This week Jill answers a frequently asked question about eggs.
Jeff Sarris: 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 Jill Harris, your Kidney Stone Prevention nurse. Hello!
Jeff Sarris: I love when we get serenaded right up top.
Jill Harris: Sometimes you have so much joy in your heart, you just have to sing.
Jeff Sarris: Absolutely. I just love your setup there. Like everything looks so nice. Like I’m in my office shooting from a different angle. And I’m like, I really need to step up how it looks behind me here. So, I love with the Christmas tree all the art or photos or everything.
Jill Harris: Yeah, it’s art and photos. And I love art. I love all art. And that tree–my son and I got it. Well, there’s–you know, I live in a city. So there’s a hoosie right down the block. Everything’s right down the block. So, you know, it’s small here. So, I’m like, “How the hell are we gonna get a tree in here?” Not very Christian of me to swear in the middle of that, but whatever. Luke had just died and I was kind of sad. And he’s like, “Let’s go get a Christmas tree.” I said, “Okay, let’s go get one.”
And I’m like, “But how are we going to get one it’s never gonna fit.” He’s like, “Let’s just go, old lady. Shut up.” We went. And it was just all these big trees and then there’s this sweet little tree, and it fit perfectly back there. And it’s live. I usually have a small artificial one. But everything was perfect and then we decorated it, and there you go. It’s just beautiful. I love Christmas trees. I don’t know why we don’t have them all year long. Why wouldn’t we?
Jeff Sarris: I mean, that would be fun. I didn’t realize that it was a real one, but it does fit the space just perfectly.
Jill Harris: I know. I’m very excited about it.
Jeff Sarris: So, this week we are going to do just a frequently asked question instead of the listener calls, but we’ll be back to that next week. This week, we are going to talk about eggs. So the question is, can I eat eggs when I have kidney stones?
Jill Harris: Can they eat eggs? Yes, you can eat eggs.
Jeff Sarris: Okay, done.
Jill Harris: We’re done. The end. Yeah, so people will say, “I have to watch how much meat protein I’m eating every day. I don’t want to overdo that. So, I want to get my protein from egg whites or eggs.” So yes, you can eat eggs, but I’m going to say what I always say people, does that mean that you can eat 20 eggs a day? And you’re going to be like, “Well, Jill, you’re being very, very–you’re exaggerating.” But if you heard what I heard, every single day, you would understand why I always say something, and then explain it. When people find foods that they can eat–meaning it works for their medical history, it works for their weight, it works for their food sensitivities, it works for the kidney stone diet–when it falls in to what they’re looking for, they tend to over eat that food over and over and over in any amount they want. And that’s when we get into trouble.
So you know, can you eat eggs? Yes. Genetically, I have higher cholesterol in my family. So, if I ate too many eggs, my cholesterol would shoot up. It’s already high for somebody who doesn’t–I barely get any cholesterol in my diet and I exercise like crazy. So, you know, some of us just genetically predisposed to certain things. And so eating eggs may not work for you. So can you eat eggs on the Kidney Stone Diet? Yes, you can, but again, I’m gonna say eat everything within moderation. That means I don’t want you to have a three egg omelet every day. Yes, I know what I’m asking is a little out of the norm meaning people find their regimen and they stick to it. Think like this.
“Jill, I’ve eaten oatmeal every day for 20 years.” I say that example all the time because I hear that on the daily. All the time I hear that. “Jill, I’ve been eating blueberries and oatmeal every day for 20 years.” “Alright, Henry, could you please please add something else to that mix?” Even if you ate oatmeal, six days a week and and two eggs on Sunday? Can we get some variety in our diet? That’s what I’m looking for: a wide variety, food, all within moderation. So, when you go to the store and you see all that produce stop buying corn! I barely consider that a vegetable, by the way, okay? So, stop eating the corn every day or stop eating string beans every day–by the way, they’re a little higher in oxalate. Pay attention to that. So, you know– what were we talking about, Jeff? I forgot!
Jeff Sarris: We’re talking about eggs, but just in general–
Jill Harris: Oh yeah, eggs! So yes, you can have them, but I just say all that because people then do all kinds of crazy things. So, look, I probably have eggs–first of all, sometimes I have an egg white smoothie and it’s protein powder. And so even though people are always like “Jill says no to protein powder.” I don’t if it fits into your daily needs. Sometimes I don’t get enough protein and so I will use an egg white protein powder. But I’m not eating five eggs a day. That’s not how I’m meeting my protein needs. I will have eggs, maybe once a week, and that protein powder maybe once a week, okay? Otherwise, I’m meeting my protein needs through a lot of different foods. I do eat about six ounces of meat a day. That’s what works for my goals. You have to look at your goals on my website at kidneystonediet.com.
The blog will give you how to calculate your meat protein goals. Everyone’s different depending upon their weight. So, I eat about six ounces of meat a day. I will eat some eggs here and there. I will eat–what else do I eat? I’ll eat some beans. Are they higher in oxalate? Yes, that’s why I’m watching the portion size on that. I will eat some edamame. That’s a good way to get protein, too. There’s all kinds of ways to get protein. You can get some through vegetables, so notice it. I know that people want to eat eggs, because it’s an easy breakfast and it is a very nice way to get protein, but it doesn’t mean you should be eating as much as you want of these things.
What You Should Know About Meat Protein vs. Total Protein
Am I clear on that? Because what people do to meet protein needs is just outrageous nowadays, okay? So you don’t have to be doing all that you’re doing. Get normal amounts of protein. The meat protein is different than total protein. So your meat protein–if you eat meat–is a part of your total protein needs. Some people will say, “Well Jill said to limit meat protein,” and they just extrapolate that out and think they should limit all protein. That is not true. We worry about excess meat protein in the Kidney Stone Diet because then it can lower your urine pH, it can lower your citrate, and it can increase your uric acid. That’s why we worry about it. So, it’s a little complicated.
And if you want to find out about things like that I never plug my stuff. Jeff does. But you should do a 15-minute call with me and that’s where we can go over your urine analysis and I can prep you for your doctor’s office visits so you understand what it all means. But overeating meat protein can lead to increased uric acid and lower the citrate and pH. Eggs will not bother those things, but that does not mean you can have as many eggs as you want, especially if you do have cholesterol issues. And one more thing, Jeff, there are a lot of studies that say now that food cholesterol is not increasing your cholesterol. So, I just want to say that there’s so many misleading studies on cholesterol right now, quite frankly, I don’t even know what to believe. I just know, genetically, I rank higher on the cholesterol no matter what my diet is and how I eat. So, I believe those latest studies, not that anybody cares what I believe, but I’m just saying that it seems right to me.
Jeff Sarris: Absolutely, and for my experience, too, it seems in line with things. But yeah, I mean, that’s slightly separate topic. But you mentioned the diversity and that is such an important aspect of the Kidney Stone Diet. A lot of people are like, “How do I change it up?” So, that’s why we actually have the Kidney Stone Diet meal plans. If you head over to kidneystonediet.com, Jill has a program that you can sign up for–it’s a monthly meal plan.
Every week, you actually get your full meal plan with a bunch of inspiration on what you can eat in any given week. We don’t expect that you eat those exact things in that week, but this just shows you the the immense opportunity that’s out there. Jill has created all of these recipes from scratch. They are phenomenal and amazing photos. Every time I looked at the photos I’m like, “I gotta step up my game there,” just everything looks so good and it’s so tasty. You’ve poured everything into this.
Jill Harris: I have and the great thing about it is, again, I’m always gonna say there’s a lot of education with each recipe, too. It explains why I use the ingredients I did and the fact that–look, you all think that you have nothing to eat. I hear that all day, too. But you don’t! There’s so much you can eat. And the meal plan, which you get, I don’t know, I always forget how much it is meaning how many recipes I mean, they’re getting, you know, 30 recipes a week, even if you just got it for one month, it’s 30 times four, it’s 100. It’s a lot of recipes for the month, whatever, I’m not a math teacher.
Anyway, it just shows you why I love the meal plan. It shows you “Look, you can eat so many things!” It’s not like I’m not eating all kinds of stuff and I also follow this diet, so I know what you’re thinking and what it really is two totally different things, right? So, a wide variety of food people in normal portion amounts. A lot of you got to the place where you are with kidney stones only because you were eating the same five really high oxalate foods in all the time in large quantities because you didn’t know any better until you got a stupid stone. And so then when you rein it all back, and you finally find somebody screaming on the internet, like me telling you “Look, you can have all those healthy foods, if you stop–except spinach and almonds–if you stop eating five cups of beans a day! You can have half a cup of beans. Five cups is too much.” Along with no calcium and not getting enough fluids and all the other aspects of the Kidney Stone Diet.
Jeff Sarris: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s just a wonderful service, along with everything else that you have there. It’s so valuable because then people–like you’ve said–people have been asking for that for years to have recipes and things. And every week we’re adding every month we’re adding new recipes. So, it’s constantly expanding and there’s new options out there. While you’re at kidneystonediet.com, if you check that out, also check out the Prevention Course, sign up for the weekly newsletter. And, actually, if you have a question you want us to answer in a future episode, the number again is 773-789-8763. And we’d love to hear from you and feature your question in the future.
Jill Harris: Yes, and also please subscribe to our channel! We ask every week and we’re asking you because then people can find us faster than all the other junk. That’s not even true. So please, you know, it doesn’t mean anything for you. You know, when I watch my YouTube favorites, they ask to subscribe, and I always do because now that I do it, I understand what it means. It means that you can be pulled up when people Google “kidney stone” or whatever. I’ll come up faster than some crazy person on the internet telling you the wrong thing. So, please subscribe! That’s what I would like to do for my Christmas present, people.
Jeff Sarris: Yeah, absolutely! Thanks again for listening and we will see you next time!
Jill Harris: Bye, guys! Thanks, Jeff!
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