What you’re getting yourself into
The favourite foods of doctors and dieticians contain highly inflammatory plant toxins that can lead to a wide cluster of health problems. If your diet is already immaculate, oxalates could be the reason you’re still struggling.
Nothing says health like grabbing a fistful of spinach and cramming it in your smoothie maker alongside some chia seeds and almond milk. Mother Nature’s finest and most benevolent ingredients, rolled into one nutritious punch that will send you into the morning’s affairs brimming with energy and self-satisfaction.
Most people would prefer I leave it at that. Because most people aren’t quite ready to talk about plant toxins. Even those that have come around to the idea that sugar and seed oils are driving the obesity epidemic.
You can take their doughnuts, you can take their bread, you can even take their cold-pressed organic rapeseed oil, but you can’t take their vegetables. Those are sacred.
So talking about oxalates is always bound to ruffle a few feathers. Imagine being scared of salad? No doubt the high testosterone men of generations ago would never have wilted at the sight of spinach. Plants are trying to kill you? Get a grip.
But here’s the thing, why wouldn’t plants try to kill you? They can’t run, they can’t fight, and they’re biologically driven to ensure the survival of their species. That’s why they have defensive toxins. 99.99% of pesticides are natural. Plants are the masters of chemical weapons. Oxalates are just one amongst many, but they could well be the one you need to be worried about.
This article will cover the insidious effects that oxalates can have on your metabolism, and why getting rid of them can often make things worse before they get better.
What Are Oxalates?
Around 10% of the oxalates present in plant foods end up getting absorbed in the body, often taking the form of oxalate crystals. They are razor sharp with an affinity for getting lodged in various tissues of the body and causing inflammation, damage, and dysfunction.
High Oxalate Foods (per 1 cup serving)
- Spinach (raw): 1,510mg
- Rhubarb: 1,082mg
- Almonds: 441mg
- Cashews: 352mg
- Baked potato (with skin): 194mg
- Beets: 152mg
- Sweet potato: 28mg
The plants make oxalates for detoxification, mineral management, and protection against herbivores. Plant foods are the primary donor, and because they are present in abundance in many foods venerated by dieticians, they can be a serious thorn in the sides of people who are seemingly doing everything right and still experiencing inflammation.
How Oxalates Cause Damage
The body can only excrete under 50mg of oxalates per day. Most people are eating 200-300mg daily. If ingestion outstrips the body’s ability to clear it, you’re in prime territory for oxalate toxicity.
The Effects Of Oxalates
- Steal key minerals
- Foster systemic inflammation
- Destroy connective tissues
- Deplete glutathione
- Cause mitochondrial dysfunction
- Cause kidney stones
The only way to determine whether you are suffering from oxalate toxicity is to stop eating high oxalate foods and wait to see if signs of inflammation resolve.
New To Carnivore?
Get my Carnivore Guide — free.
Why Carnivore Can Sometimes Make Things Worse
Oxalate toxicity often doesn’t resolve immediately when you stop eating oxalates, because the body still needs to release and excrete existing stores through circulation. For some people, this worsens symptoms temporarily. This is known as oxalate dumping.
Signs Of Oxalate Dumping
- Skin rashes or hives
- Mood changes and fatigue
- Kidney pain
- Joint / muscle burning
- Urinary urgency or burning
- Sandy stools or eye excretions
- Leaky gut
Tapering down into carnivore rather than making an overnight switch can offset the severity. Binders like calcium and magnesium will attach to oxalates and assist their removal from circulation.
Not everyone will suffer from oxalate toxicity. But even if you don’t sense unwanted reactions, that doesn’t mean you’re getting away with it. It’s often quite hard to notice when you’re under the effects of systemic inflammation, the body adapts to the status quo, and your “normal” may well be a state of suppression. You won’t know until you cut those foods out.
For more on this, follow me on Twitter (@SamaHoole) or Instagram (@samalifts).
The Carnivore Fat Loss Series
This is part of an ongoing series on how carnivore strips body fat without counting calories. See the full hub →
- 7 Fixes For When You're Hungry On Carnivore
- Why Carnivore Outperforms Other Diets For Shedding Pounds
- What Nutrients Are Lacking On A Carnivore Diet?
- What I’ve Changed My Mind On After Four Years Of Carnivore
If you want to put together your own metabolic revival, follow me on Twitter or Instagram, or find out what the coaching programme involves below.
About Sama Hoole
Sama has been coaching strength and physique transformation for nearly a decade. He writes about ancestral nutrition, powerbuilding, and cutting through the white noise of training and diet: no dogma, no fluff, just the needle movers. If it does not make you stronger, smarter, or more resilient, it does not belong in your routine.
Liked This? Get More Like It.
Grab my free Carnivore guide and get new articles, recipes, and training breakdowns straight to your inbox. No fluff, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.