Are you feeling consistently drained or unwell and wondering if it might be due to high oxalate levels in your body? Oxalates, naturally occurring compounds in certain foods, can lead to health issues like kidney stones when consumed excessively.
This blog post will guide you on how to flush excessive oxalates from your system, helping you regain control of your well-being. Stay tuned for practical tips and insightful knowledge that could revolutionize your health journey!
Key Takeaways
- Oxalates come from foods like spinach, rhubarb, and sweet potatoes. Too many of them can do harm to your body.
- Signs of high oxalate levels may include feeling sad or tired, having pain, swollen joints, bad gums and kidney stones.
- To clear out oxalates from your body you should drink a lot of water, eat more calcium and magnesium rich food but less high-oxalate foods.
- Using probiotics in your meals can also help control the level of oxalates.
Understanding Oxalates
Oxalates, also known as Oxalic acid, are natural compounds found in a variety of foods which our body can produce as well. Though they’re harmless to most people, high levels of oxalates can lead to kidney stone formation and other health complications.
To fully grasp their impact on our health, we must dive into what oxalates are and whether or not they’re bad for us.
What are Oxalates?
Oxalates are found in both animals and plants. They are a type of organic acid, having oxygen and carbon in them. Many plant foods we eat have oxalates. Examples include spinach, rhubarb, and sweet potatoes.
Also chocolate, tea, and some fruits like kiwi and blackberries contain them. Eating too many oxalates can harm our health. Kidney stones can form because of it. It can also mess with how our body uses nutrients from food or how it takes in drugs for illness.
Are Oxalates bad for you?
Oxalates can cause harm to your body. They can form crystals that lead to kidney stones and other health problems. Too many of them in your body can stop you from getting key nutrients.
They also hurt the gut and change how drugs work in the body. People with too many oxalates may feel tired, anxious, or sad. Other signs include pain, swollen joints, bad gums, weak blood flow, and kidney stones that keep coming back.
Symptoms of High Oxalate Levels
High oxalate levels in your body can make you feel unwell. You may find it hard to think clearly. This is often called brain fog. You might also feel very tired and worn-out. Some people with high oxalate levels also feel sad or worried all the time.
Their body aches, they get kidney stones over and over again, their hands and feet are cold because the blood does not flow well, their joints swell up, and gums become puffy.
These things happen because of too much oxalate in your body. It is not good for you to have too many oxalates because they can harm your kidneys and other parts of your body. Being aware of this helps you stay healthy.
Foods High in Oxalates
Some foods have more oxalates than others. Here is a list of those foods:
- Spinach
- Rhubarb
- Beets
- Swiss chard
- Almonds and Cashews
- Soy products like miso and tofu
- Chocolate, even soy milk chocolate
- Sweet potatoes
- Quinoa and Buckwheat
- Wheat bran
- Fruits such as strawberries, blackberries, kiwi, Concord grapes and figs.
- Drinks like black tea and green tea.
- Okra
How to Flush Oxalates from the Body
Flushing oxalates from the body is an achievable task involving staying well hydrated, increasing calcium and magnesium intake, reducing high-oxalate foods in your diet, and considering probiotics for gut health.
Learn more about these strategies and unlock the path to better kidney health in this comprehensive guide.
Drinking plenty of water
Water is a big helper to get rid of oxalates from your body. This might be the easiest step you can take! Drinking lots of water each day keeps your urine flowing. When you do this, it helps oxalates move out through pee.
The more water you drink, the less chance that tiny kidney stones will form. Doctors say eight glasses per day is a good amount to aim for. So keep a water bottle handy all day long and fill it often!
Increasing calcium intake
Eating more calcium can help you get rid of oxalates. Calcium binds to oxalates in your gut. Then, it stops these bad things from going into your blood. This is how calcium helps flush out oxalates from the body.
Foods like milk, cheese, and yogurt have a lot of calcium in them.
Limiting high-oxalate foods
Cutting down on high-oxalate foods is a big step towards flushing oxalates from your body. Foods like spinach, beets, and nuts are full of oxalates. You may want to eat less of them if you’re trying to lower your oxalate levels.
Try the carnivore diet too. This diet takes out plants from meals which could lower the oxalates in your body. Just make sure that any changes you make to what you eat are safe and healthy for you overall!
Increasing magnesium intake
Eating more magnesium can help lower oxalate levels in your body. It works by reducing oxalate absorption in the gut. Foods like almonds, bananas, and pumpkin seeds are rich in magnesium.
Taking a supplement can also boost your magnesium intake. This is one way to flush toxins from your body and promote kidney health.
Considering probiotics
Probiotics are good for your body. They help break down oxalates in the gut. This means they lower their intake into the body. Probiotics can cut back on how much oxalates your body has.
Using probiotics helps stop symptoms of oxalate dumping. Oxalate dumping is when too many oxalates leave your body at once. With less of them in your body, this would happen less often.
So, including probiotics in your diet could help control oxalate levels.
Understanding Oxalate Dumping
Oxalate dumping is a unique bodily response that occurs when you significantly lower your oxalate intake, leading to various physical symptoms. Stay with us to uncover what ‘oxalate dumping’ really means and how long it lasts in the body.
What is Oxalate Dumping?
Oxalate dumping is when your body gets rid of too much oxalate at once. It can happen if you eat a lot of high-oxalate foods in a short time. This may cause problems like stomach pain, throwing up, and loose stools.
If you have bad kidneys or a lot of waste in your body, this might be big trouble for you. Getting rid of oxalates from the body can include eating only meat and drinking lots of water with more calcium and magnesium.
How long does Oxalate Dumping last?
Oxalate dumping does not have a fixed time. It can change from person to person. Some may deal with oxalate dumping for only a few months. Others might take more than 10 years. This all depends on how much oxalates you had in your body and for how long.
Conclusion
You now know how to flush oxalates from your body. This can help you avoid health problems like kidney stones. Drinking lots of water and eating the right foods make a big difference.
Follow these tips to keep your body healthy and free from too many oxalates!
FAQs
1. What are oxalates and in what foods can I find them?
Oxalates are things found in some foods like chocolate, soy milk, buckwheat flour, and tahini. They can lead to problems if you eat too much of them.
2. Are high oxalate foods bad for the body?
Yes, large amounts of oxalates from food may cause issues like kidney stones and gut irritation.
3. How do I reduce the amount of oxalates in my body?
You can follow a low-oxalate diet suggested by health groups like the National Kidney Foundation. Also, drinking lots of water helps flush out extra oxalates from your urinary tract.
4. Can medical conditions increase my risk for problems linked with high amounts of dietary oxalates?
Yes! Conditions like hyperparathyroidism or inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s Disease) affect how your body handles these substances leading to more risks.
5. Is there a link between eating large amounts of animal protein and having too many oxalates?
Eating too much meat could lead to higher chances of forming calcium-oxalate stones because it might limit calcium that bonds with dietary fat instead of dietary Oxalic Acid which will cause an increase in uric acid being passed into urine forming uric acid stones.
6. Are there ways doctors help remove kidney stones caused by eating too much food high in Oxalic Acid?
Doctors use methods such as ureteroscopy, lithotripsy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy to treat different kinds of kidney stones including those formed due to excessive consumption Oxalic Acid rich diets.
