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Green smoothies are all the rage these days. Many people are drinking them every day or at least several times a week in an attempt to get healthy and “alkalize” the body.
Whenever I visit the cafe of my local healthfood store, there are usually several people in gym clothes lined up to order a green smoothie to sip after their workout.
Green smoothies are made by blending large amounts of raw leafy green vegetables with fruit to soften and sweeten the taste. Typical vegetables included in green smoothies are cruciferous vegetables like kale, broccoli, collard greens, maca (usually as a supplemental powder) as well as others like spinach, swiss chard, celery, and parsley.
Is the green smoothie fad a truly healthy habit over the long term? Or, could regular consumption of these seemingly healthy drinks contribute to serious health problems over time?
Raw Leafy Greens Contain High Oxalate Levels
Frequent consumption of large quantities of raw, leafy green vegetables blended up as green smoothies can be deceiving at first. This is because green drinks facilitate an initial detoxification process that makes a person feel great. This is especially true when coming off a highly processed, nutrient poor diet.
While very nutritious, the vegetables used in green smoothies are almost without exception high oxalate foods. Over time, a high oxalate diet can contribute to some very serious health problems particularly if you are one of the 20% of people (1 in 5) that have a genetic tendency to produce oxalates or if you suffer from candida or other fungal challenge. In those cases, a high oxalate diet can deal a devastating blow to health.
Oxalate Toxicity Not a New Problem
The effects of oxalate toxicity have plagued humankind since ancient times. For example, scientists discovered an oxalate kidney stone about the size of a golf ball in a 2000 year old mummy from Chile using x-ray analysis.
Build-up of shards of oxalate crystals can occur almost anywhere in the body. Whatever tissue contains them, pain or worse is the result.
75-90% of kidney stones are oxalate related with 10-15% of Americans afflicted at some point during their lives. As the star shaped crystalline stones pass from the kidney, they cause pressure and pain in the bladder and urethra and can actually tear up the walls of the urinary tract.
Oxalate Stones from Excessive Green Smoothies
Oxalate stones can show up in any body tissue including the brain and even the heart.
Crystals comprised of oxalates resemble shards of glass. They can become lodged in the heart causing tiny tears and damage to this vital muscle. With every single contraction, more damage is caused as the heart pumps life giving blood to the rest of the body.
Oxalate crystals which end up in the thyroid can cause thyroid disease by damaging thyroid tissue.
A frequent location for oxalates to end up is skeletal muscle which will cause pain with even normal movement and make exercise nearly impossible. Dr. William Shaw, Director of The Great Plains Laboratory for Health, Nutrition and Metabolism who has studied oxalates extensively, is convinced that oxalate toxicity is a factor in fibromyalgia the pain of which can absolutely devastate a person’s life (1).
Vulvodynia – Painful Sex
Cases of women experiencing painful sex are on the rise with oxalates a possible culprit.
Vulvodynia is a condition causing pain in and around the vagina. It is linked to oxalates deposited in this delicate reproductive tissue. Oxalate crystals are very acidic and they cause irritation, burning, and stinging sensations for affected women. An accompanying feeling of rawness is typically experienced during sexual relations.
Oxalates Are Fungal in Origin
A surprising finding is that oxalates are produced in large amounts by fungus. Large stones have been found in the sinuses and lungs of people suffering from systemic fungal infections such as candida or Aspergillus.
Therefore, anyone who suffers from any sort of candida overgrowth or other fungal challenge like fungus nails or dandruff would be wise to be very concerned about oxalate intake via the diet.
Consumption of green smoothies would not in any way contribute to improvement of health in these situations. The majority of people today suffer from gut imbalance and candida (yeast) issues caused by antibiotic and prescription drug use including the Pill. This renders a high oxalate diet which includes frequent green smoothies an unwise practice for virtually everyone.
Does Cooking Destroy Oxalates?
What about cooking the greens first? Would this reduce the risk of oxalate overload and make consuming greens safer?
Not really, because oxalates are extremely stable. While cooking high oxalate foods and discarding the cooking water does reduce the level of anti-nutrients, it remains quite high.
Green smoothies are usually consumed frequently by those who swear by them. As such, a light steaming of the veggies first would not make a significant difference over the long term if they are consumed regularly. If you consume green smoothies only occasionally, however, a light steaming is a good idea. This practice adds a degree of safety to the process. Other tips for preparing safe smoothies are contained in this linked article.
Healthier Alternatives to Green Smoothies
The best course of action for health, then, is to opt out of the green smoothie diet fad. This is especially important if you have any sort of gut imbalance or candida issues.
If you enjoy green leafy vegetables, be smart about it. Don’t overdo like so many in the health community are doing with the best of intentions. Enjoy green drinks in moderation in salads. Or, cook them and carefully drain and discard leafy green cooking water. Never use it in soups and sauces!
Be sure to serve cooked leafy greens with a healthy fats like butter or coconut oil. Avoid margarine or any factory fats synthesized with rancid and/or GMO vegetable oils like Smart Balance. Using natural fats will facilitate maximum absorption of minerals.
Another option is to drink raw cultured vegetable juice or eat raw cultured vegetables. Not only will you get enhanced nutrition from the culturing process which adds enzymes and nutrients, but you will also get a beneficial and therapeutic dose of probiotics to help balance gut function and improve digestion. It also suppresses fungal overgrowth like candida.
Wheatgrass an Excellent Alternative!
Another option is to do shots of fresh, green wheatgrass juice.
Wheatgrass juice is very low in oxalic acid.
Here is a link to my favorite green juice recipe using wheatgrass and ginger. It is safe to drink regularly, daily if you like, instead of green smoothies. It is also an excellent drink for gently detoxing before pregnancy. The ginger assists with morning sickness issues too if you are already pregnant.
What to do if a Green Smoothie Diet Has Already Harmed Your Health
Are you already are suffering from some of the ailments described in this article? Do you suspect a high oxalate diet which includes green smoothies or a daily spinach salad may be the cause? If so, stop this practice immediately and consult with a holistic physician. You will likely need professional assistance to guide you on the road to recovery. Ridding your body of oxalate crystals that are potentially irritating one or more of your body tissues is no simple task! It is not advisable to attempt this protocol on your own.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist, author, Get Your FATS Straight
References and Additional Information
The Role of Oxalates in Autism and Chronic Disorders, William Shaw PhD
Top 4 Cleansing Myths to Watch Out For
Not all greens are high in oxalic acid, eg. kale (which is great in smoothies BTW). Spinach, parsley and chard are highest. And you fail to mentioned that carrots, beets and sweet potato are also high in oxalic acid, but you don’t suggest not eating them. I don’t think this is about green smoothies. It is about eating a BALANCED diet and that means not having only greens all day long. If you make a green smoothie with five or six leaves of green, or a handful of something like dandelion, you are not going to get kidney stones, unless perhaps if you have gout, arthritis or another kidney issue already existing. Keeping it real.
Ahhhh, the highly educated, well-intended naysayers.
Educating people about entering a conscious relationship with their own body is the very heart of any discussion that presumes the topic of nutritional balance.
A topic, most Americans are truly clueless to understand wirh significant benefit for their own physiological reality.
A canvas of much more in-depth and simultaneous breadth, is the approach to take when attempting generalized information giving of this nature.
Life is precious and nutrition-based health is a time-centered relationship with each individual and their own body. Value conscious development of this fact and stop catering to fear-based information proliferation, because the fact that the writer means well seems a given.
Just take these choices as a community nutritional dissemination role far more consciously_ responsibly.
Understanding the relationship to the body was a warning Aristotle left to us all: “If by age thirty you do not know your own body, you are a fool.”
Nutrition and the rest of life are inexorably linked_ gentle wholistic, nutritional education matters greatly.
Much has already been said in regards to this article so I’ll simply say that I do most definitely disagree with this theology on dark leafy greens. I think it is just one more bit of information that does little more than confuse the consumer. Eat your dark leafy greens..in your smoothie or otherwise!
I guess I have the perfect storm of health problems to have oxalate issues — bad fat metabolism and a leaky gut. Thankfully, I have a faster marker than kidney stones: a high PTH that causes confusion, memory loss, and more. (Parathyroid hormone is released when the body is not getting enough calcium from digestion and signals the body to pull it out of the bones.)
I always wondered why my PTH remained high and I still did not feel well after years on a paleo diet until my PTH went through the roof on a green juice fast last week (both the paleo diet and most veggies used for juicing contain high oxalate foods that bind calcium). Of course it did not help that I was not digesting fats (which also binds up calcium). On the bright side, I think I have just found my answers. I think a low oxalate, paleo, GAPS diet is possible, though not very sexy, for sure.
This….
http://nutritionfacts.org/questions/what-is-the-best-diet-for-kidney-stone-prevention/
And this…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21170875
..at best i take this as something to vaguely note if one has leaky gut. ( me ),
i am sensitive to oxalates and my body tells me no or when its too much.
The avg person would have to have a ton , a ton of high oxalate foods on a consistent basis.
oxalate clears the system relatively quickly.
“Ordinarily, the gut won’t absorb much of the oxalate from the diet because most of the oxalate will be metabolized by the flora or just leave the body with the stool. Under other conditions, such as when there is gut inflammation, a lot of dietary oxalate is absorbed. The difference can be as great as going from 1-2% of the dietary oxalate absorbed to as high as 50%.”
this long list of food ( including many fruits ) with oxalate names celery, beet greens, dandelion, kale, parsley, spinach and swiss chard n the greens category .. ( I will add my fav herb purslane to this list )
http://www.upmc.com/patients-visitors/education/nutrition/pages/low-oxalate-diet.aspx