Best & Worst Foods for Gallbladder Disease

By Celeste Yarnall, PhD

Over 1/2 million gallbladders are removed annually. Gallbladder disease is a serious condition. If you suspect that you are having a gallbladder attack and are in severe gallbladder pain, especially if you also have a fever, consult your doctor immediately or go straight to the emergency room. This post may serve to help you know the symptoms in advance and take precautions so a gallbladder attack might be avoided.

Related: Was That a Gallbladder Attack?

It is important to seek medical help right away and obtain a proper diagnosis at the first sign of gallbladder disease. In this post, you will find the foods to avoid as well as the foods that have been found to be helpful in the treatment and prevention of gallbladder disease.

I would like to thank the very knowledgeable people at GallbladderAttack.com for the amazing insights offered at their website, and on this site under “about us” you will meet the person responsible for this wealth of information, Deborah Graefer, L.Ac. M.T.O.M. Debbie is a consultant and Licensed Acupuncturist, with a Masters degree in Traditional Oriental Medicine. Her credentials include graduating magna cum laude from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego, California in 1994, having obtained a Masters in Traditional Oriental Medicine. Debbie was licensed by the State of California in September of that same year. Her practice is now devoted exclusively to gallbladder and related diseases and the underlying causes including hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, food intolerances, leaky gut and dietary and supplemental recommendations. She helps people with weight loss assessing the metabolic problems on an individual basis. Although weight loss kits are available on the site, her preference is to work one-on-one to find problems with metabolism, from lack of fat digestion, slow bile flow, stress and medications reducing hydrochloric acid, and undetected thyroid problems such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or a thyroid that’s being influenced by too much cortisol. She uses natural products from several reputable companies and manufactures a few of her own formulations specifically for gallbladder health.

Remember no one, neither an MD nor a holistic practitioner, ever cures us of anything. Natural therapies simply provide the building blocks to help the body heal itself. Western medicine is great for emergencies, however, it falls short when it comes to chronic disease as it does not offer a forensic look at what led to the disease state in the first place, such as improper diet and nutritional deficiencies, unhealthy choices, such as smoking and abuse of pharmaceutical drugs and a stressful life style.

What we find in western medicine is a one size fits all model and its goal is to make symptoms go away. This is kind of like pulling the fuse when the engine warning light goes off. We don’t really want to just make symptoms go away, we want to get to the root or underlying cause of our dis-ease state. With gallbladder disease both western medicine and holistic alternatives can come together, and provide the tools for actual healing! If a gallbladder removal surgery can be avoided by making some changes, for example in your diet, wouldn’t that be the best possible outcome? Or what if symptoms persist after gallbladder removal, which often happens? This is a clear sign that the underlying cause of problem has not been resolved.

The diagnostic tool of choice for gallbladder disease is usually an ultrasound scan. Ask your doctor for a copy of the scan results so you can either get a second opinion and/or work with the practitioners at GallbladderAttack.com. Explain to your doctor that you wish to use nutrition and nutritional supplementation as adjunct therapy and you would like your progress monitored carefully. He or she might welcome learning about this! One of my own MD’s was so impressed with Oriental Medicine and acupuncture that he took two years off from his own practice to become trained in it and now incorporates it into his practice. His entire paradigm shifted as a result of this exploration.

With your medical diagnosis in hand and blessing from your doctor, the first and perhaps most important rule to follow from now on is to eat a variety of fresh organic, raw and lightly steamed green vegetables, good fats (like avocados) and exclude sugars, and all processed and refined foods. It was most likely food choices that caused the gallbladder dis-ease in the first place. Here are the food culprits to avoid!