# WORST foods for kidney stones in 2026 Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/preview/ep/worst-foods-for-kidney-stones-in-2026/ Published: 2026-05-05 --- [![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=j_Q7SIfTEjk)[Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/worst-foods-for-kidney-stones-in-2026/id1528474326?i=1000766241742&uo=4)[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1LlDNgq8ZNOq3ZO94vAU6O)[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0868148d-adfd-411d-b3f2-71a0ad1461ec) May 5, 2026 --- ![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 episode explores the worst foods for kidney stones, focusing on oxalate-rich foods and practical dietary advice to prevent stone formation. **Get Featured!\**Leave us a voice message at [call.show/kidneystonediet](https://call.show/kidneystonediet) to be featured on the show! ## Chapters - 00:00:00 Worst Foods for Kidney Stones - 00:00:24 Oxalate Foods and Kidney Stone Prevention - 00:00:41 Daily Oxalate Limits and Foods to Avoid - 00:09:34 Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans and Recipes - 00:10:00 Tracking Daily Oxalate and Salt Intake ## Transcript ### Worst Foods for Kidney Stones 00:00:00 Jeff Sarris What are the worst foods for 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. 00:00:20 Jill Harris And I am nurse Jill, your kidney stone prevention nurse. ### Oxalate Foods and Kidney Stone Prevention 00:00:24 Jeff Sarris So, here we are again. So, this is a huge question, a huge topic to cover, but the worst foods for kidney stones, what sort of creates that category? What do we need to avoid to prevent kidney stones moving forward? ### Daily Oxalate Limits and Foods to Avoid 00:00:41 Jill Harris There's going to be some things that if you're a listener for long time here, you're going to be interested in some things I want to say. You may not like it, but, you know, I don't always do things based upon what the audience likes, we're just trying to get to the facts. All right, so here's the list real fast and some of these things I'm going to go over a little bit more. Spinach, and, you know, I know that really bothers a lot of people. Spinach, depending on who you look at, but we always use the Harvard oxalate food list, which you can find at kidneystonediet.com. A half a cup of boiled spinach is 547 mg of oxalate. Your bank is 100 mg of oxalate a day. So, every day, I always tell my patients on my phone consults, I'm going to give you a debit card and we're opening up a bank account right now, your name's on the debit card, and because I'm adorable, I'm going to give your bank account I'm going to replenish it every day for 100 bucks. I'm going to put 100 bucks of oxalate in there every day and I'm going to ask you not to overdraw. Okay? So, I don't want you to be over budget. You get 100. Believe me, at the end of the day, it's most kidney stone formers don't get anywhere near the 100. So, it's a generous amount. You won't feel deprived, but you will not be eating spinach anymore because it's just too high. And, you know, by the time you boil down spinach, I mean, you just get so little, so it's it's just too high. It's hundreds of milligrams of oxalate for a very small amount. The other thing that we take away is rhubarb. It is right up there with spinach. So, I believe, yes, half a cup is, you know, again, 541 mg of oxalate, so just a few less than spinach. Too high, can't have it. Buckwheat groats, that's an ingredient that's found in some breads and other things, it's 133 mg for 1 cup. Most people will not be missing buckwheat groats, but in case you do, I'm sorry, they are taken away. Wheat berries are another thing that's taken away. 1 cup cooked is 98 mg of oxalate, so you can see you're going to be overdrawn just by that one food. That is also something that's in breads or people sprout it themselves to use to make breads, so we take that away. A half a cup of navy beans is 96 mg of oxalate. We take that away, too high. And, by the way, kidneystonediet.com has a whole list of beans you can have. So, if you go to kidneystonediet.com and go in the menu, you can search for beans and you'll get a whole article that gives you the beans that you can still eat beans and lower your oxalate, so you can bring beans back. Now, here's some things. Almonds are up there. Cashews are up there. Let me talk about these things. If you look at the Harvard oxalate list, it will say 1 oz of almonds is 72 mg of oxalate. "Well, Jill, why can't I have 1 oz?" Because 1 oz is about three almonds. No one has ever said, "Honey, let's let's put on a show and get me give me three almonds." No one. Usually, when we eat nuts, we're eating half a bag. Diabetics, who were told to eat almonds as a snack, oh, they're eating them. How do I know? Because they tell me every day when we're doing urine collection consults. That's how I know. It's very common. "Jill, I was eating almond almonds all day long. Jill, I was on keto. I had almond milk, almond bread, almonds." So, we take them away. "What about portion, not perfection, Jill? You're the queen of that. You always say." But what are you going to have, one almond? And that's still 80? So, milligrams of oxalate, so we take them away. Cashews are another thing. They're, you know, 63 mg for about three cashews, so we take them away because, typically, people cannot, you know, nobody wants a three cashews. What else? Wheat berries, navy beans, those are the things, Oh! And now Harvard didn't study chia seeds, but every other list says they're high. I'm too nervous about it. And, again, most of you are not doing portion, not perfection. You're having chia pudding every day, chia seeds in a smoothie, everybody is overeating chia. And when I'm doing in the last year or two doing people that are new, "Jill, I was eating chia seeds every day." I'm too nervous about them. I on the side of caution. And if you heard the stories that I heard every day, you would, too. So, we take chia seeds away. People were like, "But, Jill, so good for protein, so good for fiber!" Here's another food. Unfortunately, you can't you're not going to be wanting pudding from this like you do chia seed, but lentils. Boy, are they a wonderful food! High protein! High protein! High fiber! Low oxalate! And, you know, they're not going to be as tasty the way you're using chia seeds, you're not going to use lentils. But since you're all talking to me about what a great food lentil chia seeds are, because they are high protein, especially for my vegans, and they are high fiber, please use lentils. They're a great substitute. You may be using them different ways, but, boy, are they power packed. So, try those. Now, let's talk about things that people usually push back on. Baked potatoes are on the higher side of oxalate. For a whole baked potato, with it being peeled, Harvard says it's 92 mg of oxalate. That is where we do portion, not perfection. Have half, and you're getting, you know, 47. I'm not a mathematician, I'm a nurse, okay? Whatever, 40-something boobookitties of milligrams of oxalate for a baked potato. And you may say, "Well, just take it away." But some people, especially you if you grew up in my generation, we had baked potatoes. That was a big deal. So, that is something that if the product is 50 mg or less, you know, if you're having half of it and it winds up being 50, as in the case of a baked potato, absolutely. "Jill, but shouldn't I take the skin off? To me, that's the best part." So, we know that if you keep the skin on, it's going to be 40-something. But if you're like, "Jill, I don't care about the skin, take it off, Glenda," that's okay. Then it'll be even less. How much less, Jill? I don't know. I don't know, but less! And, again, that's where you want to pair it with a calcium-based product. So you can still eat baked potatoes. You don't need a whole one, okay? Make a whole one and save the other half for tomorrow. And then beets is another kind of controversial food. So, half a cup of beets is 72 mg of oxalate. So, it's high. But I say this to people. I don't necessarily take them away, because some people, you know, they like the dirty taste of beets. I think they I think they taste like dirt myself. But I mean, I don't hate that. I'm just saying they're really earthy. So, if you wanted to put a couple beets on a salad, sure. Okay? But do know they are on the higher side. So, some of the other things that are on the higher side, like quinoa, sweet potatoes, french fries, those kinds of things, portion, not perfection. You're You're going to see it on the high-oxalate food list on kidneystonediet.com under the resource section. But, again, you can have less of that food and you will have less oxalate. So, you know, that's the list. So, there are things that you really should not be eating anymore, and then there are some things that are on the high-oxalate food list, and that's separate from the Harvard oxalate food list. This is just a just a sampling of the highest foods. But you can see, and we say on the on the infographic, if it's red, avoid these foods. If it's in the yellow, then, you know, if it's the true yellow and not the orange, if it's in the yellow, then it's going to be a portion thing. With also getting your calcium needs is way more important. That is the most important thing to lower oxalate. Okay, Jeff, go ahead. Have you got your calcium? Go ahead. ### Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans and Recipes 00:09:34 Jeff Sarris Yeah, I was just going to say, to know exactly what you can eat, the breadth of everything that you can eat, you can go to kidneystonediet.com where you can find the All-Access Pass and have access to the meal plans. Jill has four recipes a day: breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. So, every single day of the week, you know and can see just how much you can still eat, even when avoiding these worst foods for kidney stones. ### Tracking Daily Oxalate and Salt Intake 00:10:00 Jill Harris Jeff, I'm telling you, I feel so happy because on a daily basis, I have people emailing me telling me how grateful they are for the meal plan service, because they finally start seeing that they can get all this food back in their life. And it's actually really good. So, and all the oxalate, all the Kidney Stone Diet goals, salt, sugar, it's all listed in every recipe. So, go ahead. 00:10:22 Jeff Sarris Yeah, so I think with that, we'll wrap and we'll see you next week. 00:10:25 Jill Harris Bye, everybody.