Is your salad dressing causing kidney stones?

Is your salad dressing causing kidney stones? Let's talk about that.

Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet podcast, the show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your best, living your… I'm stumbling over these words. I'm your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris.

You're allowed to stumble. You never do.

We're here with a listener question talking about salad dressing. And, what do you say we just dive right in? The question is from Jody.

Okay, Jody.

Hi Jeff and Jill. My name is Jody. I live in Florida.

I'm a month out from my first kidney stone disaster and it was a calcium oxalate stone. I am subscribed to your meal plan. Love everything you do.

My question is related to salad dressing. So even before the stone I already cook 90% of my meals at home. I eat pretty healthy.

The only thing I like to do store-bought is salad dressing. I was using Bragg's Ginger & Sesame for a while. I'm open to suggestions.

I know the dressing themselves probably haven't been studied, but I was wondering if you have any go-to's, any that are generally safer on a low oxalate diet that I can just buy from the store. Thank you so much for everything you do.

Oh, you're welcome, Jody. Boy, she was so pleasant. I love that.

So, salad dressing.

Yeah, and just before we dive into it, the number is 773-789-8764 if you're out there with a question like Jody.

Yeah, I loved her little voice. So, to wrap up what Jody said, a month ago she just finished up having a calcium oxalate stone. She's on my meal plan, so she knows if she's on my meal plan, I make my own salad dressings.

I make all of them. And guess what? It takes two seconds.

But it doesn't matter what I do. Jody was very clear on what she said. She's like, "Listen, lady, I'm I'm I'm cooking.

I'm cooking. I'm making your meals. I'm in my kitchen.

I'm asking you for one thing, and that would be salad dressing. I'm buying it. I don't want to make it," cuz she because she probably likes those salad dressings.

When I work with people, because people will say, "How can you tell her she's going to be able to have ginger and sesame? That's higher in oxalate." But I'm going to tell her, if she's being Because when we're looking for change for people, when we're asking them to eat healthier, it's not just about the teacher's agenda.

It's about what will keep the student compliant for the long haul. What's not going to piss off the student so much that they throw their hands up and they're like, "The hell with Jill, the hell with Jeff, and the hell with Kidney Stone Diet period." I want to keep people, I want to keep people in the game so they feel good about themselves.

So, when they look down on their plate, they're like, "I'm the luckiest gal or boy around. I love my food!" There's not a time where I look at my plate and I'm like, "Ehh." I love the food I make. People in that meal plan love the food I make, cuz it's simple, it's satisfying, it's good, it's it has something for everybody in there.

But she's saying, "Look, I'm I'm I'm working it, girl." But I want this store-bought salad dressing. "And I know that it has none of these salad dressings have been studied, what do you think? Do you have any suggestions?" I don't really care too much about the oxalate in salad dressings simply because, hopefully, you're using smaller portions, okay?

I would, of course, tell you not to use spinach dressings if there's spinach in there. Get rid of that. But ginger is on the higher side for oxalate, sesame seeds are on the higher side for oxalate.

But I would ask her if I if she and I were having a coffee together, I would say, "So, how much are you using?" If it's Because she may be like, "Girl, I'm using a lot." Then I'll tell her, "You can keep it, but pay attention to how much you're using." I'm less worried about the oxalate than I am with the sodium and added sugar.

That's what I'm worried about with salad dressings. You can go to Primal Kitchen, you know, and they're going to have very low sugar, but there will probably be a shitload of sodium in there. But am I going to tell somebody they can't have their beloved Primal Kitchen salad dressings?

No, I'm not, because I'm just going to say if they're on the Kidney Stone Diet, you know, or they have hypertension, just pay attention and make room for that sodium for the day. So, I don't use store-bought salad dressings because, quite frankly, I can't eat garlic, I'm allergic to it. So, that's in every damn dressing.

It's in every dressing. There's a couple that it's not in, but it's in most dressings, so I make my own. And I make very simple ones.

Here's a nice little recipe. I use olive oil, easy, simple, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sometimes just a pinch of honey, and then a teaspoon of that hearty mustard. What do you call it, Jeff?

You know, that hearty mustard.

Dijon?

Yeah, like the mustard seeds are in there and stuff. You know, like Dijon mustard, yeah. It's hearty.

It's not It's not Heinz or Golden Yellow Mustard, which I like, but I want a really robust flavor in my dressing. And I whisk that up. Bada bing, bada boom, I'm done.

But again, Jody was clear, she wants to get her favorite dressing. So, I would say, when you all are picking out your dressings, they are not free foods. Don't pour half a bottle on your salad and think you're eating healthy, cuz there's a lot of salt and in a lot of those dressings, there's a lot of added sugar.

But what people do is they look at the They look at the label. They turn it around, bless their heart, cuz they're like, "That's what she tells me to do, so I'm going to do it." And they look at the sugar. People are trained to look at sugar.

That's what keto did for us, which is awesome. And they're like, "Oh, there's no added sugar in it," and then they use it. They're not looking at sodium.

But now, as people learn that sodium should be lowered for hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and kidney stones, a lot of things, they're starting to look at sodium and they're like, "Oh my god! One tablespoon has 300 milligrams of sodium," like barbecue sauce and all the sauces you see on shelves. So, there's a lot of sodium stuffed extra in the no added sugar potions because it tastes better.

So, they're trying to make up for the lack of sugar. Just like you'll see no salt ketchup, but then there's going to be more sugar in those. The no sugar ketchup, there's going to be more salt in it, cuz we got to recognize the food manufacturers, they got to report to Wall Street.

So, if nobody's buying their ketchup because it tastes like a damn just regular tomato, that's a problem. So, they alter it, so we buy it. "Well, they're horrible people, Jill." No, we're demanding it and they're supplying it.

Very simple economics. So, if we stop demanding it, like we did with added sugar, they stop making it. See?

So, it's not them, it's you. It's you. Now, there's a whole thing about how food manufacturers manipulate our taste buds to get hooked on these things.

That's a whole That's 22 videos right there, okay? But, Jody's like, "I don't care, Jill. I'm talking about my ginger sesame dressing." I would say, Jody, it sounds like, but I would ask more questions if I were sitting with you, it sounds like you're very compliant.

If you're using my meal plan, you have total room for some oxalate in your dressing if you're using normal amounts. I'm more worried about the sodium. Also, if you're using my meal plan, you're on a low-salt diet.

If you're using my meal plan, you're on a It is so rare I have any added sugar in my recipes. You're on a very low added sugar diet. And if you're using my meal plan, you're everything's counted for you, so you know exactly what you're putting in your body, cuz I figured it out for you.

So, you know, Jody, if you have room for that dressing, and you may not even be eating it every day. So, I'm not going to I'm not I don't have any recommendations, cuz I do make all my own dressings, but you sound educated. You sound ready to roll with this stuff.

So, I'm going to ask you to stay away from spinach ones. Do pay attention to the sodium, obviously. Sesame seed and ginger, look at where they fall on the ingredient list, too, by the way.

The lower they are, the less of that is in the product, too. But most likely, you have room for a little bit of dressing on some lettuce, if you're using my meal plan, especially, or if you're following the Kidney Stone Diet goals, not on the meal plan. You'll have room for that.

I'm not worried about it. If you're using a little bit of dressing to get some vegetables or salad and vegetables in your mouth, then that's what we got to work with, folks, because she's saying she likes it. Go ahead, Jeff, what were you going to say?

Oh no, I was just—

Were you going to say something?

Oh no, I was just going to mention that, yeah, we with the meal plans, it is just so valuable. And now we've started something new, we call it the All-Access Pass, so you can work with Jill with the meal plans, and get the course, and every ebook and everything that we've ever released for one flat price, that you can find right on the homepage at kidneystonediet.com.

But we highly recommend it because this is the sort of soup to nuts, for lack of a better term, way of diving in and taking control of your life.

Every service on the website is part of that $48 a month thing from what he said, cookbooks, group accountability calls, the Kidney Stone Prevention Course, the smoothie book, the snack book, all of the things, the meal plan, the meal plan. So, and also, what comes with that is you get a I think it's a 20% discount on all private consults.

It's a huge thing for $48 a month. You could say, "Well, that's stupid, cuz I'm going to cancel it after the first month." Do whatever you need to do! We're Listen, we're basic We're giving this stuff away, folks.

We want you to get educated. So, yes, $48 a month, all the things that we just said are hundreds of dollars added up. You're going to get it for $48 a month, and once you cancel, all those products go away, then, too, so you know.

Okay? So, but that, we haven't even advertised that, but that is That's right on the homepage.

Yeah, we want to just simplify everything. So, you can just dive in, you can work with Jill in the group setting, the group coaching, and you can do your self-guided course, you can do the self-guided meal plans and all of it. But, yeah, I think with that, we'll wrap.

Thank you, Jody, for your question. If you're out there with a question, the number again is 773-789-8764, and you can find everything you need at kidneystonediet.com.

Thank you, Jody. You were just had the most nicest voice ever. Thank you.

Yeah, she really did. See you next week!

She did. Bye, guys!