The importance of gallbladder diet in the treatment of gallstones is not understood by many patients. This can be gauged from the fact that every year in America alone around 500,000 patients undergo gallbladder surgeries either for the removal of the gallbladder or for the treatment of gallstones. Though medicines and drugs can treat the symptoms associated with gallstones, they cannot eradicate the root cause of the problem. Only when patients understand the reason why gallstones are formed, can they understand the importance and efficacy of gallbladder diet in controlling formation and proliferation of gallstones.

 

The gallbladder is a small organ just sits just below the liver. It is the storage point for bile that is produced by the liver. The bile is an enzyme which plays an important role in digesting fatty foods that are eaten by most of us. These fatty foods could include items rich in saturated fatty acids such as red meat, processed and fried foods, aerated soft drinks, milk, cheese and eggs. Though it may not be possible to eliminate all these food from our daily diet altogether, what a good gallbladder diet suggests is moderation of these food items. This is because excess consumption of these food items leads to excess deposit of cholesterol in various parts of the body including the gall bladder. Over a period of time this fatty substances in combination with bile and calcium turns in gallstones. Hence, if someone is looking at a holistic method of treating gallstones, then he or she should go in for a well chalked out gallbladder diet. What exactly is a good diet for gallstones? Let us try and find out over the next few lines.

 

A good gallbladder diet consists very little of saturated fatty acids and more or fibre rich diet. These include more of brown cereals, wheat and less of white rice. Coming to proteins instead of heavy proteins such as beef, pork or red meat, what is suggested for gallstone patients is tender proteins such as chicken breast, soy protein and other such easily digestible forms of protein. The next important thing about gallbladder diet is having more of fibre rich food which are available in fruits and vegetables. In fact a minimum 5 to 6 serving of fruits and vegetables is recommended for preventing formation of gallstones.

 

Another important factor that is considered vital and forms an overall part of gallbladder diet is to avoid eating 1 or 2 mega meals and instead it would be advisable to split them into 4 or 5 small meals.