# Grab-and-Go Snacks for Kidney Stone Formers Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/ep/grab-and-go-snacks-for-kidney-stone-formers/ Published: 2021-11-23 --- [![Kidney Stone Diet Podcast](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Podcast-1-1024x1024.jpg)](https://kidneystonediet.com/podcast/) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZH49pZ6Jo0)[Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grab-and-go-snacks-for-kidney-stone-formers/id1528474326?i=1000542841235&uo=4)[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ef9LgAr0FvVTVDBlyk4SP)[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0868148d-adfd-411d-b3f2-71a0ad1461ec) November 23, 2021 --- ![Jeff Sarris](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Jeff-Sarris-150x150.jpg) Jeff Sarris Host ![Jill Harris](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Jill-Harris-150x150.jpg) Jill Harris Host This week Jill debunks the myth that there’s nothing to eat on the Kidney Stone Diet and shares some new free recipes that were previously only available to Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plan subscribers. - [A New List of Grab-and-Go Snacks](https://kidneystonediet.com/a-new-shortlist-of-grab-and-go-snacks/) - [Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans](https://kidneystonediet.com/mealplans/) \  Have a question? Leave us a voicemail at (773) 789-8763.\  \  **= Stop your kidney stones once and for all =**\ • [Kidney Stone Prevention Course](https://kidneystonediet.com/kidney-stone-prevention)\ • [Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans](https://kidneystonediet.com/mealplans/)\ • [24 Hour Urine Collection Analysis](https://kidneystonediet.com/24-hour-urine-analysis/)\ • [Private Coaching](https://kidneystonediet.com/coaching/) **= FREE Kidney Stone Resources =**\ • [Kidney Stone Diet](https://kidneystonediet.com/)\ • [Free Kidney Stone Diet Resources](https://kidneystonediet.com/resources/)\ • [Oxalate Food List](https://kidneystonediet.com/oxalate-list/)\ • [Kidney Stone Diet Recipes](https://kidneystonediet.com/recipes/) Find more episodes of the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast at [kidneystonediet.com/podcast](https://kidneystonediet.com/podcast) **= Who is Jill Harris? =**\ [youtube.com/TheKidneyStoneDiet](https://www.youtube.com/TheKidneyStoneDiet) Jill is a nurse and health coach that specializes in educating patients on kidney stone prevention. For more than 20 years she’s helped patients understand that kidney stones can be prevented with the right treatment plan. It’s one thing to be told to lower oxalate or drink more water, but HOW do you do it? That’s where she comes in. Through the educational resources at [kidneystonediet.com](https://kidneystonediet.com/), stone formers can learn everything they need to know to significantly lower new stone risk. **= Who is Jeff Sarris? =**\ [youtube.com/jeffsarris](https://youtube.com/jeffsarris) Jeff’s co-founder of [SPYR](https://spyr.me/), a branding agency based out of Chicago, where he and his business partner Dave help awesome people like Jill create online platforms that make an impact. He’s also a certified health coach, Executive Producer of the Netflix documentary Minimalism, and host of the [Starting Now podcast](https://spyr.fm/now). Reach out on Twitter! [@jeffSARRIS](https://twitter.com/jeffSARRIS) ## Chapters - 00:00:00 Safe Grab-and-Go Snacks for Kidney Stones - 00:02:35 Meal Plans and Tracking Oxalate and Sodium - 00:05:32 Managing Portion Control and Emotional Overeating - 00:08:16 Low-Sugar Granola, Fruit, and Protein Snacks - 00:11:04 Roasted Chickpeas, Pistachios, and Low-Salt Snacks ## Transcript ### Safe Grab-and-Go Snacks for Kidney Stones 00:00:00 Jeff Sarris SPYR. Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast, the show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your, excuse me, and living your best life. I'm your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris. 00:00:24 Jill Harris And I'm your kidney stone prevention nurse, Jill Harris. 00:00:27 Jeff Sarris You had such, you had the biggest smile on your face as soon as this started. 00:00:30 Jill Harris Because I'm so excited! I can't even contain myself for this one, I'm so excited. 00:00:37 Jeff Sarris So, actually then, I mean, with all that excitement, I think we should probably dive right in to this topic. 00:00:42 Jill Harris I think so, because I'm going to burst. But this is why I'm excited though. I'm excited because I know this one will make people extra happy because this is what they want to hear. You'll see. 00:00:58 Jeff Sarris Yeah. So, this week, we are talking about grab-and-go snacks that are safe for kidney stone formers. 00:01:06 Jill Harris Yes! Yes, but why I'm so happy is because we're giving away free recipes that are only in the meal plan, but now, I'm giving them, we're giving them away here. They're now in the blog, because it's fun to give away free stuff, and people are always asking. "I can't have nothing, Jill. There's nothing I can have for a snack. My whole life is," yes, you can have snacks! Of course, you can have snacks. You think this whole broad don't have snacks? Of course, I have snacks. I'm a crunchy kind of chick. I want snacks, yes! 00:01:38 Jeff Sarris Well, yeah, and this is fun because the meal plans, they've gone over really well. People really love them and it's inspiration. It's weeks, every week you get an entire week's worth of recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack, and it's inspiration for For following this diet and pursuing going down this path that everyone is on together. But you don't have to eat every single one of the recipes. It's it's definitely an inspiration-type thing, but at the same time, all of that is locked up. Like, unless you pay for the meal plans, like you don't have access to any of those recipes. So, this is fun to sort of pull back the curtain and share some of the exciting things that you've come up with over the years. You have so many great recipes in there. It's crazy. 00:02:19 Jill Harris Yeah, look, if you pay $19 for one month, you're going to get like 50 recipes. I don't know, 28, seven, it's like how many are there? It's it's it's four different things each day. 4 x 7 = 28 x 4, that's a lot of recipes, even if you just join for one month. ### Meal Plans and Tracking Oxalate and Sodium 00:02:35 Jill Harris But here's here's what's so great about them. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, the recipes, this is how Jill eats, blue, blue, blue." But, what's great about them, the nerd in me and my patients like this, too, it breaks down all the nutrition. You don't got to worry about oxalate, you got, you don't got to think about the salt in your recipe, you don't got to think about the added sugar, I've done all that. Not only that, here's where I really nerd out on you people. There are kidney stone diet-safe tips with every recipe. Meaning, I know when I do a recipe, people are going to be like, "Why'd she put black beans in there? Is she drinking again? What's going on? Jill's finally lost it." But, I explain myself and I also say, "Listen, this is your kitchen, your rules." So, people feel more comfortable cooking. The other thing is, "Jill, I ain't got no time." Guess who has no time in her life? That would be me! I ain't sitting in a kitchen for hours on end, people. All my meals, breakfast 5 minutes, lunch no more than 10, lots of times it's five, okay? The snacks, same things. Dinner, less than 30, lots of times 20, and then I can make then, and also I have for the next day, lunch, too. So, people, all the things that you say, "Jill, I don't have time. Jill, I can't add all those oxalates up, I can't figure out what's low-salt, blah, blah, blah. Jill, I don't know what to make." I did it all for you, people! Did it all for you. And so, there's no excuses, because it's taken care of, and so you'll be happy with the meal plan. But why I'm excited is these are just about snacks, and so in the meal plan, there's snacks every day, and we have some great recipes here that we're giving away free today, In the blog, on the website, and they're all low-sugar recipes, low-salt recipes. So, it's actually snacks you can eat. Now, I'm going to give you something and I'm going to take away something, A notion that you all have that when something is healthy, it means you can eat as much as you want of it. No, sir! No, ma'am! Can't do that. Whether a food is a healthy food or an unhealthy food, We got to act like grownups and we got to eat responsibly. If there's a low, this is what patients do, "Jill, it said low-salt. I had the whole damn bag. What a, who cares? It's low-salt." That low-salt adds up to a lot of salt when you eat a whole bag of something, okay? So, You can have snacks. You're trying to lose weight? You want a snack? Have a snack. Did anybody ever gain five pounds by having a snack? No, it's what happens when you have a snack emotionally afterwards. This is what happens. ### Managing Portion Control and Emotional Overeating 00:05:32 Jill Harris Patient, a person is living their life. They are 300 pounds. I've worked with many 300-pound people. Guess what I prescribe? Kidney Stone Diet, okay? Low-salt, low-sugar. Drink your fluids, get enough calcium because you have a skeleton, don't overeat meat protein, And lower salt and lower sugar, in case I didn't say that, I don't know. Anyway, so, that's what I tell them, because it's a healthy diet, no matter what you're battling. Mostly though, is the extra stuff I talk about, portion size. You have to eat within portion size. But, nobody, nobody, nobody gains five pounds by eating a bag of chips. Here's the problem: One eats a bag of chips and doesn't forgive themselves for doing it. They hate themselves that they ate the bag of chips and there's no going back from that emotional Landslide that happens. So, then they try to comfort themselves with more junky food and the spiral continues. So, one of my biggest mantras is portion, not perfection. Another one is, "Ain't nobody gaining a kidney stone with one meal. Ain't nobody gaining weight with one meal." And you may say, "Well, I gained a couple pounds of salt," that ain't fat, it will go away in a second, okay? The main thing is when you overeat a snack, when you overeat period, get back on it with the next meal choice. I will never get sick of saying that. Why? Because that works, because people beat themselves up with what, you know, if they overeat something, they beat themselves up, and the only way they're going to comfort themselves is with more junky food. Nobody ever said, "Oh, I feel like crap. I need comfort. Honey, get the kale salad!" Nobody, not once! Nobody does that, okay? So, but if you do, what I'm looking for, I'm not trying to be a pain in the neck with that, like, "Ugh, you're so boring, right back to it." But, then you get control back. It's not about the food. It's about getting your control back, getting the "I got this" attitude back, Staying committed and consistent, that's what this is about. So, nobody got overweight, nobody got a kidney stone ever with that advice, and you'll stop making them with that advice. Stick on your plan, whatever your doctor has ordered for you, And you will not make new stones, up to 80% of the time. There's there's people that have medical conditions and other things going on with them that we can certainly reduce their risk, but we may not be able to prevent them, okay? But, so, snacks, here's a whole list. I'll just say a couple. ### Low-Sugar Granola, Fruit, and Protein Snacks 00:08:16 Jill Harris So, first of all, you're going to get my low-sugar granola bars, but I want to just say this about granola in general. And I've said this before in videos, but if this is your first time here, please, people, don't think you need some damn granola just to get your mail every day. Are you kidding me? It's not that long of a hike. It's just not. We think we need snacks all the time. "Well, Jill, I had to pick up my kid, that was 20 minutes, then we had to drive home, another 20 minutes. 40 minutes, I needed snacks in my pocketbook!" What the hell, where are you going, Ohio? Are you kidding me? So, we have also conditioned ourselves that we need snacks all the freaking time to get through the day. You don't, okay? But, anyway, if you want, this recipe is awesome, it's low sugar. Granola adds up quickly in calories, though. Okay, so, you know, a lot of regular granolas, Back in the '70s, everybody was eating granola. It was healthy, healthy, healthy, that's what we were supposed to eat, because it was low fat, okay? But, there was a ton of sugar in it. Sugar has no fat, remember? So, the deal is, people didn't think about sugar back then. So, granola had a lot of calories, and it does, but I've made a low-sugar granola. It still has some calories in it, but not certainly as much as regular granola, and they're delicious, so there's that. There's something I call banookies that has no added sugar, because it's made with bananas, they are delicious. There's granola bars, no added sugar, regular granola, so there's those three recipes. And then, regular ones, like hard-boiled eggs, that's a great snack. Low-sodium turkey roll-ups with Swiss cheese, also get your calcium, that's a great snack. I have my oat bran muffin, breakfast muffin, that is delicious, you'll love that, and that's that's filled with fiber, and that's good. You know, fruit, there's tons of low-oxalate fruits, people. The only fruit we take away, basically, is raspberries, so you can have all the fruit, all the different fruits that are offered in the produce section. That does not mean, because I know there's diabetics singing right now, "Well, I'm a diabetic." I'm not saying have as much fruit as you want. Remember, portion, not perfection. But, please, I meet a lot of people throughout my practice that give up fruit. You can absolutely eat fruit, it's a great snack, pick the ones that have higher fiber. On the website, in the blog, there is also a high-fiber, low-oxalate grocery list that has fruits, all the produce, fruits and vegetables, choose it. Pick it up, take a picture of it on your phone, so when you go to the grocery store, you can safely get all the fruits and vegetables on that list, okay? ### Roasted Chickpeas, Pistachios, and Low-Salt Snacks 00:11:04 Jill Harris There's a wonderful recipe: Kidney Stone Diet-Safe Energy Balls, again, low sugar. All these things will be Kidney Stone Diet compliant. Greek yogurt and fruit, that's always a great one. One of my favorite new snacks, because people ask me, a lot of these, these are all snacks I eat, by the way. All the things that I talk about in my meal plan, or whether it's something I've written about on the blog, these are things I eat. So, there's a new snack called, let me see, they are, oh, I think I just ate the last set of mine, I did. They're chickpeas. They're baked chickpeas. Yeah, I did. And they are delicious. I can't remember the brand, but I have them in the blog, I believe. They are delicious because they're super crunchy, so I love them. I think they're called, they start with a B, as in boy. I can't remember though, they're new. And people will say, "Well, are chickpeas high in oxalate?" I don't know. Hummus is low. Chickpeas, I'm going to say portion, not perfection. I don't think we have a good number for chickpeas, so you're not going to eat the whole bag because we're not sure. Pistachio nuts, you can have those, Wheat Thins, Triscuits, Hint of Salt, all of these lower-salt snacks, sugar snap peas, there's all kinds of things on the blog, so go check that out. But, as with anything, snacks, there's plenty you can have on a Kidney Stone Diet. You just always have to remember portion, looking for lower added sugar snacks and lower sodium snacks, and not to eat bags and bags and bags of them. So, even though we're labeling them "kidney stone safe," it doesn't, we have to eat responsibly. We do, we really do, and that doesn't mean that sometimes you may swallow a bag of something. Fine. If you do that, get right back on track, okay? Right back on track with the next meal choice. 00:12:58 Jeff Sarris Yeah, and with those chickpeas, is that Biena? 00:13:00 Jill Harris Yes! 00:13:01 Jeff Sarris Okay, yeah, I just looked it up just to see. 00:13:02 Jill Harris They're so good. They're so good. Now, I get the plain ones. I'm sure there's ranch and all these other kinds. I just get the plain ones and they are again, I'm a crunchy girl. I'm always looking for a crunch. They have nice protein and they have nice fiber in them, so those are the kinds I like, and they so they're fine, but just eat portion, you know? I don't know exactly how much oxalate's in that one. It's not going to be crazy if you have a portion, believe me, nobody formed a stone by eating a portion of crunchy chickpeas. Just didn't happen. Yeah. 00:13:34 Jeff Sarris But, yeah, so for the entire list, you can head on over to kidneystonediet.com/blog and you will see a new short list of grab-and-go snacks right there up at the top of the currently, I guess depending on when you're watching this, It's at the top right now, but every week, there's new blog posts coming. But if you just scroll through a little bit, you'll find this, and there's the entire list with all the links to the various recipes and everything that Jill's mentioned so far. 00:14:00 Jill Harris Free recipes, people! We like giving out free stuff. We like it. 00:14:04 Jeff Sarris And if you want to check out the meal plans as well while you're there, you'll see it right up at the top of every screen, actually. I'll just bring that back up on the screen. Be right up on the top, you'll see Meal Plans. You can click over and you can join the meal plans at any point, unsubscribe, re-subscribe, whatever works best for you. We have no No qualms with people who join and leave and come back. But, yeah, it has to work for you. It has to help improve your life, and when it does, yeah, we welcome you aboard at any time. But, yeah, there's tons of free content, as well: the blog, and the weekly email newsletter, the Kidney Stone Prevention Course, This podcast, which is always free, and we really appreciate everyone who subscribes and hit that little bell to get notified every Tuesday when a new episode comes out, because, as Jill's mentioned, it really goes a long way. It helps us reach more people because it's it's an algorithm game, unfortunately. I mean, we have a great community on Facebook, on YouTube, on in the email newsletter, everywhere, but To reach more people on YouTube, we need people on YouTube to engage with the content. So, everyone that has so far, we really appreciate it, and if you haven't yet, maybe just click that little subscribe button, because, yeah, it really helps out. 00:15:18 Jill Harris It does. We really appreciate it if you do that. We're asking for your help, so that would be wonderful. Otherwise, we just get lost in all the muck, you know? 00:15:26 Jeff Sarris Oh, yeah, for sure. But, yeah, I mean it's been great so far, though. We've We really appreciate everyone who's out there because it has been growing and we've been reaching, bringing in new people, new voices on the show, which, by the way, if you do have a question, you can call us at 773-789-8763 and we'd definitely love to feature your question on a future episode of the show. But we have a few here that are FAQs, of sorts, that we're doing right now, but Yeah, in a few weeks, we'd love to have your voice on the show, as well. So, I think that'll do it for this week. Again, thanks for watching, and we will see you all next time. 00:16:01 Jill Harris Bye, friends!