What are your thoughts on oxalates?

This article states that oxalates of large amounts of greens every day can lead to kidney stones. I've also read that large amounts of vitamin C contribute. Pretty much all fruitarians eat over 5-12 times more vitamin C than the average person. Should I be worried? Here's the article.

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/how-green-smoothies-can-deva...

Tags: c, kidney, oxalates, stones, vitamin

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Greenmama on May 24, 2012 at 12:48pm

I think this article contains a valid criticism of green smoothies, because the taste of excess oxalates is masked by the fruit, and it causes people to consume more than they normally would. If I eat mature spinach or swiss chard, it has a bitter metallic taste caused by the oxalates. Generally, you would stop eating that fairly quickly because you don't like the taste. Blend it in a green smoothie and you could drink a bunch of it.

But I think overall, the article is overblown hysteria and disinformation. You know what causes most cases of kidney stones? Consumption of animal protein. Consumption of antacids (which you take because you got heartburn eating a high-fat diet).

This article did not cite their source that candida could be a contributing cause of kidney stones. I find that highly questionable... makes me think that someone with a high-fat diet agenda is behind the article. "Oh, no, eating too much fruit is going to give me candida. Green smoothies are going to give me kidney stones. I better drink a raw milk/ agave nectar/ cacao milkshake instead..." Look at the sidebar and the other articles she has on her site.

"101 Uses for Soured Raw Milk"

"Most Vegetarians Return to Eating Meat"

"The Milk Cure 2012"

That should tell you right away that this is a person with an agenda backed by pseudo-science and a belief that animal products are essential to the human diet.

If you want to avoid consuming excess oxalates, do as Doug Graham suggests and eat TENDER leafy greens. If you wonder if a green has a lot of oxalates, take a few bites of it on its own. If it has a metallic bitter taste that you don't enjoy, then don't eat that. If it tastes great, it's probably fine. Your sense of taste is there to be used to guide you to what to eat and what to avoid.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lucia on May 24, 2012 at 1:11pm

Thank you so much :) So would baby spinach be a good source of daily calcium for me?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Greenmama on May 25, 2012 at 3:02am

Baby spinach is supposedly o.k. as far as oxalates, but I find that different batches taste different. Sometimes it is mild and delicious, sometimes I get that off-putting metallic tang. So I don't buy it that often. I stick with other things I find consistently delicious, like romaine, red leaf, bok choy. Have you ever tried sunflower sprouts? They are so delicious!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Greenmama on May 25, 2012 at 3:03am

Oranges have lots of calcium, too.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lucia on May 28, 2012 at 10:56pm

oh I didn't know romaine and red leaf were high in calcium and do you have any tips for incorporating raw bok choy? I'll be sure to give sunflower sprouts a go :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Greenmama on May 27, 2012 at 3:23am

This is exactly right. When you eat monomeals you can really tell when you are satiated.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lucia on May 28, 2012 at 11:02pm

Yea I had some silver beat in a green smoothie with cucumber and felt really sluggish afterwards. I'll have to try monomealing more if it helps with eating till satiation. I tend to eat too many calories it shows as none of my pants fit me anymore even though I have cut out salt and keep it under 10% fat (I use cronometer) I eat about 3200 calories a day since I rely on bananas a lot to curb all my carb cravings which I though was the right thing to do? I also run for 20mins to an hour a day but have found it harder as I weigh more now.. Good luck with your healing :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lucia on May 28, 2012 at 10:55pm

Oh wow your analysis skills are great. I used to have mild ADD but it got quite bad after a year of anxiety which I've been trying to manage so I'm not as attentive as I used to be :( I've been hoping that going raw would help my working memory recover but so far I occasionally have good days but mostly I've become a real airhead and it's upsetting and quite frustrating at times. Thank you for the tip on metallic tastes. :)