Another confusing vegetable. Those pictured here are classed as high oxalate – fine french and/or string beans (French fillet in the US), whereas runner beans (Roma green beans in the US) are medium level, but only when boiled for 30mins (eugh!). Personally, I have never felt bad after eating beans, but I suggest sticking to a handful of the […]
chickpeas & saponins
Saponins are bitter, biologically active compounds found in chick peas, soybeans, legumes (beans) and alfalfa sprouts that foam up like soap suds in water. They are named after the soapwort plant (Saponaria), the root of which was used traditionally as a soap. Robb Wolf, in The Paleo Solution, is pretty scathing about them, explaining that they are […]
kale – high or low oxalate?
There’s a lot of confusion over whether kale is high or low oxalate, whether it’s OK to have it raw in a smoothie, whether it’s best to steam or boil, or even, as Bulletproof suggests, whether adding a calcium and/or magnesium supplement to your blender can reduce the oxalate content! Time to hunt down some facts. Kale is part […]
greens
Meet your new best friend! Spring greens, known as Collard greens in the US (though not identical), are your go-to replacement ingredient for any recipe that contains spinach, beet, Swiss chard or mustard greens – all high oxalate. Spring greens are part of the great green family of vegetables that also includes cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli — trendy kale is also […]
pasta
Absolutely fine. But stay clear of the ‘healthier’ wholewheat, or buckwheat versions. The fiber in the wholewheat version irritates our gut lining, and frankly, it’s better to get your fiber from low-oxalate veggies instead. As I mentioned in the bread post, this is not a gluten free diet (hurrah!), but do eat it in moderation – […]
tea
What I wouldn’t give for a nice cup of tea. I am British after all, and as a nation, we believe in our very souls that there is very little that a nice cup of tea can’t fix. Unfortunately, not only does it not fix fibro, it also makes it much, much worse. Tea is high in […]
milk
Low-oxalate, so fine. But as you may already know, I believe that fibro symptoms come (mainly) from an unhappy gut, though what causes this dysregulation is less clear. There is probably a hormonal component, a structural issue with the hypothalamus or a lingering infection. Those things are harder to treat, whereas fixing our guts is in our […]
garlic, onions & alliums
Low oxalate, both in the raw and cooked form so technically fine. However, I have found that raw garlic – for example in humus or pesto – is a total no-no. Bloating, aches & pains, reflux. It’s also a ‘no’ food for people with IBS, one of the bad guys on the FODMAP diet. FODMAP is one of […]
bread
You’ll be relieved to hear that this is not a gluten-free diet. Yippee! I definitely could not live without bread… buttery crumpets, toast and marmalade on a Saturday morning, sourdough and smashed avocado in the local hip cafe, chunky croutons in my soup… I could go on (seriously). However there are a few groundrules to follow: no […]
apples
Low-oxalate, so fine. I find that it’s best to steer clear of the super-sweet varieties (in the UK Pink Lady, Jazz, Braeburn) as they seem to make gut bacteria go a little crazy, with gassy fermentation and the inevitable accompanying joint pain. Better varieties to try are Cox, Egremont Russet and Granny Smith, and ideally never […]