Diet for Gallstones

Gallstones are made up of hardened cholesterol and other things commonly found in gallbladder bile. When these materials gather together and begin to resemble tiny rocks, they're called gallstones. Gallstones often do not cause any health problems and may be undetected for years, but sometimes they can. Gallstone attacks can be extremely painful, and, if they cause a gallbladder infection or pancreatitis, life-threatening. The good news is that gallstones can be prevented or treated by changes in diet and by natural body-detoxification methods.

Prevention

In general, overweight people are more at risk for developing gallstones than people who are not overweight. Therefore, a low-fat, low-calorie diet is one good way to prevent developing gallstones. There is as yet no directly proven link between consuming fats and sugars and getting gallstones, but, according to Dr. Howard LeWine of Harvard Medical School, there is an "association" between consuming simple sugars and suffering from gallstones. Strangely, overweight people who lose weight quickly are also at higher risk for gallstone attacks.

Avoid Attacks

Good foods to avoid to prevent both forming gallstones and having gallstone attacks are high-fat foods, such as butter, oil, cream, eggs, cheese, fatty meats and full-fat milk. Try to keep your all foods to items which contain less than 5-percent fat. One fat to not avoid are omega-3 fats, which are healthy and needed by your body in order for it to function correctly.

A diet high in fresh, organic fruits and vegetables can help stave off further attacks. Freshwater fish, flax seed and cucumbers and cucumber juice are also said to help both prevent attacks and alleviate the pain resulting from gallstones.

Get Rid of Gallstones

If you want to try to flush the gallstones completely from your system, there a number of home detox remedies said to enable you to pass them through your body. One way is the Epsom salt diet. According to Woman Junction, the Epsom salt diet is a relatively easy detox plan that can be finished within two days, but it does involve drinking several glasses of saltwater at specific times during the day and 4 ounces of olive oil before going to bed at night.

Another gallstone flush involves drinking not only olive oil but lemon juice. Beginning in the evening, you drink 1/4 cup of olive oil chased with lemon juice, repeating every 15 minutes until you have consumed a full pint of the oil. If the taste is too terrible, you can chase the oil and lemon with pineapple juice or V8.