Is quinoa high in oxalate?

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

And I'm a nurse who specializes in kidney stone prevention. Jill Harris, and it's Valentine's weekend. Happy Love Day to everybody.

Yeah, and like you were saying, your Valentine's sweater is not going to be red because you're more of a, just like me, more of a black kind of uniform.

More of a black kind of people. Yeah. Yeah, we love the, I really like the grayscale stuff.

I tend to always, I mean, anyone who's watched the show on YouTube, I'm pretty much, I think in every episode I should be wearing black or gray because I don't think I even own another shirt. Like another color of anything.

Well, we all like you in black, so it works for you. Here's the thing. Either I go for, either I'm always in black or all of a sudden I'll do neon or orange, so I go from one extreme to the other, but mostly dark colors because I have a chocolate lab.

So, you know, but even so, I just love black. I just love it.

Makes me happy.

Oh, yeah, for sure. So, we have a another question this week and, yeah, this is a little, it's a little bit of a longer question, but let's dive right into it.

Great.

Hi, this is Gene in Lincoln, Nebraska. And I had a question specifically about, quinoa. I do like quinoa, and it's one of those I'd like to incorporate almost daily in my diet, but I'm not, because I can't find if it's high in oxalate or not, and that's what I try to keep, you know, low.

And, so I, I don't eat it, you know, and I know I could, it's not like I can never have it, just, I didn't know if it's something I need to do in moderation, not, you know, like on a daily, so which leads me to another question. If I, on the list that you have provided out there, if you can't find a food on that, is there a, is there a good place to go to find out if something is high in oxalate or not?

But, so I use flax seed, you know, which, which I like, but I mean, I basically use that to incorporate in my oatmeal. And, but I really like quinoa for the chewiness and everything, I just, just like it, but, so that's my question. Is, is quinoa high in oxalate?

Is it something I should avoid, because it's high in oxalate or keep, or keep it in moderation?

And it's not like I go crazy with it. And also, if you can't find a food on the list, is there a good place to be able to go to find out if something is high in, a food item is high in oxalate? Thank you very much.

Great question! So, again, I get this one often.

So, he said, which most people say, "Jill, I ate it every day, I love it, I love it." Well,

Here's the thing with foods. When we eat the same foods over and over,

And they're knowingly high in oxalate, like spinach and almonds, then that's a problem. So, I say eat all foods within moderation except the very few ones I have on my website to avoid. Those are like raspberries, and almonds, and spinach, buckwheat groats, you know, things like that.

There's a list on my website at kidneystonediet.com. Go to the start page and you'll have all kinds of free stuff including a list of foods to avoid.

So, quinoa. One of my recipes last week that I made for the meal plan, had quinoa. And I love to use foods that Harvard did not study

As an educational tool for patients. So, in that recipe I'll have some Kidney Stone Safe tips. "I know you see quinoa and I know you're thinking, 'Oh, my god, why is she cooking with quinoa?

We don't know how much that is.'" And I will always say this, and you already answered your own question, you brilliant man, you. You said, you know, "I'm just looking, I know I could probably have it in moderation," but he's nervous and he's probably nervous about it because he's had a kidney stone. And once you've been hit with these little buggers,

They will make you a mess cuz the pain is like that of nothing else. So

You can absolutely have quinoa.

We don't know how much it is.

Because Harvard, back then, they did that list in the 80s, so ain't nobody eating no quinoa back in the 80s. They weren't eating flaxmeal. They weren't, you know, and there's certain things like flax that was studied for whatever known reason, and it is fine to have.

But I'm just saying this:

I have quinoa and I follow this diet because my family has stones and I don't want them. So

Have quinoa once a week. I will say as a general rule, if something is not on the Harvard list, which is the list we promote, and we promote it because we trust those researchers.

And we've used it for decades, Dr. Coe and I, so we know it works, but it's not just that list that works. It's all the advice we give surrounding that list, so it's just more than following a list.

So,

Have the food that has not been studied once or twice a week.

Get your daily calcium needs met,

And then you'll be fine. And I know that because I see follow-up urine collections with that advice given. People eat foods on the follow-up urine collection that we, that, you know, have not been studied and they're like, "I had the quinoa.

Look! My oxalate was low." Great! Cuz you're eating a normal portion.

And you're getting your calcium, so that all very much matters. There was something else I wanted to say, Jeff.

Quinoa,

Study,

Calcium. Oh, I say have it once or twice. People like, "Why do you keep saying have it twice a week?" I'm like, cuz I'm practical.

Maybe you made a lot. You're going to have leftovers, so what? Because then the next question people will say, "Jill, I made too much.

Am I supposed to throw it out?" So, I just, you know,

Make sure that I say all that. So, yeah, you could have anything once or twice a week, honestly, except really known high-oxalate foods like spinach or almonds. But,

Look, people got

Kidney stones. Black beans weren't studied. You're going to see my recipes have black beans in them because it's a half a cup or less I'm putting in there.

People come to me, they're vegans, they're getting their protein cuz they had five cups a day of black beans all along, again, with no calcium. That is the difference, people. Calcium matters, right?

So, now, and also where else can you go to find

Oxalate levels? I don't trust. I don't know.

I, we use the Harvard list, okay? I couldn't speak of any other list cuz I've never used it, so I can't, I don't know. But that advice I give, if it's not on the Harvard list, eat that food once or twice a week, get your calcium needs met, has never kicked me in the butt in 21 years cuz I see the thousands of follow-up urine collections every year, so I trust what I'm saying works.

I hope that makes sense. Does it, Jeff?

Oh, absolutely. And yeah, I mean, it has literally been thousands of patients, hasn't it?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Oh, thousands, thousands of patients I've had in 21 years. Thousands and thousands of patients, yes. And so I have all those follow-up urine collections, so, you know, I know Tim comes to me and he was a vegan and his oxalate level was in the hundred, you know, 120 or whatever, and then when he does the follow-up after he works with me with one phone call, boom!

He's done. He doesn't have to worry about it. His oxalate level's less than 20 because he stopped eating five cups of beans a day, ate one cup, had half a cup, whatever, and got his calcium needs met.

So, again, this caller said, "You do everything in moderation, you're not going to have a problem." Really. Just stay away from almonds and spinach, please. One cup of spinach has over 600 milligrams of oxalate.

By the time you sauté that down, it's the size of my eye. You don't, it's nothing. It's not worth cooking.

Yeah.

Right?

Those spinach smoothies and everything, those are just

Oh, my goodness.

Destruction.

Yes, they are. Unfortunately, and I know a lot of my patients are very sad by that, but, you know, too bad, so sad, because, kidney stones are way worse than you not being able to eat, spinach. So, you know, you're just going to have to get over that.

Sub out kale. I know it ain't the same. Do your best.

Yeah. So, thanks again for that question. I think it was Gene.

And if you have a question that you want Jill to answer on the show, the number is 773-789-8763. And, yeah, we may feature you in a future episode. And, yeah, thanks again for listening.

Be sure to head on over to kidneystonediet.com to get on Jill's email list if you want a weekly Saturday morning update and not even update, but I guess, nudge to keep you on track and help improve your, your journey that you're on.

Thanks again for listening. You can find this show on what? YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

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I answer all those comments. It could be 3:00 a.m., I'm like, "Did I get to the comments today, here?" I mean, I answer comments all over the internet, but I love answering the ones on YouTube, so please, write me. Talk to me over at YouTube.

Subscribe. That's what you can do for me so more people can find credible information and not the craziness that's all over the place, okay?

Absolutely. Yeah, Jill is very accessible through Facebook, through the website, through YouTube, through everywhere, so. Yeah.

I'm dedicated, people.

Absolutely.

A little OCD.

Well, yeah. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you guys next time.

Great question. Thanks so much. Have a good day, guys.