Pumpkin Seeds, Pistachios, and the Snack Aisle

Pumpkin seeds, pistachios, in the snack aisle. How are they impacting your kidney stones? Let's talk about that.

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.

And I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse. Hello, Jeff!

Hi! So, we're talking, yeah, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, nuts and snacks in general. How are you looking at those and talking to patients about them today?

I will tell you. Also very common, "Well, Jill, I stopped eating nuts and seeds. My doctor told me no more for me." And so, again, not the best information.

And so, another common thing that I'm always Look, I'm a nurse. I don't override doctors orders. My job is to educate patients.

And so,

A lot of doctors will say no more nuts and seeds because you made a calcium oxalate stone. But that's much too broad. And my job is to bring foods back for people because what happens is their world becomes smaller and smaller and smaller, kidney stone patients, because they're not getting precise information.

They're being told to take away whole food groups. And that's just- It's just not true. And so, I also want to call out, though, you know, when you've formed a kidney stone, it's very scary.

All the money you've spent, the stents, and surgeries, and the pain, of course. And so, you're just petrified. And so, you're Googling, and AI-ing, and doing all the things.

And, you know, there's so much misinformation that you're just like, "The heck with that! I'm just going to I'm not eating nuts and seeds ever again!" Because you were before the kidney stone ordeal. But typically, typically what you were doing was going to Costco and buying the big old bag of almonds.

If you were on keto, you were doing almond flour, almond milk,

Almonds for snacks. And so, if you're a diabetic, your healthcare provider told you to eat almonds as a snack, and, boy, did you ever. So, the problem with nuts and seeds is no one ever says, "Honey, let's go put on our show, and just get me two tablespoons of nuts, would you?" No, no one says that.

Nuts are something that you can easily just keep eating,

And before you know it, the whole bag is gone. And, again, if you're on keto or paleo, those are things that you know you can have as much as you want, says those diets. So, you don't know you're getting all this extra oxalate and you're certainly not getting any calcium needs met because nobody talks to you about that until you have a kidney stone and/or osteoporosis.

So, it makes sense that a lot of kidney stone formers are afraid of nuts and seeds, but I'm here to bring some back for you. Now, right away, can I have almonds? No, no.

But why, Jill? Because almonds are like 72 mg for a couple tablespoons and your oxalate bank account is 100 bucks.

So, right away, just having those that little bit of almonds is going to get you over budget real fast, okay? So, we take away almonds and cashews, because cashews are also very high in oxalate, but the other nuts and seeds you can absolutely have. And I have an article on my website, and it's called "Safe Seed and Nut Oxalate" nut list.

So, you can have pumpkin seeds. 1/4 of a cup is only 4 mg of oxalate. So, bring back pumpkin seeds.

Pistachio nuts: 1 oz, which means about 2 tablespoons, is 9 mg of oxalate. So, you can certainly have that. You get 100 bucks a day of oxalate.

Sunflower seeds: 1/4 of a cup is only 2.9 mg of oxalate.

You can definitely have that. I have walnuts that I use in my baked goods. 1 oz is 11 mg of oxalate.

So, I'm not typically using 2 tablespoons. Say I have some non-fat, plain Greek yogurt, because that's what I eat, for protein and some calcium. I'll just put a couple walnuts crushed up.

I don't need more than that,

But I'm always looking for a crunch, so, and they're really healthy for you, right? So, I definitely use them and I have kidney stones in my family, so I totally understand why you're afraid. But if you're doing things in the correct portion size, there's no problem.

Pecans: 2 tablespoons, 15 mg of oxalate. You may say, "I don't want to waste 15 mg of oxalate on pecans."

You don't have to, but what I'm trying to explain here is you can if you want them once in a while. So, these Flaxseeds are another great example. One tablespoon is not even 1 mg of oxalate and so many of you give that up.

So, I want you to go to kidneystonediet.com and the oxalate food list from Harvard is right on the website and it will give you,

The oxalate values for the all these seeds and nuts. But pumpkin seeds, which are so delicious and we're going into fall right now, so you can bet your sweet bippy I'll be using pumpkin seeds. And pistachios, one of my favorites as a young kid, but, you know, we just don't eat them all day long.

They're not a free food for kidney stone formers, but they are an available food

If you choose to use them. So, cashews and almond products we take away, but all the other nuts and seeds except one more: chia seeds. Chia seeds, Harvard did not study, but everybody else says chia seeds are high in oxalate, so let's not take a chance on them, folks.

And the reason I call those out is because if you are using chia seeds, most of you are having chia seed pudding every single day. And it's those foods that I'm really careful with when we're eating it every single day and it could possibly be high in oxalate. And the and what I say is if Harvard did not study a food

And we don't know its oxalate value, then have that food maybe once or twice a week in a normal portion size. And the only reason I say twice a week is because you may have leftovers and, at Kidney Stone Diet, we do not throw away food. But chia seeds is one of those exceptions.

Just every website and every other list says it's too high. I'm not taking a chance on it and I know that most of you are using it every day. So, it's not It's not something

Because the health benefits are always touted for fiber and protein. I know it's not something you're using once a month, so we just take it away. But other than that, guys, you can really seeds and nuts, except for those three I'm taking away, please enjoy.

And get your calcium needs met every day!

Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of calcium, I mean, that is one of the Kidney Stone Diet goals and you can find all of that information at kidneystonediet.com. All six of the goals and exactly how to prevent future stones.

And while you're there, you can check out the kidney stone prevention course, the all access pass, which also includes meal plans and you can work with Jill directly, or if you just want the free weekly newsletter, you can go to kidneystonediet.com, enter your email, and Jill will be in your inbox every weekend. I think, with that, we'll wrap.

Thanks again for tuning in and we'll see you next week.

Thanks for listening, everybody, and have a great week! Bye!