What foods have no oxalate?

What foods have no oxalate? 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.

Yeah, we're back at it. We have a frequently asked question, like this is so common. Like so many questions about oxalate, so what foods have no oxalate?

That is that's where we're starting today, but we might go in a direction that people don't expect.

Yep. So, I think it's a great question. So, what foods have zero oxalate?

And there's a list of them. Basically, you're going to have all your meats. And people, meat is also chicken and fish.

So, that just goes under all of it. Whenever I say the word meat, people are like, "Jill, I don't eat red meat." Well, chicken, turkey, that's all meat. That goes under the meat category.

And then yes, there's fish. So, those proteins, red meat, chicken, turkey, beef, poultry, all that, all that, fish, no oxalate. Milk,

Cheeses, yogurt, ice cream, sour cream, so get it, dairy, no oxalate. Eggs, no oxalate. So, there's categories of food that have zero oxalate.

"Oh, well, Jill, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to eat all the eggs and beef I can eat, so I have no oxalate." I want you guys to understand this. Most of you,

When you get your kidney stone, some of you, not most of you, some of you had high oxalate. Some of you, I had a patient today that their oxalate level was in the hundred, over 100. And lately, I've had a lot.

These are people that are overeating spinach, almonds, the highest-oxalate foods on a daily basis without any calcium. Okay? In my 25-year career, I've probably had

10 patients out of the thousands and thousands of patients I've had over 100 of oxalate. I've never seen oxalate dumping. I'm not saying it doesn't exist.

I've never seen it. You know, their oxalate levels run normally around 40, 50, and we want it under 30. That's where we want it.

So, oxalate really, at the end of the day, is the least problematic part of the Kidney Stone Diet. It's all the salt and sugar you guys are eating, and, by the way, the meat protein, which, again, has no oxalate, but it's causing issues in other areas. And that's an abundance of meat, not just having a little bit of meat, a carnivore diet,

Paleo diet, where you're eating as much as you want. So, where this is going to turn a little is people come to me frantic about oxalate. People come to me saying that they will never travel again.

People come to me saying, "I'm never going out to eat again. My wife is so upset with me because we're not socializing anymore. I have lost 30 pounds, and I don't have the weight to lose." They come to me with

So much about oxalate, and, honestly, oxalate is so little of this problem once you stop overeating the highest-oxalate food, spinach, almonds, cashews, you know, the highest-oxalate ones, and not getting your calcium needs met. So, what I'm seeing is a lot of hoopla over something that is not the issue once you stop eating that way, meaning the same five foods that are super high in oxalate over and over again with no calcium.

Everybody here can have 100 mg of oxalate a day. It's not a problem. Get your calcium needs met.

If you are to be hyper-diligent about—is that how you say it, diligent?

I think diligent.

Diligent? No, that's wrong. Hyper-vigilant?

Vigilant? I don't know, people! If you're getting all freaked out about oxalate, the hell, if you're getting all—don't.

I want you to freak out about salt and added sugar because there's so—I want you to get freaked out about the fluids. So, take away your almonds and spinach, get your calcium needs met, stop eating cashews all day long, don't be eating rhubarb all day long, those kinds of things. But pay attention to the other goals of the Kidney Stone Diet, which you can find at kidneystonediet.com.

The oxalate causes so much issue because you don't know where to turn to get the right information because everybody has a different list, everybody has different information. Stick with what I'm saying, not because I think I'm the queen of the world, because what I do has worked for thousands of people for a very long time, and it's not about any list.

It's about how you eat, not overeating the same foods every single day in any amount you want, and getting your calcium needs met. So, eat a wide variety of food, the things that have a little bit higher oxalate, you can have it. Just pay mind to it, and maybe you want to pay- pair your calcium with that.

But people are giving up their social life. They are—and this is not dramatic, me being dramatic. This is what I'm listening to all day long.

They don't go on airplanes anymore because they're petrified that they have current stones and they may move. They're petrified of—they stop eating so much food unnecessarily because they have stones inside of them and they don't want them to grow. This is not how we deal with this.

There is nothing you have to worry about oxalate. You just follow the instructions I give on all the videos on this channel. There's many on oxalate, go watch them, please.

Watch them now. What I'm trying to do is give you your life back, because many of you are living not properly as far as you're just you're just so fear-based with everything, and that's not your fault. Here's why you feel that way, and I know that because you tell me: the pain that you have suffered,

The stent that you had that caused an infection, for, you know, and caused a really bad infection, the pain of the stent, losing time off work, which means you lose money, and then a lot of doctors don't know how to help you, so you start Googling things and everybody tells you different stuff. So, of course, you're anxious.

Of course, you're confused, and you're like, "The hell with this, I'd rather not eat!" because you're so frustrated and fearful. And I'm trying—this is why I love what I do because I'm I'm going to give you your life back. If you listen to what we talk about on this channel, you will get your life back.

Think about joining the group accountability calls so you can listen to real-life people, what they've gone through and how they're managing everything. So, it's a support group in general for kidney stone patients. But the point is,

This isn't about oxalate once you take away the highest-oxalate foods. I'm giving you your life back, more food on your plate, more confidence, more chillness, so you don't have to worry so much, vacations back. I can't tell you how many people have issues with their spouse because the spouse is like, "You're being a pain in the ass.

We can't do nothing anymore." The pa- The spouse thinks they're nuts, and there's a lot of rift between couples, and, you know, you're curtailing your spouse's social life, vacation life, too. So, I mean, you know, it affects a lot of people in your family. And so, we who have had illness in our life, and I've been there, so I know what I'm talking about, we get obsessed, and we get—not just so obsessed, yes, but also consumed by the illness.

We get consumed by it because we're petrified of going through it again. But I promise you, if you go to kidneystonediet.com, look at the blog, if you stay on this YouTube channel and start bingeing these videos that we put out for you, please do. What you'll find in them is real-life help from somebody who's had a shitload of experience, and also

You'll get your life back. So, you'll feel a little bit better. You'll get You'll be able to have a wide variety of foods, and you vegans who have started now eating meat or dairy, you're all You're going to find out you don't have to do that.

You just have to reign in some of the things you're doing. My vegans stay vegan. My vegetarians stay vegetarian.

I mean, it's not a problem. If you could do any diet you want as long as you stay within the parameters of the Kidney Stone Diet goals at kidneystonediet.com. But I promise you guys, stay here, watch the videos that we put out for you, get your life back, and although I know that sounds a little over the top, again, it's what I'm hearing every day, what people are going through, and there's no need for it.

I understand why it is, but I promise you,

You will feel better once you start watching the videos on this channel. I guarantee it. Work with me, don't work with me, we put out plenty of free stuff, the oxalate, join the meal plan!

I figured out every oxalate value for every recipe in that meal plan. You get breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack ideas and inspirations, all the oxalates right there, so you never have to worry about that again. And guess what?

The food's easy and delicious. It's food I eat. "Jill, what do you do to keep your figure?

What do you do to work out?" That's all stuff I eat. What do you think, I'm throwing it out after I make it? I eat this!

So, and

You'll just I think the biggest thing is from this video is I want people to get their confidence back, I want people to feel better about their lifestyle, I don't want people to feel so deprived. There's plenty of foods that don't have oxalate, but even the foods that do, eat a wide variety of those things. Plants are on your plate, people.

Just don't overeat them and get your calcium needs met every day. Go listen to the videos that we have on this channel about oxalate and you'll get everything you need for free. For free!

For free!

25 years as a kidney stone prevention nurse, thousands of patients, 199 episodes of this podcast, a weekly email newsletter you can subscribe to at kidneystonediet.com. You can get all of Jill's knowledge and experience in your ears, visually through email, whatever you want, at kidneystonediet.com. I think that's a great spot to wrap, so thanks so much for tuning in, and we'll see you next week.

Bye, everybody!