How much oxalate is in chia and flax seeds?

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 am Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse.

And so we're back for another listener question today. And I think we are talking oxalate.

So, let's see. Shocking.

Hi, this is Julie from Arlington Heights, Illinois. I have a question about oxalate in chia and flax. And, I have, you know, moved away from a lot of types of nuts and do like flax in mixing it in yogurt and in walnut bread, that kind of thing.

So, flax and also chia seeds. Could you address those if you haven't already, or if you have, I will go do some more searching on your, on your site. Thank you so much.

Bye. What's her name, Jeff?

Julie.

Julie from Arlington Heights, I know exactly where you are, Julie, since I'm in Chicago. I used to work in Arlington Heights. I managed a drugstore there many moons ago.

So, and Julie,

Even if I did say this before, I'm thrilled to answer your question and I'm thrilled that you got on the phone and actually left it, so of course I'm going to address it. Chia seeds and flax.

Harvard did not study chia seeds, but other people did. They It is high in oxalate. And it's a darn shame because they're a great fiber source, they're good protein, you know, and of course, they're everybody's little darling for the last several years.

Everybody's having chia seeds. Flax seeds are low, so you can have them. They're fine.

Now,

Julie, I want you to listen to me, because this is what everyone does.

Chia seeds is a great example. Chia pudding, chia gas, chia pillowcases, chia, chia, chia.

Wasn't that a Chia Pet? Ch-ch-chia, right? Yeah, okay.

So, those stupid seeds. Okay, so chia is good for us. Therefore, I should eat as much chia as I possibly could get into my little body.

Not so.

Oh yeah, there was a Chia Pet. Yeah.

Not so, at least for kidney stone formers, right? So, it may work. You may say, "Well, Barbara across the street, she's been eating chia seeds for the last 20 years.

She ain't got a stone." Well, she's just genetically not prone. Think about the people that smoke for 60 years and didn't get lung cancer. How are you going to explain these things?

Some people are more genetically prone to certain illnesses than other people. Genes play a part.

So, chia seeds, I would rather I usually tell people to avoid them because the only reason people keep eating chia seeds, it's not because they're delicious, it's because they want the health benefits. And so, again, the thought is, more chia, more health, but not in the case of stone formers. "Jill, I'll put it in milk.

I'll put it in my yogurt."

You could. You could. But, it's high, so I would tell you just a 1/4 of a teaspoon, a teaspoon, that's You're not going to get health benefits from that.

Use the flax seed, use it ground up or whole. If you have any kind of bowel disease, whole, as you all know who do have bowel disease, whole seeds, or diverticulitis, diverticulosis, be careful of seeds, obviously. You don't want to hurt yourself having them.

But, for people who don't have any bowel issues, you can definitely have flax seed or ground flax seed in your smoothies, if you're having that, in yogurt. But I say chia is high. I would avoid it because, again, it's it's not Somebody's not like a dip of chia.

They're putting a lot in because it's healthy, so I don't know. So, it's up to you, Julie. I wouldn't waste my oxalate on chia seed because it is on the higher side.

High enough that I say I'll tell people, "Have mashed potatoes, okay?" But, I know people are not having chia seeds once a month.

They're having it in everything. They're putting it in everything, and that's how oxalate becomes a problem. Overdoing the highest oxalate foods over and over because those foods tend to be healthy, and so we want more health.

Don't do it. So, stick with your flax, and again, I'm going to say the same thing about flax seed and flax, whether it's ground or whole seed, you know, have normal amounts in your yogurt. Don't go nuts with it.

Don't go seeds with it. Have normal amounts, okay? Don't be thinking more of these products is going to be more health.

Eat all food in normal portion, the serving size portion, whether it's healthy food or not healthy food. Most of my stone formers that come to me, well,

So many of them, whether they were eating healthy or not, had high salt diets. A lot of vegans eat way too much salt, a lot, okay? Sugar, too, by the way.

Just because you're vegan don't mean you're eating healthy. I have a lot of vegan patients, but also a lot of vegan patients because they did overdo all the almond products, and the spinach, along with absolutely no calcium, because they thought they were getting their calcium from the spinach, right? But, there's so much oxalate in spinach that there ain't enough calcium in that spinach to override what's going on.

There's 600-700 in a cup. So,

I want to remind everybody, please, this is important for you to know, eat a variety of food, all of it in normal portion size, mix it up. Don't be like Billy Joe, who eats the same oatmeal for the last 20. There's a lot of things to have for breakfast, people.

Guess what? You could even have, last night's dinner leftovers for breakfast. Just because it says 7 a.m.

Don't mean you have to have an egg, so think out of the box a little. We certainly get in our routines with food and we just stick ourselves in tiny little boxes. When you work with me in the Kidney Stone Prevention Course, you learn that, variety is the spice of life and

People will say, this is so common I can't even tell you, "Jill, I don't like vegetables. I don't know why I have an oxalate problem." Well, some people just also, overproduce oxalate, it's a waste product, after we eat our foods, and also, and the body just makes it, so some of us have that. Some of us have malabsorption issues.

There's all kinds of reasons, but mostly it comes from too much spinach and almonds. But people say, "Well, I haven't had a vegetable. Why is my oxalate so high?" Well, you're getting no calcium, you're eating a lot of carbs that have Some of these things have oxalate as well, and I want those people to People who say, "I don't like vegetables." I'll say, "How long you've been saying that?" "Oh," and they proudly say, "Since I'm like eight." Well, I

You know, I just want to I want you to think about that, because what we say to ourselves, the character we name ourselves and the things that we do each and every day, that's part of our story. Maybe it's time to pick up the pen and change your story and write a new character and maybe that character's going to try something that's green once in a while.

Vegetables are good for you. Don't eat the high-oxalate ones. That's like rhubarb and spinach.

You can eat most fruits and vegetables on a lower-oxalate diet, so don't worry about that. But, I always ask my patients, "Explore a little." There has never been a patient that has worked with me that when they did that, they explored a little, they're like, "I'll be damned. I was like, 'I want my money back.' But then, after a couple weeks, I was like, 'All right, let me try some darn vegetables,' and by golly if I don't like them now." So, listen, guys, we are nothing more than a bunch of habits.

Push yourself, push yourself to think out of the box and do something a little bit differently. You'd be surprised how your world opens up, truly. That's it, Jeff.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and if you want to dive deeper, like, I think that's a I think that really covers it really well. But, if you want to dive deeper, you can head over to kidneystonediet.com, where you find the prevention course, you find meal plans, you find one-on-one private coaching with Jill.

But, we really recommend, if you're ready to take this serious, like take your health seriously, to dive into the course, because Jill goes in-depth on all of these topics in a really concise way. I think there's what, four videos?

Yes, four videos. Almost 5 hours worth of education, and then the group calls go with it.

Yeah, and then the group calls are extremely valuable because you get to work directly with Jill and be a part of the community and really, yeah, take strides together to, improve your life.

Yes, and you know, we have a lot of fun in there, too. We laugh. We have we, sometimes, we cry in there.

We are a community and I'm very proud of what we have built, meaning all the patients in there. That is the joy I love all my calls. I'm not going to say I don't, but that's the joy of my life, is are those calls because it's a group, and I love working with a bunch of people because then they can see that they're not alone and that makes me very happy.

And we really have a good time. We swap recipes. We talk about, you know, "What'd you make this weekend?" and you get different ideas from people.

It's a very worthwhile time. It's wonderful. You Anybody who's in it loves it.

Yeah, absolutely, and you hear us talk about these things a lot because we're never taking sponsors. This is This show is always going to be free. You can keep listening week after week and keep learning everything.

But, if you want to support the show, you want to further your journey, you just head over to the website and there are some premium products and direct access to Jill, which is so valuable. It's just immensely valuable just from the outside, because I mean, you enjoy it, and but like, we know what you're doing. Like, we see we see everything you've built and everything that you're doing to help people, so I think it's, yeah, it's valuable for people to recognize that and take a look.

But,

Well, look, it's the joy of my life besides my son, so it's a it's a privilege for me, for sure.

Yeah, and if you're watching on YouTube right now, we would love a thumbs up and a subscribe. And, you can also check out the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and tell a friend. If you know anyone who is suffering with kidney stones, we're trying to help as many people as we can.

And this show will always be free. All the blog posts, all the Facebook group, everything will always be free. You never have to, spend a penny, so.

Nope.

Yeah, so thanks again for watching the show, and we will see you next time.

Thank you, Julie.