# Are black beans high in oxalate? Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/preview/ep/are-black-beans-high-in-oxalate/ Published: 2023-04-04 --- [![Kidney Stone Diet Podcast](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Podcast-1-1024x1024.jpg)](https://kidneystonediet.com/preview/podcast/) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYUlSq5KnV8)[Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/are-black-beans-high-in-oxalate/id1528474326?i=1000607352022&uo=4)[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5pLJeMvyKzHHPSoeiCQt7Q)[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0868148d-adfd-411d-b3f2-71a0ad1461ec) April 4, 2023 --- ![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 Cuban black beans and whether they’re safe to eat on the Kidney Stone Diet. This podcast is designed to entertain and inform — not provide medical advice. Always consult your doctor before starting any treatment. **HAVE A QUESTION? _**\ Leave us a voicemail at (773) 789-8763. \ **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) - **BUY JILL’S FAVORITE PRODUCTS _** - [Silk Coconut Milk, Unsweetened](https://amzn.to/3jUd9x8) - [Good Karma Non Dairy Unsweetened Flaxmilk](https://amzn.to/3vQZN7J) - [Ripple Unsweetened Pea Milk](https://amzn.to/3GOP7wB) - [Oatly Unsweetened Oat Milk](https://amzn.to/3Gvjwi2) - [Healthy ‘N Fit 100% Egg Protein](https://amzn.to/3lgfXWb) - [Fairlife Core Power Elite High Protein Shake, Vanilla](https://amzn.to/3jlVKNV) - [Hydroflask](https://amzn.to/3CAD2bU) **WORK WITH JILL _** - [Kidney Stone Prevention Course](https://kidneystonediet.com/kidney-stone-prevention) - [Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans](https://kidneystonediet.com/mealplans/) - [Safe Snacks and Desserts Ebook](https://kidneystonediet.com/ebook/) - [24 Hour Urine Collection Analysis](https://kidneystonediet.com/24-hour-urine-analysis/) - [Private Coaching](https://kidneystonediet.com/coaching/) **KIDNEY STONE RESOURCES _** - [Kidney Stone Diet](https://kidneystonediet.com/) - [Kidney Stone Diet Resources](https://kidneystonediet.com/resources/) - [Oxalate Food List](https://kidneystonediet.com/oxalate-list/) - [Kidney Stone Diet Recipes](https://kidneystonediet.com/recipes/) - [Meat Protein Calculator](https://kidneystonediet.com/protein/) - [Kidney Stone Diet Podcast](https://kidneystonediet.com/podcast) \ **WHO IS JILL HARRIS? _**\ 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. *Some of the links above may be affiliate links which means that we earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!\*\ —— ***Kidney Stone Diet is a SPYR Podcast _****\*\ [*More SPYR Podcasts*](http://spyr.fm/)*_*\ Starting Now / By Amara ## Chapters - 00:00:00 Kidney Stone Diet Shirts and Spring Updates - 00:02:27 Cuban Black Beans and Oxalate Concerns - 00:05:40 Vegetarian Diets and Kidney Stone Risks - 00:08:33 Pairing Calcium With Oxalate Foods - 00:12:50 24 Hour Urine Testing and Salt Excretion - 00:16:34 Eating Responsibly for Kidney Health ## Transcript ### Kidney Stone Diet Shirts and Spring Updates 00:00:00 Jill Harris The following is designed to entertain and inform, not provide medical advice. Always consult your doctor before starting a new treatment. 00:00:20 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. 00:00:28 Jill Harris And I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse. Nurse, nurse, nurse, nurse. 00:00:32 Jeff Sarris And we are back at it for another podcast episode. And you have your Eat Responsibly shirt looking good. 00:00:38 Jill Harris Eat Responsibly. Eat Responsibly. You know, I just stole– I just stole that from the– what was that drink? Drink responsibly, right? 00:00:46 Jeff Sarris Oh, nice. I didn't even think about that. 00:00:47 Jill Harris You remember that? 00:00:48 Jeff Sarris Yeah, definitely. Yeah, 'cause that's like a big campaign. But yeah, I like what Dave did with the design there with the little crumbs coming off the E. It's just fun. 00:00:58 Jill Harris Dave is the other partner, there's three of us, Jeff and Dave and obviously me. And, yeah, Dave does all the beautiful art and all the all the website design and all the graphic art on the T-shirts. You know, he's amazing, also for the meal plan book, all the things. He does all of it. He makes everything beautiful, Dave. 00:01:19 Jeff Sarris Yeah, so many things at kidneystonediet.com. You can find all the different merch. And I'm sure in the next few episodes there'll be different shirts, too, sort of popping up. 00:01:27 Jill Harris Oh, yeah, I'll definitely wear my– and next week is Easter. Of course, this– well, well, this will be out next week. 00:01:33 Jeff Sarris Yeah, this will be coming out this week.. 00:01:34 Jill Harris Yeah, yeah. Okay, good. So next week is Easter, and so I thought the green for spring, I'm eternally hopeful that spring is coming, you know, so. So, I thought I'd wear green. Reminds me of Easter and spring, so. 00:01:46 Jeff Sarris Yeah, we have some sun today, which is good. We're inching our way forward towards spring. That's, 00:01:52 Jill Harris Really, yeah. Man, it's been the grayest God blessed winter in the world, so I'm just like, you know, I've been telling myself for months now, "Oh, it's just cozy time. I'm enjoying some cozy time." Well, I'm tired of cozy time, people. We need to bring on some sunshine and some flip-flops. That's what we need to bring on. I'm ready. I'm really ready. 00:02:11 Jeff Sarris Yeah, so am I. But yeah, what do you say we dive into this week's question? 00:02:16 Jill Harris Yeah. Okay, I'm– let's go. 00:02:18 Jeff Sarris Yeah, and this one is– it is an FAQ that somehow we didn't touch, but it is a voicemail as well. So, let me get to it. ### Cuban Black Beans and Oxalate Concerns 00:02:27 Jill Harris Wonderful. 00:02:29 Jeff Sarris Hello, I'm Beatrice. I'm based in Washington, D.C. And I recently heard from my doctor that I probably need to go on a low-oxalate diet. Still can't quite say the word. Anywho, my favorite food in the entire world is beans, specifically Cuban black beans. I've been eating it since I was young and I definitely eat it in excess. And it seemed to be seeing like kind of confusing things about where beans lie. And also my partner is vegetarian and beans and seeds are like a big source of protein. And so, I'd be interested in hearing what advice you might have about still incorporating beans in my diet, if at all possible. It also was kind of strange to eat it with like cheese or dairy. Usually, I never do that. So, I haven't really thought about how to use calcium to kind of offset it. Anywho, thank you. Bye-bye. It's a great question, and somehow something we haven't touched on. 00:03:37 Jill Harris Yeah, and– Yeah. Yeah, and I'm just telling you, how we've done 150 episodes and we haven't talked about beans, I don't even know what to say. You know, because honestly, there's just so much to talk about. It's just like, "Oh my God, we didn't talk about this, this." There's You could just talk about this stuff– or anyway, we can all day all day long. All right, so beans. She's like, "Look, I'm getting a lot of my protein. My partner and I and I are getting a lot of our protein through beans." Okay. And she said exactly what everyone says, "I, and I probably eat them in excess." So, when we find a healthier food, whether it's spinach, whether it's almonds– Do you know there's something called almond moms now? If you go to TikTok and you put in almond moms, Oh, I'm telling you, it's hilarious. TikTok people, go to hashtag almondmoms, hilarious. Anyway, so– 00:04:39 Jeff Sarris So, wait, real quick, like what type of things are they doing? 00:04:41 Jill Harris Well, it's a woman who cares about her health. And, you know, she's just always eating almonds because here's here's what everyone's told, "Almonds are a healthy snack." They're portable, you know, you can grab and go with them. So, everyone's eating almonds all the time. What do I deal with every day? Almond moms, Jeff! Well, or diabetics who were told from their healthcare professional, nutritionist, dietitian to eat almonds. So, When we are told something is healthy, we as human beings assume that more of it is healthier. So, you know, this– Jeff, did you get her name? 00:05:22 Jeff Sarris I believe it was Beatrice or Beatrice. 00:05:26 Jill Harris Okay, good. Yeah, okay, Beatrice or Beatrice, whatever. I'm going to call her B, okay? So we're not screwing up her name over and over. And if you're like, "Well, they ate my name," B, just go with B, okay? That's what you're going to be on this show. ### Vegetarian Diets and Kidney Stone Risks So, B, She's asking a great question. And so many of my patients, doctors will tell patients, "You better be vegan. Go vegan now. You got a kidney stone." Most of my patients are vegetarians, because they've overeaten spinach and beans and all the things without getting enough calcium every day. So, being vegan or being vegetarian doesn't mean you're not going to make kidney stones. That's so That's so much of my patient population. It is always going to be this: Can B have some black beans? Of course. Can she eat them like she's been eating them? No. No. They can be a staple in your diet, maybe a couple times a week in half a cup portion size, and B's probably going to be like, "Well, that ain't worth me having no beans. I like black– my Cuban black beans." You're going to have to limit them. You must because they are high. Now, every– all the Harvard did not study black beans. They studied a lot of other beans. They did not study black beans. Although any other source I've ever looked up, you can go to PubMed, NIH, all of those places, and it will say, studies show that black beans are on the higher side, really high, okay? Some places will say over 70, some people will say over 100, some people will say 6 mg per blah, blah, blah. I mean, And that's not high, folks, but black beans are pretty much known as a high oxalate bean. You can still have them. If you're somebody who really likes beans, there's a whole bunch of other beans you can still have. And if we look it up on our oxalate list, we can see, let me see, All the ones that are listed, which I'm probably not going to be able to because I can't talk and look up things at the same time. 00:07:34 Jeff Sarris Oh, it's okay. I have it on the screen right now. 00:07:36 Jill Harris You have it? So, list some of the– what are some of the beans they have, Jeff, on our list? 00:07:39 Jeff Sarris So, they do have fava beans, mung– 00:07:42 Jill Harris And give the portion size and how much oxalate. 00:07:45 Jeff Sarris Yeah, fava beans is 1/2 cup and 20 mg. So then mung beans are 1/2 cup, 8 mg; navy, 1/2 cup, 76 mg; red is 1/2 cup, 15 mg; refried, 1/2 cup, 16; Soybeans, I guess they tested 1 cup for that is 96; and then string beans, 1/2 cup, 9 mg, which is, of course, like a different type of bean altogether, but– 00:08:16 Jill Harris Right. Right. So, so, they didn't study a lot of beans, okay? So you can find different sites that will give you different values for beans. I tell people, please don't drive yourself nuts with this. I think part of the reason, ### Pairing Calcium With Oxalate Foods 00:08:33 Jill Harris Part of the reason I'm successful with patients is they come to me very anxious thinking they can never eat anything as far as a plant food goes again. And then once they have a conversation with me and understand all the other parts of the Kidney Stone Diet, which isn't the nutrition goals, it's about how we do those goals, right? So, if you love Cuban black beans, then you can have them. I would suggest having them in a half cup portion size. You do want to pair it with a protein source– I have non-dairy, excuse me, Calcium source. There are non-dairy calcium sources listed on the website, okay? So, you can have it with, you know, any of the plant milks except almond milk. You can have it, so you can when you pair calcium and oxalate together, the oxalate won't be reabsorbed back into your body, so you don't have to worry about it as much. But maybe you want to start doing things like, if you enjoy beans, maybe you have a half a cup of the black beans we know are higher, and then also another half cup of a lower oxalate bean. I mean, you could do it that way, because some people are like, "I want to see more on my plate, Jill, as far as that goes." Or what I like to do, if I'm having something– I don't eat black beans much, but if I do, I'm going to put them in with half a cup of rice, right? So I'm not so focused on, "Look, what– what is this half a cup crap on my dish," right? So then I mix it, or I'll mix it with other vegetables, right? So, there's there's ways in which to trick the mind into thinking you're getting more. Now, B may say, and my patients all come to me with different obstacles, they'll say, "That may work for you, it's not going to work for me." And then I keep on that consult, I– we keep figuring out something that's going to work for them. I always have my agenda, and my agenda is to teach people how to eat healthier overall, and specifically to prevent kidney stones. But the first thing I care about is, am I creating a plan that's this person– not the one I just talked to and not the one I'm going to talk to– this person is she or he going to be able to do it? So if I were having a consult with B, we would figure out a way that's going to work for her. So sometimes when I'm throwing out suggestions on our channel here, you may say– the audience– they may say, "That ain't going to work for me." But rest assured, we would figure out a way so it works for you. So I just throw out a couple things. So if she loves– when somebody says to me, "Oh, God, Jill, I love it," I know they're overeating the food. They're overeating it, and especially if it's a healthy food, they don't see any harm in it until they get a stone. Now, Some people will say, "I'd rather not have black beans," and that's absolutely a choice. You absolutely don't have to have them. Some people will say, "I hear you, but I'm a little anxious about it." And I would tell the patient, because typically these people are calling me with their urine collection report and I'm showing them what it all means and how to talk to their doctor about the results so they can get on a great treatment plan, And then I'll say to the patient, "Well, when you do the follow-up test, change your diet, talk to the doctor, change your diet, and then in a couple months you do a follow-up 24-hour urine collection to see how the treatment plan is working for you, and on that day, have your black beans. Make sure you get your calcium needs met that day. And so then you can see, 'Hey, my oxalate's not even high. I had the half a cup, I had my calcium with it, and my oxalate level is under 30. Good to go.'" And then you won't be so anxious. And, again, the anxiety that kidney stone formers have is a fact. It's not It's not a generalization. It's not People who have a kidney stone get anxiety, so many people afterwards, because it came on suddenly, it scared the hell out of them, they're rushed to the. It's terrible. So a lot of people come to me with anxiety and rather give up the food altogether than do a portion kind of thing. So that's why I say, do that food that you're a little wondering about On collection day for the follow-up and you'll see. You'll see. You know, that's why, you know. Go ahead, Jeff, you were going to say something. ### 24 Hour Urine Testing and Salt Excretion 00:12:50 Jeff Sarris I actually had a question about that. Is there any lag time, for lack of a better term? Like so say you're doing the urine collection, should you eat these items maybe 12 hours before or can it be just anytime because it'll it'll sort of assimilate? I don't know the best way to sort of say that. 00:13:10 Jill Harris Yeah, you know, people say, "What comes out on the day of collection is what you put in your mouth that day." Now, we do know though salt, some people will say, "Well, you know, Jill, I don't know why my salt's so high. I put everything in my Fitbit pal or whatever the hell it is, and it says I was at 1,500," and then maybe their sodium, they see in their urine collection says 2,000. The kidneys filter salt, so it doesn't release that all of it that day, because it always has to maintain body fluid balance. So maybe you went out to eat a couple days before and that the kidneys may still be throwing out that excess salt then. So salt can lag a two to three days, right? 00:13:50 Jeff Sarris Gotcha. 00:13:51 Jill Harris But otherwise pretty much what you're eating on a day-to-day basis is coming out on that urine collection. So, you know, and what you drink as well. So, you know, it's pretty cool that way. I always say people say, "There's no way, Jill, that I ate that much salt." My newsletter just had that this week. It's like, well, the pee don't lie. 00:14:07 Jeff Sarris Yeah. 00:14:08 Jill Harris The pee don't lie, because the body doesn't make salt, it's what we put in our body and then it comes out of it. So, yeah, pretty cool. So, black beans to put in a to put a period at this, black beans are high in oxalate. You can have them once or twice a week. I would suggest having a half cup or less. Also, remember you have 100 mg of oxalate a day. So, we know that they're high, there's different accounts of exactly how high they are. So, just watch your oxalate for the rest of the day. Don't be eating beets, don't be eating sweet potatoes, don't be eating other really high oxalate foods that you have numbers from Harvard, okay? And then it will it will be fine. B, you probably got that stone because of what you said, "I was eating them all the time. It's my favorite," probably not getting enough calcium, because no adult does until they have stones or bone disease. And then you got a stone. But if you just tweak your diet just a little bit, it doesn't have to be crazy. Get your calcium needs met. On my website, there's non-dairy calcium sources there. And then there's And I have also articles on getting your protein from other sources. You can get your protein in a lot of other sources. It doesn't have to be solely beans. My blog has so much content on that, okay? So that's important, too. 00:15:31 Jeff Sarris Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so thank you so much for the question. It's It was a great prompt to finally talk about black beans, because that is a common question. That becomes a staple, because, I mean, they're tasty and they do give you a good amount of protein. But yeah, if they're high in oxalate, that can be a concern. 00:15:48 Jill Harris And fiber. And fiber, too, by the way. So, they're a great source of fiber, that, you know, it is a healthy food. So, people tend to overeat those things. But if there's a way, too, people are so, you know, we all love our favorite things, so it's very difficult to give up. And this could be a cultural thing for her, it could be a it's a lifestyle for her and her partner, so it's a big deal to have to give up these kinds of things. But if we learn the best ways in which to substitute our favorite things, will it be as good? Maybe not. But you'd be surprised, some people are like, "Wow, I never tried that kind of bean. I love it! And so I have a little bit bigger portion because we have an oxalate level for it and it's a little lower, so I can enjoy that." But again, eating responsibly means we eat all foods, ### Eating Responsibly for Kidney Health 00:16:34 Jill Harris Even fruits and vegetables, within moderation. Just because a food is healthy, we shouldn't be having cups and cups and cups of it a day, and this is what people do: the same foods, in any amount they want, over and over every day because they're healthy. So, this eat responsibly that I'm always annoying and wearing is not about not eating too much, it's about getting a variety of food, eating normal portions. If we ate normal portions of food most days– of course you're going to have special days where you're just eating whatever you want, those days happen. But for most days, if we ate responsibly and just were going to nourish our body to give it energy, to give it fuel, not so much making our mind happy all the time, you know, the world would be a healthier place. It would. A lot of these diseases that we're walking around with are simply coming from we eat too much, we eat too much of the wrong foods, and, you know, chronic disease could really be lessened if we did eat a little bit more responsibly. And really, I will say this one more time, it doesn't mean you can't have this and that. I'm not saying that. Of course, you can enjoy whatever you want to enjoy, just get right back on track. That's how we do it at Kidney Stone Diet. That's how we do it, just get right back on track, not a problem. 00:17:51 Jeff Sarris Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, thank you again for the question. And if you're out there listening and you have a question, the number is 773-789-8763 and we would love to feature your voice on a future episode. And also, I wanted to I need to remember to do this, but this we have Patreon, so patreon.com/kidneystonediet. People have asked how they can support in ways that isn't necessarily being in the group calls, maybe not like paying for the course and things, But that's out there. There isn't an additional amount of content or anything from that. It's just because we've been asked. But yeah, we just wanted to shout out to LaVerne, who's another one of our new patrons on patreon.com/kidneystonediet. 00:18:36 Jill Harris Isn't that so nice? Thank you, LaVerne! So, it is. So Patreon, that means that LaVerne is giving like $5 a month or whatever it is, I don't know, but whatever it is, she's saying, "Hey, I want to help support them every month, and here, take," you know. And that, listen, guys, that's so nice. There's the Super Thanks on the channel people give, to do that. They donate money, so, and this is how we produce these videos and stuff. We don't have a sponsor, so this comes out of our own pockets to do all this work. So, but we do it happily. So when we get any kind of monetary thank-you, I you know, it's just above and beyond. So, thank you so very much. I will ask you guys something: there's 65% of people on this channel that watch the videos, but they don't They haven't pressed that red button, the subscribe button. And I would really like it, Jeff would really like it if you could help us in that way, which doesn't cost a thing, and has nothing to do with anything for you. You just press the button. But for us, we will be able to be found quicker when people search for kidney stone help. So, getting clinically correct information out will get on the top of the search is a big deal. So if you could please press the subscribe button, right now, our goal is we'd really like to get to 10,000 subscribers. That would be so freaking amazing. So, if you could press the button, that would be so, so helpful and appreciated by us. Honestly, we would really love it. Thanks so much. 00:19:59 Jeff Sarris Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Thanks everyone who tuned in, everyone who likes, comments, subscribes, all of it is really helpful across the board. And also if you want to dive deep, again, the website is kidneystonediet.com. But with that, I think we'll wrap and we will see you next time. 00:20:14 Jill Harris Thanks, Beatrice! Bye!