On Healthy Living

The gallbladder isn’t often thought about until someone gets an attack. The symptoms of a gall bladder attack may be mild to severe and include vomiting, sweating and inflammation or fever if more severe. The attack may last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. In some cases, surgery is necessary. Some people have gallstones, yet no symptoms. Some people have one attack and never another and some may have several.

The gallbladder is a tiny sac, lying under the liver and located in the upper right part of the abdomen. The gallbladder stores bile, which is produced by the liver and the bile helps to digest fat and aids the liver in getting rid of waste products. The gallbladder releases bile into the intestines after a meal. Bile consists of salts, bilirubin and cholesterol and the cholesterol and bilirubin can forum gallstones. These stones may be very small or large.

Those who have a higher risk of gallstones:

* Native Americans
* men and women who are overweight
* those who lose weight quickly
* women between the ages of 20 and 40
* men over the age of 60
* pregnant women
* women on birth control or hormone replacement therapy
* Mexican-Americans

For a healthier gallbladder:
* find ways of reducing stress
* get plenty of exercise
* eat small meals
* strongly avoid greasy or fatty foods
* don’t lose weight quickly. Aim for slow, but consistent weight loss
* substantially decrease meat and dairy products with high fat and cholesterol content
* drink plenty of water
* avoid fast food and processed food
* increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables
* avoid alcohol and carbonated beverages
* apple juice, beets, lemon juice and olive oil are said to be beneficial

Kathy Dove wrote this on April 9th, 2008 and filed it under Healthy Living, Healthy Eating, Women's Health, Men's Health, Health & Aging |