This week, Jill answers a listener question about oat milk, almond milk, and getting calcium without dairy products.
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 students Jeff serves.
Jill Harris
And I’m Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse.
Jeff Sarris
Oh, so today, we have another listener question we’re talking about Okey doke. And we realize we’ve we’ve done episodes on milk alternatives, but we haven’t touched specifically on oat milk on its own. So why don’t we dive right into the question and then we will jump in.
Listener Voicemail
Hi, this is Veronica and I’m calling you and I have a question about the oscillation levels in almond milk. Oat Milk. So if you’re removing dairy from your diet and you’re using the almond milk and oatmeal to replace your calcium level how does that work with all these things? Thank you.
Jill Harris
That was sweet little Veronica from California. Yeah, basically She’s saying she’s saying, Okay, I’m not going to use dairy, Jill. So I’m gonna try. I’m in milk. Almonds are high in oxalate. And I know I can use almond milk if I don’t use dairy or oat milk, but I better not use almond because the tie knots like right, basically that what she’s saying? Yeah,
Jeff Sarris
Yeah. Just if you’re when we’re not doing dairy, then how are we going to get our calcium through? Milk? Send what milks are safe and what can we do here? Yeah, just it’s a it’s a very good question. Because so many of us don’t do dairy for various reasons. It could be it could be by choice, but a lot of times is lactose intolerance. There’s so many different things to take into consideration. Now when we there oxalate on top of it. It’s a whole additional layer to consider.
Jill Harris
Yes, many people don’t do dairy for various reasons. So many of my patients, what I hear all day long is Jill, I was drinking so much almond milk because I you know, wasn’t using dairy. And so we know that almond milk is higher and oxalate. And we have a nice little study on our website at kidney stone diet.com You could just Google oxalate content of plant based milks, kidney stone diet and it will come right up. And you could see the highest one on the list is almond milk that was studied and it’s higher in oxalate. So it’s anywhere between 27 and 50 milligrams of oxalate pour per cup. So you definitely don’t want to waste your oxalate budget on almond milk. Oat Milk, on the other hand, Veronica is lower, much lower oat milk. If you go to kidney stone diet.com And you see the plant milk oxalate content list, you can see that oat milk is much lower in oxalate. And so they they they specifically studied the Oatly, oat milk and it’s anywhere between three and half a milligram of oxalate per cup. And so you know, you may not use Oatly but oats in general and oatmeal. That’s all very low oxalate. And if you want an oxalate list that I have trusted for 25 years and Dr. Coe has trusted even longer, go to kidneystonediet.com Or put in oxalate food list in Google Search kidney stone diet, and you will get it and the article is right there. So you can you can get rid of the almond milk if you’ve been using it and yes, please use oat milk. Don’t forget folks, there’s P milk made by ripple. That’s one I use. I like using it because there’s eight grams of protein in each cup. So my vegans and my vegetarians like to use or people in general that don’t use dairy. I suggest the pea milk because it has protein in there because peas have protein, so eight grams per cup, you can use macadamia, you can use rice milk, you can use flax milk, the whole list is that kidney stone diet.com. So make sure you you put that in oxalate content of plant based milks at kidney stone diet.com And you can get the latest research on that. So I would use Is it any other milk except almond milk that’s on this list other milks that you may see and that are a little tastier because they’re creamier or the cashew cashew, I would not use that they’re higher and oxalate. But P flax macadamia nut milk, coconut milk, coconut milk for a non dairy substitute not not coconut milk that you’re finding in the aisle of your grocery store because that’s full fat. That’s not That’s my calcium base. But they make non dairy milks for with calcium milk. That’s really good. I use that sometimes. So many other ways to get calcium needs met that is not dairy and not almond milk. Go to kidney stone. diet.com.
Jeff Sarris
Yeah, and you can also find the coconut milk, flax milk, pea milk and oat milk that Jill likes. These, again aren’t like particular endorsements. It’s just that this is what Jill uses. She likes it. She’s enjoyed it.
Jill Harris
You come look in my fridge. Ripple. Ripple. Ripple.
Jeff Sarris
Yeah, it’s not a sponsor in any way. It’s just know what your likes and uses.
Jill Harris
Yeah eight grams that I get of protein. And I’ll tell you what, a lot of the patients I’m talking to all the time, they’re not getting enough protein, especially if you’re vegan. Because and we have lots of content on kidney stone diet.com, the blog we have, I have a lot of patients that are vegan, they’re not getting enough protein, because now they have to slow their roll on eating, almost eating all those beans, and that no need and all the tofu, you could still have soy products, if you’d like they are a good source of protein, just don’t eat them every day in any quantity we want. But a lot of vegans get a little they’re like, Oh my God, I need more protein. So I always suggest the ripple. Because you know, if you’re getting if you’re using a couple of cups a day at that, that’s what you know, 16 grams of protein right there for you. So it really helps when you’re when you’re really low in protein. And by the way, folks, and then I’ll be quiet. As we get older, we really need to maintain our arm, our muscle mass, because it declines after the age of 30 By the way, so you know, we got to get enough protein and many people don’t. So it’s super important. He’s just dying to come up here.
Jeff Sarris
Yeah, for anyone listening and not watching on YouTube you get to see Finn right now on Jill’s lap. He’s Yeah, he’s ready to play ready to have some fun.
Jill Harris
He’s like, you’ve been on this too long taping all these shows.
Jeff Sarris
Yeah. I really love that all of his fur I know I brought it up last time. But he’s back to how he’s back to himself again. Now that it’s grown back after the little mishap at the groomer.
Jill Harris
Thank God.
Jeff Sarris
It was so funny. But anyway, yeah, thank you so much for the question that and all around. I know this wasn’t a vegan specific question. But you mentioned that and yeah, we’re talking about doing some more things specifically for people who are vegan to ensure that they’re getting all the info they need, and being able to approach kidney stone diet, and the way that best suits them. So calcium,
Jill Harris
Yes, we’re going to be doing some things for vegans getting enough calcium getting enough protein. These are things they struggle with. So yes, we will be helping them out.
Jeff Sarris
Definitely. So yeah. Anyone else with a question? The number again, is 773-789-8763. Or you can email a voice memo to podcast at kidneystonediet.com. And, again, everything can be found at kidney stone diet.com, where you find the meal plans where every week, you get inspiration for what you can eat throughout the week, to showcase just how much and how diverse of a diet you can have. while still meeting all of your needs. Within the kidney stone diet, you can find that the prevention course the Group Calls with Jill which are now separate from the course so you can sign up for the group calls whenever you feel like it’ll benefit you. But we liked the laundry term, like habits are formed over weeks, months, years, even as it just makes up who we are. So we’re trying to just help with that habit formation a little more through these group calls and in a way a little different than before just offering it to everyone. Yes.
Jill Harris
And that I can’t tell you how many people lose weight through that group. You know, 50 pounds, 90 pounds, 80 pounds, I mean a lot of weight and so it’s a it’s a very, very affordable way to stay accountable to the kidney stone diet goals and When you are, you will lose weight, right. But you know, we all need support. And there’s a lot of things that go on in our lives that will lead us to fall off the wagon myself included. So in that group that I lead, we are a total community, a family that comes together and said, Let me tell you what happened. I mean, now what I’ve done, and I’ve gained some weight, and we motivate each other to get back on the wagon. It’s a true loving, supportive, safe space. And people do amazing work there. You’d have, you know, a lot of us around the same age too. So you know, we’re losing parents or we’re caring for parents. We’re still caring for kids. And it’s like, how do you balance all this stuff up and stuff and take care of yourself? It’s nearly impossible. So it helps patients and students keep accountable to the kidney stone diet so they can just live their best life. Right?
Jeff Sarris
So if you want to find that and everything else, all the different ways you can you can work with Jill again, that’s kidney stone. diet.com. So thanks again, for tuning in. And we’ll see you all next week. Thanks,
Jill Harris
Veronica. Great question, everybody. Have a good day.
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