is eating oxalic acid rich foods bad for you?!

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As someone who's suffered from calcium oxalate kidney stones for years, I've done a fair bit of research about this. The amount of oxalates in plant foods is not affected by cooking, and whether it is excreted in your urine depends on many other factors.

Low calcium, magnesium & potassium contributes to the formation of oxalate stones. The old advice used to be "reduce your calcium" to prevent them from forming. However, studies have proven that the opposite is true! The type of calcium used is important, as not all forms of calcium are created equal. Calcium citrate seems to have the greatest effect on oxalate and other stone-forming minerals. Potassium citrate (found in lemons & limes) has also shown to help prevent oxalate crystals from binding.

Beans, dark leafy greens, potatoes, and many other foods are high in oxalate. Beans, while being high in iron and other nutrients, tend to be very high in oxalates as well. Grains may also bind to dietary calcium in the gut, meaning that the good calcium you're trying to give your body to prevent oxalates may be going right into the toilet.

Sodium is another huge factor in kidney stones. Excess sodium increases water retention and thus means urine is sitting in your kidneys for longer than it should. Plus, it also increases oxalate secretion in urine, so you've got serious stone-forming potential just from that alone. Potassium will offset sodium, and the ideal ratio should be 2:1 potassium:sodium. Foods like bananas, citrus, coconuts, coconut water, etc are high in potassium and will help you meet your RDV.

Black teas are also high in oxalates and should be avoided. Herbal teas however, have little to no oxalate are a safe substitute to drink in place of black teas such as Earl Grey, chai, and cheap brews like Lipton and Tetley.

Drinking lots of water throughout the day is also a good way to help flush oxalates out of your system.

Oxalates are formed by the body naturally and it's impossible to completely avoid them.

EDIT: Wow, thumbs down just for posting simple facts? Pathetic...

http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/abstract…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/83168…
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname…