# Will intermittent fasting prevent kidney stones? Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/ep/will-intermittent-fasting-prevent-kidney-stones/ Published: 2022-10-11 --- [![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=ea-zD97Ch0k)[Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/will-intermittent-fasting-prevent-kidney-stones/id1528474326?i=1000582292042&uo=4)[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2s41WgSbwMGQghU6IsAiwU)[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0868148d-adfd-411d-b3f2-71a0ad1461ec) October 11, 2022 --- ![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 answers a listener question about intermittent fasting and whether kidney stone formers should or shouldn’t be fasting. 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, host of the [Starting Now podcast](http://spyr.fm/now), and developing NFTs and community at [Badfroot](https://badfroot.com/). Reach out on Twitter! [@jeffSARRIS](https://twitter.com/jeffSARRIS) ## Chapters - 00:00:00 Kidney Stone Prevention Course Discount - 00:02:05 Accountability Group Support for Lifestyle Changes - 00:04:17 Overcoming Discouragement in Weight Loss - 00:06:43 Intermittent Fasting and Kidney Stone Prevention - 00:08:41 Caloric Intake and Spacing Calcium Timing - 00:12:09 Sustainable Fasting vs Crappy Calorie Restriction - 00:15:01 Emotional Eating and Sustainable Diet Changes ## Transcript ### Kidney Stone Prevention Course Discount 00:00:00 Jeff Sarris 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 I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone preventionist. Do you know what I forgot, Jeff, in the last video? 00:00:25 Jeff Sarris What's that? 00:00:25 Jill Harris 'Cause we're taping, we always do these as a batch, so we do like four, typically. The kidney stone prevention course is $40 off, people, the lowest it's ever been. That's a big deal, and I want to make sure people understand that. Because of the recession, we're dropping the course price and that, and $149, we're giving it away. So, take advantage of that before it goes back up to the 189. The other thing I want to say, this is just general housekeeping, for people who can't afford $149, That's why Jeff and I are here. So, you can get information on YouTube. KidneyStoneDiet.com has so much free information. The private Facebook group, I'm on there throughout the day doing Facebook Live's, answering questions, make sure you utilize that, too. It's called Kidney Stone Prevention Diet, or something like that. Go find it. Go find it and ask to be a member and I'll accept you. So, lots of great ways to get information. Spotify, YouTube, as you're here, whatever. And, but the course is on sale, people. It's not going to get lower. There's people who are copying us, which is great, because the more people that get information, I'm not everyone's style. Not everyone wants to see me or hear me, but they're double the price, over $300, okay? With two years of experience, not almost 25. So, think about this. We're giving this away right now, okay? So, what else, Jeff? 00:01:55 Jeff Sarris Yeah, and that comes with all of the videos, and then you have the one month of the accountability group, which is huge. And that's that's sort of the bread and butter of the course. ### Accountability Group Support for Lifestyle Changes 00:02:05 Jill Harris Yes, it is. So, that's where you come and they're like office hours because no matter what lifestyle or diet changes you need to make for whatever medical condition you have, it's one thing to be thrown a brochure. It's one thing for your doctor to tell you low salt, blah, blah, blue, blah, blah, blah. But then you got to talk to somebody on how exactly you make those changes. That's what the accountability group calls are for. Also, people are in there, they've lost 50 lb, 90 lb, 'cause they show up and they stay accountable. That's that's what it's for. So, you get that free for a whole month. Thereafter, it's $19 a month, and there will be, typically, it's 3-4 hours a week I spend giving my time away in those calls. So, again, giving my time away to do whatever I can to get the word out and to help you guys understand that you, too, can prevent kidney stones. You, too, can lose weight. There's no gimmick. It's good, old-fashioned hard work and staying accountable for long-term success. I have a lot of long-term success in my career because my patients are committed and work hard. My job is just to give them the information, listen to them, tweak what they're doing, and also motivate and make sure they understand that They have to be patient and loving and compassionate with themselves and that it's not about perfection, and it's about being flexible and trying different things, and knowing that you're going to have a lifestyle thing get in your way, a funeral, a birthday, or going out to eat, being on vacation, what do you do when all that happens? It's it's complicated. It's not as easy as the diet industry tells us it is. And then when we fail, we're mad. What is she talking about? Does anyone know? No, no one knows. What the hell are we talking about? 00:03:56 Jeff Sarris No, we're diving right in. We're just we're getting right to the to the meat of all of it, because that's really what it comes down to. Is like nothing none of this is easy. There isn't the magic pill. There isn't the quick fix, but the reason that you do the course and you do the accountability calls is to educate people and help them along that path, because it's not It's not an easy one, but it's worth it. ### Overcoming Discouragement in Weight Loss 00:04:17 Jill Harris And people Well, somebody on the Facebook page said something today. "I'm so discouraged. I'm so this. I'm trying to lose weight. Now I have the kidney stones." And so, when I read that post, I did a Facebook Live for that person and to tell her, "Look, you're no different than anybody else." So, everyone feels discouraged because the diet industry has set us up That if we have a bad day that we're terrible people and we can't do it. Yes, you can! It's ridiculous to think that. So, again, it's about being patient. No one gained a kidney stone in a week. No one gained 20 lb in a week. This stuff takes time to get these problems, and it takes time to get rid of these problems. But the best thing that you can know is that it's not just about it is mostly about not getting sick, obviously. But it's also about how you're going to feel when you start making better choices more times than not, 'cause that's what we're what we're asking you to do, more times than not. And when you don't make the healthiest choice for your body, 'cause sometimes you want to feed your mind and it wants a Twinkie, that's okay. It's what do you do after that? Do you beat yourself up, or do you say, "That was delicious. Now I'm getting back to work." That's all we're asking you to do. That's hard, but at the same time, that's what's needed to do. Oh, also, did you see my little This is my kidney stone shirt! 00:05:42 Jeff Sarris I like it. 00:05:43 Jill Harris Now, this one is the "Don't judge my joy" one. Can you see that? 00:05:47 Jeff Sarris Yeah, I really like that on the back there. 00:05:49 Jill Harris Yeah, me too. Don't judge my joy. So, if whatever that joy is We did a We did a video, "Don't judge my joy." It's a really good one, people. You should watch it. It's on this channel. And I was saying, you know, and that's where this t-shirt came from, because people are like, "Yeah, don't judge my joy. I would get a t-shirt." So, we made you one. So, you know, I love sitting on my porch, watching the little walker-by people and I don't want people to judge me for that. People will say that's a waste of time. It brings me joy. I don't know what to tell you. So, don't let anyone judge your joy, either. You need to do you. So, yeah, the little kidney stone, so cute! I love Dave for making us that. 00:06:29 Jeff Sarris Yeah, it's fun. Again, that's at KidneyStoneDiet.com/shop where you can find that, but yeah. What do you say we dive into the question? Because we should be good to go this time. 00:06:41 Jill Harris What do we got? ### Intermittent Fasting and Kidney Stone Prevention 00:06:43 Jill Harris Hello, this is Tracy calling from Utah. I'm trying to find out if fasting plays a role in either preventing stones, but mostly in recuperating from stones, and how fasting plays a role. Thank you. Interesting question. And a lot of people ask me about IF, intermittent fasting, fasting. Am I a fan of it? I'm a fan of whatever works for you to be compliant for the rest of your life. And as long as you're plugging your goal, my goals, our goals, Kidney Stone Diet goals into that lifestyle. So, if you're doing keto, it might be difficult for you to eat a lower salt diet. It's It might be difficult for you to get your calcium. "But I eat lots of cheese, Jill, on keto." Yeah, but it's also very salty. So, and people are eating a lot of almond flour on paleo and keto, okay? So, it's always complicated, but I don't care about what diet you want as long as you and that you can do As long as you can do it for a lifetime and fit our goals into it. So, that's fine. Now, IF, will it help prevent kidney stones? Not necessarily. Would I suggest it to prevent kidney stones? No, I would not because most people can't be compliant to that long term. They just can't. That's my experience dealing with people who tell me that every day. "I tried it, Jill. I lost weight, but I can't not eat. My friends want to go eat at 8:00, and I'm supposed to be stopped by 7:00." Or, I mean, it just doesn't work into people's lifestyles very well. Also, because you have that shorter eating window, so, typically, what we're talking about with IF and why people do lose weight is you're having less calories throughout the day, right? ### Caloric Intake and Spacing Calcium Timing 00:08:41 Jill Harris If you shorten your eating window, and you have to stop by 7:00 at night, you're not eating through all your Netflix movies all night long, right? And so, you're lowering calories, typically. What I have an issue with, it may be hard to really scatter your calcium throughout the day in that short eating period. So, that may be something I'm not too fond of. And it's there's nothing that says it's going to prevent kidney stones. That's for sure. But, but, if you're doing IF, and you're following the Kidney Stone Diet goals, sure. Sure, and also you may lose weight, which also will help prevent kidney stones. So, I want to be clear here. I'm not telling people I would not say, nor is there any research that would show that IF will prevent kidney stones. So, to answer that question, no. Am I a fan of it and would I promote it? No. For the average person, no. Why? Because most people can't stick to IF. They just can't. If, intermittent fasting, works for you, and you're paying attention to your Kidney Stone Diet goals, I don't have a problem with it except the calcium does need to be spread out throughout the day. That's something you need to pay attention to. Could IF help with kidney stone recovery? That's an interesting question, Tracy. Not necessarily. I don't think any doctor is going to say, you know, "Do IF to help with your recovery." What will help with your recovery is paying attention to the Kidney Stone Diet goals, 'cause it's just a healthy diet, okay? Lots of fluids to help you if you've had a lithotripsy or surgery to break up your stones. You want to move to help pass those remnants. Drink fluids to help pass those remnants. That is what will help. Take whatever medications the doctor has asked you to take during your recovery. That kind of stuff will help. Will I L F help? No. So, I want to be clear. If you want to do it, do it. Pay attention to the goals. Is this stuff promoted to help prevent or help with recovery? No. Does that make sense, Jeff? 00:11:05 Jeff Sarris Yeah, it absolutely does. Yeah, because it isn't easy to stick to, especially like there are also the gender components as well that go into fasting and like how it does differ from men to women and sort of how our bodies react and times of the month and all these different things. So, it is a complex question as well, but it is It's an interesting one. Like, I'm glad that Tracy brought it up because it's something that You hear about all the things that ways it can help. So, could it maybe possibly help in this in this way, too? So, it's really I think it's a valuable question to have answered. 00:11:40 Jill Harris It is. And I think, you know, IF, like I said, specifically, typically, it's lowering your calories every day, 'cause you're not munching all night long. So, when you put hard-fast rules, "I'm not eating before 11:00 AM, and I'm stopping at 7:00," there's a lot of time. If you wake up at 6:00 and you go to bed at midnight, that's a lot of time you're not eating, right? So, you're restricting your calories. Basically, that's what IF is for most people, for most people. ### Sustainable Fasting vs Crappy Calorie Restriction 00:12:09 Jill Harris So if one can do it, I've had a couple stoners do it, you know, that they changed their lifestyle, they pay attention to their salt, they try their best with the calcium. They do find that is the issue, spacing it out, 'cause you don't want too much calcium really close together 'cause our body has a hard time absorbing it, period, right? So, that is the trick. But if you can be compliant with it, and that is the lifestyle you totally love and you're fitting into our goals, go forth, God bless! Right? Sure, sure. Experience tells me, though, most people can't stick to that for long period. It just doesn't become their lifestyle. Yeah. 00:12:50 Jeff Sarris Yeah. But, I mean, I think that's the perfect encapsulation of it, because that is If it's working for someone, if it works for you, then it absolutely fits as long as the other things are in line, 'cause that is It's funny because we always come back to the Kidney Stone Diet goals, but that's at the core of it. That's what makes it work. 00:13:08 Jill Harris Absolutely. And I think say, so I had this one patient I'm thinking of specifically. They weighed, I don't know, like 420-something pounds. I don't have to remember the precise, but 420-something pounds, and they were like 5'6". So, they were also small. And so, you know, that patient lost a lot of weight doing IF. So, I my message is always to be flexible because most patients are trying to fit themselves into these Very small, this small, tiny box of very hardcore rules. And most patients, in my experience, cannot adhere to those rules. It's too much. And once they have one screw up, they just they can't they can't. They just get too down on themselves. But there are there are a smaller amount of people, in my experience, that they dig those rules. "I am not eating, you know, before 11:00 and after 6:00 or 7:00 at night, and I am good with that." And I say, and so this patient Lost a lot of weight, but that was who this patient was. They really liked rules like that because they had no control otherwise. So, my deal is, and I coached her for a long time, because, well, it takes a long time to lose that much weight if you're doing it safely, and that's the biggest thing, too. Once we lose weight too fast, we typically gain it just as fast back. That's what we do. So, fast and we lose a lot of muscle, people. We don't want to lose muscle at our age because muscle keeps our metabolism rolling Nicely, okay? So, that's really important, too. So, anyway, she really dug those rules. That worked for her. But I, you know, and she's still doing okay now, but my important part of teaching for her was she still needs to learn how to eat well. A lot of people do IF and they ain't eating no better. ### Emotional Eating and Sustainable Diet Changes They're restricting their calories. So, if you eat you know, 5,000 calories of crappy food, unhealthy food, and go down to 1,200 calories of crappy food, you're still going to lose weight 'cause you're lowering your calories, right? So, it was very important for me to still She needed to learn how to eat properly, and that's what took her a long time. 'Cause there was a lot of emotional stuff going on around with food. That's why she weighed so much. So, often, it's not about teaching people "broccoli's good and wieners ain't." It's about why is somebody eating? What are they doing with the food? There's a reason they're eating and overeating and going back and forth with the emotions that all that causes, right? So, you know, are they in a bad marriage? Did they just lose their dog? Are they Do they have a terrible boss? I repeat myself a lot, people, because I hear this every day, so it always bears mentioning and reminding you are not alone. So, when we are stressed, some people don't eat when they're stressed, that's me. So, we all do different things with food. It's not about just knowledge. It's about how do you deal with the emotional part of eating. That's super important. So, that's why she worked with me for a while. She couldn't just do that by herself. It helped that she was doing the restricted hours, but she still had to deal with what do I eat during those hours? So, she had to learn how to eat healthy instead of eating crappy food all day long. So, that's really important. Again, guys, it's complicated. Lifestyle changes, don't just say listen to the diet industry, "Just do this and by 21 days, you'll be a different person." That's crap. You may be, and then day 22, you go back to what you were doing and you gain all that weight back. So, it's complicated, and you need people to help support you and also to motivate you and also to tell you it takes time. But that doesn't sell Things. And the diet industry is made upon selling products to you, a new one every year because last year's don't work no more, okay? So, I've been peddling the same thing for 24 years because it does work, and you don't need anything else. But what you need is some education on the how-to. That's what's important, and each one of you is different, and that is also very important. The end. Ta-da, ta-da-da-da-da-da! That's the I Love Lucy. 00:17:40 Jeff Sarris Oh, I know that one, for sure. 00:17:42 Jill Harris I love it! I love it. Okay, so that's what I have to say. What was the question? I know. I know what it was. Tracy and IF, yeah. 00:17:51 Jeff Sarris I just wanted to say, make sure you check the merch store soon for "Broccoli's good, wieners ain't!" 'cause that'll When you said that, I was like, 00:18:03 Jill Harris Oh, my god! I'm going to have that on that one. 00:18:04 Jeff Sarris That's just so silly. But, yeah, I mean, I think this was great. Like, thank you thanks for the question and obviously, we're not going to make that shirt, but I just thought that was a really funny phrase. But if you have a question and you're listening right now and you have a question that you would like answered on the show in a future episode, the number is 773-789-8763. And yeah, you just leave a little voicemail, your name, maybe where you're from in the world, and your question. We'd love to feature you on a future episode. And to check out the Kidney Stone Prevention Course, which, as Jill mentioned, is discounted right now and much more attainable, we're just trying to make it as accessible as possible. But you can go to KidneyStoneDiet.com to find that, the meal plans, which we haven't mentioned for a little bit, and everything else. But, yeah, so much free content out there, we want to keep helping you as best we can, but if you want some of the premium stuff, you can also grab that as well. And I think with that, we will wrap for today. So 00:19:02 Jill Harris Yeah, oh, I do want to ask one more thing. I'd like to ask the viewers, if you are doing IF and finding it sustainable for you, or if you have tried it and didn't find it sustainable, let us know in the comments. I can't wait to answer some of those questions or talk about it with you, so let's go! 00:19:21 Jeff Sarris Yeah. With that, we will see you next week. 00:19:25 Jill Harris Thanks, Tracy.