In this episode, Jill discusses whether almonds can be eaten on a low oxalate diet. She explains that almonds are typically restricted on the Kidney Stone Diet due to their high oxalate content. Overeating almonds can lead to an excessive intake of oxalate, which increases the risk of kidney stones. She also mentions that almonds are often over consumed by people following diets like paleo and keto. Jill provides alternative crunchy options for those who miss the texture of almonds. She emphasizes the importance of cooking at home and offer the Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans as a resource for healthy recipes.
Takeaways
- Almonds are typically restricted on a low oxalate diet due to their high oxalate content.
- Overeating almonds can lead to an excessive intake of oxalate, increasing the risk of kidney stones.
- People following diets like paleo and keto often overconsume almonds and other almond products.
- Alternative crunchy options, such as unsalted pistachios and pecans, can be enjoyed in moderation.
- Cooking at home is a healthier and more cost-effective option than eating out.
- The Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans offer inspiration and guidance for cooking kidney stone-friendly meals.
Jeff Sarris
This week on the podcast, can I eat almonds on a low oxalate diet?
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.
Jill Harris
And I’m little old Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse.
Jeff Sarris
You are so tiny, it’s funny because like when we take a photo next to you, like I don’t feel tall because I’m inside my own eyes. So I feel like I’m the same height as everyone. And then when we’re next to each other and it’s five, are you five one? Is that what it is?
Jill Harris
It’s hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. Five two.
Jeff Sarris
5′ 2″ and then I’m 6′ 4″ so it’s always just, I don’t know, it’s fun.
Jill Harris
It’s hilarious. And it’s funny because I feel so big. I feel like a big person. I just do because I have a big personality, right? So I’m like, oh my God, I’m the tiniest little thing I’ve ever seen. You know, when people meet me in person, they’re like, oh my God, you’re so tiny. It’s that big mouth. It’s misleading, you know? So funny. Yeah.
Jeff Sarris
Well, yeah, you have that energy. I love it because I’m sort of the opposite. When we’re talking about the stuff, the things that are in my lane, I’m much more outgoing and stuff. But generally, I’m just sort of like, I’m the quiet guy sort of off to the side. So it’s funny how the sizes, they’re inversely proportional to our sort of maybe boisterousness maybe, I don’t know.
Jill Harris
You are the calm to my storm. People always comment like in the Facebook group. We have a Facebook group called Kidney Stone Diet with Jill Harris and go there. There’s like 20 ,000 people on it. It’s a great group. It’s a closed group. So all your things are private as private as Facebook is, but it’s a closed group. And people are always like, oh, well, first of all, everybody loves you and your hair. So I’m just telling you, did you see that thing I said?
Jeff Sarris
Um, I’m not sure. Was it just today or. Okay. Yeah. I’ll have to look.
Jill Harris
Oh, you need to. So I sent it yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. So people are like, Oh, thank God for Jeff because you’re a bit much, Jill. Thank God he calms you down. I’m like, he is the yin to my yang. We are a perfect duo, aren’t we? We are perfect duo. It is a great balance. Yeah.
Jeff Sarris
I really think so. I think it’s a great balance. Like, I don’t know. I love it. So I’m glad other people enjoy it too, because like, yeah, I don’t know. We have a good time on here and yeah, I think that’s nice. It’s always nice because you don’t know. Like unless someone comments, unless someone says something, we don’t know how it’s received. Like there’s people watching, people listening, but yeah, we appreciate all the comments. Like comments on a video, the social media posts, comments in the Facebook group, that all really means a lot. So like thank you to everyone.
Jill Harris
Yes, it does because sometimes we just feel like we’re just talking to the air. I mean, you know, unless you get comments and feedback, you don’t know how people are receiving this. You know, I know that we do get a couple of comments that go, Jill is barking along too much. Just get to the topic. Well, you know, folks, that’s what the fast forward button is for. If you’d like to use that, feel free. But, you know, Jeff and I also like building community and talking about sometimes our personal life or whatever and that’s going to be part of the show. I know though it can be annoying there’s sometimes when I’m watching a YouTube show and I’m like get to the point so I get it but I just fast forward you don’t have to write a sad comment they always make me sad I’m like oh okay whatever it’s social media can’t get that crazy about it yeah it’s okay it really doesn’t bother me honestly yeah no it doesn’t no I always make a remark like Oh, just fast forward, you know? Probably fine. Not a problem.
Jeff Sarris
Yeah, and most of the episodes moving forward too, we have chapter markers. So you can actually just click to the first major topic marker. I guess podcasting, a little different, not as simple, but YouTube. You can just click through and jump right past the intro.
Jill Harris
The Chit Chat.
Oh, and also people are like, you know what people ask me a lot? Do you guys really get along? No, we hate each other. We just do this. Of course, we love each other. I mean, yeah, isn’t that funny? People ask, do we really get along? And I’m like, yes. And I’m like, Jeff is as nice as he is on camera. He’s like that in real life. Everything that, I think that everything that we are on camera, we are in real life. I mean, you know what I mean? It is what it is.
Jeff Sarris
That’s funny. So people do ask that? That’s really funny.
Jill Harris
We work for ourselves. It’s one of the reasons we work with each other is because we are who we are. And we ain’t changing it for nobody. So if you don’t like it, you don’t like it, right? I mean, you know, I think that’s really important. If you’re able to have a work life where you, you know, it’s just, it’s Jeff, Amara pops in here and there and then Dave. So, and we just feel so grateful that we love each other. You know, it’s so helpful when you’re working with people and building, you really need to care for one another and it’s pretty amazing. I just think we’re so lucky, don’t you?
Jeff Sarris
For sure. It’s such an important thing and so difficult. I mean, you think about finding just like a romantic partner. That is not easy. This is as close to that as you can get. But then when money’s involved, it’s almost even more at risk. You’re like not to diminish anything, but it’s like, you have to find the right people. And people have asked because like I’ve always, like I’ve worked with Dave forever. Like it’s been 15 years now. Like we’ve worked together for so long and people ask, how do you find great partners? And I’m like there isn’t an answer. Like you, you just have to, like you have to just sort of reflect and be like, do I vibe with this person? Is this, if there’s an opportunity, a shared opportunity, is this something we actually pursue or is this going to tarnish the friendship that we have? And that’s, it’s, yeah, it’s a tough spot.
Jill Harris
Yes, yes. And also Jeff, trust. Like when you’re an entrepreneur and you own your own business to try to find like -minded people that you trust, that everyone does their own thing and then comes together for a greater cause and all the pieces fit together, I mean, it is insanely rare. It really is. And as an entrepreneur, you know that. If you guys are working for a company, you may not realize that, but it’s like how, there’s not a match .com or a hinge for business partners. So it’s so hard. And I’m just, I mean, we’re just so grateful we get to work together and we do, we love each other too. So it’s amazing. We’re lucky. We’re very lucky.
Jeff Sarris
Absolutely. You know where my brain goes. There’s not a match.com for entrepreneurs. I’m like, immediately I’m like, yeah, immediately I’m just like, who’s swiping right on people and then starting a conversation for business relationships. That’s actually really interesting. So I might be thinking on that for a little bit.
Jill Harris
Oh, I know you’re gonna think of something.
Isn’t it really interesting? It would be, I mean, it’s like fiverr, but more specific, right? That you wanna, you know, instead of just getting a third party or whatever you wanna partner, it’s, no, for real. No, I know you will. I know you will. He’ll be cooking up something. Yep.
Jeff Sarris
So we should dive into this week’s episode. So we are talking all about almonds. Welcome back everyone who just jumped forward. But yeah, so today the question is, can I eat almonds on a low oxalate diet on the Kidney Stone Diet? Is it possible to eat almonds?
Jill Harris
Alright, go ahead. People are fast-forwarding as we speak.
Okay, almonds, almonds, almonds. So in Kidney Stone Diet land, people that know us know that we take away two foods, almonds and spinach. Now you may say, look Jill, there’s other foods that are even higher like rutabaga, miso soup. But most people are not overeating rhubarb every day. Most people are not overeating miso soup. So the reason we’d say, you know what, eat all foods within moderation, but almonds and spinach, just take them away. Almonds for one ounce, which is about 22 kernels, is 122 milligrams of oxalate. The oxalate goals for the kidney stone diet is to keep them under 100 a day.
So somebody might say, uh, well, Jill, here’s the problem. Nobody is saying, hey, honey, do me a favor. Go get the, go get me two almonds. That’s it. Let’s get, we’ll put on Netflix and we’ll have two almonds a piece. No one’s doing that. Nuts are something you just boom, boom, boom, boom. And if you’re on Spotify or, you know, listening to this, I’m just shoving almonds in my face. That’s what people do.
So they overeat almonds. Diabetics, they were told, have almonds as a snack. They took that to a whole new level. Almonds, almonds, almonds. Jill, I went to Costco, my husband and I, we got a huge bag of almonds. And that’s what we ate for snacks throughout the day. Then you have paleo, keto people, almond flour, almond milk, and almonds. So all day long not just the almonds and nuts, but the almond flour and the almond milk all day long, along with not getting enough calcium. And you could say, well, the almond milk has calcium, but y ‘all are eating so much almond products that that calcium wasn’t helping. You were way overboard with the almonds, way over your oxalate needs. And before you got a kidney stone, you didn’t know anything about the salt part.
So most of you were eating salty almonds and your salt was too high especially on paleo and keto because when we take all that sugar out of products which paleo and keto are watching all their added sugar, all their sugar in general they stuff a whole bunch of salt in those products because once you take away added sugar and added salt from products it tastes like notebook paper so nobody wants it so when you take away one thing like added sugar or sugar you’re going to stuff it with salt so people are like at least I got salt in this so if you’re doing keto and paleo, typically before you make a stone, you’re overeating all the almond products because they’re low net carbs and all keto and paleo people are overeating sodium. That’s the problem.
All right. So we do take away almonds. There’s always a person in the background that says, well, Jill, I can eat just three. God bless, have three almonds. I mean, honestly, if you wanted to take three almonds, and crush them up in your yogurt just because you like seeing an almond in your yogurt, that’s fine. You could actually do it, okay? I wouldn’t risk it.
Now, let’s just say I have kidney stone people in my family. I’ve never had one. I don’t want one. I do exactly what I ask my patients and students to do. I do not eat almonds and I do not eat spinach. Other nuts I eat.
If you get the Harvard list, which you can get at kidneystonediet.com, the start page, you can see, you can have other nuts all in moderation. The problem with nuts in general though, is people tend to eat them all day long, especially my paleo and keto people. So that’s the problem. That’s the problem. And most people aren’t getting enough calcium. So that’s the issue too. And in order to lower oxalate, we have to get enough calcium every day and also we need calcium for our bones. So, almonds, we take them away on the Kidney Stone Diet along with spinach. Everything else, eat all foods within moderation, get your calcium needs met every day and you’re okay.
Crunchy alternatives to almonds
Jeff Sarris
Yeah. Yeah. And I know you’re a crunchy girl. So what do you like for a crunch instead of almonds?
Jill Harris
Every week I get unsalted pistachios and unsalted pecans. I crush them up. I roast them on a pan, so they’re a little toasty. I toast them up in a pan. And then I have them throughout the week in all, in my Greek yogurt, in my low-salt cottage cheese. So in calcium products, I’ll put them in my Fiber One cereal, but I’m paying attention to how much I’m using. I crush them up so it seems like I’m getting a lot, and it’s always with calcium.
So, other crunchy things, oh I love crunchy things as you know, Jeff. I’ll use rice crackers, and I’ll put yogurt on top of that. I will use, I do use Fiber One because I like my crunch in that. I will have some toast, I’ll make some toast here and there. But I’ve got to be careful because you know, I can really overeat crunchy things if I’m not careful. But let’s just say I do have something crunchy every day, that’s for sure. But honestly, I’m not going to lie. I mean, I mean, I don’t eat a lot of, I mean, very rarely do I eat processed food. Sometimes I eat the Harvest Snaps, the Pea Snaps, the Pea Crisps, those are good, lower sodium, but because I have a hard time controlling those kind of things, I tend not to bring them in my house.
I also, I will make my own popcorn and I have some wonderful no-salt seasoning recipes on my website, on our website too. If you Google kidneystonediet.com, no-salt seasoning recipes, there’s a whole bunch that I use on my popcorn. But that’s basically it. I do stay away from crunchy things because they’re a trigger for me.
Somebody asked me the other day, we want to see a day of eating. If you want to see a day of eating folks, join the Meal Plan. That’s what I’m eating every day. I’m not making those foods and throwing them out. I’m always tweaking what I’m eating because I do like to eat different things. What I eat to keep myself fit is in the meal plan. That’s what I eat every day. All those things, all those recipes. And I think there’s almost 200 now. I think, I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong. I don’t know.
Jeff Sarris
Yeah, it’s always growing. So that’s the thing too, is like, if you’ve joined in the past, there’s so many more recipes that are constantly coming out and they’re cycled in. Everything is shuffled. So you won’t end up just with all the new ones, which I know it could feel like, oh, I would, I just want the new ones, but also we’re not making a rigid structure of now you only eat this. This, it’s really for inspiration. So we want to, we want to shuffle them all in and just continue to give you more and more options.
Jill Harris
It’s always growing.
Jeff Sarris
So you just can really see the whole breadth of everything. But of course it takes time. I mean, like the pizza recipe, the pizza crust that you mentioned in the last episode, did you say you spent, I think, six weeks perfecting that?
Jill Harris
Yes.
Six weeks trying to perfect that puppy. So I wanted to make for me, for me, I’m not gluten free, but a lot of my patients and students are gluten free. So I’m like, let me get, let me figure this out. So I made a gluten free, low net carb, high protein vegetarian pizza. And it’s frigging delicious.
And so yeah, these recipes take me, it’s not like I make something, because I’m always wanting to make new foods, right? Because you get sick of the same thing. So it can take me some weeks to perfect a recipe. I throw, you know, and it bums me out because I’m throwing away food. My son can eat so many of my mistakes, you know, so I mean, I’m like, oh my God. So yeah, sometimes it’s frustrating. I’ve made a recipe and then I can’t figure it out and then I go back to it. So I’m just so proud of this recipe because it took me so long and it really is good.
So all these foods are good too and they’re simple. So they’re simple, safe, satisfying, all of it. They’re all kidney stone diet compliant. But like Jeff said, so we give you a lunch, dinner, snack, breakfast every day, but it doesn’t mean you have to eat those foods every day. These are just inspirations on maybe you pick two recipes out of the whole week, but you make those and you’re just trying new things but they’re easy.
And so people will be like, well, I don’t want to cook. And I’m like, well, guys, in order to eat healthier, you’re going to have to cook. Do I have time to cook? That would be no, but I make the time because it’s healthier. And at the end of the day, it’s a lot less expensive than eating anyway in Chicago out. I mean, I’m not doing that. It’s too much salt and sugar in out to eat meals. I’m not, but these foods that I cook for the meal plan are typically 20 minutes or less. They’re not laborious things at all. Some of them are five minutes for breakfast, but they’re always different. They’re super good. And I mean, I’m just bragging now. I don’t, I just get excited about it because I love food. I really do love food. So to try to tweak it and be creative and try to make people happy, it’s like, it’s amazing. It’s a lot of fun too. So I spend a lot of time in my free time doing these recipes and taking the pictures and all of it. It’s a lot of fun for me. I really enjoy it, but it is a labor of love.
Jeff Sarris
Oh yeah. It’s a huge accomplishment because you have a, I mean, people talk about a body of work for an artist and like you have a body of work in these recipes. That’s, that’s really phenomenal. Also because like you had mentioned for a long time, you weren’t one to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So this has become like a passion, like recently, like fairly, not, not like a few months ago, like a while ago, but still like recently you found this. Yeah, there you go.
Jill Harris
It is. It is. Yeah.
For the last seven years. So for the last, it’s going on seven years. When I got divorced, I had to learn how to cook. So, cause I was, my partner cooked and I cleaned. That was the deal. So, you know, you know, it’s what I love about it.
So the fact that I’m feeding so many people right now is hilarious. But it’s also really interesting, right? Because we always say the things we say to ourselves, I’m not this, I don’t do this, I’m not this. So what we tell ourselves is the character we become. So I was just somebody that didn’t cook. And I never thought that I would. So I never thought out of that box. Now, I’m somebody who cooks.
It’s so fun to me. So most people my age are saying, no more cooking for me. Now at 60, and I’ve been doing it for the last going on seven years, but I love it, right? So it’s still fresh for me. So it’s just really always trying to figure out, first of all, what I like is like, I eat these foods, I’m gonna eat all this, but also what do people want? I know that people want lower net carbs.
I know in order to fit into the kidney stone diet, it has to be lower added sugar. I have to play around with the salt. It can’t be this, it can’t be that. So I have to use a lot of fresh herbs. I gotta pay attention to costly food items because the food is expensive right now in 2024. My grocery bill is crazy, you know? So you’ve gotta pay mind to a lot of different things and I love that. So it’s not just thinking about feeding myself. It’s about what do people want?
And maybe it’s something that I don’t normally eat, but I’m gonna try to make it for them. Like I’m not gluten free, but I know my patients are, so I’m like, let me try to get a gluten free crust for my people, let me try. And I was so excited that I got that, right? So it’s just, I don’t know, I know it sounds kind of crazy, but yeah, it’s just really fun to try to do nice things for other people and think about other people in cooking and what may work for them. And the number one thing is, keeping the time short, right? Because nobody wants to be in the kitchen for an hour. Nobody. I don’t either. So yeah. Yeah, it’s a lot of fun.
Jeff Sarris
Yeah, absolutely. And if you want to give the Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans a spin, you can go to kidneystonediet.com and find it right there on the site, along with all the free resources, the blog, the weekly email newsletter. The meal plans keep you on track and give you inspiration for approaching the week and really sort of just always improving a little bit, trying our best to be healthy and focus on our health without the time maybe, because none of us really have the time, unfortunately, because it’s really busy. We’re all just naturally busy, it feels. So that little inspiration, I think, is a nice little kick in the pants sometimes, or just even sharing a little bit that like, oh yeah, we’re all on this journey together. And I think that’s really helpful. But you can find all that and more at kidneystonediet.com.
And if you have a question, we have a voicemail that you can call. The number is 773 -789 -8763. And we will feature you on a future episode. I know it’s been a little bit since we’ve dove into the voicemails, but we’ve had these topics we’ve wanted to talk about and make sure that we had them on. We have some more fact or fiction, which you could go back and listen to some of those. We definitely have more of those coming up. We’ll also be bringing more of you on the show once again. So I think with that, it’s about time to wrap for this week.
Thanks again to everyone for tuning in. Like, comment, subscribe, all that stuff really means a lot and we’ll see you next time.
Jill Harris
Thanks everybody, thanks for being with us.
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