Some vegetables are noted for their high content of oxalic acid that binds with minerals in your digestive tract and keeps the minerals from being absorbed. Oxalic acid is also the primary component of kidney stones. These are good reasons to reduce oxalic acid in your diet.
The
oxalic acid big list below—the foods highest in oxalate—are the foods you would
be better off avoiding if you have a choice. The big list includes foods you
should avoid eating raw in large quantities. Beets are a popular choice in
homemade raw vegetable juice, yet are high in oxalic acid. Carrots, parsley,
and spinach tend to be eaten raw as well. Do not eat them in their raw form in
great quantities; consider boiling them and tossing out the boiling water as an
alternative to sautéing. Boiled vegetables can then be browned in oil if you do
not like the taste of boiled produce.
The amount of oxalic acid in food samples is highly variable and, thus, so are oxalic acid food lists. Oxalate varies across foods, plant varieties, and picking times. To create this list, I used foods that appeared multiple times in these five sources: Brzezinski et al. 1998; Duke 1992; Hodgkinson 1977; Chai and Liebman 2005; USDA 1984.
Vegetables
• beets
• brussels sprouts
• carrots
• collard greens
• parsley
• spinach
• sweet potato
• Swiss chard
• rhubarb
Nuts
• pecans
• peanuts
Beverages
• black tea
• coffee
• cocoa
Chocolate
But
do not let oxalates drive you crazy. Spinach, for instance, is high in oxalates
which bind to minerals but it is still a very good source of folate. Here are
some good rules of thumb:
1)
If you eat a lot of a
high-oxalate food, try to find a reasonable alternative for some of it. Not all
raw vegetable juices need beets and carrots, for instance.
2)
Try some wilted
salads. To reduce oxalates (at the expense of some folate loss), steam spinach
slightly and use as a base of a “wilted salad.” Find my mom’s wilted salad
recipes on my website.
3) Learn fermentation techniques. Fermentation will reduce oxalic acid levels in your food.
****This article is an excerpt from the book, Rebuild from Depression.
This post is part of Fight Back Friday.
