Most people forget about these low oxalate foods

In this conversation, Jeff Sarris and Jill Harris discuss the often-overlooked low oxalate foods that can be included in a diet for those prone to kidney stones. They emphasize the importance of understanding oxalate levels in foods and how to reintroduce certain foods back into the diet without fear. Jill shares insights on common misconceptions about dietary restrictions and provides practical advice on how to maintain a balanced diet while managing oxalate intake.

Takeaways

• Low oxalate foods are often forgotten.
• Many people feel restricted in their diets.
• Avocados are a healthy option that can be included.
• Portion control is key to managing oxalate intake.
• A variety of foods is essential for gut health.
• All fruits are generally acceptable on a low oxalate diet.
• It’s important to meet calcium needs to lower oxalate levels.
• Reintroducing foods can improve dietary satisfaction.
• Using resources like the oxalate food list can help.
• Meal planning can diversify your diet and prevent stones.

00:00 Understanding Low Oxalate Foods
09:34 Reintroducing Foods into Your Diet

Jeff Sarris (00:00)
Most people forget about these low oxalate foods. Let’s talk about those.

So today low oxalate foods, oxalate is the thing that people think about first when it comes to kidney stones. So we talked a lot about the high oxalate foods, but what are the things that people are missing that they actually, maybe they’re taking out of their diet. Maybe they just need to reconsider because there is a lot that kidney stone formers can still eat.

Jill Harris (00:25)
Absolutely, I think what’s really interesting when I’m doing consults all day. I’ll talk to, I always ask somebody what’s a typical day for you as far as breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, whatever you do. If you don’t eat breakfast, whatever. Whatever you do, just see, I don’t care what you do. Just tell me what you do. That is a quote and what I say during consults. And so when I’m going through, you know, and I’m writing everything down. I’m like, you know, do you eat any fruit? Well, Jill, everything’s high in oxalate. What can I eat? There’s nothing to eat.

I hear this all day long. It drives me nuts because if I’m thinking about a patient who suffered with so much pain, all of a sudden in the middle of the night, they’re running for surgery, a stent, all the things that they’re dealing with. It’s like and then they go and look up oxalate and whatever you search for, there is different stuff about it. So you really do feel like you have nothing to eat. And as a patient myself who’s been very sick with other things, it’s like, you know, thank God I have a healthy diet. When I got my cancer, I wasn’t also bothered with, my God, I’ve got to change everything I do. When you get hit up with a kidney stone, you really do feel like, my goodness, I have to overhaul my whole diet. And oxalate is this thing no one’s ever heard of. So here are common foods, may not necessarily be a really low oxalate food, but here are very common foods that people take away from their diet and they don’t have to.

Number one, avocados. It’s the number one food people take away and they don’t have to do it. And I hate that they take it away because great fiber, super awesome fat source, very filling. It’s just a really healthy fruit and yes avocado is a fruit. So people will take it all away. When you can have you know a whole avocado, a whole medium avocado is 19 milligrams of oxalate. So you can certainly still have avocado in your diet. So when I bring foods back, which is a big part of my job, bringing foods back to people, they’re like oh my god I had no idea. The problem lies when people this year, avocados are healthy. Johnny, let’s go to the supermarket and buy a ton of avocados. And they eat two or three of them a day. And they don’t get their calcium sources met every day. And again, we get calcium in our diet because we have a skeleton we have to feed, but also that’s how we lower oxalate. So oxalate and calcium can join in the gut and the excess oxalate can leave in the stool. So other things that people stop eating and they absolutely can eat, sunflower seeds, really big one, sunflower butter, peanut butter.

You could say, well Jill, two tablespoons is 26 milligrams of oxalate. But remember folks, you get 100 milligrams of oxalate a day, unless the doctor told you less than that. Sometimes they will say 50 if you have malabsorption issues, a bariatric surgery, maybe you’re on Wegovy, Ozempic, whatever, Zepbound, some of those can cause malabsorption issues. But all of you can have peanut butter, but that’s how I made stones, Jill. Well, when you get a jar of peanut butter, get a spoon and just eat the whole jar, yeah, that oxalate’s gonna add right up. So remember, it’s always portion, not perfection. Again, you can keep peanut butter in your diet. Just make sure you have appropriate amounts.

The other thing I want to say is, if you find yourself thinking, I really miss that food, I want you to go to kidneystonediet.com, look at the oxalate list, type it in, because Jeff has made it a searchable list on the website, so you don’t have to scour through lots of pages. He made it so you type the food in, Harvard pulls it up, our website pulls it up, and it will give you the amount of oxalate. How many people tell me, Jill, I was looking at the oxalate food list? Just because I said I missed something, I looked it up and I can absolutely still have that. Of course you can, Henrietta. Enjoy it.

Another one, and notice by the way, so you guys know, there’s not one fruit I take away. All fruit on a low oxalate diet is fine. Again, some things like an avocado, just don’t eat five of them a day. Portion not perfection. Whole wheat. People will say, Jill, I’m going to make a cake, but I heard there’s a lot of oxalate in whole wheat. Well, when you eat a whole cake of it, yes. A slice? No. The average piece of wheat bread will have like 13 milligrams of oxalate in it. So say you have a sandwich, you have two pieces of bread, 26 milligrams of oxalate. You get a hundred, just don’t go over budget. Okay? Because a lot of people take away the white, they take away the whole wheat bread, brown rice, things like that. And brown rice is on the higher side. But again, maybe you were going to, let me finish my thoughts. So just like I didn’t say nothing, girl, shut up. Shut up you, Jeff.

So people will say, Jill, I’m eating all these white foods, rice, white bread, and I’m a diabetic, so I’m looking for some fiber. Well, you don’t have to eat white foods if you don’t want to. You know, there is some extra oxalate in whole wheat products, but just don’t overeat it. Look at your oxalate list and figure it out. You get a hundred bucks in your bank. The other thing is, some of you will say, Jill, I really miss my brown rice. So make a pot of white rice, make a pot of brown rice and mix the two together so you’re not getting all brown rice, which is higher in oxalate. You’re mixing it with white rice, which is very low in oxalate.

And so if I go to the oxalate food list and I put brown rice, it gives me brown rice flour is one cup is 64 milligrams. So that’s going to be more concentrated than a little bit of brown rice. But if you put the brown rice with the white rice and had a portion mixing the two, it’s a lot lower oxalate. So it’s how we do things. I’ve had a lot of vegans that eat like five cups of brown rice every day. So yes, they had higher oxalate and they weren’t getting any calcium needs met. And that’s how the higher oxalate happens. Other things, flax seeds. Were you going to say anything, Jeff? You good? Okay. Okay. Flax seeds are another thing that people take away. Sunflower seeds. Those are all very healthy, doable seeds that you can have. People will stop eating pistachios, walnuts, and—

Jeff Sarris (07:24)
No, yeah, go on.

Jill Harris (07:39)
You can have things like that. You just can’t go to Costco, buy the big five pound bag and sit at the TV just eating from the bag. Because something like walnuts, one ounce, which is like a tablespoon, has 12 milligrams of oxalate. So you could say, but they’re super healthy, Jill. Have two tablespoons, spend 24 bucks on your bank account. You still have, you know, you still have 70 whatever left. So it’s fine if you want to do that.

I take away almonds and cashews, and we have other videos talking about that. I take away almonds and cashews because they’re so high in oxalate. But all the other nuts from pistachios to pecans to macadamia, you can fit them in. Just portion, not perfection. Get your calcium needs met. And sweet potato is another one that people just take away. A whole cup of sweet potato is 28 milligrams of oxalate.

I eat sweet potatoes once a week. I make one sweet potato, I cut it in fourths. So I’m getting one fourth of a sweet potato, probably half a cup. So, you know, it’s whatever, 14 milligrams of oxalate. I got plenty of oxalate in my bank account. I can work that in. So the biggest thing to think about here is this. A hundred bucks is in your bank account. Don’t withdraw too much oxalate. Get your calcium needs met and look at the foods that you have not been eating, go to kidneystonediet.com, look at the oxalate food list, search the food that you’re like, I haven’t had this in a while, I’d like to see if I can have it, bring it up and work it in.

There’s just a handful of foods I take away. Spinach, almonds, cashews, buckwheat groats, whatever, no one’s overdoing those typically. You know, there’s just a few and you can find them at kidneystonediet.com. You’ll even see baked potatoes are almost 100 milligrams of oxalate, but half it, and it’s 50. That’s just portion, not perfection. Don’t eat some of the higher oxalate foods all the time. But listen to me when I tell you this, the biggest thing to lower your oxalate, besides taking away the very few foods that are super high, like 100 milligrams and up, is get your calcium needs met. That’s how we lower our oxalate. We have plenty of videos on this channel that talk about calcium and oxalate together, so look those up. I think that’s it though, Jeff.

The bottom line is people are taking away much too much healthy food. You need to bring it back, portion not perfection. Your body, especially your gut, needs a variety of food. And we human beings typically, especially stone formers, ate the same five foods over and over and over and over, did not get their calcium needs met, and that’s how their oxalate was high. And when I first meet that person, their oxalate level will be 50, and after they do their collection the second time, it’s under 30, which is where we want it.

Jeff Sarris (10:49)
So you can learn everything and exactly what you can eat at kidneystonediet.com with the meal plans. Jill, every day of the week gives you four recipes, breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. So you can see just how diverse your diet and lifestyle can be. And if you’re a past member of meal plans, you’ll notice that we just did a complete overhaul where now you’re getting new recipes every single day at midnight central time. So it’s sort of exciting to, to sort of watch it tick down and be there and be ready to see what comes next. And Jill is always adding new recipes, which are now prioritized in your next meal plans. So just a lot of fun over there kidneystonediet.com and it’s all just to help you prevent future stones. But I think with that we will wrap and we’ll see you next week.

Jill Harris (11:37)
Thank you everybody. Have a wonderful week.