What spices cause kidney stones?

Inspire.

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.

It's always, it's always fun doing the intro. Never, never know what we're going to get.

Well, the last episode I just didn't even speak at all when it was my turn, and this episode I spit the gun or whatever you say.

Yeah.

I can hear my mother saying right now, "Boy, she's been doing enough of these, almost a hundred of them, and she still doesn't even know who she is or where she is." I mean, you know.

Isn't it crazy? 86, this is the 86th episode. That's 87 weeks because we missed the one week, because just we had things come up that we couldn't get to that week.

But, yeah, wild. But, I really want to do something for number 100, I think it'll be fun.

86.

Something–

I know, we're going to do something. I think we can do something, we can do location, we can give away something, people. We're going to celebrate somehow.

Jeff and I have been too busy to figure that out, but we are going to do something. We will do something. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, for sure. So, this week, we're doing another specific question. It is going to be about what spices cause kidney stones.

But before we get there, if you have any questions that we haven't answered, or even if we have answered on a previous episode, but you want them tailored to your situation,

The number is 773-789-8763, and we'd love to feature you on a future episode. And we've mentioned for the past couple, but if you haven't subscribed, we would love to have you subscribe to the channel because it really helps. Hit that little bell to get notified when we post.

We post every Tuesday. Who knows in the future if maybe

Maybe we'll be adding anything else depending on all the different ideas and plans that we have, but for now, once every Tuesday, so you can expect that. If you hit that little bell, then you won't be inundated by notifications or anything, but it helps a lot because it helps us reach more people and the sooner the videos are watched on Tuesdays, it just it helps for the algorithm.

I hate to say,

Bring up the algorithm as being something, but it is. Yeah, it's true. It's it's how we can reach more people because it's seen to be successful early on.

But, yeah, if you haven't subscribed, it would mean a lot, and with that, I would say, what do you say we just dive into the episode? Dive into the topic.

Okay. Okay, let's do it. So, what spices cause kidney stones?

Well,

Here's what I will say about that. So, turmeric has been turmeric and cinnamon are two spices that are known to increase the risk of kidney stones, only because

Of the oxalate content. So, what I'm asked every day, so those two things have been, I think it's a PubMed or NIH study, whatever, it's research and studied. We know that cinnamon and turmeric will increase your oxalate levels, okay?

So, if you're

Overdoing it. I mean, you know, I have people in from India or people who are in the culture that are eating a lot of curry and turmeric and all these foods every single day, they can have kidney stones. They also are not doing other things though, maybe, or they're eating too much salt and not drinking enough fluid.

So, it's not just those things.

But, if you're overdoing those two spices in large amounts on a daily basis, you can certainly be increasing your oxalate, along with, of course, not getting any calcium. As I've I always say this, I've never worked with an adult in 23 years that says to me, "Shut up, Jill, I get plenty of calcium." No one has said that to me in 23 years.

Most of us do not get enough calcium. And how much calcium we're supposed to get is 1,000 for men and women, milligrams per day, 1,000 milligrams of calcium to per day. And for postmenopausal women, up to 1,200.

When I say a goal, like 1,000 for men and women and 1,200 for postmenopausal women, that doesn't mean 5,000! It doesn't mean more than. It means up to.

So, even if you're like, if your doctor says, "Well, you're postmenopausal, you should be getting 1,200 milligrams of calcium," even if you're getting 1,000, 1,100, these labels are not precise. So, I just don't want you to go over because calcium isn't the best absorbed thing in the world, so you don't want excess in your urine.

Okay, back to regularly scheduled programming with the spices.

So, if you're overdoing cinnamon and turmeric, and overdoing is just that. Cinnamon all the time. If you're on Spotify, know that I'm shaking my hand up and down, up and down, okay?

Too much of it. Does that mean you can never go out for foods that have turmeric in it? No, that does not mean that.

Does that mean you can't put a little cinnamon, you know, on some toast? No, it does not mean that. It does not.

It means you do not want to overeat. Some people say, "Hey, I read that pepper is high in oxalate, so I have not used any pepper since 1942."

Well, again, people, it's about a portion game, portion, not perfection. So, if you're eating a cup of ground pepper a day, you might have a problem. If you're just like, woosh, woosh, woosh, on your food, it's not going to be a problem.

So, don't, typically, what I find with the oxalate thing, is people get overly,

Most of my day with private patients, or in the Kidney Stone Prevention Course, is me telling patients, "There's so much more you can eat! You're restricting yourself way too much!" So, of course, you can have a dish that has turmeric in it if you're going out to eat, but you can't have it all the day in any amount you want, okay?

Of course, you can have cinnamon, sometimes, if you'd like that. I have that. I put that in my coffee grounds to add a little flavor, a little pep in my step in the morning.

So, sometimes I will, and I have kidney stone patient I have kidney stone family members, so I don't want kidney stones to be to be added to my medical list. So, I definitely follow the things I ask you guys to do.

So, I'm not too concerned about spices. I'm not too concerned about herbs, as long as you use everything within moderation. So, don't use the two highest things, like cinnamon and turmeric, over and over and over.

Get your calcium needs met every day. Of course, you can use pepper. You can use all herbs when you're just using a little bit in your food.

I again, I don't the first word that came to my mind is what my patients always say, they always like they say this, "My husband says I'm being overly dramatic." Well, I don't think anybody's being overly dramatic, because if you've been hit with a kidney stone, and the pain that suddenly comes on, and the surgeries that you have to have,

I don't think anybody here who has had a medical condition is being dramatic. I'd rather you edge on the side of dramatic, than not giving a damn. But, let's change that judgmental word, "dramatic," and put "cautious." My point is, you don't have to be as cautious as you think you do.

Once you get educated, it's not just about the "yesses" and "noes" in the kidney stone world. It's about, you definitely can, with a bit of education. So, most foods are absolutely allowed on the Kidney Stone Diet.

It's just that the foods are a little you have to be cautious with, be cautious with. Don't eat them over and over. The couple of foods that we really take away is spinach and almonds.

There's a few also that are really high in oxalate, but they're less eaten, so I don't go crazy about them. And there's a list of high-oxalate foods to avoid at kidneystonediet.com, the start page. But, really, guys, as far as herbs are concerned, use them in your cooking.

I want you to experiment with herbs because we're trying to teach you to lessen salt.

So, one of the, you know, I have the Kidney Stone Diet meal plan, and in my recipes, I use I barely I rarely use salt. But, you'll see in my recipes where all the oxalate, all the salt, all the added sugar, all the goals of the Kidney Stone Diet is figured out for you already. I've done that.

And on each recipe, you'll have all that. The reason I'm bringing the meal plan subscription up is because you will see I use a lot of fresh herbs. They're expensive, Jeff!

Still a kidney stone. So, once you lessen the sodium in your foods,

You're going to want to use fresh herbs for flavor, or dry, doesn't have to be fresh. I like treating myself with fresh herbs because they're delicious and they add so much flavor to my food. So, you know, use herbs to lessen the salt.

Just don't use the same ones over and over, and the ones that we real, you know, like the turmeric and the cinnamon,

Okay? Otherwise, I'm using parsley, oregano, I'm using all those herbs. We're not dumping cups of it in there, people!

Use it, enjoy. Just pay attention to how many times a week you're having turmeric and cinnamon. Don't go overboard, either.

So, how's that, Jeff?

Yeah, I definitely fell into the overboard on turmeric a while ago. Like, not too long ago, but it wasn't actually–

Because it's so good!

Well, also it wasn't actually in food. It was a supplement approach, because there is a–

Oh, thank you for bringing that up. Yes, thank you.

There's a squeezable jar that is a squeezable thing that, first off, tastes like candy. It is turmeric with like orange essence in it and it's like a, not a gel, but it's like a thicker liquid.

Yeah.

And I had come across something about the inflammation, then how turmeric can really help with inflammation and things. So, I was like, "Oh, this'll be great!" So, I was doing little shots of that every day and once like I completely stopped and tossed it as soon as we met, because then I was like, "Oh, that is very much not good, what I was," because it was extremely concentrated and it was supposed to be really good for inflammation, which it very well could be very good for inflammation, but also not good for other things.

God bless that you brought that up! I, truly, I'm nothing without you. God bless that you brought that up because that is, and again, one year later, all the turmeric capsules are on HomeGoods reduced section, cause people are bored of that, they're waiting for the next best thing.

So, yes, studies show, and a lot of doctors will say, "Take these turmeric capsules, they're going to decrease inflammation." So, yes, sometimes in life, something that we in the kidney stone world are saying, "Hey, watch this. Limit this."

Can have other properties that are really good for us. Thank you so much, Jeff, for reminding me. So, those turmeric capsules, people, again, just like Jeff did, "Inflammation?

I don't want that, so I'm going to take a whole jar of these pills." Next thing you know, your oxalates high. You want to decrease inflammation without having to take nothing? Lower your added sugar!

That's it! Eat more healthy foods! All within moderation.

Get rid of the salt, get rid of the sugar, eat less sugar. On the Kidney Stone Diet, the goal, and the American Heart Association, all kinds of people, the sugar goal for us as a country, for we as a country, 25 g of added sugar for women,

38 g of added sugar for men. It's 37.5, but what the hell? No one likes decimals, so I just add it to 38 and give it to them.

So, you want to decrease inflammation? Move your body, eat the Kidney Stone Diet way, because it's just a healthy diet, and you won't need no capsules.

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, and I mean I think that's a really good–

People just unsubscribed. "She's real, too crabby today. Unsubscribe, Paul, unsubscribe!"

Yeah, yeah, we just balanced out. All the people who subscribed at the beginning have unsubscribed now, so. No.

No, but–

"I ain't need no sugar." But, people want to take pills!

Yeah, it would be nice, a quick fix.

It's easy! Let's take the pills. Think about, right?

We all want a quick fix, so instead of instead of getting something, or eating foods that create things that now we got to do something else, take away the foods that are creating the inflammation if it is food-induced, and ditch the pills. Keep your nickels in your pocket. Put those nickels towards buying healthier foods.

'Cause the annoying thing, too, is a lot of healthy foods, they can be a little bit more expensive, right? But, I don't know where, yeah, they could. And I don't know where else though you want to spend a few extra pennies, because pay for it upfront, pay.

Pay for it upfront, healthier foods, so you're not letting surgeries and all those things take away your money later. It's really important. So, it's we're talking very little money, too, at the end of the day.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, we're talking about long-term health here and it's it's important to think about what we're doing, what we're putting in our bodies, how we're treating our bodies, what how we are taking care of ourselves. But, yeah, I think that's a good place to wrap this week.

If you have a question that you would like answered on the show, the number is 773-789-8763 and we would love to feature your voice on a future episode.

And yeah, if you haven't already subscribed, it would mean the world if you did. Just click that subscribe and hit that little bell. Don't mean to sound like a broken record.

I feel like I've brought it up a lot lately, but it means a lot. It goes a long way. But, if you are looking for a deeper dive into things, head over to kidneystonediet.com where you can find the free materials at kidneystonediet.com/start, but also the meal plans and the prevention course and all of the premium content that's there, including the urine analysis, which is a 1-on-1 consult with Jill where she breaks down the helps you

Break down sort of what you got from your urine analysis report. But, yeah, I think that's a good spot to wrap, and–

Oh, wait, Jeff, I have one more thing!

Definitely.

I want the question of the day. How many of you, how many of you took capsules, just like Jeff did, because you thought it was going to help with inflammation? How many of you thought that whatever, whether it was a superfood, a special pill, and what did you do that you think caused your kidney stones that you didn't know about?

Write it in the comments so we can talk about it.

Yeah, definitely. So, thanks again for listening and we will see you next time.

Thanks, Jeff. Thanks, guys, bye!