I’m a personal fan of the green smoothie; however, I do them very differently than how I see many people do. If you’re drinking a green smoothies on a regular basis, you might want to read this before you whip up your next one.

Like most health food trends, there is usually some missing information. This is the case particular trend as well. In fact, your daily green smoothie is likely more harmful than it is helpful. But before we go on, let’s define green smoothie. What I mean when I talk about green smoothies is a Blendtec full of spinach, kale, 2 bananas and frozen blueberries.

The problem with this drink is that raw cruciferous vegetables such as kale and spinach are full of oxalates. An oxalate is a naturally-occurring substance found in plants, animals, and in humans. In chemical terms, oxalates belong to a group of molecules called organic acids, and are routinely made by plants, animals, and humans.

Our bodies always contain oxalates, and our cells routinely convert other substances into oxalates. For example, vitamin C is one of the substances that our cells routinely convert into oxalates. In addition to the oxalates that are made inside of our body, oxalates can arrive at our body from the outside, from certain foods that contain them.

Here’s the deal though, a lot of people on high-saturate fat diets or more likely those unable to fully digest fat can have trouble with getting rid of oxalates. Overtime, too much leafy greens with the inability to eliminate oxalates and the kidneys become weak and possibly leading to urinary tract issues, bladder problems, or even kidney stones.

Additionally, around 80% of people are dealing with a Candida imbalance, which makes it that much more difficult for your body to rid itself of oxalates.

Oxalate build-up can occur in the:

  • Blood vessels
  • Bones
  • Brain
  • Eyes
  • Lungs
  • Muscles
  • Skin
  • Stomach
  • Thyroid gland

This means aside from kidney trouble, nearly every part of the body can become affected. Even worst, oxalates have an affinity for heavy metals, such as mercury.

This can lead to really awful toxicity in the body, causing a whole host of issues especially skin issues as toxicity is the root cause of skin problems and all dis-ease.

What To Do?

The first step to preventing any oxalate related issues is to take a more broad and healthy view at what a healthy diet truly is. Spinach, kale, collards are all great foods that are incredibly nutritious. However, blended up raw in mass amounts with sugary fruit is not what I could consider a balanced or logical diet.

Before we talk about a balanced diet more specifically, let’s first take a look at the foods that are above-average in the oxalate department. This way we can eat these foods in better proportion — or not at all initially if you have any kidney issues.

Oxalates are found in many foods, such as nuts, soy, and chocolate.

However, you can also find oxalates in many “healthy” foods:

  • Arugula
  • Beet tops
  • Berries
  • Broccoli
  • Collards greens
  • Curly kale
  • Parsley
  • Spinach

How To Consume Your Oxalates

Everything in moderation is good advice when it comes to diet. That is of course as long as we have eliminated non-foods and processed foods from the diet. From there, we usually do more harm than good when we start becoming neurotic about macronutrients and adhering to dogmas, we eventually run into issues.

My suggestion is to take these oxalate foods in moderation. I personally consume oxalates in the form of cacao and berries. When consuming cruciferous veggies, I culture them which makes them way easier to digest and handles the oxalate issue. This keeps my oxalate intake pretty low.

Additionally, when consuming any of the cruciferous veggies, be sure to boil them and discard the water. Also, when oxalic acid is consumed with calcium, something called calcium-oxalate is formed. This is the oxalates binding to calcium to be escorted through the poop shoot.

So, if you’re not taking a quality calcium supplement, you could do that. Kale is pretty rich in calcium already, but much higher in oxalates, to balance this issue the best bet is boiling or better yet, ferment your cruciferous vegetables.

Support Your Digestive Health

Like I mentioned, the inability to digest fat well or a diet that is too high in saturated fat can make it difficult to get rid of oxalates. This is because due to the relationship between fat and calcium. Too much dietary saturated fat will bind to the calcium instead of the oxalates binding to them.

In order to make sure that your healthy saturate fat isn’t stealing your calcium, be sure to eat a diet lower in saturated fat until your symptoms improve. Also, it could be that you’re not eating too much fat and just not digesting it. The best way to improve your ability to digest fats is to turn that body into a fat burning machine.

The best ways to do this is to get off sugar. I recommend the BodyEcology Diet or Bulletproof Diet for nutritional tips on how to do this. In general, it will call for your to first and foremost, get off sugar and cut your carbs down dramatically, replacing them with more healthy, raw fats and moderate protein. From there, BodyEcology especially guides you to improve your digestive ability by introducing probiotic drinks, cultured vegetables and fat digestion (lipase) supplements that will aid the gall bladder.

You may also want to show your liver some love as it is the governing organ for digestive health — especially fat digestion. I take LivAmend and it is hands down the most effective supplement I’ve ever taken. I’m not just saying that because I am an affiliate, I am an affiliate because it works that good.

Other things that help the liver and gallbladder are:

What To Do If You Suspect a Bacterial/Yeast Imbalance?

You may have a bacterial or yeast imbalance considering 80% of people do. Unless you know you have taken incredible care of your physical, emotional and spiritual body, then it’s possible there is some sort of imbalance.

I’m not here to perpetuate fear however, regardless is there is an imbalance or not, we all have opportunistic bacteria and yeast. Keeping the body clean is only going to benefit anyone by slowing-aging, adding glow to the skin, thickness to the hair and keeping a clear and calm mind.

That being said, weather you suspect you have an imbalance because you are experiencing any health concern at all (at the root of any health imbalance is a yeast/bacteria imbalance) or you just want to stay for ever young, here is what I suggest:

  • Adapt a BodyEcology Diet way of eating/living.
  • Cultivate Mindlessness (Yes, not mindfullness. Less minding/thinking, more loving and living).
  • Love Your Problems. Yes, love the things you most hate because what you love vanishes. If you have a health imbalance, a debt or an enemy, love them and the conflict/problem dissolves.
  • Spend more time outside in nature.
  • Create a Purpose Statement.

In order to fully eliminate oxalates, it’s essential to support your inner ecosystem. This means:

  1. Taking antifungal herbs. Specific herbs have been shown to effectively kill Candida and stop it from invading tissue growth. These herbs include turmeric, garlic, oregano leaf, and the inner bark of the pau d’arco tree. Coconut oil and MCT oil are also great anti-fungals.
  2. Restoring healthy communities of good bacteria with fermented foods. Specific bacteria living in the gut are wired to break down oxalates.1 And antibiotic drugs destroy these communities—increasing your risk of kidney stones and oxalate buildup. By simply adding fermented foods to every meal, you rebalance your probiotic balance.

These are just a few starting points. You can learn about all of them in more detail and learn to live a more holistic life all while achieving radiant skin in my Rediscover Your Skin course.

Overall, if you’re consuming green smoothies with these oxalate rich foods then you might want to consider removing them and swapping for veggies like celery, cucumber and zucchini. My Probiotic Beauty Smoothie is a perfect example of a green smoothie done right.

Also remember, the most important things to remember here is getting yeast/bacteria overgrowths back into balance. Heal your digestive system, detoxify and repopulate with a diet rich in probiotics. I can teach you how step-by-step HERE.

Categories: Nutrition