Question: I am a 40-year-old woman who has just been told by my physician that I have gall bladder stones, that my gall bladder is diseased and that it needs to come out. Is there a natural approach to healing this problem?
Answer: Establishment medical thinking says that if you have stones in your gall bladder, it is diseased and needs to come out. But do gall stones mean that the gall bladder is diseased?
The gall bladder is a reservoir or holding tank for bile salts, which the body uses to digest fats. When we eat fat, the body releases bile into the digestive tract to break it down into absorbable fatty acids.
Bile salts are made of cholesterol. Gall stones are a sign that your body has “decided” to increase its reservoir of cholesterol. Why would it do this? The obvious answer is that it has become “afraid” that the supply of cholesterol is low, therefore it uses the strategy of storing extra for a “rainy day.”
Actually, it’s quite a clever and innovative strategy. Your gall bladder is not diseased, it doesn’t need to come out. In fact, we know that taking your gall bladder out will increase your risk of cancer. As in war, doing violence to an innocent (or in this case, helpful) organ leads only to even greater suffering (cancer, or more “terrorism”). The reason that removing the gall bladder leads to cancer has been the subject of study and research for over 40 years. The best guess is that when you remove the reservoir for the bile acids they get secreted into the intestines in an “inappropriate ” fashion. “Inappropriate” could mean not in its usual rhythm, or in an altered form. The excess cancer risk is seen in the right side of the colon, exactly where these bile salts enter and “irritate” the colon.
Over the years, I have become convinced that most of what we call disease is actually the body’s adaptive strategy to less-than-optimal circumstances. Modern medicine gets rid of this adaptive strategy without fixing the underlying cause, leading to side effects that are worse than the original disease.
So what should you do? First, do not believe that your gall bladder is diseased! Second, give your body what it needs, in this case more cholesterol. Once your body is convinced that you are serious and will provide it with a steady stream of cholesterol, which it desperately needs to stay alive, it will give up the flawed strategy of storing extra, the stones will dissolve and you will be well again. I know of two people who adopted this strategy, and within a year their stones completely dissolved. Actually, you might want to thank your gall bladder for devising such an innovative strategy for keeping you alive until you learned how to eat in a way that provides your body with the materials it needs to be healthy.
The best way to provide your gall bladder with cholesterol is to eat plenty of animal fats. If you eat a lot of vegetable oils and trans fats, the gall bladder is likely to become inflamed. If you are on a lowfat diet, the gall bladder atrophies because it does not have enough work to do.
What about a diet for those who have had their gall bladder removed? The conventional advice is to go on an extreme, lowfat diet. But your body still needs good fats, and still produces bile to digest them. Even without your gall bladder, you should still eat healthy animal fats and avoid processed vegetable oils.
The gall bladder is a rhythmical organ and secrets bile at certain times of the day–ideally at meal times. When you have a gall bladder, you always have bile salts stored and so do not necessarily have to eat at set times of the day. For those who have had their gall bladder removed, it is important to eat meals in a rhythmical fashion–three meals per day at approximately the same time each day, and with no snacks in between. In order to enhance the sense of rhythm and supplement the supply of bile, I prescribe Cholacol, the Standard Process bile salts formulation, 1 tablet with each meal. Swedish bitters, 1/2 teaspoon mixed with a little water, taken just before each meal may also be helpful.
In order to provide ample protection for your colon, be sure to take cod liver oil and other foods rich in vitamin D. Avoid all processed and grilled meats and any foods containing carcinogenic substances that could supplement the irritating properties of bile secreted into the intestines.
This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Spring 2003.
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There are also liver/gallbladder flushes that one can do. I’ve done several and have had success each time in removing gallstones, gallstones that have probably been there since I was a child. I’m 37.
Please let me know how you did these flushes ?
Many thanks. Zara
Zara,
There are many gallbladder and liver cleanses described on blogs and websites. After looking over several of them, I have realized there are many similarities. Generally, they recommend either drinking copious amounts of apple juice or taking malic acid (present in apple juice) for 5 days. On day 6, they have a prescribed protocol of drinking some combination of oil (usually extra virgin olive) and citrus juice (either grapefruit or lemon), and sometimes adding in an Epsom salts solution. One link that might help you is http://wellnessmama.com/38/liver-gallbladder-cleanse/
Hope this helps!
The best flush I’ve found is Dr Richard Schulze’s Liver/Gallbladder flush. It can be found at herbdoc.com
My husband had a severe attack at the end of his flush. We were in the ER for hours. He was in more pain than I have ever seen. He is not one to ever go to the er or doc for anything. This is his 2nd full liver flush and probably jas done 10 emergency flushes. Im not sure about going through all that again. On his ultrasound they didnt detect any stones in ducts and GB was not inflamed. We dont know what to do now. He is still tender over his GB 2 days after the whole episode.
Andreas Moritz if a fantastic resource on the topic of flushing, as is Curezone website. 🙂
http://www.amazon.com/The-Amazing-Liver-Gallbladder-Flush/dp/0976571501
Blssings.
~ MonicaKM
This is an utter rubbish that good diet will solve the issue and the gallstones will dissolve on their own. It depends on the size of the stone and the type- calcified or still in cholesterol form. I have 14 cm gallstone and went through naturopath treatment and self treatment following an extensive Internet research and nothing improved my symptoms. My gallbladder is scheduled to be soon removed unfortunately.
Ruth, I am sorry to hear it did not work for you, but just because it didn’t does not mean that it is rubbish and will not work for someone else. Everyone’s body is different. I do hope though, since your post, that you were able to find an alternate solution to having your gallbladder removed.
I tried everything natural to cure my gallbladder with no luck. Sometimes it has to come out. Telling people it increases chances of getting cancer is terrible and through my research isn’t true. Leaving an unhealthy gallbladder in your body may be worse. Don’t scare people if their only alternative is removal. I’m having to watch what I eat but I had to warchnevery bite I put in my mouth when I had my gallbladder! Not to eat another beet or
Drink gallons of unfiltered apple juice is wonderful and as for those flushes … if one stone gets stuck in the duct it is the worst pain. If diet can’t heal it then it is probably something more needing to be addressed and believe me… I believe in clean eating all the benefits.
I am not doing a flush, but have started taking ACV daily in Apple Cider. Will I notice any changes in my bowels during this time?
What would you reccomrnend for someone who has been on a high colestrol diet for years due to having dangerous low levels of both good and bad. Cholesterol and has painful gall bladder stones. I struggle to keep my weight down to a healthy level with trying to increase my cholesterol. I have menieres syndrome, haemachromotosis and polycythemia vera, asthma and controlled high blood pressure. I’ve been walking so much to keep my weight down that my feet are killing me each night (yes I have supportive shoes.
Warm regards Donna
Hi- I would suggest looking into minimalist footwear transition as “supportive shoes” can be very harmful and ‘backfire’.
I’m sorry for your health struggles. <3 that sounds like a rough combination.
I keep looking fir what to eat and feel like I am in acwreck. Everything and almist nothing. There no diet i keep reading. Just like learning to type the hunt and peck way.
Surely there are foods that all can eat though limited. What i and probably others want is a somple diet to help us through the first month. I first though if the healing cabbage diet yet found the vegetabkes caused gas a no no when the gall bladder gad been removed. HELP PLEASE
I would recommend you all look into the metaphysical reasonings as to why your bodies are doing this.
Things dont happen for no reason.
Ive watched my mother, and 2 out of 3 sisters have theirs removed in a matter of months of eachother.
The 3rd sister refuses to have hers removed.
In my opinion, we have organs for a reason…. you dont go removing them…. you put the effort into removing or resolving (dissolving) the discomfort in your mind/life that has created the condition to start with.
Removing the issue….. does not get rid of the issue. It will come back as cancer or some other disease process further down the track.
Your bodies speak to you…. start listening to them.
Are there any links to peer reviewed studies on this?
I know someone that’s starving themselves by been on a 0-fat diet. She has many gallstones for a few years and is limiting food in a bad way in order to “cleanse herself”. She is weak but is convinced that the animal fat/meat she ate 10 years ago is the root cause of the problem and keeps starving herself of necessary nutrients.
I am in Portugal and they still see “animal fat”/colesterol as the bad guy…
My gall bladder was removed over 50 years ago. For many years after, I could not eat pineapple! I have always eaten a high-fat diet, without any problems, as long as those fats are organic or from grass-fed animals that haven’t been fed antibiotics. As someone mentioned earlier, everybody’s body is different as to what it will tolerate. You have to experiment and stay away from GMO’s and the like. I can now eat pineapple with no problems. Peppers used to really bother me too but I found if I make sure there is celery in anything that has peppers, I don’t have a problem. Little things like that can make a big difference. I do my best to stay away from processed foods and mainly cook from scratch. Hope this helps somebody.
Hello How do you know you have gallstones stuck…. Or a diseased Gallbladder??? I’m a firm believer in keeping what God gave you it has a purpose…. Thank you very much I’m going to do the Gallbladder cleanse….