Dear Abdul Jalil,

“Can I ask you something, Dr. Sears?”
Before I could even answer yes, my project manager D.W. said kind of under his breath, “Because I sort of have this problem…”
I waited. 
“See, I have this pain. I woke up at 2 in the morning with, like, the worst cramp you could imagine. It was kind of in my back, where I think my kidney is. I had this intense pain on and off all day Sunday. And I feel like I have to pee all the time, but I don’t. 
“It hurt so much that at one point, I just lay down on the bathroom floor. I was afraid to move. What is that?”
“I’m sorry to say this, but I think I know exactly what you have. It sounds like a kidney stone. I’ve seen it 50 times here at the clinic. It happens a lot in Florida because people get repeatedly dehydrated. Even though it’s hot, they don’t drink enough until they’re thirsty. By then it’s too late.”
And when they do drink, it isn’t water. 
I asked D.W., “Do you drink soda?”
“I like Cherry Coke a lot…”
That’s a problem. 
How can soda lead to kidney stones? 
You probably know that your body only functions well in a narrow range of body temperature. A temperature of 98.6 degrees is normal. Any lower and you don’t feel so good. If it goes higher you really don’t feel well. Three or four degrees higher and you’ve got serious problems. 
Your body also has another small range in which it can operate – your pH level. On this scale, 0 is acid, 7 is neutral and 14 is alkaline. Your body prefers a slightly alkaline pH level between 7.365 and 7.390. Anything outside this range causes stress. The farther you go outside this range, then the stress on the body goes up exponentially.
Here’s the tricky part. The distance from the neutral value of 7 is not just numeric. It’s logarithmic. That means each number is exponentially more acidic or alkaline the farther you get from 7.

 

 

 For example, a pH reading of 6 is 10 times more acidic than 7, but a pH of 4 is a thousand times more acidic than 7. So a small change in pH is really a big deal to your body. 
The chart to the left has the pH levels for some of the most popular sodas. Almost all commercial drinks, from colas to energy and sports drinks (including sugar-free ones) have acids added to them – such as phosphoric acid, citric acid, malic acid and tartaric acid. 
To give you an idea of how acidic these drinks are, pure, distilled water has a pH of 7. Battery acid is a 1. That means your can of cola is tens of thousands of times more acidic than water. 
When you consume these highly acidic drinks, it has a huge impact on your system. Your body will use its alkaline minerals such as sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium to neutralize the acid and return your pH to normal.
Problem is, this upsets another balance – the one in your bloodstream. 
Phosphoric acid enhances the absorption of carbon dioxide to keep your soda fizzy. But the shock of incoming phosphorus from soda with zero calcium causes the calcium levels in the blood to decline. This triggers your body to dissolve calcium from the bones to restore this balance.
You almost always dissolve more calcium than is necessary, which can then form kidney stones. The high fructose corn syrup from soda also raises uric acid. If it crystallizes, it forms a different kind of kidney stone.
To prevent these painful stones, it’s obviously a good idea to stay away from soda. 
But don’t be fooled. Energy drinks, sports drinks, tea and coffee are not good substitutes. They are acid forming, too. 
And here’s something you won’t hear from conventional doctors – NSAID painkillers and most pharmaceutical drugs are also acid-forming. It’s another reason I rarely use these drugs in my practice. 
If you want to prevent kidney stones, I have one rule: Drink lots of water and pee all the time.
Forget the “few glasses of water a day” rule. You need to drink water in excess of thirst. And that means something like 3 quarts of water a day. More if it’s very hot or if you’re working outside.
Also, there are quite a few foods that form acid, like:

 

 

Mustard Asparagus Noodles Olives Ketchup Pasta Shellfish Flour-based products Legumes Tea

Beans Oatmeal Brussels sprouts Cocoa Coffee Plums Cornstarch Sugars Lentils Vinegar

To counteract these foods, eat some alkalizing foods like Brazil nuts, almonds, coconuts, fresh vegetables, avocados, raisins and for a sweetener, use molasses or honey. Fresh fruit works, too, even citrus fruit. Even though they have citric acid, they have an alkalizing effect in your body.
If you already have a kidney stone, see a doctor immediately. Stones that are large enough usually require emergency treatment.
To Your Good Health,