Did avocados give me kidney stones?

Did avocados give me 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. All right, avocados.

You should be You should be watching on YouTube to see Finn just jumped off the couch back there and's lounging on the

Is he?

Yeah, he's like right in the middle of the rug. Is he not? I think he is.

Yeah, there he goes. I see his tail now. It's perfect.

Aw, I love this dog. You know, it's just right before we started recording, I was walking my dog with my friend Emily, and she was walk walking her dog. And I said, you know, and it goes without saying Nate, of course, my son, but I'm like, "This dog is my whole life." I And I'm not I'm not up I'm not embarrassed to say it.

I'm not I'm like, "Oh, my god! The amount of love that goes into this dog is…" And don't think I don't yell at him, too, because I do. But I'm just saying, isn't it crazy how much we can absolutely love our pets?

They don't even talk! I think that's part of the love, quite frankly. It's a wonderful thing.

But I'm just saying, it's like isn't it amazing how much love we have for animals?

Absolutely.

Just kills me. What are we doing, avocado, right?

Yeah, so today's avocados. We're diving in because, yeah, are avocados high in oxalate? Will they cause kidney stones?

Lots of questions around avocados, and it's a frequently asked question for you, so we wanted to make sure we cover it on the show for everyone else as well.

Yes, and so I want to tell you about avocados. They are such a wonderful fruit, and yes, they are a fruit. A lot of people think they're a vegetable.

But, you know, they are so high in fiber. They are so They're such a great healthy fat. They're caloric because they are a healthy fat, of course.

But 13 g of fiber in a medium avocado, and our most our goal should be about 25 to 35 g of fiber a day. If you're trying to get fiber, folks, by the way, you do that slowly. You don't just do it all at once.

Your belly will not like you and your husband may think about leaving, or wife, or partner. So, I'm just saying, slowly we want to increase our fiber, and most people are only getting about 12 g of fiber a day and that's only because they put some in a Twinkie, somehow, okay? So, I'm just saying, people I'm talking to people all day long.

I will get to avocado in a second, folks, but listen. I'm talking to people my age and up. "Jill, I haven't pooped in 2 weeks.

Jill, oh my god, I'm so bloated I can't…" Well, have you had a vegetable? "Well, I had corn one time in 1976, Jill. We were celebrating a barbecue at the Bicentennial or some kind…" I'm just telling you, nobody eats anything.

And corn is barely a vegetable, folks. I'll count it, but barely. So, you want 25 to 35 g of fiber a day.

You're going to find it in fruits and vegetables. Avocado is a terrific way to get some fiber and some good healthy fat. And why do we like good healthy fats and fiber?

Because it keeps us full. Those two things will keep us full, of course, along with protein. And when we're full, we're not looking in the snack drawer for stuff.

So, it's really important to eat foods that are going to keep you filled and happy and not leaving you hungry in 10 minutes, okay? So, avocado.

Many of my patients will say, "I'm not eating an avocado, Jill. There's no way. That's what gave me a kidney stone, spinach and avocados, because I was eating avocados, sometimes I ate two a day.

I was on keto. I put it on everything." All right, folks, this is this is the main theme for people that got kidney stones because of diet. Here's what I hear every single call: "Well, Jill, I was eating it every single day, every single day, every single day, every single day." And then, not getting enough calcium.

So, did spinach cause your kidney stone or the way you were utilizing spinach in your diet, did that cause your kidney stone? So, it's the way in which we do things. So, the diet industry may say spinach is frigging healthy, have it.

Or your dietitian, because you have diabetes, may have said, "Have almonds and spinach. Make sure you're including them in your diet." That's what she said. She didn't say to have it three times a day every single day for the rest of your life.

That's not what she said. But we, as patients, tend to take advice and forward it out, meaning, "Well, if spinach is healthy for me, I'm going to eat lots of it because more of it will bring more health." Of course, that's what we think. So, avocado, half of an avocado, I'd probably eat a quarter of an avocado to a half of an avocado every day.

It's a food I can tolerate with my bowel issues. It provides me fiber. It's a good healthy fat that I can tolerate because I can't tolerate fats very well because I had to have some organs removed along with my gallbladder when I went through my cancer stuff.

So, I have a hard time hard time dealing with fat, but avocado is a great healthy fat that I can tolerate. So, I do eat avocado every single day. But notice I'm eating 1/4 of one or a half.

So, even if I ate the half, it's less than 10 mg of oxalate. Now, I know that I can have 100 a day because I, too, follow the Kidney Stone Diet because my family has kidney stones, and with my malabsorption issues, I don't want to be forming a kidney stone. I'm already at high risk with the with genetics and with my medical conditions.

So, I am very careful, as you are, following the Kidney Stone Diet and I get 100 bucks of oxalate. And that's only taken less than 10. It's taking about 10 away.

I round up. So, I got I got 90 left throughout the day. I don't get anywhere near 90 mg of oxalate.

So, all of you that have taken avocados away, please, it's one of the most common foods that I bring back for everybody. Please, enjoy your avocado. I'll tell you where else, especially for those people who are like, "Jill, I know a lot of people lose weight on the Kidney Stone Diet, but I'm one of those people that I have a hard time keeping weight on." And in my smoothie e-book, I have a wonderful smoothie that incorporates frozen avocado in there.

And I know you're thinking, "That's disgusting, Jill." But you don't taste it. Oh, yeah, that's what everyone says. "I promise, I never lie." I don't want to taste an avocado in my fruity smoothie.

So, I'm telling you, it provides a creaminess to your smoothies and good fat, keeps you full, lots of fiber, and I pair it with my kefir—most people call it kefir, but it is called kefir—that drinkable yogurt stuff, and so a nice calcium product. You can do whatever, oat milk, coconut milk, whatever you want. And that smoothie, whatever it is in the e-book, it's been a while, it's delicious.

So, that's a great way to incorporate because I think, let me see here, avocados are 322 calories for one medium. So, if you have half of that and add that to a smoothie, that's an extra 150 in calories. That, for my patients that are trying to gain weight, is a wonderful way to do it.

So, avocados, I'm begging you, folks, please bring them back to your diet. They're a great healthy fat, they're super high in fiber, and they're going to give you the feeling of fullness and feeling satisfied, because if you do it right, like adding it on a sandwich or whatever, it's nice and creamy, turkey sandwich, delicious way to get some great nutrients in your body.

Bring it on back, folks. Plenty of oxalate left over to use.

Yeah, and if you need to dive a little deeper into why are we talking about 100 bucks of oxalate per day, if you want to sort of get all the resources related to the Kidney Stone Diet and prevent future stones, head on over to kidneystonediet.com where you can find absolutely everything. The "Free Start Here" link will bring you to all of the info, the start page to tell you what you need to know to get started today to prevent future stones.

And you can also find the links all in the description of this video or podcast, or wherever you are listening or watching right now.

Oh, and Jeff, you know, we never talk about this, but now we have the all-access membership. This, guys, is You could say, "Oh, Jesus, I just want to know about avocados. I don't need to listen to this," but I'm telling you, you guys, I'm so proud to talk about this service.

All paid services on the website are only $48 a month, and you can cancel it anytime. And that also includes 20% for only members, 20% off private consults. So, you get the meal plans, the group accountability calls, all the cookbooks that I've written, the Kidney Stone Prevention Course, and 20% off private consultations for $48 a month, and you can cancel any old time you want, no questions asked.

So, you will find no deal like that on the internet in kidney stone prevention. So, I had to put that in there, too. That's it.

Absolutely. So, yeah, just kidneystonediet.com, and thanks for tuning in and we will see you next week.

Bye, guys.