What food to avoid with gallstones?

Eating particular foods will not make gallstones disappear but can certainly lessen your pain whilst you are waiting for your operation. Avoid concentrated fats like oil, butter, margarine, fat on meat or avocado, but you don’t have to eat completely fat-free.

Here is a rundown on the good and the bad when it comes to diet, exercise, and gallstones: Fat. Monounsaturated fats, found in olive oil and canola oil, and omega-3 fatty acids, found in avocados, canola, flaxseed, and fish oil, may lower the risk of developing gallstones.

Certain chemicals, such as ursodiol or chenodiol, which have been shown to dissolve some gallstones, are available in oral bile acid pills. “Decreasing the cholesterol content of the bile can dissolve (certain gallstones), but it’s not effective enough that we don’t refer patients to surgery,” Dr. Kumta says.

One of the most common causes of gallbladder pain is gallstones (also called gallstone disease, or cholelithiasis). Gallstones occur when cholesterol and other substances found in bile form stones. When the stone passes from the gallbladder into the small intestine or become stuck in the biliary duct it can cause pain.

Symptoms of gallbladder problems include:

Pain in the mid- or upper-right section of the abdomen: Most of the time, gallbladder pain comes and goes.

Nausea or vomiting: Any gallbladder problem may cause nausea or vomiting.

Fever or shaking chill: This signals an infection in the body.

A gallbladder cleanse — also called a gallbladder flush or a liver flush — is an alternative remedy for ridding the body of gallstones. The large, repeated doses of olive oil in gallbladder cleanse preparations do have a laxative effect.

It should not give any comfort to heavy drinkers because such consumption can increase the risk of developing liver cirrhosis which encourages stone formation. If people develop pancreatitis due to their gallstones then they can exacerbate the problem by drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.

Avoid crash diets or a very low intake of calories (less than 800 calories daily). Seek out good sources of fiber — raw fruits and vegetables, cooked dried beans and peas, whole-grain cereals and bran, for example — and avoid eating too much fat. A high-fiber, low-fat diet helps keep bile cholesterol in liquid form.

All of the following are healthy foods for your gallbladder, as well as the rest of your body:

Fresh fruits and vegetables.

Whole grains (whole-wheat bread, brown rice, oats, bran cereal)

Lean meat, poultry, and fish.

Low-fat dairy products.

Next you may undergo an imaging test, such as an X-ray or ultrasound, if your surgeon is concerned about possible gallstones or other problems in your bile duct. Then your incisions are sutured, and you’re taken to a recovery area. A laparoscopic cholecystectomy takes one or two hours.

Eggs (Research showed that eggs caused symptoms in up to 95% of patients. Try substituting flax seed gel in recipes that require eggs for the “glue”.

Pork.

Onions.

Fowl (turkey, chicken)

Dairy (milk, cheese, cream, butter)

Gluten (wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut, etc.)

Beans and legumes.

Oranges, grapefruit.

Foods to Avoid

Fried foods, like french fries and potato chips.

High-fat meats, such as bacon, bologna, sausage, ground beef, and ribs.

High-fat dairy products, such as butter, cheese, ice cream, cream, whole milk, and sour cream.

Pizza.

Foods made with lard or butter.

Creamy soups or sauces.

Meat gravies.

Chocolate.

Coffee consumption and gallstones. There is some evidence that coffee triggers the contraction of the gallbladder. It appears likely that caffeine is largely responsible for the effect of coffee, since consumption of decaffeinated coffee is not linked to a reduced risk of developing gallbladder disease in all studies.

You can either eat four or five apples a day or you can drink four glasses of apple juice each day. The reasoning behind this diet is that the pectin in apples softens the gallstones and prepares them to be expelled from your gallbladder. During the first part of your apple juice diet you need to eat a healthy diet.

Some conditions, such as liver damage and certain blood disorders, cause your liver to produce more bilirubin than it should. Pigment gallstones form when your gallbladder can’t break down the excess bilirubin. These hard stones are often dark brown or black.

Gallstones usually form in the gallbladder and remain there. On occasion, however, they can pass from the gallbladder and into the duct leading from the gallbladder to the intestine, the common bile duct. If they do not get stuck in the duct there usually are no problems except possibly a transient episode of pain.

The pain of acute cholecystitis is similar to biliary colic (pain caused by gallstones) but is more severe and lasts longer—more than 6 hours and often more than 12 hours. The pain peaks after 15 to 60 minutes and remains constant. It usually occurs in the upper right part of the abdomen.

Most people who have keyhole surgery are able to leave hospital on the same day as the operation. It will usually take around two weeks to return to your normal activities. After open surgery, you’ll usually have to stay in hospital for three to five days and your recovery time will be longer.

Bile helps you digest fats in your small intestine. Inflammation causes the majority of gallbladder diseases due to irritation of the gallbladder walls, which is known as cholecystitis. This inflammation is often due to gallstones blocking the ducts leading to the small intestine and causing bile to build up.