sensitivities & substitutions

Q: Viome testing 6 months ago showed that I needed to avoid oxalates. I've been avoiding all forms since then, except recently almond milk (it's listed as "enjoy" in my Viome). I’ve been having it in smoothies during the program. Before that, zero oxalates for months, but no change to my pain symptoms. Should I eliminate almond milk and use just water? All others (cashew, oat, goat, all forms of coconut) are on my avoid list, at least for now. Obviously no soy or dairy, which I've avoided for years.

A: Almond milk contains oxalates and that can trigger oxalate issues. In my experience, oxalate issues are almost always caused by a few things. One of them is mold colonization or mold exposure in your body. This could be a reason for ongoing pain. Candida colonization in your body could also contribute to leading you to have

oxalate issues. 

I don't know if you take any sources of glycinate, but magnesium glycinate or glycine, glutamine are all things that can convert to oxalates in your body. There's a pathway called the glyoxylate pathway that manufactures its own oxalates when you take in some of these substances, and that can cause you to have pain in your body. 

I recently worked with somebody that had really high pain issues due to oxalates, but looking at her Organic Acid Test results, she wasn't colonized with candida, or mold. However, the glyoxylate pathway was overactive because she was using too much magnesium glycinate and glycine-containing supplements, in the presence of a B6 deficiency. The glyoxylate pathway becomes problematic when you have too many of these substrates–ingredients like glycine– when you don't have enough B6 on board. 

The best thing to do with all kinds of oxalate issues is to take a P5P supplement, an active version of B6.

I have recently added it to the Rootcology portfolio, and it's part of one of my starting supplements that I utilize for people going through the Gut Recovery Program. The Gut Recovery Program has been designed to help people overcome oxalate issues and histamine issues and salicylate issues. The one really important helpful thing to help people metabolize a lot of these things that can cause pain in the body is P5P. I like to use the P5P version because B6 can build up in the body. It has an intermediate substrate that doesn't get metabolized properly, and it can build up in your body and cause neuropathy. 

My oxalate article has some helpful information, but it doesn't go as in depth as the Gut Recovery Program does. The Gut Recovery Program has the full oxalates protocol.