 Thanks for staying with us. Now the kidneys are two bean shaped organ each about the size of a fist They are located just below the rib cage one on each side of your spine now healthy kidneys filter about a Half cup of blood every minute removing waste and extra water to make urine The urine flows from the kidneys to the bladder through two thin tubes of muscle called ureters One on each side of your bladder your blood us to stores urine and your kidney Your kidneys your ureters and your blood is a part of your urinary tract We cannot over emphasize the important of the healthy kidney and We want to speak on the kidney care How can we start to preserve our kidneys and how can we prevent diseases as a question now? Let's hear what you have to say Remember you can join the conversation send us an SMS or what's up to the rate one eight zero three eight four six six three You can also treat others at we show after one of the hash that we show it's obvious that I do not have What I'm supposed to be talking about why hey, please do you know anything about your kidney? Well, I discovered today that in my entire life you can be born with one kidney Hmm I didn't know about that. I thought everybody has two kidneys same thing here Okay, what an amazing discovery is an amazing Dr. Banjia Wushikar is a US based physician with a strong interest in wellness He specializes in nephrologist hypertension dialysis and kidney transplants Medicine rather with an emphasis on preventive care at his practice West Orange Nephrology Orlando Florida, but he's here live with us in studio Lagos, Nigeria But thank you so much for joining us duck Thanks for having me. Okay, so this kidney matters. You can see we are all very very I Want to embarrass ourselves with national television We don't know we don't know anything about the kidney and you know, I discovered that many a times The organs that we don't see we really don't really pay attention and we don't take care of those organs because you know We don't see we don't even understand the magnitude of work that they do and one of those organs because You just wake up one day you see post on Instagram Please go find me want to want in kidney dialysis. I'm wondering so how did we get to where you now need those kind of extreme? Transplants a lot of that couldn't there have been some level of Preserving or prevention and all of those things and I realize that truly there are things that you need to do You know to take care of those internal organs that people don't see But we really don't pay attention to those things, you know, so why is that it was world kidney day So it was important that we brought somebody to talk about the things that we are not seen even though they exist That he wants to keep us alive, you know, but how important is kidney? Health to any human being it's kidney health is very important kidneys are Like you like you so eloquently mentioned already. They're very very Hidden in our bodies. There's no sign even in fact to examine when you get Get to examine the patient for their kidneys is very where they actually feel them. That's how, you know hidden they are but in that same vein they're actually Hidden in terms of symptoms and signs by time you have symptoms and signs of your kidneys being a problem in most cases You need to go on dialysis. Wow, but then you have symptoms and signs pain is the most common symptom that makes you realize that there's something wrong with anywhere in the body and If your chest is hurting you your chest is hurting you might have my having problem of the heart with the kidneys only three things Really would cause pain a bad kidney stone And a bad kidney stone is really bad. The kidney stone is the nearest a man will come to experiencing childbirth Yeah, it's that kind of pain and then a bad kidney infection and my time you have a kidney infection That's that body causes pain. You will know that there's a kidney infection going on And the third thing is when you have some kind of mass pressing on the kidney, but that's quite rare So most cases you don't have kidney pain. No kidney symptoms So the way you get diagnosed in most cases is if you're not making urine if you're making blood in your urine or if you are Having problems with hypertension In most cases they get you get lab work done and it's coincidentally found that you have kidney problems Now we're wising up and we're doing more screening People go and see their primary care doc and have a test done The creatinine and the urea to find out how the kidney function is and that those particular Chemicals are meant to be in a very steady state in the blood. So if it goes up We know that the kid is not clearing it like it should so it's a it's a surrogate marker for kidney function and Unfortunately, there's not enough screening going on so many cases we don't even know that it's probably with the kidney and You know, it's one of those things where because there are no symptoms unless you're actively screening Unless you have a program or you're seeing a primary care physician regularly, you wouldn't know you have problems with the kidneys until you do So it's about preventing it Unfortunately when your kidneys fail to the point where you have symptoms you or you can just go on dialysis And if you're waiting until you go on dialysis to treat the patient You missed the bus Because then all you're gonna do is manage dialysis. There's no cure. It doesn't reverse You run dialysis until you get a kidney transplant until you go to a better place Wow this world obviously So how let's say for let's say I currently have a healthy kidney How do I prevent Myself from having any of these infections or diseases or getting into trouble with my kidney fantastic And that's what the name of the game should be prevention The most common thing to prevent it is and this is world water day water is key What is key for everything? Right blood is has so much water in it that it's very important blood goes everywhere Everywhere a lot of the body blood goes to so you need enough water to do that So don't drink enough water affects every single cell in the body But drinking enough water affects every single cell in the body So drink enough water question how much is enough water? Rule of thumbs it should be one ounce per kg per day So if you weigh 70 kg it'll be 70 ounces. Ew Are you serious? Yes So 70 out of 74 ounces is is is um two liters So those 75 cell bottles I see here, um it'd be one and a half it'd be two and a half of those For 70 kg man already Um, that's it in a rule of thumb But if you're exercising or if you're someone that sweats like I do you need more than that I'd say you take another leader for another leader to a half leader for every hour worked out Or for every hour of sweating you have to replace the water The only thing that you focus on to prevent kidneys from becoming a problem is what you eat I was going to say that are there causes like the kind of things you put into your system? Yes, but remember what you eat affects everything Definitely you literally become what you eat And unfortunately we're all no many people are living to eat And after learning how to eat to live wow, it's a different mindset to shift Because you become more intentional about what you're eating and when you're eating how much you're eating What you're doing while you're eating all these things factor into it The basis of everything I teach because my passion really is wellness preventing disease period But of course human disease um The most important thing is to Realize the key thing that we have to fight inflammation In the body and the main thing that stimulates inflammation is fat Fat in our food And the main vehicle for fat Is it plants? No Is animals Animals meat chicken You see that turkey that we can't go nowhere Fish, I'm saying fish sweet, I'm going to say fish is a healthy food. It's healthier than meat chicken But it has fat cells in the fiber of it And the fish strands that's fat cells there and they incite inflammation So I was speaking to someone today And they'll tell me about how their families are living to much older ages And it's very true. Many people live to older ages and they eat the worst nonsense in the world I always say they have fantastic genes or there's something in the environment that's protecting them But we've seen it very clearly that people that are healthiest are the vegetarians So I said a bad word there. I said a curse word for many people, but it's the truth Now we can all be vegan and I agree you're gonna be boring I agree Although it's boring because you say so You can make anything boring interesting if you really want to But what's like the essence of if you don't enjoy what you're eating like you say like it takes away the joy The joy music The joy music Yeah Okay, and I hear that but I found out that I didn't have to be totally vegetarian. I was very gentle two years To really really test the water before I could start really pushing my patience towards it And what what started that whole journey for me was the fact that I was tired of my patience on dialysis No, my personal analysis always progressing to the point where they needed no matter what I did No matter what medications I gave I can slow down a little bit, but I couldn't reverse it Then I found the only thing I could really reverse it was decreasing information And be a plant-based diet, but I couldn't really push it With the passion with which I push it now without doing it So I didn't have to test it. I tested the water. I did for two years. Mahatma Gandhi style. Yes And he got results. I know get results And the funny thing was I went through the two years the first couple months were tough because I I'm a carnivore I love my meat not even chicken at my meat But I realized it was doable and I did it and then on further studies I realized that I found out that you didn't have to be totally vegetarian It was more about the amount of time you spent away from the fat So if you took your meat, I'm talking about the whole cow On one day and he did nothing for the next five six days. You're okay Because you're like inflammation to go down If you take one piece of meat, you take the whole cow The body gets inflamed period it goes to an inflammation a cascade of events at least inflammation And once the formation starts it won't stop until five six days So it's not about how it's not about how much you eat it's about how frequently you eat it So if you can do it once a week fantastic if you have to do it twice a week You can get away with that three times a week. You're getting into a bit of sticky water anymore on that you're indulging So does that make meats and chicken bad foods? No I'm a sweet treat. So the same way I would treat cheesecake Which I love I would treat meat I'll take it as an indulgence about recognizing what it is. It's an indulgence. It's not a bad thing We're meant to indulge to rejuvenate We're meant to indulge to socialize But you don't socialize. Well, okay, let me let me because of that. You don't you don't really party every day If you treat it the same way you treat your Your social life where you go out to do things That's one of the things I try to do. I try to go out To eat my meat and chicken. So it's a celebration. I celebrate with it As opposed to having it you can just limit it to like once a week or twice a week So you give your body time, you know to process it Exactly. Okay. You know what? Let's quickly go on a very short break where we come back from the break I have more questions. Stay with us for a break All right, so if you just turned in we're discussing kidney care prevention and disease Prevention with dr. Banji or preservation rather and disease prevention with dr. Banji or shika now Please let's hear what you have to remember. You can join the conversation That's that was the rate one 8034663 You can also tweet at us at Weishu Africa one with the hashtag Weishu So I mean you talked about Checks because again kidney is one very silent You really by the time it starts to get all of those symptoms Somehow it's already too late because you know the damage is already done So if we want to be very conscious about those I mean especially our kidney and internal organ How often should we you know go see Doctors and you know do checkups and all of that just the way You know people wait here or do your your mouth is swollen for the ones in the dentist You know because dental care is almost like kidney care until you really have You know a swollen gum you you don't think it's important for you to visit You know the doctors and the dentist so how often should we you know test You know and go for screenings and all of that for the for the kidney So it's interesting what you just said about the dental the teeth being like you know like the kidney In terms of you know until your mouth is falling out you won't go to the dentist But there's usually when that happens there's a very Short amount of time for you to get that done with the kidneys you have a hundred percent kidney function As long as you get down to 15 percent sometimes 10 percent or I'm a patient I go down to 2 percent before you actually need dialysis So in many cases those you have so much time to find out So it's important you see your doc at least once a year I say twice a year, but at least once a year and you should do blood work So let me say what someone would say they want to see their doctor the doctor did no blood work Then I start to consider you got no screening done He might not see you ask you there's nothing wrong. You said there's nothing wrong. You go home That's not comprehensive enough. You have to be more comprehensive do lab work that won't detect The problem you're trying to prevent And it's a simple blood test and it's a simple urine test You know whether you have kidney function. You know what stage Kidney function you have because then it's a chronic kidney disease You have the acute kidney disease and you have the chronic ones The chronic ones are usually the ones that lead to you needing dialysis The acute ones can become chronic Which will lead to you needing dialysis. It can also be reversed. Yeah, glory. I know you want to come in I just want to ask a question two things the people that eat a lot of meat Or maybe drink a lot of alcohol. Are they more at risk? You know, so I mean I'm saying those kind of people Maybe they should be going maybe four times a year. Do you want to see the doctor? Just I'm just checking like your lifestyle does it also Also gives you an idea how often you should go see your doctor. Absolutely So the most common cause of kidney failing is diabetes The most common cause of diabetes is fatty food Now I know I'm saying things that some people consider controversial because some people say is a sugar Some people say is it's totally genetic that different thought processes out there But one thing that is clear to me Is the fact that you can reverse certain diseases If your lifestyle changes accordingly if you start learning to eat to live You let food become your medicine And become intentional about that because it's gonna be about what you're eating and what you're doing exercise As opposed to being a sedentary cow potato. That's very very key So you eat you exercise you rest you have to rest That's when the body heals you rest relationship Relationship is key. What kind of visions are you in because it's a stress management And then the mindset what kind of mindset do you have? Is it growth minded or fixed minded? Are you going to be compliant with what you need to do or you're going to continue waiting for the symptoms to come the mindset But going back to your question meat is a big issue because it causes diabetes. It has fat in it and fat Literally is the fat that sticks in the keyhole and prevents you from putting the key in You need the key to go in for insulin to drive sugar into the cells If the key can't go in sugar stays outside the body outside the cells. That's when you have diabetes So once you get the fat out and the key can go into the key into the keyhole Diabetes goes away. So you have to remove the fat by decreasing the fat going in I'm being created to burn the fat that you have in there. That's where exercise comes into it So meat definitely alcohol not as directly alcohol can dehydrate you And dehydration most common cause of acute kidney failure because the kidneys are like a flower. You need to water them regularly That's where water is key And if you don't decide to wilt most common reason why people come to the hospital with kidney problems is dehydration And it's simply as just as simple as just rehydrating them and the kidney failure picks back up So sometimes that is that simple But when you get to the point where that same dehydration or any other insert in the kidney is a chronic problem Over weeks The definition is three months of it. Three months of the kidneys being weaker than 90% Is chronic kidney disease And the stage is there the last stage is n-stage. We're not disease where you end up going on dialysis So the alcohol not directly, but it can be really it's cause of the dehydration And not to take him it is like okay Blow on the face for me, especially when it comes to stress management and all of that and this topic is really Important to me, especially because I've lost two people close to me to kidney failure. I'm sorry about that. Yeah So I'll have to find out. Um, you talked about Vegetarian so an average person me personally when I think about Vegetarian recipe I see it like in the Nigerian context something that's expensive to maintain So what does it entail to maintain a vegetarian meal? And how is it affordable for so I see it like something a particular class of people who can afford it can Any normal Nigerian or wanting to keep a healthy diet maintain such The REC in the market So that's a good question and the the truth is It all depends on how creative you're willing to get So if you don't want to be creative at all Yes, it's expensive because you have to go to where it's ready made either the ready made packets or go to vegetarian Um restaurants go to an Indian restaurant. Most of the menu is vegetarian. I'm this delicious food An expensive delicious Again, you're not right I love in your food. Yes It's delicious and Thai food as well. That's good Thai dishes But if you're willing to get creative everything you eat Can be vegetarian just take the meat out We need it in some kind of plate now everybody has their meat in the center stick Now vegetarian If you're thinking lots of starch It's still vegetarian, but starch if you don't burn it turns to fat And then it still has all the problems fat has So starch is an issue and you can chow down a ton of starch much money can chow down ton of meat People can get to rice into a system in bowls that you like like how did that even happen? So it's very very important that you get to that point where you recognize that your meal is full of starch You cut the starch down and the amount of starch you take should depend on how much exercise you're doing that day So if you're moving The starch be coming down if you're not moving at all you shouldn't take any starch or it's take many minimal if you're running a marathon You start from where we actually start to load But they really load on stock because the marathon they're about to do So it all depends on how much you're taking in in terms of how much you're exercising, sorry So vegetarian meals don't have to be expensive If you get creative with it more vegetables more fruits more legumes beans lentils chickpeas hummus those all legumes I call them the fillers you should fill up on that Before you eat starch Carry the hunger urge. Don't go to hungry trees rice Eat your salad your fruits your beans first Then you can take your rice Because that's what you need is a taste. So now there's so many confusions around this thing. How good is oat? Oatmeal? Yes, fantastic Because it's fiber It's soluble fiber. You know when you see some skits online You're about to eat they say no it's no longer good for this. It's no longer Like there's so much confusion in the air Yeah, so people are now wondering so what do I really eat because if you touch here even now they say too much of what I Yes, this is too much of this is bad. So people are actually a bit confused as to what exactly do we want to eat, you know Was it two days ago? I saw something on eggs, you know, how you know, uh, miscausing a lot of disease the cholesterol blah blah I just kept quiet. I didn't say anything So, I mean there's a lot of confusion out there. So oats are good. Oats are good. Okay egg white is good Egg yolk is fat. That's what I love the best Smoking is bad for every single oar in the bag Because smoking does something to the endothelium to the lining of the blood vessels and it causes them to start the process of inflammation The lining of the blood vessels houses the pharmacy Keeps the pharmacy of the body away from the blood that lining is crucial Just to be made to stay intact Cigarette smoking damages that and once it damages that it causes inflammation And wherever it causes inflammation that part of the vessel can close up So your heart attacks come from the closing up of the the block of the blood going to the heart Your strokes bucket of blood going to the bank the kidneys can also have that same problem anywhere in the body That blood goes to which is everywhere in the body Can have that same problem with cigarette smoking. So the one habit That you can stop that will improve virtually every disease you have Wow, yeah Shisha is almost as bad as smoking Because it has all kinds of substances in there How's that in vaping? Yeah, that's fine They are vaping nicotine you're smoking It's the same thing actually Cigarettes they all are in the same family. Absolutely. I hope you are hearing me And I just take marijuana out of that because they don't put marijuana in that same family. They're not marijuana is a safe herb cigarette smoking with the nicotine And the vaping I'm not vaping the shisha with all the stuff it has in it because there are different stuff in it I always talk about how it's so popular today And it's popular amongst the young people Young people, young ladies especially, you know, because everyone likes that idea of the smoke Why didn't you take out marijuana? Go ahead What causes kidney stone and what's the what's the correlation or connection between the kidney and urinary tract infection? okay, so the kidney stone comes as a result most commonly because calcium, which is the most common kidney stone is being leached out it's being taken out of the bone where there's plenty of it and it's spinning into the blood and from the blood it spills into the urine And when the urine is not dilute from lots of water it gets concentrated and the crystals of that now from the stone crystallize out of the urine and form a stone because enough enough water now What causes the bone to dump calcium into the blood? Acid. Acid from what? From animals So you're going back to it And you'll find that's a common theme because you're going to ask you different things it goes back to We're literally smiling ourselves into Yeah I want to ask though because when she talks about urinary tract, you know because sometimes some people use the restroom They go to pee and it's first of all very concentrated and has a very heavy stench Is that a sign? Because I know it's a sign of dehydration But it's also that is that a sign that says you know what you might need to go check your kidneys So the smell you get from a urinary tract infection usually depends on what bug is causing it What bug is causing it and what else you're eating because many things like you eat asparagus It has a particular smell in the urine So that's a bit of what you're eating But the to answer the question you asked me earlier, urinary tract infections The urinary tract as you said earlier Well, it comes all the way from the For the females from the outside of the vagina all the way up through the cervix Um to the bladder to the bladder, right? I'm sorry. Let's go there. There's a urethra that is located Above the opening for the vagina and it goes to the urethra It goes to the bladder From the urethra it goes to that's the tube that will connect the outside to the bladder and from the bladder There are two tubes like you said, I'm just repeating you but I'm gonna get connected to the kidney Now anywhere in that tract from the kidney to the outside can get infected Usually it's usually lower so you'll be the urethra and sometimes the bladder Not usually the tira goes to the kidney or the kidney itself because then it's a serious infection But the lower urinary tract infections are the most common ones Usually in ladies most commonly related to sex because with sex Especially aggressive sex and massaging that area and you're pushing bugs into the urethra Right, so it's most common in that setting or you're not hydrating again hydration Because hydration is a plumbing because it's more Born to flow and helps to push out whatever is sticking to the walls of the of the tract So so but the other question about the smell the smell will come from the bugs Then what bug is causing it? It doesn't necessarily if there's a smell doesn't mean you're having infection It can mean that you're dehydrated like you said or you've eaten something that will cause that kind of smell Of course hygiene So I really need to go back to the marijuana why you set it aside I think it's mean to so you need to help us understand. Yes. Why is it? Separated from cigarette and the other sure so with marijuana the herb My the herb marijuana cannabis Has different chemicals if you will Really from CBD, although it's something called THC And that spectrum of chemicals comprise marijuana All of them have health benefits all of them All of them, especially the THC part of the end of the spectrum can be psychoactive Can make you high can give you a sense of euphoria But unlike the high from all the other drugs out there Especially the ones that you've heard about in the news that of course death from Overdose like fentanyl or even heroin It doesn't cause respiratory depression. It doesn't depress your breathing center Marijuana does not do that and for that reason it's much safer There's no there's no risk of an overdose if you get high it will come down So when I have a marijuana clinic in Orlando and when I prescribe it I tell my patients that we have to start slow if you're not used to before start slow because they're not looking for the High You're looking for the medicine medicinal effect. If you do get the high though, it will come down Now if you're taking it recreationally You're looking for the high that's a totally different ball game Now you can some people take a mix they don't use it for medicinal But they enjoy the high with it and the high from medical marijuana is much safer than the high from alcohol Or the high from any of the hot drugs out there Or the the sensations you get from shisha or from smoking because the downsides the negative effects of marijuana are very minimal And usually happens as a result of excess or not taking holidays I would tell my patients take a holiday from it for a week two weeks if you're taking it every day Take a week off the question because they say anything you smoke is bad for your health Yes, are you talking about so when you talk about medical Administration of cannabis are you talking about still smoking it or maybe a different kind of Way of taking it sure so you've been what you're using it for so basically I have cancer In many cases they can't quite smoke it's all in them can Um, and they can we allow them to do that. That's fine. But there are various vehicles for delivering marijuana You can you can chew it you can you know, you can take as a pill you can take as a gummy You can take it as a liquid you can take as an oil You can take it as a as a patch you can take it as a cream In other countries actually have a lot of douches. So it's given Intervaginally or interactively so there are various ways you can give marijuana most common ways smoking it And yes, you're totally right. The only thing I should go into the lungs is oxygen right but Smoking it for the medicine or the facts. We still okay that so I'll still prescribe the same thing. That's your Your preferred route. Enjoy If it's marijuana I know I know I know But we see we have to rise up to the fact that Yes, there's a downside of marijuana in the sense that if it's done responsibly it gives you an increased depth of perception So if you're driving cause me look closer to you than they actually are Things like that. So you have to be aware what you're doing And I always tell them that if you're using it don't don't drive initially. See how you feel See how you affect yourself. I want to recommend Legalizing marijuana in Nigeria. Absolutely, but that's been done responsibly Yes, you don't responsibility It should be controlled by the physicians and it's to start before it gets recreational and that's been much more education Because there's a place for it like alcohol. There's this alcohol prohibition in the 20s 1920s A whole century ago But then uncle was bad most they had to control it. They had to but now they've changed their minds about that It's not the same as cigarettes That we've just been finding it's just getting worse and worse in our history. It's a fact what we're finding out about it I think we'll have to bring you back to discuss this marijuana But I mean we've we've learned quite a lot today. I'm clear. I think you have a message. So I mean it's um If I hear you correctly our meals And water Those are two things that you should start to be friend when it comes to your kidney health, right? And rest and rest You didn't we didn't talk about sleep. So you should have at least six hours of sleep Now everyone is different. My dad is okay with five hours of sleep He's done it for years. He's up at four o'clock every morning and it's done better by 11 Sometimes 10 But with me, I've learned that if I have six hours of sleep, I'm good for 24 hours If I have five hours of sleep, I'm good for 20 hours. I need a nap at some point If I have four hours of sleep, so one hour of sleep from me equals to four hours of activity Where I don't need to sleep for those four hours You have to learn your body and know what works and most of us by the time it gets You know, the easy way out today, we know when we are functional Which as a rule of our sleep and when we're not We just tend to ignore it because we have to continue, you know Hustling to grind into your life Gotta sleep. Absolutely. Glory quickly This is from our regular fan Daniel Hilo He says good evening my beautiful sisters of what are you saying? The kidney is a very important organ in the body But people ignore it and take it for granted People eat carelessly and don't have a healthy diet What we eat determines how healthy our kidneys are eating healthy makes our kidneys healthy There are people who need to check themselves regularly in a year Because once a year is not good enough because once a year is not good enough Someone someone told me that to treat kidney stones It's to drink hot or warm water in the morning after waking up To remove it And God will help us all to take care of our kidneys Is that true? You're not quite laughing You're not drinking hot water. How do you know that we love this? Is that a strong concentration of? I agree with the water. He's spot on. Not temperature part. Yeah Not beyond my own medicine But the water is key. But I hear that it's actually some people say room temperature water is best, you know Instead of taking cold water So the the thing behind that is that it's it's more it's more physiological So what your body temperature is internally would agree more with room temperature, right? Other schools of thought would say you can take much more volume if it's room temperature the most cold water But I say If I'm going to talk to you about drinking water, you're not drinking any water drink any water you want But drink water Drink get it in. Thank you so much doc. I think we had a lot of fun discussing kidney Who knew medical conversation would be this interesting? Really interesting Can I be I didn't just say that Thank you so much doc. Thank you Jennifer. Thank you glory. Now before we go and show you for us across all our social media handles at Wayshoe Africa You can interact with us further drop a comment or more if you didn't follow all our engagement on social media Like share and invite your families and friends to watch and follow the conversation Now if you missed or quote for the day here it is again Take an oath to stay hydrated See what the doctor said about water and make healthier food choices to ensure proper maintenance of your kidney I mean everything the doctor has said about meat water Is just you know all embedded in that quote to see you guys tomorrow at 8 p.m As we bring another great conversation