How much oxalate is in french fries?

Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast. The show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your best life. I'm your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris.

And I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse.

So, we are back at it. We're both wearing long sleeve shirts today. That means it's fall.

Oh, look at you. Okay. Yes, so first of all, we are very happy it's I'm happy it's fall.

I can't really speak for Jeff, he'll tell us, but it's like in the 60s today with sunshine. To me, it doesn't get better. I love wearing a hoodie as we all know, but this one, well, do you like fall, Jeff, first of all, or summer?

So, I like fall, but I love summer. Like yeah, like we were talking before this, I just can't just came back from Miami Beach and it was like the felt like temperature was 100° every day and now I'm like this is awesome.

Well, that's because you're not a middle-aged gal. If you were a middle-aged gal, you wouldn't think that's so awesome for most of us. We're already hot all by ourselves without it.

So, I'm glad you had fun though, because getting away is very important, as we all know for our mental health. Now, my hoodie,

People, we finally got it. Because, and I told Jeff, I'm going to tell people, we make like a $1.14 off these. We don't make money off merchandise, so you know.

Because the place we use has really good quality and, you know, there's not a lot of markup. They're taking all the money, they're doing all the work. Our designer, our in-house artist, Dave, who's the third part, who's the second partner of the three of us in Kidney Stone Diet, he comes up with a design.

So, we have the Portion Not Perfection and then, of course, the little kidney stone logo, which I love so much that Dave made up. And then, if we turn around, we put the, can you see it, Jeff?

Yeah, I can see it. You could even get closer to the camera.

We put the little kidney stone logo where a kidney stone would be on our back.

Yeah, maybe don't pull it, maybe pull it side to side, just so it's a little, there you go. Now, you can see it. Perfect.

Yeah, I think it's so fun. And it's I like that it's little there, too.

So, if you guys want them, they come in lots of colors. Of course, of course, I picked black, but they have teal and black and blue and we have hats and coffee cups, all kinds of things for you guys because you asked for it. And we're going to be making more things, too, but this is where we started.

We'll probably do Turner around Buster Brown, all kinds of fun things. So, yeah, that's available at kidneystonediet.com.

Yeah, yeah, and like you said,

What's that?

What's that?

The shop page, I think.

Yeah, it is. Yeah, just /shop. I can jump over there right now.

Yeah.

So, yeah, you just you'll see KSD merch and then, yeah, there's a bunch of different a bunch of different pieces right now.

We made a big dash. Love it.

Yeah. And like we talked about just before we jumped on, this is going to sort of always be changing. So, if things aren't that popular, they're going to go away, we'll put new ones in.

So, not to make it all like act now, act fast, but at the same time, if it's something you like,

Either let us know or pick it up. And we're going to keep swapping these out. But like Jill said, this isn't a money maker.

This is just for fun.

No, this is for you and for fun. And also if you want If you're like, "You know what, girl, maybe you tell Dave to make this kind of shirt." And, you know, maybe you guys want something else, let us know. It's for you, okay?

But I buy them because their hoodies and they're comfortable and nice and I love it. And because that is my main thing, Portion Not Perfection. People, Portion Not Perfection, so have a little bit of whatever you want, but just don't have too much of it.

That's it, except spinach and almond products. What do we do What are we doing today, Jeff?

So, yeah, we have a listener question. And it's coming from Tracy. Why don't we fire that up right now?

Oh, coming. Tracy.

Tracy.

Why don't we try to fire that up right now?

We're on your time, Jeff.

Let's see what we got here.

Well, you know, if you can't fire it up, I certainly can talk about other things.

It's not a problem.

Because here's Jill ad-libbing because there's nothing being said. All right, I'll ad-lib. You don't have to ask me twice.

There's always stuff to talk about, people, right?

Yeah.

Right? So, if he can't fire this up, I have 25,000 topics we could talk about. In fact, in my mind.

Yeah, so when we finish this one, I'm just going to reboot my little mixer here and then things will be good. But yeah, why don't we go for sort of an FAQ or one of the things that you wanted to touch on this week?

Okay, an FAQ. Jill, how much oxalate is in french fries and are you telling me I'm never allowed to have a french fry? Henry.

This is such a common thing. And we already have a video on baked potatoes. That's another common thing.

But french fries, let's talk about them, people. We know that potatoes are higher in oxalate. We know this.

Doesn't mean you can't have them, because they're not spinach high. When the Harvard list says something's high, or medium, or low, please look at how much is actually in the product in that serving size. So, that's why we took the Harvard list, and all their values of high, medium, and low, and we made the Safe List, which get which gets rid of the adjectives, and it just tells you the serving size for a baked potato and how much oxalate is in that serving size.

So, you can use that 100 mg of oxalate bank account analogy. And so, you know if you have 100 mg of oxalate, you can have a lot of food, still, people. You just can't eat as much as you want.

So, you can't have three baked potatoes. Jill, who would do that? You'd be surprised, okay?

Bodybuilders love eating sweet potatoes and baked potatoes all day long, okay? So, now, french fries, french fries, they are higher in oxalate because they're a potato. It's not just the oxalate, people.

You've got to look at all that saturated fat, all the salt, lots of calories in french fries. Does that mean you can never have a french fries? That would be no.

You can have them. So, we all know that about once a month, I have my wonderful hot dog and crinkle fries, and for me, crinkle fries is where it's at. I don't care about shoe string, I don't care about steak fries.

Well, I like steak fries, but crinkle fries, they make me happy. So, does that mean because I watch all the things that I tell you guys to watch, because my family has kidney stones, and I never want them, I do. But I'm also having french fries at the most, once a month.

So, I don't have them that much. Am I telling you to have them once a month? You can have them once a week.

Just have a few. If you're saying to me, "Jill, what the hell? I can't have a few, or I'm going to have a whole truckload." Not for you then.

It's a trigger food. But if you can, you know, if somebody, God forbid, but if someone gets McDonald's, somebody may, and also, by the way, if someone's like, "Jill, I can't give up McDonald's." I'll say, "Okay, can you get the kids meal where everything's smaller? Can you substitute apples sometimes for the little fries?" Because we all know an apple don't taste like a fry, and you can't do that all the time.

I'm not nuts. But I mean, sometimes, can you? The point is, even though some things are higher in oxalate, and french fries is something that so many people ask me about, you can certainly have them.

For me, the bigger issue is the salt and saturated fat. But again, it's portion, not perfection, and don't have them every day. French fries are absolutely something people can enjoy.

I often say, "Listen, life is long if you're not eating foods that bring you joy." And sometimes, it's unhealthy foods going to bring you joy for a second. It's totally okay. It's what we do the majority of the time, what we do the majority of the time and how much at a time we're doing it.

The other important thing when we're talking about oxalate is to make sure you're getting enough calcium every day. Calcium for men is up to 1,000, and for women who no longer get their period, up to 1,200, other women, 1,000, okay? So, and that means up to, not over it.

And the reason we want the calcium for you, well, you all need calcium and it doesn't have to be from dairy. Go to kidneystonediet.com. I have many articles on the blog that will tell you how to get calcium instead of from dairy.

You don't have to do that if you're plant-based. But the reason we want you to get calcium is because you have a skeleton you need to feed, and that is the way we get rid of excess oxalate in the body, because it binds in the intestines and goes through the stool, and then we get rid of that excess oxalate. So, french fries, you can have them.

They're not something to eat every day, obviously, for way more important things than oxalate. But please, people, if it's a favorite thing of yours, you know, enjoy yourself and then get right back to work. That's what we say here at Kidney Stone Diet, right?

Yeah, absolutely. And like high quality

Do you like fries? What's your favorite fry?

I love fries and chips and everything. There was a period of time where I was just like, "Okay, no more. I'm not going to have them," because like things being deep-fried and just potatoes in general and whatnot.

But then, eventually, like that only lasts for so long. Like you say, like you can't just cut something out, especially if it's something you really enjoy. Like, we do actually, Amara makes What does she make?

Is it jicama fries? Like she's made different fries at home that work out really well, that like taste good and it's just it's a different It's changing it up, sort of different nutrient profile and things. But,

Yeah, I mean, I always love the crinkle fries from like a Portillo's. I don't like getting things that are cooked in that kind of oil. But

Yeah. I know. I know.

Yeah, it's like once in a while. Much more frequently for me are chips. So, Siete,

Yes!

They make chips with is it in coconut oil? And so it's like you know everything, they're like slow cooked, so it's not oxidizing the oil, all these different things. But, yeah, that's definitely a kryptonite of mine!

And listen, I well, I always say, look, deprivation will always lead to temptation. Here's, specifically, and I'll say on the average, it's way more women than men, women will tell me. You know, this is what women do, "I didn't eat all day or I don't eat my favorite food anymore." But then, at some point, you binge, right?

It's very common that I'll hear people say, "I didn't eat all day. I didn't eat all day, I don't know what the hell am I doing gaining this weight." Well, you ate all night! Because once you got home, you just You were starving, right?

So, it's not healthy. First of all, it's not healthy to deprive your body of energy all day long. Calories are They're energy.

And so, you want to eat throughout the day to keep your body running well. But so many people are busy during the day, so they just don't make time to eat. And then, when they get home, they're just eating whatever they get.

They're making dinner, they're eating everything. They're starving. Then, throughout the night, they're watching TV or whatever they're doing.

They're picking, they're picking up their kids' plate from the kitchen table. Little boo-boo kitty didn't finish his fries or his cake or whatever, and then mama eats it. This is what we do, people.

So, enjoy your favorite food so you're not always hankering for them. That's the problem. People are like, "I can't take it anymore.

Give me the whole cake!" Right? Instead of having a piece here and there, right? I mean, I tell my patients, especially ones that struggle with weight, have something of your favorite thing a little bit of it every day, if it's not a trigger food and sends you into crazy land, right?

But something that brings you joy so you're not always like, "God, I can't have this, this, this, and this," right? So, it's it's how we think about things. It's always an attitude change, too.

I often am talking about that in the Kidney Stone Prevention Course. It's how we think about things. We're brainwashed from the diet industry.

They want us to think we're doing something or we're not doing something. It's total black-and-white thinking and it doesn't work. What we do here at Kidney Stone Diet is we practice a healthy lifestyle and, sometimes, life gets in the way and you have to be flexible.

You just have to be. Like if you're planning to do 30 minutes 7 days a week or an hour 7 days a week at the gym and Tuesday night the babysitter calls and says she can't make it, then you A lot of people just are like, "Oh, I can't do anything. I'm just going to forget it.

I'm terrible," and then they fall off the whole program, instead of being flexible and saying, "Well, Tracy's not coming tonight, so I got a kid here. But, you know what? Here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to take the kid in a stroller and I'm going to walk for 1/2 hour." And we're just talking about activity. You don't have to be a bodybuilder, you don't have to be a Peloton biker, you just We're asking for activity, not sitting on a couch, right? Doesn't have to be all that.

Don't listen to the diet industry, they're crazy making. They're crazy making. And so, what people are always talking about, it's either they're good, they're bad, I'm on it, I'm not.

We're always practicing, people. Have compassion and kindness and patience for yourself. That's all you need!

And then, day-by-day, you make changes. One day, you're going to go back five steps, the next day, you're going to go forward. It's going to go like this for the rest of your life.

For the rest of your life! You're going to practice for the rest of your life. So, manage your expectations.

You'd be surprised how much that changes your attitude. That's what I got.

Yeah, I mean that is like really what it comes down to and I feel like the Portion Not Perfection hoodie for today is the perfect combo. And, yeah, if you want to check them out, again, that is kidneystonediet.com/shop. You can find it right in the navigation, but you'll be able to see all the different merch.

There's a lot of a lot of fun stuff there. But, yeah, we will be back to a listener question with the next episode. But if you have a question and you're out there, that number is 773-789-8763 and we would love to feature you on a future episode.

And for everyone who's subscribed and left comments and given the videos a thumbs up, that means the world to us. Like it has really helped. Like things are still growing and moving along.

It's all going really well. Like, I don't know, we're very excited with how much reach we're getting with the show.

We love it! And, also, what I Jeff and I would like to know, Jeff's like, "I didn't tell you to say this! I don't want to know nothing.

Stop putting words in my mouth!" I want to know, anyway, what kind of fries are your favorite ones? Crinkle, steak, shoestring, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's? What do you like?

People like talking about french fries. A lot of people do every day in my practice, so that's why I'm asking, what kind do you like? But I do want to hop on and say that, too, hop on his bandwagon.

My god, we're really creating a robust community here. It's what we have on Facebook and I want to create that here on YouTube. So, thank you for your support.

You guys are amazing. A lot of you will there's a little love button or something on there, and throw $5, $10. You don't have to do that, but that's so kind that you do, so thank you for doing things like that.

You guys are amazing! So, thank you from me, as well.

Yeah, so with that, we will wrap for this week and we'll see you next time.

Bye, guys!