Foods To Avoid if You Have Gallstones

In your body under your ribs on your right side is your gallbladder. It is nestled next your liver and it stores bile which is made by your liver. This liquid called bile is used to aid the digestion of fats in your diet. When the bile is needed the gallbladder contracts and squirts the bile into a tube called the common bile duct and this takes it to the small intestine to help digest the fat.

It is from this bile that gallstones are made from when it hardens into pieces that resemble a stone like material. Bile is made up of water, fats, salts, proteins,cholesterol and bilirubin. These bile salts help to break up fat and the bilirubin creates a yellowish colour to the stools. It is the excessive amounts of cholesterol, bile salts or bilirubin when combined with certain conditions hardens into what we call gallstones.

It is when these gallstones block the ducts or tubes from the gallbaldder and the bile cannot get passed that is when you get the pain!

There are two kinds of gallstones - pigment stones and cholesterol stones. 80% of gallstones are made up from the cholesterol stones which are usually yellow-green in colour. The small, dark stones are the pigment stones made from the bilirubin.

There is no set pattern of size of gallstones, they can range from as small as a grain of sand or as big as a golf ball. It is not unusual for the gallbladder to develop just one large stone, many hundreds of little ones or a combination of them both.

As we now know what the gallbladder does and why we need bile it makes it a bit clearer on types of food you should avoid to stave of an attack of gallbladder pain.

Eggs
Cholesterol is known as the primary cause of gallstone disease and eggs are high in cholesterol. It has been shown with clincial research that eggs have a high chance of causing gallstone attacks in most people after they have eaten them. So unfortunately eggs have been marked as one of the major foods that need to be avoided if you have gallstones.

Milk

Any milk and milk products such as yoghurt, cottage cheese, cheese, ice cream, butter and any food which has been processed and contains milk needs to be avoided. This is because milk does contain lots fats and as mentioned earlier when the fat enters your intestines it promotes the gallbladder to squirt the bile into your gut. When you have gallstones they block the duct and this causes the pain.
into your intestines. When you have gallstone disease, gallstones can block the passageway this bile is released through, causing pain.

There are forunately non fat versions of the above products available.

Red Meat

Red meats are again like milk high in fat and this can trigger your gallstone pain. All you need to do is replace your beef and port with other less fat saturated meats such as chicken with the skin and fat removed and even better fish.

Refined Grains and Sugars

These foodstuffs has been found following research that th consumption foods such as white sugar, white bread and flour, and white rice hs the possiblity of creating a higher volume of cholesterol in your bile than from a diet of unrefined foods, which include whole wheat bread and brown rice. So if you have gallstones opt for the unrefined products.

Coffee

Believe it or not but coffee does have an influence on your gallstone problems. Although coffee does not actively cause gallstone disease, it does create contractions in the gallbladder. SO, if you have a gallstone or more in your gallbladder it could spark off an attack when promoting these contractions. So, I am afraid coffee is off the list!

Allergies
Food allergies even if only mild can cause a reaction in the gallbladder. It is always wise to avoid any food that you are allergic to in any case.

These foods have also been identified to cause gallstone flare ups: onions, fruits, beans, nuts and even alcohol.

If you are not finding it easy to manage avoiding the foods mentioned and your lifestyle is being ruined by this painful complaint there is a way to get rid of you gallstones naturally and simply in your own home.