Best oxalate lowering cooking methods

Elephant, festival ,Jaipur, Royal Rajasthan, India, Asia

It hasn’t been too long since my initial oxalate post but my oh my word, low oxalate has rocked my world.

Basketball stomach is now a thing of the past, as is razor blade in urethra fun time and, most importantly, cry in pain sexy time. You may want to look into oxalates if you have one of these conditions: Autism, asthma, cystic fibrosis, kidney stones and vulvodynia (to name just a few) or if you’re suffering from urinary tract problems, pain during intercourse, migraines and dizziness [1].

To be honest though, I’m not fanatical about being low oxalate. I’ve found that rotating my foods and how I prepare them means that I don’t need to get obsessive about it. I think that in my case the problem was that I was juicing most of my high oxalate foods (kale, chard, fennel). Having now had time to do some more research I’ve come across a number of studies by Indian researchers that offer some insight into how best to prepare higher oxalate foods.

I’ve been hoping to interview Susan Owens on the subject – it was through her that I first became aware of cooking as a method of lowering oxalates.

How  to have your kale and eat it too…

Here are my top tips for lowering oxalic acid (and for all you paleo’s out there – phytic acid) in foods, according to the studies I found. These have all worked for me…I’m now able to enjoy more of the high nutrient medium/high oxalate foods I just had to find a way to keep in my diet!

Jet de vapeur

#1 oxalic and phytic acid lowering cooking method for greens

Blanch baby blanch!

Blanching for 10 minutes at 95Cs/200F lowered oxalic acid by 40-115% across various green vegetables [2]. That pushes many veggies back into the low oxalate/safe zone!

Pressure cooking for 15 minutes was a close second.

#1 oxalic and phytic acid lowering cooking method for pulses

This study showed an average 25% drop in oxalic and phytic acid in pulses that were soaked overnight and sprouted for 48 hours before being boiled [3]. I had a lovely idea of making my own chickpea flour from soaked and sprouted pulses, but sadly it seems that drying the pulses again raises oxalic acid content once more [4] – so watch out!

Here’s a list of low/medium oxalate and low histamine foods that I compiled using various lists on the internet. It’s the list I’m working from, please do not take it as gospel, it’s just there because I was so overwhelmed at first and I thought others might appreciate a little inspiration to get started. Please see Susan Owens’ site for a full list of low oxalate foods.

PLEASE NOTE: various low oxalate sites warn that you shouldn’t jump into an extremely low oxalate diet as it can kick the body into a sudden detox, causing it to suddenly dump its oxalate stores which can cause an intensification of symptoms.

LOW HISTAMINE & LOW TO MEDIUM OXALATE FOODS

FRUITS

Very low – low oxalate foods

CRANBERRY (low histamine on some lists)

CHERRY (low histamine on some lists)

APPLE FUJI

APPLE GALA

APPLE GOLDEN

APPLE BRAMLEYS

APPLE GRANNY SMITH

APPLE RED

BLUEBERRIES

CRANBERRIES DRIED

DATES MEDJOOL

LEMON

MANGO

CASABA

HONEYDEW

WATERMELON

PASSION FRUIT

PEACH

PEAR BARTLETT

 Medium oxalate foods

APPLE BRAEBURN

APPLE MACINTOSH

BANANA

DRIED CHERRIES

BLACKCURRANTS

DATES MEDJOOL

LIME

CANTALOUPE

VEGETABLES

V. low – low oxalate foods

CORN

BOK CHOY

BROCCOLI RAW AND BOILED

CABBAGE GREEN RAW

NAPA CABBAGE

CABBAGE PURPLE

CARROTS BOILED

CAULIFLOWER BOILED/STEAMED/RAW

CUCUMBERS

GARLIC

TURNIP GREENS

ARUGULA

RAAB BROCCOLI

KALE  (not curly!)

KHOLRABI

KOHLRABI LEAVES

MOST LETTUCE IS VERY LOW

MUSHROOMS (I still eat some)

ONION, WHITE

ONION, YELLOW

RED PEPPER

RADISH, DAIKON

RADISH, RED

RADISH, WHITE

RUTABAGA

SEAWEED, HIJIKI

SEAWEED, KOMBU

SEAWEED, NORI

SEAWEED, WAKAME

SHALLOTS

SPROUTS, ALFALFA

SQUASH, ACORN

SQUASH, BUTTERNUT

SQUASH, KABOCHA

SQUASH, SPAGHETTI

SQUASH, YELLOW

SQUASH, ZUCCHINI

TURNIP

WATERCRESS

Medium oxalate foods

ARTICHOKE

ASPARAGUS

GREEN BEANS

BRUSSEL SPROUTS

BROCCOLI STEAMED

CARROTS RAW

CELERY

ENDIVE

FENNEL

GRAPE LEAVES

RAAB BROCCOLI STEAMES

COLLARED BOILED

LEEKS RAW

JICAMA

RED ONION

PARSNIPS

BELL PEPPER, YELLOW

BELL PEPPER, GREEN

SEAWEED, DULSE

HERBS/SPICES/CONDIMENTS

Low oxalate foods

BASIL

CIDER VINEGAR (the lowest histamine of all the vinegars)

CHILI

CHIVES

CORIANDER

CRESS

GINGER

LEMON BALM

MUSTARD

WHITE PEPPER GROUND

PEPPERMINT

ROSEMARY

SAVORY

CAYENNE PEPPERS

HABANERO PEPPERS

Medium oxalate foods

DILL

PARSLEY

BLACK PEPPER GROUND

TAHINI DRY ROASTED

LEGMES/NUTS/SEEDS

Low oxalate foods

CANNED CHICKPEAS (but dry/boiled are medium!)

LIMA

MUNG

RED LENTILS BOILED

BROWN LENTILS

GREEN PEAS

SPLIT GREEN PEAS

SPLIT YELLOW PEAS

SUNFLOWER BUTTER (small amount)

Medium oxalate foods

CHICKPEAS BOILED

PISTACHIOS

ALFALFA SEEDS

BROC SEEDS

MUNG BEAN

MEAT/POULTRY/FISH

Low oxalate foods

ANCHOVIES (fresh)

FLOUNDER

HADDOCK

PLAICE

SALMON

FRESH TUNA

BEEF

LAMB

LIVER

EGGS

OTHER

Low oxalate foods

WHITE CHOCOLATE (I can eat homemade raw white chocolate – you might not be able to)

GRAINS/FLOURS

Low/Medium oxalate foods

WHITE RICE

WILD RICE

CORN

COCONUT FLOUR

BLACK EYED PEA FLOUR

FLAX SEED FLOUR

CELLOPHANE NOODLES

BROWN RICE PASTA COOKED

WHITE RICE

THAI JASMIN RICE

Soaking rice and grains for 12 hours lowers oxalates.

Medium oxalate foods

CHICKPEA FLOUR

BROWN RICE FLOUR

SORGHUM

MILLET

ROLLED OATS COOKED

RICE NOODLES

BROWN RICE

JASMIN RICE

UNCLE BENS WHITE RICE

WILD RICE

FATS/OILS

Low oxalate foods

CANOLA

COCONUT

OLIVE

SESAME SEED

SWEETENERS

V.low/low oxalate foods

AGAVE

RAW COCONUT NECTAR

—————-REFERENCES———–

[1] http://lowoxalate.info/research.html

[2, 3, 4, ] http://www.ajofai.info/Abstract/Effect%20of%20cooking%20and%20processing%20methods%20on%20oxalate%20content%20of%20green%20leafy%20vegetables%20and%20pulses.pdf

Also http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12102364

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Welcome!

Yasmina was an award-winning broadcast journalist with a decade of experience covering war zones for CNN and the BBC. She devoted her journalism skills to researching and writing about histamine. Click here to learn about her. Each post is carefully and fully referenced with the latest scientific research. Not sure where to start? Here’s a four week meal plan and overall Histamine Reset.

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