I had to laugh when my husband brought home a list of foods he should try to avoid. He had just suffered through a second round of kidney stones, the first round being five years ago. With the first round the doctor just says, “Yup, you had a kidney stone. If you get one again we’ll look into why.” Because hopefully you won’t have one again. Well he did.
So this time the doctors kept the stone and analyzed it, to see what it was made up of. It was the most common kind of kidney stone, made up of calcium and oxalates, whatever those are.
Interestingly enough, oxalates are very prevalent in many of the “super foods,” like kale, spinach, peppers. They are in lesser quantities in berries, again considered very healthy.
So, do we “eat healthy” or try to avoid kidney stones?
To keep calcium and oxalates from binding together to make stones, my husband downs two shots of lemon juice every day, as recommended by his doctor. (The doctor actually recommended drinking two glasses of lemonade every day, but since my husband doesn’t want the extra sugar calories, he’s drinking the lemon juice straight. He has learned that it is best to drink the lemon juice before a meal, rather than after, as after is more likely to induce some heartburn!)
And, for my part, since I am generally in control of what is served for dinner, no kale (yeah!) and only moderate amounts of the other super foods, but still plenty of healthy fruits, veggies, grains and proteins.
I predict, unless the people eating all of that kale are also eating a lot of lemon juice, there is going to be an epidemic of kidney stones in the relatively near future. I hope I am wrong.
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