This week, Jill answers a listener question about the foods that can be eaten on a low oxalate diet.
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.
Jill Harris
And I’m Jill Harris your kidney stone prevention nurse.
Jeff Sarris
We’re back at it.
Jill Harris
Did you know that we’re having a snowstorm? I have to go to the hospital tomorrow. So I’m sad about that. I’m like, we haven’t had snow this whole time. Now that I have to be at the hospital at 8:30, that’s when the snow is coming. I’m like, really? I hate that because I hate driving. I hate it and forget about snow. I might just Uber.
I know. Everyone’s listening. Like, girl. We do not care about your schedule, or snow or Ubers. I’m just voicing my anxiety.
Jeff Sarris
No, for sure. We’ve been traveling a lot and when we came home and it was just sort of messy and dreary. The winters aren’t the best except, if it’s pretty snow. And if it’s sunny and snowy and bright. That’s awesome.
Jill Harris
Beautiful. I don’t mind the cold. I just cannot stand this gray. I don’t mind the cold at all. If you have proper gear, it’s not a problem. But the grayness. It’s tough. It’s tough. It’s tough.
But whatever. I just call it cozy time. I’m like, I just I play a mind game with myself. I’m like, Oh, it’s just cozy time.
Jeff Sarris
Let’s jump right into this week’s question, it’s from Barbara.
Listener Voicemail
Hi, I’m Jeff Barbara Kaufman. I live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the suburbs. I have several questions.
had horrible problems of in the hospital, several times a day antibiotics for operations and I’m really having a hard time trying to find out what I can eat on this low oxalate diet.
My main concern is nuts which I know are bad. I never could find anywhere on the internet a list of what you can eat. What not are you allowed to have? What bread can you have? I’m desperate for sandwich.
Carob an ok substitute for chocolate? Because there’s somebody willing to make me oatmeal cookies with carob.
And is spelt alright? I found a bread that was spelt and I can’t find any information anywhere for spelt flour anywhere.
So again, it’s nuts, which is the best one you can eat and how many? Which bread does Jill suggest? Is carob okay, as a substitute for chocolate? I hope to god yes. What bean are you allowed to have since you can’t have any chickpeas?
Would you please please get back to me. I’ve already given up several things that I love dearly have stopped the nuts. I stopped the chocolate which I was addicted to. So I would love these answers.
Jill Harris
A common question. Yeah, it’s all day long. I get this: “What can I eat on a low oxalate diet?” And I answer it all day long.
Anything you want except spinach and almond products and maybe rhubarb. And don’t be drinking miso soup all day long. Plus, that’s high in salt.
And people are always like, you know, Jill, I’m a little nervous with that advice. Let me tell you why I’m so secure with it for you. And Barbara, as somebody who has a lot of illness in her life, I’m never glib about this. I know people may get a little nervous when I say I work with people. I give them the advice. They change their diet. When they do a follow up urine collection. They book an appointment with me and their oxalate goes from 120 to 22. So it works.
I’ve never had an oxalate level go higher after somebody works with me. And so the advice I give them, I’m going to give you you just need to trust it.
The reason people got kidney stones as far as the calcium oxalate ones in a lot of cases not all, there’s all kinds of reasons why. Kidney stone disease is very complicated. And so you really have to talk to a person you have to look at their urine collection and you have to find out the why.
Every single one of you will be a little bit different. And the Kidney Stone Diet has been brought about in the world because it lowers kidney stone risk because low salt, low sugar, eating normal amounts of animal protein, and getting enough calcium every day getting your fluids and paying attention to the oxalate you’re eating. That will lower your kidney stone risk.
The salt and sugar are really important because the more you the lowering your sugar and salt consumption will make sure your calcium stays in your bone and not dump it into the urine because too much sugar and salt will pull calcium from your bone. And that’s why a lot of you have osteoporosis too, and dump it into the urine.
And guess what if you’re not somebody who pees a lot there’s that calcium sitting there looking for phosphate looking for oxalate and connecting with each other.
So Barbara is asking what the heck can I eat on this damn diet? As far as nuts, Barbara, please pull up the Harvard list that’s right on my website at kidneystonediet.com. Download that list. And it will say you can have sunflower seeds you can have pistachio nuts, my patients and in my meal plan I have all kinds of nuts in there except for almonds.
Now if I were to have a few cashews, I do not make any recipes with cashews they are on the higher side. But say I wanted some yogurt. I’ll put maybe two walnuts in there crushed them up. So it feels like a lot. Pistachio nuts. Again, open up your Harvard list you can have like 50 of those. For I think it’s under 30 milligrams of oxalate it’s it’s you can there’s totally doable put them in something that has calcium, sunflower seeds, a whole cup has only I don’t know I can’t think off the top of my head but less than 20 Maybe 12 grams milligrams of oxalate.
So there are nuts and seeds that have been studied on oxalates. Remember, look up, look it up on the Harvard list kidneystonediet.com To get that, so you can definitely stay away from almonds, every other nut in moderation. The reason people got kidney stones is they were eating a bag of almonds because they have diabetes. And their dietician told them to eat almonds. And then the patient took it way out of control. And almond bread and almond milk, they’re doing everything with almonds. If they didn’t eat the portion they ate, and got their calcium needs met, they their their stone risk would have plummeted.
It’s not that you can’t have a nut ever again. It’s you can’t eat food as much as you want. We shouldn’t do that anyway. So it’s about portion, not perfection, just like the sweatshirt says, portion not perfection.
So if you feel like you are too deprived, you’re limiting yourself too much. Don’t do that my patients eat anything they want except spinach and almonds, and all those foods like quinoa. Other people have studied it and it is shown to be high. Does that mean you can never eat it? No, it just means how about once a week and a normal portion size that carob that’s thought to be low.
What I tell people to have carob every single day as much as they want know, if you want a chocolate, you could have it. My patients eat chocolate but just not eating 10 squares a day anymore. And they’re pairing it with calcium when they do whether it’s a non dairy plant, or a non dairy calcium source or or dairy calcium source bread.
We have a whole YouTube video on bread. You can have bread, I care more about the salt and sugar and bread than I do oxalate because at the end of the day, it’s just two pieces of bread. Even if it has 10 milligrams per slice, it’s only 20 milligrams of oxalate. Remember, you have 100 milligrams of oxalate most of you unless the doctor has told you otherwise. Have a sandwich. Not a problem. You still got 80 milligrams left, not a problem.
So many people are so micro focused on oxalate and thinking they can’t have anything that they’re not rising up and thinking that look I got 100 milligrams of oxalate per day How do I want to spend it? If a food has not been studied by Harvard, I have given this advice for 25 years here it is. Have that food once or twice a week in a normal portion size and I say twice because you might have a leftover from the day before habit in a normal portion size parent with a calcium source. My patient don’t have high oxalate anymore. It’s again eating as much as they want of a food that they didn’t even understand anything about oxalate at that point, not getting enough calcium every day. That’s why they got a kidney stone amongst other things.
Beans. We know black beans are on the higher side. Do I have beans black beans in my meal plan for patients? Absolutely. Again, because of the portion size I made, put a whole cup in a four to six serving size recipe so nobody’s worried about it. Can I have any bean you want? Vegans tend to eat five cups of beans a day because they’re trying to get their protein needs met.
And so again, and they weren’t getting enough calcium. That’s why their oxalate was so high. So if you don’t know how much oxalate is in your food, eat limited quantities of it. But I don’t want you guys taking away all these foods, especially an even if they’re not studied. If you eat portion up perfection, you’re not going to have a problem and get your calcium needs met every day. Spelt, Harvard didn’t study it. So I don’t know. Good. You have some bread that had spelt? Yeah, just don’t have six pieces a day. Pair it with your calcium source.
And I know Barbara, you may seem very nervous by this kind of advice. But again, if I didn’t have 25 years of looking at follow up your own collections, I would never stick with this advice. I just wouldn’t. You must get your calcium needs met the foods that have not been studied or are you know all over the place as far as one website says this one website says this. Have the food in a limited quantity pair quantity parent with some calcium and don’t need it every day.
So that’s my advice that go look at the video on bread. Of course you can have of course the gal needs the sandwich of course, my Pete my patients have a sandwich there. They don’t have high oxalate. Don’t worry about it. Have a with some calcium be on your way. I promise you this advice works.
The reason people got kidney stones again is off nuts, without any calcium sources, all the beans without any calcium sources. It was it was crazy amounts of things. That’s the problem and chocoholics, you, my patients eat some dark chocolate a couple squares a day. But some of you were eating it all the time.
And again, when you don’t get your calcium needs met, that oxalate gets reabsorbed back into your system instead of binding with calcium in your intestines and leading to the store. So all of this, I hope makes you feel a little bit less anxious about there is plenty to eat. I promise you, you can eat all the produce, just watch the quantity get your calcium needs met every day. We don’t have to be so worried about oxalate. There’s so much misinformation on oxalate. There’s so much scare talk about oxalate. So, so that’s my advice. It has worked well for my patients for 25 years, and I’m sticking to it. Yeah,
Jeff Sarris
I think that is the big thing is it can be so scary. Because it’s like, okay, now what’s left and yes, and that’s why like you did the Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans to really to showcase that there is so much that you can eat, and just inspiration from day to day to keep going but also to see there is a wide variety of things. And also then you may use some higher oxalate foods in these recipes. But you explain why you explain how this works and why this works.
Jill Harris
Yes, and, you know, that’s what’s so interesting. So in my meal plan, service, you know, I, there’s a lot of education that comes with each recipe to because I know because I’ve worked with thousands of people. So I know when they look at a recipe, I know I can hear them. They’re gonna think this they’re gonna say this, they’re gonna ask this so I write all this education.
Here’s why I use this don’t worry, because look at the recipe is for six people you’re gonna have and they don’t have to worry because the oxalates written the salt, the sugar, the protein, that’s the whole nutritional panel, plus, the oxalate is listed there for each recipe so nobody has to worry. And they can, you know, eat all these foods and patients are so my students and patients are so happy with the meal plan because finally they have a freedom they there they they understand that they’re not so restricted anymore.
The meals are really simple. And they’re quick and they’re delicious. So and there’s snacks and there’s I mean, you know, there’s for people who are like Jill, I need something sweet my God. There’s the ebook for snacks and desserts. I mean, oxalate figured out for Nola bars protein bars smoothie book filled with calcium or obtain low calorie ones, we got it all at kidneystonediet.com
Those services are, and they are a labor of love. For me, I’ve loved every minute of it, they’ve been very helpful for patients. And then people can eat a wide variety of foods, and not be nervous anymore. So many patients come to me, and they’ve lost way too much weight. They’re not eating any fruits and vegetables anymore. I mean, it’s my worst nightmare as somebody who helps people understand nutrition.
So again, and and also, people have many different medical conditions. So now they got a kidney stone diabetes, they’re on low FODMAP. They’re on nightshade, restriction, there’s so many things, and then they’re like, Oh, my God, I have nothing to eat. I’ve heard this my entire career. So I’m here to tell you, if you listen to the advice, I promise you, you can lower your stone rec risk, make sure you’re getting your analysis this is done to so you can see how everything’s working.
Jeff Sarris
Barbara, thank you so much for that question. Great question. And for everyone else out there with a question that number again, is 773-789-8763. And we’d love to feature you on a future episode.
And, again, that number is for the podcast. If you want to work with Jill directly, you can go to kidneystonediet.com. Right on the homepage, you’ll see the different options for working with Jill, there’s the group calls, which is the idea. And that’s another labor of love. Like you do those all the time, with groups of people lots of time together, lots of diving deep in a group setting, which is really nice.
But then there are the one on one calls as well. So if you want to work with Jill, and sort of just just one on one, that is an option. But we always recommend group calls. Because it’s such a it’s such a valuable service at a very low cost, which is is what we strive for as much as we can here.
Jill Harris
Yes, absolutely. And you, you know, there’s a lot of people and I have experienced this as a patient myself. There’s a lot you know, sometimes when you’re a patient with whatever illness you have, your friends and your loved ones get sick of hearing about it, you know, or they don’t take you seriously or they’re not supportive. So I made that group because it’s a place that’s safe for people who have illness, and that can talk and everyone understands and you have support and love.
And also we’re talking about big life things too. How do you cope through the death of a parent’s or retirement and now you’re home all day with your cupboards and you know, and weight loss goals and all of it. I mean, those calls man, those calls are the best. And when you break it down for the hours I’ve given there, it winds up being $6 a week for like six hours of calls of giving 110,000% of my heart into those calls and everyone gives their heart and soul into those calls. Because we all know what it’s like to be sick. It’s very helpful for me to quite frankly. So the group calls are amazing. Check them out people you won’t find anything cheaper with with what we are bringing to those who calls promise.
Jeff Sarris
Absolutely you can find that at kidneystonediet.com along with everything else. So thanks again for tuning in. Thanks for the question, Barbara. And we’ll see you guys next time.
Jill Harris
Yay. Bye bye.
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