When you’re one out of every 11 women and men in the United States who have kidney stones, you want to do everything possible to prevent the formation of the next painful stone. Developing good habits now can protect you in the future, especially as you age. By the time they reach 70, more than 19% of men and almost 10% of women have had at least one kidney stone.
Once you’ve had one stone, you’re at risk for another. In fact, there’s a recurrence rate of 50% in the next 5-10 years and 75% in the next 20 years.
Our expert urologist, Alex Lesani, MD, diagnoses and treats kidney stones at our Las Vegas, Nevada, office. To prevent your next kidney stone, however, you need to know what type you have.
Various minerals cause different types of kidney stones in even the “healthiest” of foods. While any dietary guidelines for kidney stones must be modified depending on the type of stone you have, there’s one recommendation that extends across all types: Drink enough water and other healthy liquids, including unsweetened tea and coffee.
What kinds of foods should you eat, and which should you avoid if you have kidney stones? Following is a brief guide.
Your parents may have punished you for being “fresh,” but when it comes to preventing kidney stones, freshness rules. Ixnay the canned foods (filled with sodium and preservatives), ban the fast food (that can quickly build up into stones), and reach for fresh, crisp produce.
Fresh vegetables and fruits — especially when they’re from local farms — tend to have more vitamins and antioxidants than those that have been canned or preserved. The one exception is frozen vegetables and fruits, which tend to be flash-frozen at their peak of freshness after being picked.
In addition to building your home-cooked meals around high-quality meats, fish, and produce, stock up on fresh, healthy snacks. Instead of cookies and other boxed or processed foods that may have sat on shelves for months, pick up some:
Sunflower seed butter with apple slices or celery sticks is fast to prepare and satiates you. Check the ingredients to be sure they don’t include excess sugar or palm oil.
Some nuts, like peanuts, aren’t nuts at all; they’re legumes that tend to be high in minerals such as oxalates, which can cause kidney stones. Opt for pecans, hazelnuts, or walnuts instead. If you’re feeling extravagant, pick up some macadamias or macadamia butter.
These more out-of-the-ordinary choices in nuts and seeds give you greater variety in your snacking and meal prep, too. You can toss nuts into your salad or whole-grain cereal.
Maybe spinach worked for Popeye, but you should look for other vitamin-rich leafy greens if you have kidney stones. Foods you may need to avoid due to their high oxalate content include:
By cooking, you can lower the oxalate content of your favorite greens, such as spinach. Sprouting beans and grains reduces their oxalate levels.
Fried foods cause inflammation throughout your body, particularly when the oil used to cook is made of seeds or is rancid. Instead, grill foods lightly at a low temperature.
Blacking meats can actually make them carcinogenic due to the formation of chemicals, including acrylamides, during a high-heat cooking process. So avoid those tasty black stripes and opt for meats cooked slowly, for longer periods of time at lower temperatures.
If you have calcium oxalate stones, you might think you need to avoid foods that have calcium, as well as those that have oxalates. Actually, you’d be wrong. Calcium binds with oxalates so — if you eat any oxalates — eat calcium along with them.
For instance, eating a cheese and spinach quiche would lower oxalates in two ways: First, by cooking them out of the spinach, and second, by pairing them with the calcium in cheese.
Aim for at least 1000 mg of calcium daily. Try to keep oxalates below 100 mg. However, don’t take calcium supplements without consulting with Dr. Lesani; get it from your diet.
Fill your salt shakes with herbs and spices to lower sodium, accelerating kidney stone formation, and adding flavor to your fresh, new diet. Remember to avoid junk food, fast food, and processed foods in boxes or cans at the grocery store. Processed foods are high in stone-forming sodium.
If you have kidney stones, get relief by calling us today at 702-470-2579 for kidney stone treatment, or book your appointment online.
