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Oxalates in Diet

Daffodil

Senior Member
Messages
5,875
hi all. I have had a pretty hard time trying to stick to a special diet the past few years, but finally arrived at a routine I could live with: a giant spinach or field greens salad, carrot soup, stir fry veggies with rice, gluten free flatbread wraps, a lot of nuts, and some cheats here and there.

well now, I am reading that this diet is very high in oxalates which can cause kidney stones. also, people with leaky gut (like me) could be missing the bacteria that digests the oxalates, resulting in the oxalates leaking into the bloodstream and causing diseases.

now I don't know what on earth to do. the salads and carrots and stuff were the only organic foods that were affordable for me, available at most stores, and easy to prepare...but now I wonder if I am harming myself everyday, thinking I am eating well! ugh
 

dannybex

Senior Member
Messages
3,561
Location
Seattle
Cooked carrots are low in oxalates. Also cooking -- and tossing out the water -- will lower oxalates of other foods. I think you would know if you had an oxalate problem as you would probably be in a lot of pain.

Maybe best to avoid the highest ox foods if you're worried. You could very well have high levels of the oxalate digesting bacteria? :)
 

shannah

Senior Member
Messages
1,429
There is a low oxalate group on yahoo that is very knowledgeable and has access to all of the latest research. It's called 'Trying Low Oxalates' and they're very helpful with questions, concerns and sharing information about alternate choices and recipes.
 

alicec

Senior Member
Messages
1,572
Location
Australia
There is another thread on PR which discusses various oxalate related issues here. I'll upload a food list I did for myself based on info from the trying low oxalates group. It is not intended to be exhaustive - more a quick guide to things I might want to eat with some indication of how cooking methods might influence oxalate content.

Spinach is terrible but there are plenty of low oxalate greens - lettuce, watercress, rocket (arugula), coriander (cilantro), mustard and turnip greens, cavallo nero and purple kale, chinese greens, all of the cabbage family - plus there are plenty of low ox vegetables in general.

Rice is ok, the gluten free warps would depend on what was in them.

Nuts are a problem - none are really low though some are much better than others.
 

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Messages
2,125
I had a recurring problem with kidney stones /calcium oxalate crystals. I went into the whole oxylate thing in depth last year. There are many conflicting lists of oxalate contents of foods, but the best, most comprehensive is the one on the website someone's already mentioned. There is also info on the difference, or not, made to the oxalate by cooking, how its cooked. One way to counteract the effect is to increase calcium intake which is partly how I dealt with it. I'm a lacto vegetarian BTW. As with everything, moderation and balance is the key.
 
Messages
2,125
I have been going through my medical records and was furious to find that calcium oxalate crystals were identified in one of my urine sample test results. I was not told about this, nor apparently did the doctor bother with it and I went on to suffer several bouts, one ending up in a&e and being pumped full of painkillers including morphine, which didn't touch the pain.

They did a ct scan which didn't show anything. I'd been in hospital for about nine hours before a doctor casually said it could be crystals which wouldn't necessarily show on a scan, and maybe I should look at my diet! Why on earth don't they just test for oxalate crystals in the first place(its got to be quicker/cheaper than numerous scans), and then actually act on the results.

At the time the NHS website only listed about half a dozen foods that they said could contribute to oxalate crystal creation,........it wasn't until last year when I started having problems again when I was trying to do a candida diet and juicing a lot, that I found out about the oxalate values of just about everything I was eating.

As they suggest on the low oxalate forum I took it slowly, initially only cutting out the very high category, then the high ones. As I said before I increased my dairy intake for the calcium, plenty of water with fresh lemon juice, also drank mostly redbush tea which is oxalate free.
I've been doing this for just over a year.

I'm not sure about the whole issue of oxalate dumping, as passing tiny amounts of oxalate crystals (not visible )was excruciatingly painful so large quantities of the stuff would be unbearable, not to mention ripping the renal tract to shreds(?)
 
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