Sally K. Norton, Vitality Coach, Speaker & Health Consultant

09/09/2026

Spinach is good, right?

Not according to the research.

As early as 1939 it was very clear from studies by Kohman that spinach literally causes calcium loss from the body. Not only does it provide no calcium of any nutritional meaning, it causes more calcium to be peed out into the toilet.

Spinach is a double negative for calcium. It fails to supply usable calcium from the meal in the first place. And then it draws calcium out of the blood into the urine, forcing the bones to make up for what was lost.

"The spinach not only supplied no available calcium, but it actually rendered unavailable 41% of the calcium of the basal diet." You would literally have more calcium available from your food if you just skipped the spinach entirely.

We have known this since 1939. And yet here we are still putting it in smoothies, salads, baby food, and supplements every single day.

There are plenty of low-oxalate greens that actually nourish you. Romaine. Arugula. Bok choy. Mustard greens. Turnip greens. Watercress. All of them. Better choices.

Study: Kohman, E.F. (1939). Journal of Nutrition, 18(3), 233–246. DOI: 10.1093/jn/18.3.233

Disclaimer: Always consult qualified healthcare professionals before making dietary changes.

09/05/2026

Comment GUIDE below and I'll send you my free beginner's guide to going low-oxalate.

Scientists have been trying to breed low-oxalate spinach for decades. In December 2021 a study published in Nature Communications identified the genes that regulate oxalate concentration in spinach. Sounds promising. So where is the low-oxalate spinach?

It does not exist. And here is why.

Oxalate is not just a byproduct. It is a plant defense mechanism. As Boyce Thompson Institute faculty member and Cornell adjunct professor Zhangjun Fei put it: "Plants usually depend on networks of genetic factors to defend themselves. Removing one means finding the right balance among the others."

The team found two genes encoding metal and metal ion transporters that may regulate oxalates in spinach. But as the researchers themselves admitted, more research is needed to understand their full function. Decades of breeding efforts. The latest gene-sequencing technology. Still no commercial low-oxalate spinach on shelves.

Nature's defense systems are more complicated than they seem. Which means the spinach on your plate is still doing exactly what it was designed to do. Defend itself. Against you.

The solution is not waiting for science to fix spinach. The solution is eating the low-oxalate greens that are already there. Romaine. Arugula. Watercress. Bok choy. No genetic modification required.

Source: Cai et al. Nature Communications 12, 7246 (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27432-z

Disclaimer: Always consult qualified healthcare professionals before making dietary changes.

08/30/2026

Two people. Two completely different lives. The same symptoms.

Bill Schindler is an archaeologist, anthropologist, and chef with deep expertise in ancestral diets. Sara is a 67-year-old fitness enthusiast who has been training since she was 24. They have never met. And yet when oxalates took over their bodies their stories are almost identical. Severe light sensitivity. Eye pain. Joint pain. Dismissed by every doctor they saw.

One of the places oxalates can store is in your corneas. Bill ended up on eye drops twice a day for seven years and couldn't wean himself off them. Sara had a sudden loss of vision in her left eye, passed what looked like tiny kidney stones directly out of her eye two months after going low-oxalate, and for the first time in 20 years did a full squat without pain.

Both thought they were eating healthy. Spinach. Almonds. High fiber vegetables. Beans. Toxins that built up for years before it exploded into symptoms nobody could explain.

Probably everybody in the modern world is eating a diet that is too high in oxalates. Our doctors do not know enough about the toxic potential of oxalate. And when any one of us gets sick on oxalates it is not our fault. Now that we do know it is our obligation to share our hard lessons.

Disclaimer: Always consult qualified healthcare professionals before making dietary changes.

08/25/2026

Comment RECIPE below and I'll send you a form to share your favorite recipe with me.

Got a dish you love but suspect it might be high in oxalate? Send it my way. I'll pick five recipes from your submissions and show you exactly how to make a lower oxalate version without losing the flavors you love.

Your favorite food does not have to be off the table. It just needs a few smart swaps.

Disclaimer: Always consult qualified healthcare professionals before making dietary changes.

08/22/2026

Comment GUIDE and I'll send you my free beginner's guide to going low-oxalate.

If you love sweet potatoes, this is for you. Sweet potatoes are delicious. Sugary, soft, versatile, and they take butter and salt beautifully. But they are high in oxalate and need to come off the daily menu.

The good news? Meet butternut squash and the winter squash family. Sweet, delicious, and they cook almost exactly the same way. Roast at 375°F (around 190°C) for at least 45 minutes until soft and mashable. Add butter and salt and you have a side dish that rivals any sweet potato. Or peel, lightly coat with oil, season with salt to pull out the moisture, and roast for beautiful firm cubes.

Same orange color. Same sweetness. Zero oxalate guilt.

The swap concept really is that simple. Pick low-oxalate foods you actually enjoy and build from there.

Disclaimer: Always consult qualified healthcare professionals before making dietary changes.

08/15/2026

Comment GROUP below and I'll send you an easy sign-up link for my live Zoom group classes.

Sweet potatoes are one of the most common foods people miss on a low-oxalate diet. And it makes sense. They're sweet, soft, and gooey when roasted. But butternut squash is a near-perfect swap. Same orange color, similar texture, and completely low-oxalate. Just cube it, toss it with a light coating of oil and a few pinches of salt, and roast at 400°F (around 200°C) until soft but still holding their shape. Too much oil and they go soggy. Too little and they dry out unevenly. Light coating is the key.

Disclaimer: Always consult qualified healthcare professionals before making dietary changes.

08/12/2026

We knew this in the 1930s.

Studies on babies, rats, and children already showed that spinach was problematic. It interfered with calcium absorption. It caused calcium deficits. It stunted growth. The science was there across multiple studies from 1918 to 1935.

And then in 1937 the Council on Foods of the American Medical Association gave spinach an unqualified endorsement in JAMA. "Should continue to be regarded as a wholesome food." No caveat. No mention of oxalate. No mention of the calcium problem they already knew about.

We have been living with that decision for nearly 100 years.

Not all greens are created equal. Spinach, Swiss chard (actually worse than spinach for oxalate content), and beet greens are a different category entirely. When a product says super greens or superfood blend, chances are it has spinach or Swiss chard in it. That is not super nutrition.

The low oxalate greens are right there in the same aisle. Romaine. Arugula. Leaf lettuces. Watercress. Those are the ones worth buying.

Studies: McClugage and Mendel (1918), Sherman and Hawley (1922), Schlutz Morse and Oldham (1933), Fincke and Sherman (1935), Council on Foods JAMA (1937)

Disclaimer: Always consult qualified healthcare professionals before making dietary changes.

08/10/2026

Comment GUIDE and I'll send you my free beginner's guide to going low-oxalate.

Don't fall for the marketing label.

"Super greens." "Extra nutritious." "Superfood blend." It looks good. It looks convenient. And the packaging is designed to make you feel like you're doing something great for your health.

But some of what we're calling superfoods really aren't. Not because of pesticides or processing. Because of oxalic acid that nature put there on purpose as a plant defense chemical. And two of the most common greens in these blends, spinach and Swiss chard, are among the highest oxalate foods you can eat.

In the greens department it's actually simple once you know the difference. Avoid spinach, Swiss chard, and beet greens. Almost everything else is fine. Romaine, leaf lettuces, watercress, arugula. All low-oxalate. All perfectly good to enjoy.

Read the ingredients before you buy. Not the front of the package.

Disclaimer: Always consult qualified healthcare professionals.

07/21/2026

Comment GUIDE below and I'll send you my free beginner's guide to going low-oxalate.

Bethenny, let's talk about what's actually in this snack.

Potato chips. Everything bagel seasoning (yes, it's high oxalate). Then black pepper on top. Also high oxalate. You can pile these on without even realizing it and suddenly you have a snack that is quietly eroding your kidney health one bite at a time.

And Bethenny, you have stage 3 chronic kidney disease. This is not a great idea.

Calcium oxalate stones are the most common kidney stones. About 10% of people will develop a kidney stone during their lifetime. The increased load of dietary oxalate presented to the kidneys has been linked to calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis, acute and chronic kidney disease. A low oxalate diet has been shown to have a positive effect on patients suffering from kidney stones.

You could absolutely come up with another dip and another dipper that tastes just as good without the oxalate load. Your kidneys would thank you.

Studies: PMC7551439, PMC11167185, Mayo Clinic Proceedings (2024)

Disclaimer: Always consult qualified healthcare professionals.

07/20/2026

Wildfires, Oxalate, and Air Quality

A Record-Breaking Smoke Season Here it is July, and the summer fun in the U.S. and Canada has been spoiled by smoke from more than 800 wildfires burning throughout Canada, wrecking air quality across the Midwest, Northeast, and mid-Atlantic....

A Record-Breaking Smoke Season Here it is July, and the summer fun in the U.S. and Canada has been spoiled by smoke from more than 800 wildfires burning throughout Canada, wrecking air quality across the Midwest, Northeast, and mid-Atlantic. More than 100 million people in eighteen states and the Di...