Gallstone The Counterattack - A Low Fat Diet

Although cholesterol is most commonly known to cause heart disease, it has been found that the bile of obese people is super-saturated with cholesterol, leading to the growth of gallstones and predisposing them to gall bladder illness. Diabetes and low-functioning thyroid have also been found to cause the formation of gallstones. The latest research points to a link between excessive and sudden weight loss and the onset of symptoms.

So what should be YOUR major counterattack in dealing with gall bladder disease?

• Avoid fatty or fried foods and red meat. On salads, substitute commercial dressings with vinegar - and olive oil - a 'good' fat.
• Instead of large meals, eat small amounts of food during the day, and especially avoid any large meals at bedtime.
• Avoid carbonated drinks, which can trigger the movement of the stones causing even more pain.
• Don't go on binge and purge diets. Slow, steady weight loss—or maintaining a healthy body mass index to begin with—is the best news for every organ in your body... including your gall bladder!

Vitamins and Nutritional Supplements

• Many experts recommend that you start with a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement.
• Vitamin E - best known as a general healer and aid in circulation. (If you are currently taking an anticoagulant you should not take vitamin E.)
• Fish Oil Capsules - Omega 3 oils are known to block cholesterol formation in bile.

From the Kitchen Cabinet

• Tumeric - enhances the flow of bile.
• Ginger - aids in digestion of fats.
• Eat more fiber! - in the form of vegetables, fruit and grains, but be mindful of of beans, oranges, onions, corn and nuts - which may initiate an attack in some people with allergies to these foods.

Finally, always seek your doctor's advice about the best diet regimen for keeping gallstones under control.
Having gallstones doesn't always mean surgery. You can be virtually symptom free by watching what you eat - and launching a counterattack - with a low-fat diet.

This information is intended as reference and not as medical advice.
All treatment decisions should be made by medical professionals.

taken from : http://www.chiff.com/a/gallbladder-diet.htm

Do people need their gallbladder?

Fortunately, the gallbladder is an organ people can live without. Your liver produces enough bile to digest a normal diet. Once the gallbladder is removed, bile flows out of the liver through the hepatic ducts into the common bile duct and directly into the small intestine, instead of being stored in the gallbladder. Because now the bile flows into the small intestine more often, softer and more frequent stools can occur in about 1 percent of people. These changes are usually temporary, but talk with your health care provider if they persist.

Points to Remember:-

• Gallstones form when bile hardens in the gallbladder.
• allstones are more common among older adults; women; American Indians; Mexican Americans; people with diabetes; those with a family history of gallstones; people who gaare overweight, obese, or undergo rapid weight loss; and those taking cholesterol-lowering drugs.
• Gallbladder attacks often occur after eating a meal, especially one high in fat.
• Symptoms can mimic those of other problems, including a heart attack, so an accurate diagnosis is important.
• Gallstones can cause serious problems if they become trapped in the bile ducts.
• Laparoscopic surgery to remove the gallbladder is the most common treatment.

Gallstone (Karang Dalam Hempedu)

What is Gallstone?

Gallstones are the most common type of gall bladder problem. Gallstones are made up of crystallized cholesterol and bile salts.

Gallstones are small, pebble-like substances that develop in the gallbladder. The gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped sac located below your liver in the right upper abdomen. Gallstones form when liquid stored in the gallbladder hardens into pieces of stone-like material. The liquid—called bile—helps the body digest fats. Bile is made in the liver, then stored in the gallbladder until the body needs it. The gallbladder contracts and pushes the bile into a tube—called the common bile duct—that carries it to the small intestine, where it helps with digestion.

Bile contains water, cholesterol, fats, bile salts, proteins, and bilirubin—a waste product. Bile salts break up fat, and bilirubin gives bile and stool a yellowish-brown color. If the liquid bile contains too much cholesterol, bile salts, or bilirubin, it can harden into gallstones.

The two types of gallstones are cholesterol stones and pigment stones. Cholesterol stones are usually yellow-green and are made primarily of hardened cholesterol. They account for about 80 percent of gallstones. Pigment stones are small, dark stones made of bilirubin. Gallstones can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball. The gallbladder can develop just one large stone, hundreds of tiny stones, or a combination of the two.

Gallstones can block the normal flow of bile if they move from the gallbladder and lodge in any of the ducts that carry bile from the liver to the small intestine.

The ducts include the
• hepatic ducts, which carry bile out of the liver
• cystic duct, which takes bile to and from the gallbladder
• common bile duct, which takes bile from the cystic and hepatic ducts to the small intestine

Bile trapped in these ducts can cause inflammation in the gallbladder, the ducts, or in rare cases, the liver. Other ducts open into the common bile duct, including the pancreatic duct, which carries digestive enzymes out of the pancreas. Sometimes gallstones passing through the common bile duct provoke inflammation in the pancreas—called gallstone pancreatitis—an extremely painful and potentially dangerous condition.

If any of the bile ducts remain blocked for a significant period of time, severe damage or infection can occur in the gallbladder, liver, or pancreas. Left untreated, the condition can be fatal. Warning signs of a serious problem are fever, jaundice, and persistent pain.

The Gall Bladder - What Is It? (Hempedu)

The gall bladder is a small, pear-shaped organ situated underneath the liver. The gall bladder and liver work in tandem - the gall bladder storing bile produced by the liver, and then releasing it as needed in the digestive process.

When partially digested food passes from the stomach into the small intestine, the gall bladder goes to work expelling bile to aid digestion. Bile is greenish-yellow in color and contains cholesterol, lecithin, and bile salts. If the gall bladder is not working as it should, digestion can be seriously impaired.

Two main conditions in the gallbladder are cholecystitis (inflammation, with severe pain in the upper right abdomen, fever, nausea and vomiting) and gallstones which may cause no symptoms. When symptoms do occur, it’s often after eating fried or fatty foods, causing pain, nausea and vomiting. If you suspect cholecystitis, see a medical doctor immediately.


http://www.chiff.com/a/gallbladder-diet.htm
http://www.health4youonline.com/nutrition_facts_gall_bladder.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallbladder