Can coffee prevent kidney stones?

SPYR.

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 chapped-lip kidney stone prevention nurse. I mean, I'm just saying, Jeff, so we had Halloween last week, and now November 1st it was like frost. It was just like Santa Claus was actually coming to town early because it was freezing, wasn't it?

Yeah, it is wild. I mean, I have my patio is right out here, right outside this window, and it is all of the furniture we have these covers on it, and it is all ice, which is really disappointing to see. I mean, I was hoping to get out there and enjoy some of the weather, but yeah, it's it's pretty cold right now.

Look, here's the thing, Jeff, we live here for decades, okay? We grew up here. Meaning in Illinois, and we always act like every, "Oh my god!" Can you believe how freaking cold it is?

It's like, but it is always so shocking because you'll go from like an 80-degree day to 30. It's like, what? I don't even know why I have jackets, and shackets, and I don't know why, because you go right from a tank top to a down goose coat and ear muffs.

I had ear muffs on yesterday. I'm like, really?

Yeah, it's wild. It happens so, so fast. I mean, I am glad it's still sunny.

That is the thing. When we get sort of in the in the part of the winter that's just cloudy, that's never a good time.

Look, I don't care I 100% agree. I really don't care that it's cold. I'm always hot anyway, so it doesn't matter to me, but the sun, the clouds all the time, no, don't like it.

It's very depressing.

Yeah, we're hoping to get away for a little bit this winter, so we'll see how that goes, just to yeah, to flee to maybe Miami, because we love Miami, Miami Beach, and love the food, love the culture, everything. So, we'll see. So maybe some of the episodes in the future my scene will be a little different.

We'll we'll find out.

Well, that would be nice. I'm all for it. Bring it.

Yeah. But yeah, so we're back with another FAQ, of sorts, and this is this is an a really interesting one, I think, because it's the question: can coffee prevent kidney stones?

Yeah. People are going to say, "What is What are they talking about now?" So, a lot of patients come to me and say, "My doctor told me," or "I just stopped coffee because I was told that it will it's just a no-no. It's super high in oxalate.

It's a problem. I'm not going to drink it anymore." And then I come along, and I dispel that myth. And actually, there are studies that say coffee can prevent kidney stones.

"Oh my goodness, Jill! Really? Are you really just going to make us click on this video, telling lies?" I'm not lying!

I actually have a article at Dr. Fred Coe's site, C-O-E, he is my mentor, and I think the article is called "A Thirst for Variety," and it's on his website at kidneystone.uchicago.edu, and you can find it, "A Thirst for Variety." And in that article, we have a we have some mention of teas, and coffee, and alcohol, and soda, and all these beverages that were told not to drink, and they actually prevent kidney stones.

But, of course, in every study done, you got to read the whole thing, people, because it's always about portion, not perfection. So if you have a cup of coffee or two, I'm going to tell you people right now, those of you who know me well know this to be true, there is every day I take one hour to myself. It don't matter what I do.

I could be writing my newsletter, I could be looking at Instagram, TikTok, whatever the hell it is, I could be doing whatever, reading, playing, whatever. It's my hour. Generally between 6:30 and 7:30, 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning, I am up doing my hour with my cup of coffee.

Oh, yeah, baby. There isn't a night I don't go to bed snuggled in thinking about waking up so excited to start my day with my cup of coffee. It's true, and I get my hour, because I have to take care of myself before I can take care of any single person that comes my way throughout the day.

How I gather my energy, it's how I just gather my happiness. So I take care of myself and then I'm able to take care of everybody else, and it's a wonderful feeling. Anyway, the point is cup of coffee every single day, even when I was going through chemotherapy, cup of coffee, no matter how sick I was, I had it.

I love it. Makes me very happy. I love the taste.

So, coffee and kidney stones, cuz everyone's like, "Jill, if you think I'm getting out my diary tonight and writing about how much you love coffee, I'm not. Get to it, sister." Okay. Coffee and kidney stones: yes.

Why can it prevent kidney stones? Like I said, there's a catch. All fluids count.

Your daily fluids, all of them count. If you want to have a diet soda, it counts. If you want to have a cup of tea, it counts.

If you want to have a cup of coffee, it counts. If you want to have a glass of wine, it counts. All fluids count.

Water is best. So, the problem is this: you'll see people go to Starbucks. They will get a cup of coffee the size of Jeff's body.

He's a very tall man, first, people, a very tall man. They can barely get the cup of coffee out of the shop by itself. It's so much coffee, okay, with doodles and whipped cream and a lollipops in it.

People think, "Oh, it's only coffee." That was a Baskin-Robbins ice cream sundae. I don't know what y'all are thinking of a cup of coffee no more, but everyone's lost their ever-loving mind. A cup of coffee, think Edward Hopper portrait, people sitting in a diner with a cup of coffee.

Think Seinfeld if you don't know who Edward Hopper is. Think Seinfeld, Elaine and Jerry and Kramer and George, they were having a cup of coffee, a little six-ounce cup of coffee, not 25 oz, not 100 oz, not 60 oz a day, not with all the sugar in it. So a regular cup or two of coffee a day can actually help increase your total fluids, and that's how they help prevent kidney stones.

So yeah, it's a little But I wanted to do this video because many people give up coffee. Many people think they can never have a glass of wine. Am I telling you to get drunk every night, people?

No. But I'm saying when we add things or keep things in our diet that make us happy, like me getting so excited about my one stupid cup of coffee in the morning, it brings me joy. And so you're always thinking I'm killing your joy with food and beverage and all that, I'm not.

I'm just telling you eat and drink responsibly. I don't think that's too much to ask. This body that carries you around does a lot for you every day.

How are you paying it back? Are you overloading it with caffeine? Are you eating too much sugar?

Are you getting your scat- skeleton some calcium? Are you overdoing meat protein that's leading to very acidic urine and taking away your citrate, things that are very important in kidney stone disease, good and bad, that you need to know about? So, I'm not here to kill your joy.

Actually, I'm here to bring things back for you. I'm just asking, please, drink your coffee responsibly. Have a cup or two, a true cup or two.

Absolutely have some tea. Just don't steep it for 5 hours, and don't have 10 cups of it. That sun tea that's sitting in your driveway all day steeping in the sun in South Carolina, don't do that.

Don't drink that whole thing. So have smaller portions of your favorite thing. That will bring you joy.

And when you get to keep things like that in your diet, you are more apt to be compliant in the long haul. When you take away everything, you're not going to be able to stick to that. Remember how much weight you lost last year and how much weight you gained again this year, because you couldn't stay, as a human being, never eating a bun again.

It's a dumb diet. Some of you will say, "I can!" God bless. That's two out of 1 million, okay?

But for those of you who are the majority that really do want to have a tea here and there and a coffee here and there, it will help prevent your stones because you're getting more fluids. So, coffee: absolutely fine to have. Consider it part of your daily volume of fluids.

Always know that water is best, but all these other things help add to your total. So, that's my little deal on coffee.

Yeah, and I'm just curious, what is your go-to when it comes to coffee?

Okay, so, okay, I'm really cheap with things about me, meaning I will go to Marshalls and I will just pick I have found cheaper coffees at Marshalls. There's a brand called Joe's that I really like. When I'm feeling fancy, at my regular grocery store, I will get Peet's.

Then sometimes, I'll go really old school. One of my closest friends is a Puerto Rican, and she owns a Puerto Rican bakery here in Chicago, and she has lots of fancy coffees, but she always has Cafe Bustelo in her kitchen, so I'll get that, too. So I actually like to trade out.

I do not drink Starbucks, so they will not ever sponsor us. I'm not a Starbucks fan, it's a little bit too bitter for me. And believe me, I like my coffee like wine, full-bodied, heavy.

Think scotch and whiskey, I like that, too. I like to dibble in that sometimes, little biff of that. So I like heavy notes, and so I so you would think I would like Starbucks, but it's a bit too bitter for me.

So I kind of vary it. I just at Marshalls yesterday, and I got some kind of Christmas blend. It's eh, you know.

But I so I like to try different things. I'm not a flavored coffee person, but I do, and here's another little-known fact about me, is I like to start my day with a little coconut creamer that actually has added sugar. So Jill Blank Harris, cuz I have no middle name, actually starts her day with added sugar.

It's vanilla, cuz vanilla is one of my most favorite things on Earth, and I will not give it up, because it brings me joy. And if I start my day with joy, or I don't have to start it with joy, I start my day with things that really make me happy, I eat foods that make me happy, and then I can be compliant. That's when this becomes your lifestyle.

Figure out and eat the foods that make you happy, that are healthy. So I start my day with 3 g of added sugar, but I ain't got no more added sugar for the rest of my day. So a woman can have up to 25 g of added sugar, a man up to 37.5, I'll give him the extra half and call it 38 g of added sugar.

So use it where you want it. So if you if you're like, "Hey, I got to have two Oreos every day, sister. That's what's happening over here." I say, "God bless, have it." If that's what's going to bring you joy, and it's going to make you be able to be compliant, it don't matter what you do.

The rule is it's your rules. We're giving you goals. You meet them how you need to meet them.

If you want to have a candy bar every day cuz that makes you happy and you're not a diabetic, or you got your glucose under control, and it fits into the Kidney Stone Diet goals, darn right you can have it, because you know if you have that, you don't care about added sugar anywhere else. That's what makes you happy. So I don't care about cookies and cakes.

I like my mother's Italian cookies that she has for me. I'll have one sometimes, or two, and I love them, but I'm not overeating anywhere else, so I can do it without feeling anxiety or feeling like I'm going to make a stone or gain weight, cuz I'm watching my portion. And those Italian cookies make Ma, I hate you when you have them every there Sunday, but I love them, too.

You know it. That's why she keeps buying them. They make me so happy.

They're butter cookies with chocolate and sprinkles. What's not to be happy about? But when you eat well overall, you can fit those things into your diet: coffee, a tea, Italian cookies, whatever your jam is, man.

You can have it, as long as you stay within your goals and get right back on track with the next meal choice, right?

Yeah, no, absolutely. And, I mean, that is that's why the entire site and platform exists is to sort of give you that framework, like you said, the let give the guidelines and the goals that someone can follow. And then you choose how you're going to follow it on your own.

And the meal plan can guide you along and give you inspiration along the way to show that it's easier than you might think. But, yeah, at kidneystonediet.com, you can find all of this info, all of the details about those goals specifically and what the Kidney Stone Diet is. And if you want to dive deeper, you know, we have the course, or the meal plans, or anything else, but everything is free.

Everything's out there and you can you can get down the get moving down this journey right away. And you don't have to you don't have to deprive yourself ever, because the joy in life is so important. Like if something gives you joy, you need to find how to keep that joy on a daily basis.

Unless it's a spinach salad, then you just can't have joy with that. Sorry.

Yeah, no spinach salads with slivered almonds, none of that. But almost anything else.

Almost anything else, and that's for sure. Listen, and just to talk about diets in general, I'm not a believer in, you know, "Have this, take away a whole food group here, but eat as much as you want of this other food group." Come on, people! And that's just because we as human beings really like to eat as much as we want of something, and the diet industry knows that, so they're going to make those kind of diets up.

We shouldn't be overeating anything, and I am going to pop your joy balloon with that. We really shouldn't. I mean, we should eat enough to feel full, to feel happy, to make our body move properly for ourselves, and that's it.

I mean, food is here to nourish us, too. Once in a while, of course, for pleasure. Keep your favorite things in your diet that will keep you compliant for the long haul, and you can pretty much fit anything in it as long as you remember portion, not perfection, okay?

Yeah, I think that is the perfect note to head out on. So, if you're enjoying the show, be sure be sure to subscribe on YouTube with that little bell so you get notified whenever new episodes come out, which is every Tuesday. And head on over to kidneystonediet.com and check out the Yeah, join the email newsletter.

I mean, there's that is a there's so many people on that list now. It's amazing. Like I look every so often and it's like, "Wow, there's a lot of people that are quiet, you know, they're out there, they want the information, but they're not calling into the to the show.

We're not necessarily engaging in a direct one-to-one time, but it's amazing to be able to reach so many people. And every week, Jill's sending out an email just to keep you to nudge you along your journey and keep you going and just help out in any way she can. And if you have a

I love that newsletter, too, because I get hundreds of emails on Saturday when that goes out. I'm getting a lot of emails. So, yeah, people are people are more not as vocal as say somebody like me, right?

So they reach out to me via email for sure. Go ahead, Jeff.

Oh, no. But yeah, that'll do it for this week. Again, thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.

Bye, friends!