You won’t prevent kidney stones until you do this

In this episode of the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast, hosts Jeff Sarris and Jill Harris discuss the critical aspects of preventing kidney stones, emphasizing the importance of hydration over oxalate reduction. Jill explains that many people focus too much on oxalate while neglecting adequate fluid intake, which is essential for preventing stone formation. They also touch on the variability of individual responses to dietary changes and the resources available for managing kidney stone risk.

Takeaways

• You won’t prevent kidney stones until you do this.
• Lowering your oxalate is the least important part.
• Drinking enough water is really, really important.
• You want those out of your body.
• Water is the most important thing.
• The kidney stone diet goals are essential.
• You have to dilute your urine.
• Everybody’s different with change.
• Nutrition always changes, products change.
• The goal is to lower the amount of crystals.

00:00 Introduction to Kidney Stone Prevention
00:11 The Importance of Hydration
02:54 Understanding Oxalate and Its Role
05:57 Resources for Kidney Stone Management

Jeff Sarris (00:00):
You won’t prevent kidney stones until you do this.

So what is the “this”? What’s the thing that people do struggle with that is keeping them from preventing future stones?

The Real Problem: Too Much Focus on Oxalate

Jill (00:11):
I think the thing that people struggle with that keeps them from preventing kidney stones is they’re so overly focused on the oxalate part. I’ll hear this every single day, “Jill, I’ve lowered my oxalate, I’m still making stones” because lowering your oxalate is the least important part of the Kidney Stone Diet. I think that a lot of people are always so drawn to it because number one, they’ve never heard of oxalate, so that must be something really important, right? And if doctors say anything, they do say, “Here’s a list, don’t eat these foods,” and those lists are different every time they send a new one. So I think that the oxalate things really, people focus on that much too much.

Water Is Actually Number One

The number one thing you need to do to prevent kidney stones is you can give up spinach and almonds, but if you’re not drinking enough water every day to lower your urine saturations, you will still make kidney stones in most cases. So drinking enough water, enough fluids, all fluids count, water is best, but if you have a cup of coffee that counts, if you have a glass of wine that counts, all fluids count, but water is best because there’s, you know, alcohol, if you drink too much alcohol, you’ll be dehydrated. If you drink too much caffeine, you’ll be dehydrated. So if you are having coffee limited to a couple cups a day. If you’re having tea limited to a couple cups a day. Real cups, not 12 ounce cups, real cups. But oxalate is the least important part.

Drinking enough water is really, really important because the more you drink, the more you’re going to take these crystals out of the urine in your kidney and dump it. You’re going to dump these crystals so they’re in your toilet bowl, not in your kidney. So the goal is to lower the amount of crystals that are in your kidney. And if you keep peeing all day long, you’re going to pee all these crystals out, then they don’t get a chance to sit around and hang out with each other.

How Much Water Do You Actually Need?

So then the question is, the kidney stone diet goal says two and a half liters to three liters needs to come out of you every day. And then the question after that is, “Well, how much do I need to drink to get that output?” And everybody’s different. If Jeff and I drink the same amount, I may pee more than him simply because I eat a lot lower salt than he does. So I won’t retain water. He may. Jeff doesn’t need a high salt diet, but I’m just using that as an example. So the other things that you’re doing with your diet will also matter when you’re peeing fluids out.

So some people will say, “Well, I drink all day, Jill. Why? Nothing’s coming out of me” because you’re eating too much salt and you’re also eating too much sugar. Sugar will also bloat you. Eating too many carbs will bloat you. So a lot of people lose weight on low carb diets because they’re not retaining water anymore at first. Okay. Then your body adjusts and that.

But, so how much water do you need to drink? I would say anywhere between 80 and 100 ounces depending upon your body size, depending about, depending upon how much you sweat, how much you exercise, your salt, your sugar, your diet, all of that. Do you live in a hot climate as opposed to a cold climate? Because again you’ll sweat more, right?

So anywhere between 80 and 100 ounces typically will get you two and a half liters of urine out of you a day.

How to Know If You’re Drinking Enough

So and then people will say, “Well, how do I know what’s coming out of me?” A lot of people save those orange jugs that they do urine collections with and once in a while they’ll pull it out of their cabinet and they’ll pee in it just to see, “Am I really doing what I think I’m doing?” The other, you know, that’s kind of invasive. But the other way to know if you’re hydrated enough is if your urine looks like water coming out of you, meaning it’s clear, then you’re fairly hydrated. OK, so I know a lot of people, they weigh only 100 pounds and they’re drinking 120 ounces and then they lose more weight because they’re not eating because they’re drinking so much. So if your urine looks clear when it comes out of you, you’re doing a good job being hydrated.

But bar none folks. I’ve had a lot of people say “I’ll do the diet. I’m not going to drink enough fluids.” Most of you will continue making kidney stones. You have to dilute your urine so these crystals aren’t sitting in your kidney forming stones looking for each other like little magnets. Okay, that’s how I describe it. They’re like little magnets looking for each other and they’re going to form stones. You want those out of your body. We all have, we all have some crystals floating around us. That’s just part of general metabolism. The goal is to get them out of your kidney. Your kidney filters your blood of waste and you want to get rid of that. When your urine looks dark, that’s all kinds of waste. You want it out of your body.

The Bottom Line on Water

So keep your kidneys running well by drinking enough fluid to flush those crystals out every day. I would say the low end of drinking 80 ounces, the high end 100 ounces. If you have no problem drinking 100 ounces, it doesn’t disrupt your sleep, you’re eating fine. I say get 100. If you’re like, “Listen, I’m getting 95 ounces, but I’m having a hard time eating,” then I would say drop it a little. Don’t forget also eating fruits and vegetables. That’s a lot of fluids you’re eating actually.

So a diet high in low oxalate fruits and vegetables will also increase your fluid output. So all of those things matter. Water is the most important thing. I have plenty of patients that still make kidney stones if they don’t stay hydrated. And they learn the hard way that that really is the most important thing. That’s it.

Jeff Sarris (06:20):
And if you’re new here and this is new news to you, if the 24-hour urine collection is news to you, go to kidneystonediet.com. We have all six kidney stone diet goals right there on the website. And you’ll see it increase fluid intake is number one for a reason. And number six is lower oxalate. There’s a reason it’s this way. And we dive deep into it on the podcast. Of course, we can only touch on it, but you find everything you need.

Jill (06:36):
Yes. Yes.

Jeff Sarris (06:49):
On the website, the free weekly email, you can join the All Access Pass for the deep dive through the course and the meal plans and every tool you need to prevent future kidney stones.

Jill (06:59):
All Access Pass is $48 a month, cancel it at any time, so you have every paid service plus 20% discount on private consultations for $48. That’s the course, that’s the meal plan, that’s the group calls. That program is flying out the window because it’s like, “Is this real?” It’s real folks. $48 a month, cancel it at any time and you have access to every paid service, every cookbook, the smoothie book.

Jeff Sarris (07:18):
Mm-hmm.

Jill (07:26):
The protein bar recipe book, the dessert and snack book, everything. Everything is on the website. $48 a month. Go ahead. Yeah.

Jeff Sarris (07:31):
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it grows every month. So with that, we will wrap for this week and we’ll see you next week.

Jill (07:39):
Everybody have a great week. Bye.