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need menu/recipes for gallbladder

50 year old female( a lot of us here),generaly has had good health.been overweight past 20 years.I have had a few attacks,had usound,catscan. Doctor wants to do hidascan,I am not comfortable with doing  it.My feelings in his office he was leaning toward removal.Want to avoid it if I can.
  I need recipes for food that is good for GB problems. I have read some about what to eat. And after I get more used to eating restrictions I will play with menus myself. I need a guideline on what goes good together.Are there any frozen(healthy choice type) or  fast prepared.meals that are good.
Donna{=*+*=}
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Avatar universal
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello and hope you are doing well.

In general avoid all food high in fat and cholesterol. Also avoid all food high in calories and include plenty of high fiber diet. Avoid all fried food, fatty red meat, whole milk diary products and highly processed food. Include plenty of fresh fruits, high fiber vegetables, whole grains, lean meat and low fat dairy products. This could reduce her symptoms of pain and gall stone formation.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.
Helpful - 0
1809109 tn?1331803777
Everyone gets sick differently so what sets me off isn't necessarily what will set you off. For me I have to be completely dairy, red meat, pork, and egg yolk free (and obviously anything pan fried or deep fried). I also have to be limiting in my avocado, oils, coconut, poultry, spicy foods, citrus or acidic foods, and oily fish. So, for me, there is nothing from the frozen or prepared section that I can safely eat. I will also warn you many people react to dairy, red meat, pork,  and eggs. Besides that I'm of the personal opinion that healthy choice tick or not these are all processed foods better left untouched.

Many people who have one attack get more and so if you want to avoid more attacks, potentially getting something stuck, and surgery you need to make a very big change diet wise. And know that even that may not be enough- I've had my gallbladder in for almost 2 years after it started giving me problems and 1.5 years after surgery was first suggested. I'm currently eating so little fats I'm getting sick, my bm's are so bad I'm not absorbing my foods- I HAVE to get my gallbladder out because diet isn't enough for me. Now these 2 years I've had it in have still been a great thing for my heath. I've dropped over 40 lbs from diet changes, exercise, (and thyroid medication). I went from a diet filled with prepackaged easy to make foods to all homemade sauces, breads, and meals and the weight just started melting off. So if you are determined to avoid surgery think of this as a good motivator to make good food decisions.

If you are constantly pressed for time, taking one day of the week out and make home made frozen meals. These will be much healthier and probably safer for you to eat. Also it's much more cost effective in the long run, so really it's a great idea. I have everything from plain spaghetti sauce to tortillas to meat loaf to mango fruit blocks hiding in my freezer. Also I have a large container full of a pancake mix and bread mix- just add wet ingredients and it save so much time. And honestly as soon as I did this my triglycerides went from high to an ideal number for someone with my horribly family history of heart disease.

Another thing you will want to consider is start weighing your foods, specifically nuts, meats, and other things with lots of fat. This is mainly because I know 80g of chicken breast won't make me sick, but 100g will- that's a fine line that is really good to identify. Also only 1/5 of a egg yolk is enough to make me violently ill and 1 tsp of olive oil is all I can safely handle. So sometimes there are very thin lines and you do need to play around a bit to figure out where you are. Because of these thin lines it's very important to get some fat throughout your day, this way you're not getting too much fat at one point in the day and getting extremely sick from it.

Now since eggs will likely make you sick try egg whites. These can be substituted easily for almost any recipe using eggs. If that doesn't work, you may need to try egg free recipes or vegan egg replacer. You should be able to find these in a health store or health section of a large grocery store.  Also know that many recipes with eggs don't need them- minced meat sticks together enough that you don't need eggs to make meat balls, meatloaf, or hamburger patties. IAlso because eggs can be a problem you have to be careful with pasta, I found that a meal heavy with fresh pasta will make my sick because of too much egg. Ice cream, mayo, mayo-based sauces (aoli), hollindaise sauce,  salad dressings, anything battered or breaded, and gluten free breads are also things you have to be careful of because of their egg amounts. Well at least all of them make me sick.

If dairy makes you sick there's tons of things to help replace it. You can try soy milk, almond milk, hemp milk, coconut milk, and oat milk. Just keep in mind some of them are higher in fats than others so need to be used in less amounts.  I have found that soy milk replaces everything that milk is in except alfredo sauce, caramel, and chowder. For butter milk- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice/1cup of soy; for sour cream in a recipe (if you have a recipe that calls for sour cream this can usually be used) 2 Tbsp of lemon juice/ 1 cup of soy milk and let it sit 5 mins. If you have a dessert recipe that calls for milk, try coconut milk. I have found it works beautifully in chocolate cakes, brownies, and even tapioca pudding. Again some strange things have diary in it- (obvious chocolate and confection), breads (focaccia and sour dough are big ones), mayo, some Dijon/honey mustard, most canned soups, many salad dressings, anything crumbed MIGHT, and most packaged dinners.

If you can handle dairy somewhat -be safe. Go for fat free milk, low/fat free yogurts (I'm actually able to handle Activia sometimes), and sauces. Again best to limit all of these- but some of the lower fat hard cheeses might be ok for you to eat.

As far as meat goes skip the beef, pork, lamb, and go for chicken or turkey BREAST or fish (or vegetarian). I have found that kangaroo doesn't make me sick at all and while I was back in the states I had some deer jerky that similar went down easily- so If you willing try game. Rabbit, deer and alligator (if you're adventurous) are all pretty low fat so you might have a lot better luck having them without getting sick. Personally I found that turkey mince is low fat enough for me to safely eat a hamburger or meatloaf made from it (well at first, I've gotten much worse lately and can't handle as much poultry). I also use kangaroo in everything that would have beef in it, not sure what would go well over there. If you're willing you can try deer, it might work.  For rabbit recipes i just followed what my grandma say, cook it like you would chicken, just take it out faster. It goes well in any recipe you would use chicken for, but it can take a little less time to cook and doesn't need to be at 180F to be done. As far as fish goes- go lightly with tuna, trout, catfish, and salmon until you know how your body will react to it. I have found that I can eat a lot more white fish than oily fish so you might find that some of them make you sick.

Spicy foods might make you a little ill so go for mild over medium until you know how your body reacts.

However that doesn't mean you have to fear spices. Spices can be amazing in place of marinades, salad dressings, etc. If you're unsure what to mix, maybe get a premix of spices. Sprinkle these over a salad and mix and it's almost always tasty. (I once accidentally grabbed cumin instead of something else and it was pretty bad.)

Now right after a bad attack I find I'm most sensitive. I find that a homemade vegetarian soup is the best and safest thing to eat for about a week after an attack.

For special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries, skip the butter cake and frosting and go for an angel food cake with fruit drizzled on top. I know it's tempting to say "well it's my birthday" but really cheating could mean you spend your birthday in the hospital, not a good idea.

For the most part try to stick to baked, grilled, or broiled meats. I found I can safely use cooking alcohol without making me sick to make reduction sauces and so I cook with a lot of alcohol. Steamed veggies and salads on the side. Baked potatoes, steamed rice, etc. They don't have to be complicated. I've got a pretty big recipe collection, so just message me if you are looking for something specific.

Good luck!
Helpful - 2
1 Comments
This post made me join this forum or board, whatever. So well written and composed, so very informative it was, and posted almost 10 years ago. Thank you very much, and God bless you.
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