Dr Mandy DCN Podcast
This show is about how you can harness the power of your immune system to put your bladder pain to remission as I have done for myself and many of my patients. Nutrition is the single most important lever we have influencing our health and wellbeing for better or for worse. Each episode will discuss various tools we can use to optimize this lever, whether it is diet, nutrigenomics, environment, supplements or even mindset.
Dr Mandy DCN Podcast
Interstitial Cystitis and Oxalates
In this episode, I'm excited to introduce a very special guest, Sally K. Norton.
Sally is a renowned nutritionist and expert on the role of toxic superfoods like oxalates. From a young age, Sally knew she wanted to help people improve their health through better eating. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Nutritional Science from Cornell University and a Master's in Public Health from the University of North Carolina.
Despite her commitment to a vegetarian and vegan diet, Sally's health deteriorated, forcing her to leave her public health research career. Conventional and alternative medicine couldn't resolve her severe joint pain, digestive problems, autoimmune issues, sleep disturbances, and neurological problems. It wasn't until she adopted a low-oxalate diet that everything began to improve.
Sally's deep dive into studying oxalates revealed the widespread and devastating impact of dietary oxalate poisoning. She has helped hundreds improve their health through her consulting practice and shares her insights in her forthcoming book, Toxic Superfoods (Rodale Books / Penguin-Random House, December 2022). This book explores the history and science of oxalates, how they can harm our health, and how reducing oxalate intake can lead to significant health improvements.
In today's episode, Sally will share her knowledge about oxalates and how lowering oxalate intake can benefit your health. Over the years, I've seen firsthand how oxalates contribute to chronic health conditions like bladder pain syndrome and interstitial cystitis (IC). For those unfamiliar, IC is a painful bladder condition with symptoms like urgency, frequency, painful urination, pelvic pain, and vulvodynia.
Recent findings strongly associate IC with oxalates, mast cells, and histamines, correlations I've observed through various tests in clinical practice.
Video highlights:
High oxalate diet 00:08:00
Sally's health 00:10:00
Oxalate misconception 00:15:46
Lab testing misconceptions 00:18.20
Why oxalates are bad for everyone 00:20:46
Thyroid and oxalates 00:27:00
Chronic pain that oxalates cause 00:29:00
How oxalates impair liver detox 00:30:00
Why its important to be chronic pain free 00:32:00
How oxalates affect salivary glands 00:33:20
How 1 spinach smoothie can damage your body 00:36:30
How oxalates trigger autoimmunity 00:38:00
Where does oxalate concentrate? 00:39:00
How oxalate irritates the bladder 00:40:00
How long does dumping take? 00:42:57
Which people do really well with the LOD? 00:45:07
Why there is variability in healing 00:45:23
Itchy skin and oxalates 00:46:35
DEXA scan for oxalate 00:48:00
Common dumping symptoms 00:49: 35
Low ox diet is not restrictive 00:51:00
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Other Podcast interview with Dr. Mandy
Micah Lowe Interview
Functional medicine with Dr. Mandy
Dr. Haley interview on Interstitial Cystitis