Gallbladder Symptoms Require A Diet Plan – Learn About Easy Options

Do you know how gallbladder symptoms can be caused or relieved by the food you eat? Often, we think of medication first when trying to relieve painful symptoms. Gallbladder disease is primarily caused by dietary factors though and some of the most effective gallbladder treatments come from food and supplements.
What Are Gallstones?
Most often, gallstones consist of hardened deposits of cholesterol, calcium salt or pigment and are formed in the gallbladder. The gallbladder is meant to store and release liquid bile but through dietary or hormonal imbalances, that greenish fluid can become thickened or filled with stones that vary in size.
Many people have gallstones and don’t realize it because they cause no pain. Small stones may be passed easily through the bile ducts and out of the digestive system without causing any issue however, sometimes a stone becomes stuck in the neck of the gallbladder or a narrow bile duct and great pain can ensue.
Painful gallbladder symptoms often manifest as a sudden attack that lasts between 15 minutes and a few hours. Women are more prone to getting gallstone symptoms because of increased risk factors related to the hormone, estrogen.
Contributing factors for gallstone development include:
- Pregnancy
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- A family history of gallstones
- Taking the contraceptive pill or hormone replacement medication
- Eating a poor-quality diet including processed and high fat foods
A gallbladder friendly diet involves reducing harmful foods and increasing those which nourish and support liver and gallbladder function.
First, if you are overweight, losing excess fat can help reduce your gallbladder symptoms but be sure to lose weight sustainably and gradually. Rapid weight loss, starvation and fat-free diets can actually have the negative effect of causing cholesterol to be stored up in the gallbladder and reducing stimulation for gallbladder contraction. This leads to biliary sludge and gallstone formation. Although not a gallbladder treatment, a good diet is the best means of managing symptoms.
Eat a high amount of fresh fruit and vegetables. Vegetables such as beets and artichokes are known for their gallbladder tonic effects. Bitter and green, leafy plants like kale, spinach, arugula and dandelion greens are also helpful for liver and gallbladder health.
Wild caught fish, beans and pulses are excellent sources of protein that do not contain high amounts of saturated, trans or fried fat.
Some people find that substances like alcohol, tobacco and sugar trigger gallbladder attacks so if you are sticking to a gallbladder treatment diet in order to relieve symptoms it’s best to avoid these known irritants for a time until your issues have resolves and only reintroduce slowly.
Some people find that substances like alcohol, tobacco and sugar trigger gallbladder attacks so if you are sticking to a gallbladder treatment diet in order to relieve symptoms it’s best to avoid these known irritants for a time until your issues have resolves and only reintroduce slowly.
Add apple cider vinegar to your diet by mixing a few tablespoons of it into a tall glass of water each morning. Apple cider vinegar is believed to contain ingredients which soften and break down hard gallstones along with increasing and thinning the bile.
Apple juice is another drink which, when consumed daily, may help to dissolve existing gallstones and prevent the formation of new ones.