Gallbladder Disease and The Standard American Diet – My Personal Account
Do you suffer from gallbladder pain or gallstones? Many doctors suggest eating a so-called “low-fat” diet, taking drugs, and if trouble persists, having the gallbladder removed (cholecystectomy).
The biggest problem with this advise is that doctors will tell patients that something is actually wrong with the organ itself – that it’s malfunctioning, and needs to be removed.
That’s only part of the story. Most of the time, they completely fail to mention the cause of gallbladder disease in the first place. Patients are told the terrible news – that gallstones usually cannot be avoided.
But actually, this is not the case.
The purpose of these important organs
Like the appendix, which has finally been acknowledged recently by modern medicine of actually “having a function” in supporting the endocrine and immune systems, the gallbladder has long been thought to be an organ we can live without.
Research shows that removal of this important organ can actually lead to health issues including diarrhea from constant bile dripping into the small intestine which can lead to colon and bowel cancer. Losing an organ like the gallbladder causes the body to be less efficient at digesting fats. The result is almost always malnourishment since contained in fats are some of the most nutrient-dense elements present in foods.
Appendicitis, too, is a signal from the body that something is out of balance with the digestive tract, and toxins from the food you are eating are getting trapped in the appendix which can cause pain, nausea, fever, abdominal cramping and eventual perforation or rupture and death due to infection, if not abated.
Dealing with gallbladder trouble and appendicitis
As someone who knows first hand about gallbladder problems (cholecystitis) and appendicitis, I spent much of my life completely unaware that I was developing both of these conditions. In 2000 when I became pregnant and was admitted to the hospital for severe lower right quadrant pain in my abdominal area during my seventh month, the doctors performed an ultrasound and determined that I had gallstones.
This was completely new to me, and I had never had any health problems (so I thought) or indication of any issues like this. A few days later, my son was born prematurely. The doctors still did not know what was wrong with me. My abdomen became hugely distended and did not go back to normal size after giving birth. I endured various tests and procedures, including a CT scan and colonoscopy. But still they did not know what was wrong, and I was getting sicker. I knew somehow I might die, but it seemed as though nothing could be done about it. My midwife didn’t even try to reassure me everything would be okay, I can just barely recall, from my drug-induced stupor of morphine I was put on for pain during the near three-week period I was in the hospital (during pregnancy, no less).
After a week of pain, tests, and hospitalization, I was sent home. The next day, I went into labor without warning early Wednesday morning, December 6, 2000. After rushing me to the hospital, my husband and father were told by the nursing staff that I was “nine centimeters dilated” and birth was eminent. My son was born vaginally at 31 weeks of age, and sent immediately to the NICU. He was strong and healthy despite his prematurity, but was given surfactant to help his lungs to keep from collapsing. The doctors were perplexed and had no way of knowing why I went into labor early.
Days went by and my distended abdomen kept getting bigger and bigger, but the doctors were still scratching their heads. On Friday night, three days after the birth of my son, the doctors decided to do exploratory surgery. I had perforated appendicitis, or a ruptured appendix. No one knew how long it had been since the rupture, but my entire abdominal cavity was filled with bacteria and pus.
After the surgery, I spent over a week in the hospital. One of the nurses commented that I should watch out for gallbladder problems. Having had no experience with this, I didn’t know what that meant and she really didn’t explain it to me. Sure enough, the day I came home from the hospital I began to experience gallbladder “attacks”. Besides the ruptured appendix and pain leading up to it, this was one of the most unpleasant and painful things I have ever felt in my life.
I didn’t know it at the time, but the gallbladder problem and appendix rupture were without a doubt related. I also didn’t know that there are natural treatments I could have done to counteract the problem through diet and detoxification. The problem was, I believed the nonsense touted by mainstream medical rhetoric, and had really no clue that low-fat diets and staying away from natural fats and red meats were actually very dangerous. I had been following a low-fat diet off and on for years, and eating a lot of refined, processed foods and carbohydrates. And I drank my fair share of alcohol as well.
Because I didn’t know any better, I consented to having my gallbladder removed seven months after my son was born. I thought my troubles would be over, but I was wrong. I was told once again to avoid fats or I would experience digestive discomfort including bloating, cramping, and diarrhea. The funny part was, I had been experiencing loose stools for years, and sometimes it was diarrhea, but I assumed it was “normal”. For a few months, I tried to avoid the things the doctor told me to – like dairy and poultry. But it was so hard because I loved those things and had eaten them for a good portion of my life. I hadn’t ever been a big red meat eater, but I loved dairy and poultry.
Recovery?
As I said before, the side-effects of having your gallbladder removed can be miserable. I mentioned malnutrition from mal-absorption of fats. In my case I also had a list of other symptoms a mile long which also included fatigue, chronic nausea, blood sugar problems, panic attacks, and insomnia, depression, rapid heart rate, and general malaise.
I remember the words of the doctors, saying that any foods high in fat content would make my problem worse – but I had eaten varying degrees of low-fat diets for years, and yet I was still having this problem – it just didn’t make sense. And now that my gallbladder was out, my problems were only getting worse.
The cause of digestive problems
Here’s what I’ve learned from my experience: when doctors tell patients they should avoid fats and eat a “low-fat” diets, what they fail to mention is that the Standard American Diet includes plenty of industrial fats that are altered and full of dangerous chemicals.
So if your gallbladder is diseased by fats, it’s due to years of eating these kinds of foods. If you are or were eating real fats from healthy animal products that come from animals on pasture (meats, animal fats, and dairy), safe source seafood, and oils like extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil from clean sources, the chance of having gallbladder disease or digestive problems in general would be much lower. In fact, it would probably be reduced to almost nothing unless you had some congenital or family hereditary factor, which, even at the admission of most medical doctors, amounts to between only 10 and 20 percent of your chances. This just goes to prove that most disease is lifestyle related!
It is true that gallstones develop over many years’ time. But more people are developing gallbladder disease, and at younger ages, than anytime before in history. The mounting obesity epidemic has been tied to this condition, and has been blamed as one of the reasons for the increase of the rise of this disease.
Deposits in the gallbladder are a result of poor dietary habits and are caused by a buildup of unwanted substance and toxins from the diet such as from processed foods. I can’t emphasize enough that lifestyle habits are the best deterrent against gallstone development as well as many other illnesses and diseases.
My resolution
After seeing several doctors and avoiding being put on anti-anxiety medications ad nauseum – which was always their recommendation, I decided I had to find another solution. I wasn’t getting better and nothing they were telling me to do was improving my situation. I started seeing some alternative practitioners, one of which ended up being my next door neighbor, a nutritional therapist.
Of all the practitioners I’ve seen, my neighbor and the woman who was her instructor in school were the most helpful to me. I’ve been able to eliminate 95 percent of my health issues just from seeing those two women. I did have the help of some colon hydro therapists and a Chinese Medicine Doctor as well, for which I am eternally grateful to for their amazing knowledge and insight. And of course, I was absolutely astonished to learn as my body would tell me over just a short period of time, that real food does most of the healing.
Here are some of my tips to you if you are a sufferer of chronic gallbladder episodes:
- Make an appointment to see a qualified health care practitioner who knows how to treat gallstones holistically. That might be a medical doctor, but be cautious of any medical doctor who wants to perform surgery or put you on medication without first trying natural treatment. Other good choices would be a naturopath, nutritional therapist, or Doctor of Chinese Medicine. He or she can recommend the proper dietary supplements and detoxification strategies necessary to bring your gallbladder back to health. Remember, in many cases a malfunctioning gallbladder is a result of improper diet and lack of necessary nutrients in the diet to keep the gallbladder functioning properly.
- Eat a healthy diet with real food and healthy fats – whole dairy, natural, grass-fed meats and poultry that do not contain hormones, antibiotics, or chemicals, and safe choice fish.
- Eat plenty of organic vegetables, fruits, and raw foods, fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut.
- Make sure to maintain adequate levels of purified water daily.
- Maintain a consistent schedule of moderate exercise – such as walking briskly or cycling 3 to 5 times a week. Exercise helps maintain healthy insulin levels and benefits your pancreas, liver, and gallbladder by helping to regulate blood sugar levels and metabolic rates.
- Many gallbladder “cleanses” and flushes are useful in eliminating gallbladder issues. To learn more about these activities, visit Sensible Health. It is recommended to consult a knowledgeable health care practitioner to guide you through this process and to use the correct type of flush.
- Remember that low-fat and non-fat foods and dietary habits will eventually cause failure of the gallbladder, other digestive organs, and overall health.
- If you have already had your gallbladder removed, you must take special care to eat a healthy diet with plenty of real foods – including real fats like meat, poultry, fish, butter, olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, tallow, and lard. You should also take bile salts, digestive enzymes, and hydrochloric acid with all meals – especially those with fat in them. Gallbladder removal does have side-effects, make no mistake – including diarrhea, weight gain, pancreatitis, and if not managed carefully, diseases like cancer can also develop. Gallbladder disease is a symptom of an underlying issue in the digestive tract such as poor digestion, toxicity in the gut, or liver disease.
- Probiotics are also essential to maintain proper good bacteria levels in your digestive tract and immune system. Having the gallbladder removed does carry some side-effects such as weight gain and pancreatitis. Gallbladder disease is a symptom of underlying problems like poor digestion, liver disease, and toxicity in the gut which is normally spurred on by poor diet.
I definitely want to encourage you to become educated about your digestive health, which affects every aspect of your health. One of the first steps to gaining knowledge about this important organ system and seeing results in healing is to do your research and start eating a healthy diet – complete with real, traditional foods that include plenty of healthy fats.
The only reason I am here giving you this message today is because I finally stopped listening to doctors who weren’t listening to me, and found health professionals who did listen and helped me to get on the right track. It is a sad state of affairs when so many people are unknowing about real food, they have to actually pay a health professional to teach them how to eat real food, which should be a common sense. Unfortunately in the modern world, that isn’t the case.
Processed and industrial foods are so pervasive, and we receive so many confusing messages about what’s healthy to eat – and furthermore, that we can actually heal ourselves with real food, it’s no wonder our health condition is in the state it is.
Now, I’m not saying to go out and pay a health care professional to tell you what to eat. I’m only relaying my experience since I was completely clueless about what I was eating and how it was making me sick. I’m maybe a little more thick-headed than some people, and it took that event to cause change in my health. Also, by the time that point came around, I was so ill and malnourished, I needed a jump-start to get me back on track. Maybe you’re not in that same condition, but regardless, use available tools to inform yourself and make an educated decision. If you find a medical doctor that can give you the results you want and are satisfied with, that’s great. I only know that my experience wasn’t that way and I found great success with alternative practitioners and real food.
Have you had an experience with gallbladder or any other digestive disease or issue that you’d like to share? And if so, were you able to remedy your problem with natural foods, herbs, supplements, and alternative care? Or, did you find a medical doctor who was able to help you out?
Here’s the full story of my health issues that led to my decision to switch to a traditional diet, once and for all.
Want more information about alternatives for gallbladder health?
South Bay Total Health – Dr. Arlan Cage, ND, LAc, (Naturopathic Doctor)
Suggested reading:
Prescription for Nutritional Healing, by James Balch, M.D., and Phyllis Balch
The Liver and Gallbladder Miracle Cleanse: An All-Natural, At-Home Flush to Purify and Rejuvenate Your Body, Andreas Moritz
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays carnival. Please visit her site and read the other real food posts listed there.
<br /> <A href=”http://realfoodmedia.advertserve.com/servlet/click/zone?zid=356&pid=11&contextual=true&lookup=true&position=1″ mce_href=”http://realfoodmedia.advertserve.com/servlet/click/zone?zid=356&pid=11&contextual=true&lookup=true&position=1″ target=”_top”><br /> <IMG src=”http://realfoodmedia.advertserve.com/servlet/view/banner/image/zone?zid=356&pid=11&contextual=true&position=1″ mce_src=”http://realfoodmedia.advertserve.com/servlet/view/banner/image/zone?zid=356&pid=11&contextual=true&position=1″ height=”280″ width=”336″ hspace=”0″ vspace=”0″ border=”0″ alt=”Click Here!”><br /> </A><br />
My gallbladder went critical fifteen years ago, six months into my fourth pregnancy. I was horribly sick until I delivered my daughter, the lap chole was scheduled days after delivery. The doctor said my gallbladder was completely calcified and if he’d dropped it, it would have shattered like a china dish. I really didn’t think much about it at the time. My mom’s gallbladder had been removed, as had my husband’s. It was just “done” like appendectomies and tonsillectomies back then.
It wasn’t until my real food journey began last year that I started looking seriously into they “why” of my gallbladder disease. The doctor said it went bad because I was “fat.” More likely, forty years of yo-yo dieting and standard American diet fare had done the damage. I’ve always been a big water drinker, but regular exercise was difficult to get due to physical constraints.
I was warned that I would likely have constant diarrhea and that fatty meals would make me sick after the surgery, but since switching to real foods, I find that untrue. My favorite snack— homemade mozzarella cheese topped with a slice of grassfed butter—doesn’t give me any problems at all, but one meal at Taco Bell can make me very uncomfortable! I sure wish I’d known this real food stuff many years ago.
Peggy – thanks for your story about your gallbladder problems. It’s true, all the doctors tell us that eating fat will make our gallbladder disease worse, and that eating fat after having it out will do the same. I had loose stools for years and thought it was normal, even before I had the surgery. And it just got worse afterward. Like you, after I switched to real foods and started taking digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid, and bile salts, my bowel movements have become completely normal – for the first time in my life. If I stick to my diet, this remains true. I want to know why doctors never tell people this? I eat loads of fat and protein. If I were to eat all the low fat “foods” and products as they advise, I’d have terrible problems with my blood sugar and health in general, just like I did before I started to eat real food.
And it’s funny because I hear this frequently from people everywhere – “you shouldn’t leave out carbs and eat so much meat and dairy products because you’ll send yourself into ketosis” – a state where supposedly your body is trying to convert fats and proteins into carbohydrates because you are depriving your body of adequate carbohydrates, and you become very sick.
And yet, I’ve never felt better in my life, and the only time when I did feel like they are describing is when I was eating a diet replete with carbohydrates and I was always hungry. In fact, the more my diet contains fats and proteins, the better I feel. I do eat a lot of vegetables too and some fruits, don’t get me wrong. I just avoid processed carbs and fake foods – something I didn’t do before until the last few years.
Yes, Taco Bell will do that to you. I haven’t eaten fast food in at least 4 or 5 years. I think the closest I’ve come to fast food would be eating something I normally don’t eat such as food from a local restaurant or maybe someone’s house I might be visiting. During the holidays, in fact, I had a meal at someone’s house and then I paid for it the rest of the night with cramping and indigestion – something I rarely experience anymore.
Raine, thanks for sharing your story. Various family members have had their gall bladders removed (mother, sister, brother), but so far, so good for me. My thyroid is currently my non-cooperative organ, but coconut oil and other real foods seem to be helping with the symptoms and hopefully mending the inflammation.
My mother battled several health issues before she passed away recently, and I firmly believe they were aggravated/caused by over-prescribed medications. I started researching nutrition too late to help her, but I’m hoping that what I’m learning now will help me and other families members so no one else has to go through what mom went through. No more blind faith in conventional medicine and belief that taking a “magic pill” will solve everything.
Laurie – thanks for your comments. I am sorry to hear about your mother. I have an elderly mother that is in poor health, and she doesn’t want to do anything about her health problems except continue to take the 12 or so medications she is currently on. I love her dearly, but have stopped trying to convince her, as she is set in her ways, and sometimes I think it’s just more stress on her than she needs.
I feel that so many of the problems people have are caused by a reliance upon prescription meds and a total abandonment of eating real food. So many people have been brainwashed into thinking that there really is no other way.
Coconut oil is such an amazing substance and it is good for a variety of health care needs. I have also been experiencing thyroid issues too (hypothyroid), which I didn’t know about at all until last summer. I don’t fit the typical hypothyroid symptoms – weight gain, sluggishness, thinning skin, etc. I am now taking iodine as well and I eat a lot of coconut oil as well as other traditional foods. I wish you luck on your health journey, and happiness! Thanks again for stopping by.
Hello Raine,
I have been experiencing what seem to be gallbladder attacks, have had three in the past 3 months. I asked people I trusted for any insight instead of going to a doc, due to fear of being told to eat low fat or fat free. I asked Ann Marie @ Cheeseslave and here is a great post she sent me by Tom Crowan MD on the WAPF website. Thought I’d share it because it really cleared some things up in my mind about gallstones. http://www.westonaprice.org/Gall-Stones.html
Hi Gena –
Thanks for providing that very useful link. It has a great wealth of information about gallstones that I believe many people would find helpful. I hope you are getting some answers with your symptoms and have been able to heal yourself naturally. You’re right, doctors would have in all likelihood told you to eat a low-fat diet. That was my experience too. Now that I am without my gallbladder, I’m very careful to eat the right foods at most meals. I am also going to look into Dr. Tom Crowan’s suggestion about Swedish Bitters as well. Thanks!
Hi Raine, just recently I ran across your article while looking up information about gallbladder disease. I recently found out my gallbladder is functioning around 30%. I was also recommended to go on a very low fat diet until I can discuss other “options” with my Dr. I don’t have any gallstones, just a lazy gallbladder. I constantly have the pain under the rib, back pain, pain after eating, nausea, you name it, I got it
. Do you think this diet would benefit me at all even if I have no gallstones? Thanks for your article, I’ve been looking to find something like this on the internet.
Thanks
Hello Tanya -
Thanks for your message. I would suggest that if you don’t have gallstones, you are in better shape than many people, and yes, I believe you would benefit from a diet replete with real fats and traditional foods.
Find a good practitioner who is willing to test you to find out what types of supplements you might need to get you over this period of symptoms you are having, and replenish any nutrients you have lost or are lacking in your diet. A good person to see would be a naturopath, nutritional therapist, or a medical doctor who is knowledgeable about nutrition and holistic health. Each person is individual and needs a specific protocol, so this is why I would recommend you seek iut the advice of a professional – especially since you are having issues.
Your gallbladder is “lazy” because it is not being used to the extent that it is intended – storing bile to digest the important, real fats you need in your diet. Your liver produces the bile and it in turn is stored in the gallbladder. You just need to get your body back on a regular regimen of regular meals with good fats like meat from grass-fed animals, butter, eggs from pasture-raised poultry, olive oil, coconut oil, tallow (fat from grass-fed beef), lard (from pasture-raised hogs), and other meats like game and poultry from range or pasture-raised animals. The meat from animals and birds raised this way is higher in Omega 3s and rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin D, E, and K from the grass and being out in the sunshine, plus many minerals. These nutrients are important for synthesizing of nutrition into the body.
I hope this helps! Here is a link to a post about the importance of dietary fats in our diets: http://www.agriculturesociety.com/?p=471
Hi Raine,
Wow, thank you for this great article. I found your Facebook page through some mutual Weston Price following friends, visited your website and stumbled on this article. (By the way, I’m a fellow Idahoan. I live in Nampa.) I’ve been struggling with gallbladder issues for a couple of years now but don’t feel like I’m making much progress. I’ve been interested in nutrition and alternative medicine for quite awhile but have been gradually been getting more serious about the Weston Price lifestyle for about 1 1/2 years, especially in the last year. About 1 1/2 to 2 years ago I started having a “quivery liver” feeling in the right upper quadrant of my abdomen, discomfort in that area, and back pain directly opposite that area just about daily. I started seeing an acupuncturist for general health issues and prevention and we also starting working on the gallbladder. I’ve been taking a gallbladder detox tonic, B vitamins,as well as getting acupuncture once a month. I also have daily heartburn/acid stomach. I hate to take drugs if I can help it, so have just been dealing with the pain.
Lately I’ve been frustrated that my discomfort and pain don’t seem to be getting better and starting to get desperate for some relief and worried that my GB may be infected. I finally found a MD who does medical acupuncture and Chinese medicine so I went to see her for the first time last week. She gave me samples of a prescription for my heartburn (not thrilled with that) and recommended an ultrasound to check on the gallbladder. The ultrasound came back normal (I guess that means no gallstones). She also ran some blood work and urinalysis and that all came back normal too. Now she wants me to take a HIDA scan test next week to check the function of the GB and see is the bile duct is blocked. I’m okay with doing some tests to find out what is actually going on, but am nervous that she’ll want to resort to medication or surgery in the then end.
Anyway, I guess my point is to thank you for the information and encouragement. I’m going to really stick to my guns and keep searching for a natural way to get my GB back to functioning properly and without pain. I feel a little more confident in my ability to stick up for my convictions about the Weston Price diet and about the kind of treatment that I want.
Thanks again for sharing your story!
Blessings,
Sara
Hi Sara – wow, nice to find out you are local, just over in Nampa! I am sorry to hear about your health trials, and I hope you are able to find a practitioner who can honor your desire to treat your body naturally. Sometimes medical doctors are that way, have you ever heard of Dr. Ann Huycke? She’s in Boise and is an M.D. I see her occasionally and love her – she’s got a good philosophy about health and it’s geared toward natural foods, eliminating chemicals and, and homeopathy. Here’s her web site: http://www.agriculturesociety.com/?p=330
If you still have your gallbladder, you are fortunate. Be sure to eat as natural foods as possible with real, traditional fats. Over time this should improve your health as well as your gallbladder function. If you have a blocked duct, perhaps you can find a knowledgeable practitioner to help you do a cleanse to get the stones out. That may be causing your pain, and quite possibly your heartburn. So if that is the case, until you get that resolved, you may continue to have discomfort.
My next door neighbor, Jenny Calla is a nutritional therapist and she knows a lot about those things. Here is her web site: http://www.nutritionfabb.com
I hope that helps! Just be sure to find a practitioner that listens to you and is knowledgeable about alternative treatments, and continue eating traditional whole foods. If you are not getting the answers you need, it’s time to find someone else who can do that for you. That should keep you on the right track!
Thanks so much for this info! I’ll check it all out.