1. Watch out for fatty meats and fish
Fatty meats, in particular, can increase your risk of gallstones. Prior to eating, select leaner cuts of meat and trim off any excess fat and skin. Avoid fish products that are canned in oil and choose fresh fish over canned. Additionally, fried meats should be avoided if you wish to prevent straining your gallbladder.
2. Steer away from processed meats
Cold cuts, hot dogs, sausages, canned meats, and other processed meats can all cause issues for your gallbladder. Avoid these foods if you want to support your gallbladder and avoid gallstone formation because of their high fat content and preservatives.
It didn’t seem to matter what I ate to me. I had an attack once a year for a long time, sometimes missing a year. It suddenly got much more frequent. I will state that the risk of infection (cholecystitis) exists when one waits. It’s a very easy (laparoscopic) procedure that’s often performed as an outpatient without infection. If it gets infected, it gets much more complicated.
Oh, and as soon as it’s feasible, get it tested (and pulled if necessary). Among other things, it may get worse and turn into a serious emergency that calls for open surgery rather than laparoscopic; it may become gangrenous; it may spill and cause severe illness; etc. This actually happened to a friend of ours. Although it was touch and go for a few days, she is now fine.
I’m not looking for medical advice, just dietary. If this is relevant, though, here are some additional details: I have been experiencing nausea on occasion (which has recently become daily), along with middle-grade abdominal pain that radiates up my right side of my chest, and nausea when I lie on my right side, which sounds possibly gallbladdery. I know I’m predisposed because my sister had her gallbladder removed last year, and other relatives also have this condition. In order to avoid going over the same annual out-of-pocket maximum, I’m hoping to put off seeing a doctor until the new year (in case I need surgery) I’m attempting an elimination diet in the interim because my symptoms are not too bad.
That being said, you already know as much as anyone can if you’ve Googled it. The goal of diet for gallstones is to prevent the body from believing it needs to squeeze down and add a little bile to the mixture. I was told that every gallbladder reacts differently. That some can be set off by apples. to maintain a low fat intake while experimenting with eating just one item at a time and watching how that affected you for about twenty minutes.
The diagnosis is (or was) based on one x-ray and one visit to the doctor; mine was made in 1983. And when he pushed on the gallbladder during the first visit, I almost climbed up his arm and onto the ceiling, giving us a pretty good indication of the diagnosis. They may do it with ultrasound or an MRI, now.
