Do you have pain in the abdomen and have low energy feeling sluggish?  It could be your gallbladder.  Your gallbladder is a membranous muscular sac where bile is stored from the liver.  This sac lies directly under your liver, the common bile duct, transports bile from the gallbladder and the liver to the small intestines.  When fats enter the digestive system a hormone is released and the gallbladder contracts releasing bile into the stomach and small intestines, which helps with the digestion of fats.  Lecithin in the bile dissolves the fat into small particles so they can be processed through the intestinal wall into the blood where your body uses it.

Bile is a green substance and contains water, lecithin, acids, cholesterol, bile salts, and minerals.  Bile is vital to health.  When the diet is high in sugars, fats and starches and is low in protein the gallbladder starts to exhibit difficulties.  The liver stops forming bile and the gallbladder becomes lazy (due to nutritional deficiencies) to empty its content, the fat can’t be absorbed. When the fat isn’t absorbed it binds with calcium and iron and forms a hard soap then forms hard packed fecal matter and causes constipation.  The binding to the iron and calcium causes deficiencies affecting anemia and osteoporosis. The fats also cover the carbohydrates and protein making it difficult for them to digest.  This mess effects the normal function of the intestines and causes gas and discomfort contributing to a smelly bowel movement and foul breathe. 

Deficiencies occur with the fat-soluble vitamins including vitamin A, D, E, & K. Vitamin A deficiency effects people with difficulty driving at night, sewing, or doing other close work.  When there is a problem with the gallbladder a low fat diet combines with no sugar in the diet is necessary to allow the gallbladder to heal.

Gall bladder sludge is small sized particles of gallstones, which is comprised of calcium salts and cholesterol crystals.  Unless this is flushed from your system it can lead to gallstones or painful pancreatitis and inflammation of the gallbladder.  Gallbladder sludge can occur from fasting, rapid weight loss, certain medication, a high cholesterol level, drug or alcohol damage, or pregnancy.  Symptoms include pain in abdomen, nausea and vomiting just like gallstones.

A diet of the following is useful in preventing and reducing the gallbladder sludge:

1. Eat a diet high in fiber – increasing fruit and vegetable intake
2. Drink fresh filtered water each day at least 6 – 8 glasses per day
3. Have green juices – such as spinach, parsley (rich in chlorophyll that has a cleansing effect). Mixed with carrot and/or apple juice.

Recommend red food blend, beets have a good source of betaine, which is good for healthy liver and gallbladder.  Betaine is an effective lipotrophic agent promoting the transportation and use of fats.

Gallstones are formed when cholesterol and bile pigments become concentrated within the gallbladder and form lumps.  80-85% of gallstones are coated in a waxy cholesterol layer.  Some stones are made from a yellowish-green bilirubin, which is a part of the hemoglobin in your blood.  Gallstones normally occur in fat, females over 40 years old.  There is a familial predisposition, not normally due to genetics but similar dietary habits.  Diabetics have a high incident, the incidences increases with age and pregnancy.

The gallbladder stores the bile that gets squirted onto your food in the small intestine when you eat fat to break it down.  During the squirting process something breaks down and the gallbladder’s sludge like contents crystallizes.  Coats of cholesterol or bilirubin around calcium speak form a gallstone.  There are many theories about why this occurs; the most popular is that a high fat, high cholesterol diet is the cause.  Here are some other theories:

1. Vitamin E deficiency – animals given large quantities of cholesterol and fats did not produce gallstones if the vitamin E is adequate, this then causes vitamin A to be destroyed.  Without vitamin A cells from the mucous membranes covering the walls of the gallbladder slough off into the bile, and they catch and hold cholesterol, forming the stones.  Vitamin A protects the skin and internal membranes but it needs vitamin E to guard it, without vitamin E vitamin A is attacked by oxidation, allowing membrane cells to die.
2. When a grain or two of calcium enters the gallbladder it becomes coated with cholesterol or bilirubin when there is too much cholesterol, which become bigger the longer they are there.
3. Female reproductive hormones delay gallbladder emptying during pregnancy and dieting.
4. When fat intake is low gallstones can form because the gallbladder doesn’t contract and release bile when there is no fat intake, therefore bile salts can crystallize to form stones.  This is called ‘biliary stasis’.
5. When there is high content of lecithin cholesterol is less likely to form because this lecithin homogenizes cholesterol and fat.
6. Gallstones can also occur due to a deficiency of hydrochloric acid or to food intolerance.

When blockage of bile flow occurs complications can occur such as:

• Obstructive jaundice
• Infection of the gall bladder
• Inflammation when the trapped bile stagnates

Symptoms of gallstones:

• Fatty food intolerance with mild pain
• Acid reflux symptoms
• Diarrhea after a fatty meal

When gallstones pass out the gallbladder they can get stuck in the bile duct, symptoms of this include:

• Pain in upper abdomen or shoulder blades
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Liver, pancreas and gallbladder damage if stone stays stuck in duct

If gallbladder is inflamed, known as cholecystitis, can be life threatening, symptoms include:

• Severe pain in upper right abdomen (under the ribcage), may radiate around to the back
• Fever
• Nausea
• Vomiting

Partial obstruction can cause jaundice and yellow discolouration of the skin.

The best remedy for an inflamed gallbladder is to rest the gallbladder by consuming no solid food and only having high quality spring water.  Drink juices such as pear, beetroot and apple, make sure they are fresh, for a few days, then do a gallbladder flush.

Note: Make sure you consult your doctor before doing a gallbladder flush as big stones can get lodged.