Podcast – Deep Dive into Oxalates with Dr Sarah Ballantyne
Description: Between the latest online fads and the crazy media headlines, it’s easier than ever to get confused about your health. If you want to make better decisions about your health today so you can feel better and live longer, you’ve come to the right place.
On this episode we’re examining oxalates, taking a look at the benefits and dangers of consuming higher amounts of them, and the effect that oxalates can have on your body and overall health, from kidney problems to causing inflammation, vaginal pain, and fibromyalgia. There is some scary information circulating online about the negative effects of oxalates in your diet, and I’ve teamed up with Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, also known as the Paleo Mom, to tackle this topic.
In addition to our conversation about oxalates, we discuss the importance of seeking out accurate and reliable information so that you can make better health choices now. You can avoid being misled by diet and health fads, and Dr. Sarah and I have both found in our research and our experiences that it’s not just food, but a combination of many inputs that are having a significant impact on your overall health. I know you’ll benefit as you listen to our conversation about the importance of seeking out the most reliable research, whether any one food can be considered a miracle food, how taking a vacation can affect your health, and the one key factor to better health that you have probably been neglecting.
Key Takeaways:
[1:10] Today’s topic is oxalates — are they as dangerous as the internet is telling you they are?
[3:22] Introducing Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, who values scientific research and making evidence-led decisions to incorporate a healthy diet into your life.
[7:50] Examining the power of placebos and the overly microscopic study of health and the human body.
[10:47] The importance of considering all of the information that correlates to any given reaction, rather than isolating that information to support one predetermined outcome.
[12:26] Only 6% of current grant funding comes from the unbiased research funds of the government. What does that mean about the agendas of the rest of grant funding?
[15:00] How many foods have you tried to avoid in order to have a more ‘healthy’ diet?
[19:34] The dangers associated with an oversimplification of dieting attempts without considering scientific, evidence-led facts.
[20:43] What might be holding back healing? Dr. Sarah’s experiences with identifying and diagnosing true oxalate sensitivity shows it is only present in one in a million cases.
[25:01] What are the dangers of cutting healthy foods out of your diet unnecessarily? You need to make sure you’re getting enough of these essential and non-essential nutrients.
[29:08] The importance of understanding the interaction of nutrients and how they react inside your body before blaming any health troubles on one particular healthy food.
[33:25] A look at the history and theories surrounding oxalate reactions shows that none of them have been proven to be correct.
[37:00] Are higher levels of oxalates in your diet the cause of recurrent kidney stones?
[39:31] Troubleshooting deficiencies and reactions before eliminating additional healthy foods will provide clearer answers to improving your overall health.
[43:33] How can taking a vacation help improve your overall health? Other factors in addition to changing your diet that are almost guaranteed to clear up when you take time to vacation.
[45:40] Dr. Sarah may be The Paleo Mom but that doesn’t mean that she has subscribed solely to the paleo diet, or any other fad diet.
[49:41] Dr. C’s red pill moment while reading Digital Minimalism reminded him of the importance of limiting time spent with online platforms when seeking reliable health resources.
[52:23] Is celery juice a magic potion? Dr. Sarah explains why the science behind the health benefits of celery — and every other health food — have to be considered independently from a fad food following.
[55:07] A comparison of the simple theories that haven’t been proven over time with the more complex, correct messages that prove to be harder to hold onto.
[58:47] Dr. Sarah’s final word of advice is about sleep — where does sleep fit into your to-do list and how is it affecting your health?
[1:07:08] Do you have a topic you’d like me to cover? Contact me on Facebook or Instagram using #medicalmyths.
To learn more:
Sarah Ballantyne — The Paleo Mom
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
Celery Juice: Fad of Fabulous?
Wrong: Why experts keep failing us and how to know when not to trust them by David Freedman
Tweetables:
“It’s sad when people are unnecessarily frightened of food. There are enough things in the world that we have to be cautious of, and it’s tough when food gets on that list when it doesn’t need to.” — Dr. Christianson
“Cutting out junk food is only part of why a diet is going to be beneficial. A diet is also beneficial based on providing nutrients.” — Sarah Ballantyne
“Food and lifestyle can get us really far, but for a lot of people there are underlying factors that are holding back our body’s ability to respond to really good food.” — Sarah Ballantyne
“In some instances we need to look at high oxalate levels in the body as a symptom rather than an underlying problem on it’s own.” — Sarah Ballantyne
“We sleep with whatever hours we have left at the end of the day, once we’ve finished our to-do list, rather than having sleep be the thing on the to-do list.” — Sarah Ballantyne
