govern how your kidneys work. Certain prescribed medicines such as the contraceptive pill and some painkillers can affect levels of these hormones.

Water retention which is caused by hormones can be spread around the body but often affects your tummy most of all. Women can also get water retention in the breasts, which causes breast tenderness and swelling.

Wastes and Toxins

Cellulite, which mostly affects women’s thighs, is a form of fat complexed with retained water. Sometimes it holds so much water that it is swollen and painful to the touch. Metabolic wastes and toxins such as pesticides which the body cannot easily release tend to be stored in this fat. It is thought the causes of the water retention in cellulite are either irritation and swelling due to these toxins, or results from the body’s attempt to dilute them.

Low-Calorie Diets

If you have water retention you are very likely to be overweight. But overweight people tend to go on a low-calorie diet. A low-calorie diet will unfortunately not get rid of water retention - it can actually make it worse, especially if you eat less than 1,200 Calories a day for months or years. This is because you may not have enough protein in your blood to draw excess water out of your tissues. This type of water retention can cause generalised puffiness but if severe can give you a swollen tummy.

Histamine

Histamine causes water retention leading to bloating and tummy swelling. If you have ever been stung by an insect or developed an itchy red lump after a mosquito bite, you will be familiar with the effects of histamine. Histamine widens the joins between the cells which line your smallest blood vessels, known as your capillaries. This makes them leak both water and protein into your “tissue spaces” - the area surrounding the cells of tissues such as flesh, organs and intestines. If the protein cannot be removed from your tissue spaces, it will stay there, attracting water.

Poor digestion and taking antibiotics can cause changes in your intestines which lead to a lot of histamine being produced in this area. Sometimes eating yoghurt and probiotics can help to reduce this problem, but if it has been going on for some time these measures may not be effective on their own.

Drinking less fluid will not cure water retention. One of the causes of water retention is dehydration due to not drinking enough water.

Many types of water retention can respond to dietary measures. The Waterfall Diet has been designed by British nutritionist Linda Lazarides to help release excess water weight as quickly as possible. It can also help to treat health problems associated with water retention, such as swollen legs, arthritis, high blood pressure and PMS. (More information.)

Water retention is not always easy to detect. How will you know if your fluid balance has gone wrong? It can be hard to tell if your excess weight is mostly water, since water is everywhere in the body. Even your doctor can sometimes have difficulty confirming whether you are retaining fluid.

Doctors can tell if you have the severe form of water retention known as oedema by pressing a fingertip into your shinbone. If it leaves a dent, you are definitely retaining a great deal of water. Swollen feet or ankles can also be a sign, since excess fluid often collects in the lower half of the body.

Sometimes the tummy will be tight and swollen (as in premenstrual water retention) or the face puffy. However, you can have water retention without exhibiting any of these signs.

One little-known sign of hidden water retention is rapid weight fluctuations, where you notice from time to time that you suddenly weigh several pounds more (or less) than you did twenty-four hours ago. This is a sure sign of water retention since only water can cause such a rapid change in your weight.