Reduce sodium in your diet to less than 2,300 mg daily, instead of the average American’s 3,400 mg daily.Ideally, opt for organic foods to limit your exposure to toxins, plastics and pesticides. Eat a healthy diet with right amount of calories, proteins, healthy fats and limited carbs to maintain your ideal weight.What can you do to be proactive about water retention? An unusually expanding belly with fluid accumulating in the abdomen may be a sign of advanced liver disease.Certain medications, such as certain blood pressure medications like some ACE inhibitors or angiotensin blockers, or the depression drug amitriptyline.Either proteins are not adequately ingested (malnourishment), may be lost through the kidney, or are not produced in sufficient amounts. Eyelid swelling or general puffiness can occur in people with kidney diseases.

Certain kidney diseases with compromised ability to excrete urine.Increasing weakness of the heart muscle or congestive heart failure.Enlarged veins or weak vein valves (venous insufficiency), injury or blockages in the venous system, or just any conditions that impair blood flow in the veins.Hormonal abnormalities such as increased estrogen, low thyroid hormones.Pregnancy, excess weight and hormonal changes.Poor dietary habits and increased sodium intake.If swelling of both legs occurs on a regular basis or while at rest, this is usually a warning sign that there may be an underlying health problem. This may be more pronounced the heavier a person is. With lower leg edema, you’ll notice dimples after applying pressure with your finger. This causes swollen lower legs and ankles, called edema. Pressure in these vessels and lymph vessels builds up and leaks water into the surrounding tissue. Standing for prolonged periods of time causes blood and water to pool in the veins of the legs. Here are some lifestyle, environmental and medical conditions that can cause fluid retention: Fluid retention can lead to difficulty tolerating exercise, shortness of breath and excessive strain on the heart. Sometimes that puffy appearance in the face or other areas of the body is simply the result of increased sodium in your diet, but fluid retention can also be a sign of more serious conditions, such as heart, liver or kidney problems. But sometimes water pools where it shouldn’t, such as in the lower legs and ankles, the abdomen, the fingers or the face. So for example, a 160-pound person may contain just under 100 pounds of water. Generally speaking, the normal water content in a female body is between 45-60 percent and 50-65 percent in a male body, and these percentages tend to decrease with age. Humans – we’re made of water, right? So why is fluid retention a problem?

Leg fluid retention