6 Easy Ways to Prevent Kidney Stone Recurrence
Mar 04, 2025
Kidney stones are painful, and if you’ve had them once, you know you don’t want them again. The good news? You can take simple steps to reduce your risk — and what better time to review those steps than National Kidney Month?
In honor of National Kidney Month, our board-certified urologists at Bellingham Urology Group has curated this list of 6 easy ways to prevent kidney stone recurrence and keep your kidneys healthy.
It sounds too good to be true, but drinking water is one of the best and easiest ways to reduce your risk of kidney stones.
Unless you have kidney failure, aim for at least 8-10 glasses of water a day to help flush out minerals before they can form stones. If your urine is dark, drink more until it’s pale yellow.
About 75% of kidney stones are made of calcium (in the form of calcium oxalate), so many people avoid calcium-rich foods to help prevent stones. Contrary to this popular belief, though, getting enough calcium can actually prevent stones.
How does that work? Calcium binds with oxalate in your stomach and intestines before it reaches your kidneys, which reduces the amount of oxalate absorbed into your bloodstream. Since oxalate is a main component of many kidney stones, this process helps prevent stone formation.
That’s why getting 1,200 milligrams of dietary calcium (from sources like dairy or leafy greens) daily can actually lower your risk of kidney stones.
Tip: Avoid excessive calcium supplements unless directed to take them.
Foods like spinach, beets, nuts, and chocolate are high in oxalates, which can contribute to stone formation. You don’t have to cut them out completely, but pairing them with calcium-rich foods can help reduce absorption (see tip No. 2!).
Too much animal protein (red meat, poultry, and seafood) in your diet can increase uric acid levels and raise your risk of kidney stones. Balance your diet with plant-based proteins like beans, lentils, and tofu.
Avoiding rich meats is especially important if you have gout, which can increase your risk of uric acid-based stones. If you have gout, managing that condition and eating low-purine foods is an important part of preventing kidney stone recurrence.
Eating too much salt can make your body lose more calcium through urine. This happens because salt and calcium use the same pathway in your kidneys, so when you eat a lot of salty foods, your body gets rid of more calcium.
You can reduce your sodium intake by cutting out (or limiting) processed foods, avoiding adding extra salt to meals, and checking labels for hidden sodium — canned soup is a sneaky source of hidden sodium!
Our team can help identify your specific risk factors and recommend personalized strategies, such as medications or dietary changes. This is particularly important because there are different types of kidney stones — calcium oxalate stones, calcium phosphate stones, uric acid stones, and cystine stones — that may require different dietary changes.
If you’re struggling with kidney stone recurrence, don’t hesitate to visit us at our Bellingham or Mount Vernon, Washington, location.
Depending on the type of stone you have and its size, we may recommend:
To learn more or to get help with recurrent kidney stones, call the location of your choice or schedule a consultation online.