# Oxalates aren’t causing your kidney stones, this is. Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/ep/oxalates-arent-causing-your-kidney-stones-this-is/ Published: 2024-12-24 --- [![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=0RsO2bsEdKo)[Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oxalates-arent-causing-your-kidney-stones-this-is/id1528474326?i=1000681566456&uo=4)[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1aB7AAt28J7OpSfGJ9tu2r)[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0868148d-adfd-411d-b3f2-71a0ad1461ec) December 24, 2024 --- ![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 In this conversation, Jill Harris discusses the misconceptions surrounding oxalates and kidney stones, emphasizing that diet plays a crucial role in kidney health. She explains that while oxalates are often blamed for kidney stones, they are just one part of a larger dietary picture. The conversation highlights the importance of maintaining adequate calcium intake, managing sodium levels, and incorporating a variety of fruits and vegetables into the diet to promote overall health and prevent kidney stones. **Takeaways** - Oxalates are not the primary cause of kidney stones. - Overall diet is more important than just focusing on oxalates. - Calcium intake is essential for kidney health. - High sodium levels can contribute to kidney stone formation. - Dietary changes can significantly impact urine composition. - Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is beneficial. - Healthy eating habits can prevent chronic diseases. - Moderation is key when consuming high oxalate foods. - Regular exercise and strength training support kidney health. - Consulting with a healthcare professional is important for personalized advice. \ 00:00 Understanding Kidney Stones and Oxalates\ 02:53 The Role of Diet in Kidney Stone Prevention\ 05:48 Healthy Eating Habits for Kidney Health\ 08:39 Maintaining a Balanced Diet and Lifestyle **HAVE A QUESTION? _**\ Leave us a voicemail at (773) 789-8764. \ **KIDNEY STONE DIET® APPROVED PRODUCTS** - [Protein Powders, Snacks, and more](https://kidneystonediet.com/favorite-things/) **WORK WITH JILL _** - [Kidney Stone Diet®](https://kidneystonediet.com/) - [Kidney Stone Prevention Course](https://kidneystonediet.com/kidney-stone-prevention) - [Kidney Stone Diet® Meal Plans](https://kidneystonediet.com/mealplans/) \ **SUPPORT THE SHOW _** - [Join the Patreon](https://patreon.com/kidneystonediet) - Rate Kidney Stone Diet on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kidney-stone-diet/id1528474326) or [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5O9BXOJUFnnT6JSgfxramx?si=T6lIOozgTUO8K6MobpVWsQ) \ **WHO IS JILL HARRIS? _**\ For over 25 years, Jill Harris has been a kidney stone prevention nurse helping patients reduce their kidney stone risk. Drawing from her work with world-renowned University of Chicago nephrologist, Dr. Fred Coe, and the thousands of patients she’s worked with directly, she created the [Kidney Stone Diet®](https://kidneystonediet.com/). With a simple, self-guided online video course, meal plans, ebooks, and group coaching, Kidney Stone Diet® is Jill’s effort to help as many patients as possible stop making kidney stones for good. ## Chapters - 00:00:00 Oxalates and 24-Hour Urine Collection Results - 00:00:26 How Sodium and Sugar Cause Kidney Stones - 00:05:47 Reducing Disease Risk With Low-Oxalate Produce - 00:09:52 Kidney Stone Diet Resources and Newsletter ## Transcript ### Oxalates and 24-Hour Urine Collection Results 00:00:00 Jeff Sarris Well, oxalates aren't causing your kidney stones. But this is. 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. 00:00:20 Jill Harris And I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse. 00:00:23 Jeff Sarris With that point, it felt like a James Bond… ### How Sodium and Sugar Cause Kidney Stones 00:00:26 Jill Harris Well, that's just that's just an interesting title now, isn't it? Mostly oxalates aren't causing your kidney stones. They really aren't. It's a very small part of this. It's your overall diet. But here's here's a scenario that I get. I like to ex- I like to bring forth the scenarios in which I get that are common scenarios. Jill, my doctor told me not to worry about oxalates. He looked, or she looked, at my 24-hour urine collection and don't worry about oxalate. They're not causing your kidney stones. Okay. And I don't think oxalates, once you take away spinach and almonds that you're eating and eating and eating and eating and not getting any calcium, do you hear the familiar ring? It's always the same thing with oxalate. Stop eating the highest oxalate foods, get your calcium needs met every day, and you will have a lower oxalate reading on your urine collection. Now, why are doctors saying don't worry about oxalate after they look at your 24-hour urine collection? Doctors are saying that because when you did the 24-hour urine collection, you stopped eating spinach and almond products. So what the doctor really should say, because then when people come to me, this is this is what I'm dealing with. Jill, they come with their second urine collection to me, "Jill, my doctor told me not to worry about oxalate, and so I didn't." And now, their second urine collection has high oxalate, still has high salt from the from the first urine collection, right? Doctor never said anything about salt, doctor just said, "You don't have to worry about an oxalate." But the patient is being told that because doctor's not asking, "Hey, were you eating high-oxalate foods before this urine collection, and stopped?" Because if the doctor had asked that, then the doctor could teach off that, "Well, your urine oxalate is low now, but that doesn't mean I want you eating high-oxalate foods. You still have to maintain, get rid of the spinach and almond products." So that first urine collection, they were told don't worry about oxalate, so the patient thought they didn't have to anymore. Remember, folks, your 24-hour urine collection is one day of the food and fluids you put in your mouth. If you do something, when I see urine collections, I say to people, "This is what I'm looking at on the day of your collection, but if you do something food and fluid-wise different the next day, I've got a whole different report I'm looking at." So, this varies from day-to-day depending upon what you eat and drink. So, if the first urine collection says lower oxalate, that's great. But the doctor needs to say, "Timmy, I see you have a low urine oxalate value on this day, so, obviously, you gave up some high-oxalate foods, which is awesome, and you need to continue doing that." "Oh, okay." Because when doctors say not an oxalate problem, people go back to spinach and almonds. They're not They're not understanding, right? They just think that, "Oh, I don't have to worry about oxalate anymore." Not for that day, because it's low, but you have to continue doing that. Now, other reasons why you're still making kidney stones, doctor never talked to you about sodium. "Well, sodium is in the normal range, Jill. I have my urine collection right here." But that normal range is too high. It's too generous. That normal range is saying you could have over 5,000 mg of salt, and it's not being flagged. That's why you made the second stone, now. The salt is too high, which makes the calcium too high, which lowers the urine volume because the salt is too high. When we eat too much salt and added sugar, and sugar in general, it will lower our urine flow. It will No, let's strike that. It will lower the amount of pee we're making every day. You know that when you have something really salty, you bloat. Your body keeps that fluid in because it's following the salt. Okay? So, you don't have to worry about oxalate. Oxalate's not a problem once you take away the very few foods we ask you to take away: chia seeds, almond products, spinach, rhubarb, you know, don't cashews, those kind of things, okay? Everything else in moderation. That's I guess that's it, Jeff. I mean, I don't know, am I missing anything here? 00:05:22 Jeff Sarris No, I mean, basically, we just want to look at the Kidney Stone Diet goals, which you can find at kidneystonediet.com, but there's a set of goals for a reason. It's not just oxalate. Oxalate is one component, and, of course, so many people have calcium oxalate stones. So, that would be sort of that direct easy connection, that simple thread. But there's so many other reasons that one will create those. ### Reducing Disease Risk With Low-Oxalate Produce 00:05:47 Jill Harris Right now, on Instagram, I'm doing a series: all the other, here's another reason why you made kidney stones that has nothing to do with oxalate. And there's going to be so many of those. And it's it's doing It's focusing on two things: kidney stones are not just about oxalate. Like I said, in a lot of instances, it's just the least important thing. Everybody, pay attention whether you have kidney stones, diabetes, heart disease, whatever you got, you want to lose weight, it's it's, you know, going to be after right around the holiday time now, everyone's overeating a little bit. It's okay, enjoy those foods, get right back on track with the next meal choice or the next day. Nobody gets fat, nobody gets diabetes by having one of Aunt Irene's pecan pie pieces. It doesn't happen. We get right back on track. Eating fun foods is also part of a healthy lifestyle, so we don't deprive ourselves. But the salt and the sugar, overall, for most of your days, eating more fruits and vegetables, you can't do anything happier for your body than that, really. And then moving it. There's hundreds of fruits and vegetables that are very low in oxalate. You can fit most of all of them. Again, I'm really only taking away spinach, I mean there's just not many. Beets are higher, just eat a little less of them, get your calcium needs met every day. Folks, your you're just we're killing ourselves with all our chronic disease states, we really are. If we bring more things on our plate that are healthy and lower the unhealthy things on our plate, forget about stop thinking about what you can't have, start thinking about what can I bring on my plate to make it vibrant and colorful and full of fiber and full of nutrients and vitamins. Instead of taking, you know, all this vitamin C to get make sure you don't have a cold, how about eating it? How about getting fruits and vegetables? Boost your immune system by eating really healthy foods more times than not. Everybody needs a cupcake here and there, I'm all for it. But then, fruits and vegetables, aim for the minimum is one cup of fruit a day, three cups of vegetables a day, pick all the low-oxalate fruits and vegetables, there's plenty of them. Start acquainting yourself with the produce section in your grocery store. Just one fruit a week, one vegetable a week, just try two things out of all the meals, out of the meals, what, 30 meals a week, just have one piece of fruit and one vegetable, that's it. Then the next week, maybe you bring in a couple, just put some berries into your yogurt, mix fruit with your cereal or your oatmeal, that's just an easy way to do it, okay? And it doesn't have to be a damn apple all the time, there's plenty of fruit, enjoy, folks. Think about nourishing your body best that you can most of the time, that's what I want for you. Oxalate is not it's just not that big of a deal once you get away a few foods. And when your doctor says oxalate, don't worry about it, he means keep it low. It's not high on this test and keep doing that. It doesn't mean that you can bring back all these high-oxalate foods, because a lot of people think that their that test means that's that's the answer for every single day. No, that's the answer for what you did that day because the urine collection is measuring, calculating, measuring, and figuring out of all the things you ate and drank that day, here are your results. But if you do something different, if you ate spinach and almonds the next day, that oxalate level would be through the roof. That's what I got. Get your calcium needs met, folks, to lower your oxalate. Make sure that happens, you're also feeding your bones because a lot of my patients have bone disease, osteopenia, osteoporosis, and also do resistant exercising. I know, I'm shoving it all in here, but, my God, we're going to do a video on that soon, too, strength training. ### Kidney Stone Diet Resources and Newsletter 00:09:52 Jeff Sarris Yeah, absolutely. But, yeah, for an overview, make sure you go to kidneystonediet.com and sign up for the email newsletter. It's free absolutely free and Jill will email you once a week with little inspiration and little just nudge to keep you on track for the rest of your week. So, with that, if you have any other questions, the number is 773-789-8764. We'd love to feature your voice and we will see you next week. 00:10:17 Jill Harris Bye, everybody!