Three Of The Best Gallbladder Diet Foods You Need To Know About
The gallbladder diet is recommended for many people today who either suffer from gallbladder symptoms, or who have had a cholecystectomy, (gallbladder removal surgery) and require careful eating habits to reduce discomfort and ensure good digestion. In order to understand how this diet works, it’s helpful to know what function the gallbladder serves.
The gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped organ designed to store and regulate bile flow for digestion. Bile is a greenish liquid secreted by the liver containing a balance of ingredients to help break down fats in the food we consume.
The gallbladder receives signals to contract when our food is being digested and it releases bile through the common bile duct, into the top of the intestines.
When gallbladder function goes awry, eating our favorite foods can result in pain a couple of hours later. Gallstones are formed from cholesterol or pigment deposits in the gallbladder and they can lodge in bile ducts, blocking the flow of bile and causing extreme pain.
Making changes to your diet can relieve pain and ensure that future gallbladder disease is prevented. There are a few foods that are excluded from the gallbladder diet and they include saturated, hydrogenated and trans fats.
These unhealthy, fried and processed fats are very difficult to digest and cause cramping, pressure and pain in an already stressed gallbladder. They require large amounts of bile to break down and when that is unavailable, gastrointestinal issues such as gas, bloating, stomach cramps and diarrhea can also result.
Remove bad fats and replace with healthy, easier to digest fats such as: extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, flax seed and hemp seed oils, wild caught fish, grass fed dairy, seeds, nuts and avocados. You need good fats in your diet to keep that gallbladder moving daily and bile flowing. Deprivation diets tend to lead to more gallstones and cause the gallbladder to stop moving so remember to shed excess weight slowly and don’t deprive yourself of fat completely.
Eat beets. Dark red beets contain a substance called betaine, which is liver supportive and stimulates the production of healthy bile. Beets are one of the most powerful bile builders and should be a staple in any gallbladder diet. Add to smoothies, roast them, shred on salads and drink the juice.
Bitter green vegetables. The gallbladder loves bitter things. In fact, herbs, supplements and vegetables which taste bitter are often great liver and gallbladder tonics. Eating bitter foods like okra, arugula, broccoli rabe, and bitter artichokes help stimulate bile production, and this not only flushes out sludge and stones, but will help digest meals containing fat when eaten first.
Many more bile stimulating foods can be added to the diet and along with a gallbladder treatment that designed to break down existing gallstones such as Pulverexx, are a great addition to kickstart a gallbladder flush and reset digestive health.
