1. Be Judicious About Eating Out
While eating out can be a pleasant, relaxing change of pace, knowing how foods are prepared, and that you have some control over that, can help decrease the potential for those foods aggravating your gallstones. Many foods such as steaks are cooked with a butter basting for flavor and color. Many vegetables are sauteed in high fat oils or butter.
Fast food establishments can be particularly troublesome to your gallstones. Hamburgers consistently have high fat levels, stimulating gallbladder activity and bile production. Truck stop breakfasts, while exceptionally delicious, can cause gallbladder spasms without much coaxing, and the ever-popular fried chicken joints are just as troublesome.
Eating out can be pleasant and healthy. Learn to ask how food is prepared, and request your food not be prepared with any additional fat. Order salad dressings on the side, and get veggies instead of French fries.
2. Avoid Excess Protein Intake
For years, high protein, low- or no-fat diets have been purported to be the best weight loss alternative. While conscientious dieting in this manner can be very effective in general, persons with known gallbladder disease with gallstones should be very careful about embarking on diets in the extreme ranges of change.
Protein ingestion in increased amounts can cause an increase in the cholesterol concentration in the biliary fluids system. Cholesterol, as you know, is needed to break down fats as well. Foods like red meat not only contribute in increase protein consumption, but fat consumption as well. Consequently, the gallbladder is being attacked on two fronts.
Lean protein found in chicken, turkey and egg whites are far more beneficial than animal fat, and much leaner. Staying away from fat-laden protein can help to lessen any effects upon the gallbladder and, consequently, gallstones.
3. Trim the Fat
As long as you are on a mission to curb your intake of troublesome protein, you may as well trim the fat along the way. It has been shown that, in a response to the presence of increased fat in the diet, the body begins to secrete a hormone called cholecystokinin. This hormone is responsible for stimulating the gallbladder to contract, thus releasing bile and cholesterol into the first stages of the small intestines. As a result of this contraction, gallstones can become lodged in the bile duct and cause considerable pain, or they can simply irritate the bile duct and cause pain that way too. If a blockage occurs, it can spell trouble in that surgery may be needed to physically un-block the biliary ducts and restore normal flow of bile. As of late, non-invasive procedures such as Extra Corporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL), which employs the use of ultrasonic shock waves sent through the liver and literally smash the stones, has gained more and more favor.
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