Topic: Green Smoothie Fad: Toxic Oxalate - Townsend
Keebler
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- Part of the problem with smoothies can also be the sheer volume of plant matter reduced to liquid and then that liquid is taken in very large quantities - so higher concentration of oxalates.
And any food becomes more like simple sugar when reduced to liquid. [my thoughts, not the author's below]
The Green Smoothie Fad: This Road to Health Hell is Paved with Toxic Oxalate Crystals
- by William Shaw, PhD - From the Townsend Letter - January 2015
Excerpts:
. . . Oxalic acid is the most acidic organic acid in body fluids and is used commercially to remove rust from car radiators. Antifreeze (ethylene glycol) is toxic primarily because it is converted to oxalate. . . .
. . . Foods especially high in oxalates include spinach and similar leafy vegetables, beets, chocolate, soy, peanuts, wheat bran, tea, cashews, pecans, almonds, berries, and many others.
Oxalates are not found in meat or fish at significant concentrations. . . .
. . . [paraphrased: magnesium citrate can help but can't just balance out totally if oxalate is just too high] . . .
. . . Dr. Clare Morrison, a general pratitioner from the UK who has fibromyalgia, found relief from symptoms after changing to a low-oxalate diet.
In a 2012 article in the Daily Mail, she said, "I cut these out of my diet and overnight my symptoms disappeared – the disabling muscle pains, tingling legs, fatigue and inability to concentrate all went."28 . . .
[Full article at link above.] -
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Keebler
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- I rarely do smoothies as, for me, the glycemic index is usually just to the moon and I need whole foods for slower absorption. However, smoothies are not the whole point of the article.
This is one aspect to diet that I have not yet considered. After reading this, seems I need to print out and really read it. -
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I do Kale and avocado for my greens. Spinach is only if I have some leftover from my salad.
I rotate with coconut oil with strawberries/blueberries.
-------------------- Sick since 2000 Bulls eye 2005 Dx Babesia, Lyme 2014 Posts: 247 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Aug 2014
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droid1226
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Again another piece of the puzzle to the genetically disfigured ....So I Google low oxalate diet. I've always known relatively what's high as far as vegetables, but not what's low.
UMPC is the first result. The self proclaimed biggest/best hospital in Pittsburgh. Verbatim, it says "Eat as much of these low-oxalate foods as you like: Bottled beer, Cola, Wine....
There are some major discrepancies when it comes to information on what is high and what isn't. Spinach seems to be on everyone's list as an easy no-brainer don't eat. Kale however, does not have a consensus answer...He says it's high...other's say no.
A smoothie is not a juice. Does that make a difference? Does eliminating fiber add or subtract oxalates? Can anyone answer with certainty or does each genetically different biological creature need a tailored diet to fit their needs? If so, we are at least a century from that.
I do think that yogurt/fermented veggies and/or a strong gut doesn't need to care about any of this stuff. Unfortunately, I haven't met a sick person with one yet.
Keebler
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- droid,
I'm not sure yogurt can counter oxylate action. I don't recall that being mentioned as a counterprotective measure but I miss a lot when I read.
It's the sharpness of oxylates, how they form tiny crystals with sharp spikes that can cut away at body tissue that is the main point here.
thanks for these questions: A smoothie is not a juice. Does that make a difference? Does eliminating fiber add or subtract oxalates?
As for the oxylates, though, my mind thinks it would still contain the same amount of oxylates. The article may shed more light on that.
As an aside, regarding glycemic index surely a smoothie would be better than just juice with the fiber. Still, it would be faster absorbed and higher on glycemic index than whole food yet still far better in that regard with the fiber all there.
Still, it's important to not just have any smoothie as meal - to have not too far away in time whole food that will take much longer to digest in the body so as to help avoid blood sugar highs and then drops. The more liquid the food, the higher the glucose absorption.
A small glass for the smoothie or veggie juice is also quite enough due to the concentration. However, if lots of watery food (like celery) are included larger servings should be fine.
One reason I've put this off so long is that there are absolutely excellent elements of many foods on that high oxylate list with lots of antioxidants & important nutrients.
I should have bolded the part about MAGNESIUM CITRATE helping to balance. In the article above, it said it had to be the citrate form, though. So that seems a way to still get our delight from some tasty foods and also their antioxidants, as long as we can figure out what kind of balance.
The inside of my mouth has been a mess for years and most food just seems to have glass spikes that break out once in my mouth - even if smooth or liquid. When reading this it occurred to me that I might try it. If it helps, that would be a clue.
Something was said there about the endothelial (?) layer of the skin and that's a big matter with the mouth mucosal tissue and for skin issues.
BRAIN tissue - or at least blood vessels in regard to the brain also had some kind of mention as to how high oxylates can cut.
Of course, not everyone would need to be concerned but it's just something to consider for anyone with health challenges.
And, to know that MAGNESIUM CITRATE has particular benefit here is good to know, although, would also seem to require more reading from other authors to see what they say. -
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lpkayak
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The artical i read said kale is high in ox....if e as ten raw
It said to boil it til tender first and you get the good with out the bad
I had learned to blanch kale and freeze it in small amounts-enough for one smoothie. I planned on boiling it now and freezing it.
But im losing a lot of my ingredients...so not sure if i ll keep on with smoothies. I feel much better without them
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Keebler
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- Thanks, lpkayak, for the raw vs. cooking detail. So much to still learn about all this.
If you say you are "losing a lot of your ingredients" due to oxalates . . . you may not need to. Some may, some may not. And the way your diet is balanced is the important point.
the post was not to condemn them (or rather foods that have them) but just for awareness.
You may not want to give up smoothies totally but since you feel better without the kind you've been making, good that you can notice a clear difference.
There are many veggies in the world.
There is still so much you can do with a machine like that, though. Sauces are just one thing that come to mind and many more but my brain won't tell my fingers what they are so will just let that go.
Don't pack it away, though. Don't banish it. There's always room for a little cold treat, too. -
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poppy
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Maybe that is why I had a bad experience with kale and have never eaten it again. Spinach, raw or cooked, does not do this to me.
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Haley
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I've been drinking 64 ounces of green smoothies a day and have never felt better.
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lpkayak
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I didnt mean losing them all from ox...i dont seem.to be able to toerate yogurt and my first attempt at making walnut milk didnt work out
Also..i did read the raw vs boiled thing recently...but cant vouch for site. I didnt read study. It probably could be googled
As for smoothies...the word doesnt mean much with out the ingredients. And we are all in different bodies...different histories...many variables
I listen to my body and if you feel good with what your doing haley my guess us that it is good for you
I have figured out taking my buhner regularly as tea with extra spuces or in veg juice or pomegranit juice makes me feel as good as i have in a long while
Many times in the last 30 yrs i did what made me feel.healthier...even when studies came out to say it was bad
Often yrs later studies came out to say the studies were wrong
So i trust what i feel and go about trying new things one at a time
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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droid1226
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Exactly Lpkayak. There's honestly a study for mineral, nutrient, and piece of food being good and bad.
The fact is, the future of medicine will be able to do a diagrammed study of our DNA and determine what is good and bad on a tailored basis.
Haley
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My smoothies are mostly fruits and vegetables mixed with about 3 cups of water. I usually add something to make it creamy and not separate, like raw coconut oil and hemp seed.
I think for the most part raw fruits and vegetables are good for us, I know that some people can't do all of the fiber. I'm sure that it is possible to get too many oxalates, but in my experience, most things that are grown in the ground and not processed are good for the human body.
I am fortunate to have someone that makes these for me for $8 a jar, however I am now beginning to make some myself as I gain strength and energy.
I usually drink them on an empty stomach throughout the day in a small juice glass. This is my medicine, it's an easy way to get nutrients into the body. If someone feels that certain foods have too many oxalates, stay away from those foods.
I feel that I am emerging from the black pit of hell, the juice is one big puzzle piece for me, but I also do mild HBOT everyday, the Cowden protocol and other things.
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droid1226
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Blending or Juicing is vital to so many of us.
I think people that have bad reactions to smoothies should try juicing.
I can't handle all that fiber at once, I used to think I was herxing. But what it was, was my stomach bloated so bad it made me so symptomatic.
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