What to Eat After Gallbladder Surgery

Transcript:

Leah: Hello and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. Today we're talking about something that affects millions of people. And that's life without a gallbladder. Maybe you've had your gallbladder removed, or maybe you know someone who has. It is one of the most common surgeries done in the United States, but what often isn't talked about enough is what happens in the weeks or the months, or sometimes even years after the surgery.

What do you eat when you don't have a gallbladder anymore? How do you avoid the uncomfortable side effects? And most importantly, how can you get back to feeling good again? That's what we're going to dive into today, practical real food solutions for digestion and comfort after gallbladder removal. But first, let's just take a moment to introduce ourselves.

I'm Leah Kleinschrodt. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, and I am here today with my co-host and wing woman, Teresa Wagner.

Teresa: Yes. And I am also a Registered and Licensed Dietitian.

Leah: You are indeed.

What the gallbladder does & why it matters

Teresa:  So let's just, when we're getting into this gallbladder discussion, let's just start with the basics: what the gallbladder does and why it matters. The gallbladder is a small pear shaped organ tucked under your liver, and its main job is to store bile, which is a fluid that plays a crucial role in digesting dietary fats.

Bile is made in the liver, but it's the gallbladder that stores it and releases it when you eat fats. Think of it like a squeeze bottle. When you eat something fatty, the gallbladder gives that quick squirt of bile that you need to break down your food and absorb it better.

Leah: Yeah. I love that analogy. It's, that's such a great little visual. It's like when you eat that meal, you get a squeeze from the gallbladder and out comes the bile. It's, I mean, it's a simple organ.

Leah: It should be a simple job. What could go wrong?

Teresa: Right.

Leah: Yeah. Well ask anyone who's had a gallbladder attack or have had to deal with stones and stuff like that, they'll tell you that there is a lot that can go wrong with this process. That question is why would someone need their gallbladder removed?

What can go wrong with the gallbladder/complications that can arise?

It's usually from complications of gallstones. So what happens is that, you know, we get these tiny little crystals that start to precipitate out of the bile. So that's how it starts. Eventually, those crystals get bigger. They form these stones in the gallbladder, and eventually it starts to become problematic. It causes that gallbladder to get inflamed, and it can block bile flow out of the gallbladder.

Imagine a clump of sand in an hourglass. So you get that clump that blocks that very narrow part of the hourglass, and now the rest of the sand can't get through that tiny passage and there's a blockage and the sand gets built up, and that's what happens when those little crystals or those little stones in your gallbladder build up and cause a blockage.

The unfortunate part is you likely don't know that this is happening until we're pretty far down that rabbit hole until you really start to feel some of those painful symptoms come on. Usually it's pain in the upper right abdomen after you eat.

I have heard pain between the shoulder blades is actually a very common gallbladder type of symptom. Then there's other more digestive related symptoms like the severe bloating, cramping, diarrhea, and sometimes even vomiting. So ultimately it may be a necessary decision to surgically remove that gallbladder and like we mentioned, it is one of the most common surgeries that is done, but there are steps that we can take that we do have control of to keep up the best quality of life after surgery.

I did do in one of our “Ask a Nutritionist” episodes, all about the gallbladder. This was back in almost a year ago. It was October of 2024. The show was called The Gallbladder Matters More Than You Think. So if you're just interested in a little deeper dive or just kind of a little different take on this particular topic, go check that out.

Teresa: Yeah, and I, it was a really informative episode. And it's more bite size. It's about 20 minutes. Maybe not even.

Leah: I try to make them shorter. It's like sometimes they just keep morphing into like the 20, 25 minute shows that I try to condense them down to 10. But there's a lot to talk about with the gallbladder.

Complications that be an issue after gallbladder removal surgery

Teresa: There is a lot to talk about. So in thinking about gallbladder surgery, you've had your gallbladder removed. You no longer have that storage tank. Bile is still being made by the liver, but it now drips continuously into your small intestine whether you're eating or not, and that might sound fine, but here's the catch. The amount of bile available isn't always enough for a large meal or a meal that might be higher in fat.

Think of it like a leaky faucet that constantly drips but won't turn on all the way. You have that slow, constant drip of water coming down, but when you're thirsty and need to fill up a full glass of water, you can't get enough in that moment when you need it. That's what it's like getting bile to digest your food without the control of the gallbladder. There is a greater need for the bile , but there's that low flow.

Leah: Mm-hmm. Yeah. There's just a mismatch there with what you need.

Teresa: Right. Yep. Yep. And this is why so many people experience digestive problems when their gallbladder isn't functioning well or after it's been removed.

Leah: Mm-hmm. Right. Absolutely. So after gallbladder removal surgery, and that's called the, the long term is cholecystectomy. It's kind of a mouthful, but that's a fancy term for it. But after you have that gallbladder removed, many people notice changes with their digestion right away. And that's not uncommon.

Like those first couple of weeks after a surgery, things are trying to find their new balance, their new homeostasis. People might experience loose stool, more sudden bowel urgency after eating, some people deal more with the bloating or the nausea or just kind of feel like their stomach is generally upset.

The things that tend to bring on more of those symptoms or just create more of that discomfort tend to be more like the fried foods, creamy sauces, heavy dairy foods, fattier cuts of meat like sausage or ribs. Sometimes those are a little harder to digest, and that makes a lot of sense. Again, like the bile is primarily responsible for digesting the fats and breaking those down. So if we don't have that right timing or if we don't have that mismatch between how much bile we make and how much we need, then we're going to have trouble with more of those fattier foods.

And then another challenge that comes along with that are the nutrients that come along in some of those fattier foods. Again, because fat digestion is affected, your body may have a harder time absorbing some of the fat soluble nutrients like vitamins A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K, as well as the omega-threes.

And I actually just had a conversation with a client about this last week. She had her gallbladder out a number of years ago now. From a digestive standpoint, she manages, you know, fairly well overall, but her vitamin D level continues to be pretty low despite supplementing with 10,000 of vitamin D a day, she can barely get her vitamin D level to crack 40, which for us we like to see that more 50, 60, 70.

So we had that discussion around like, okay, what do we need to do to try to kind of eek more of that vitamin D absorption out when you don't have the gallbladder. So all of those nutrients, all of those fat-soluble nutrients, those omega-threes especially, all of these, they play a role in your immune system, your bones, your mood, and so many more things. So supporting digestion becomes even more important so that we don't fall short, not just on the fats in general, but the nutrients that come along for the ride with fats.

Teresa: Yeah, that's such really important points because I think that we don't necessarily consider that going into surgery, well, how am I going to absorb the nutrients? Or what is the purpose of the gallbladder? You know?

Leah: Yeah. What's the downstream effect?

Digestive enzymes: a great support after gallbladder surgery

Teresa: Yes. Yep. Mm-hmm. You know, one of the first things I think of when someone comes to meet with me after gallbladder surgery is adding a digestive enzyme.

Leah: Yes.

Teresa: Especially as your body is adjusting to this new way of functioning, you'll need some extra supplemental support, and adding in these enzymes can make a huge difference. For example, our Nutrikey Digestive Enzymes contains the three main enzymes for digesting proteins, carbs and fats, but even more importantly, it contains an ingredient called ox bile, which is exactly what it sounds like. Ox Bile: which is especially helpful for breaking down and digesting fats. The Key Digestive Enzymes also contains HCL or hydrochloric acid, which is naturally found in the stomach to help break down foods. But hydrochloric acid also triggers the liver to release bile to help digestion further down the digestive tract.

So generally, when we are thinking about taking these digestive enzymes to improve how our foods are being digested, you kind of want to think about, well, this is taking place of what the gallbladder would do.

Leah: Right.

Teresa: So we want to take our Key Digestive Enzymes at the time that we are having more of an influx of food, right? We're consuming larger amounts of foods. That's when I'll take my digestive enzymes. So if I'm having a snack, I probably don't need it. But if I'm having a full meal, particularly a fatty meal, I'm going to add in one to two digestive enzymes at the time.

And you know, like we usually say, you know, we want to start with the lowest effective dose. Right? So start with one, see if it does the job. If it's not doing the job, bump it up to two.

Leah: Yeah. Yep. I do the same thing. Especially at those main bigger meals, that's where we're more concerned about trying to get that extra digestive support and really that's where people tend to get more symptomatic too, so that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. I love our Key Digestive Enzyme product is. So helpful for so many people, not just with gallbladder issues, but for other digestive things. So it's a great, well-rounded product.

But yes, I always have this one locked and loaded in the back of my brain when I'm talking with someone either who has recently been dealing with gallbladder issues or even if they've had their gallbladder out 20 years ago. It's something that's kind of in the back of my brain.

The digestive enzymes, like you said, I think the ox bile is one of those magic ingredients in there that's very helpful for people, but it's got blend of a couple other things in it. It has a little amino acid called taurine in it, which helps with bile production and flow, and it also has some bitter herbs in it to support both the liver, but those bitter herbs also help with some of that timing of bile release and just helps that bile, keeps the bile thin, it keeps it flowing well. It keeps it from getting congested, even though we've had the gallbladder out at that point.

So we will touch a little bit more on the bitters a little bit later. I love the bitters. That's another favorite of mine. But yes, I agree with you, Teresa, like always making sure that my clients who have had their gallbladder removed, that either I've kind of got that digestive enzyme in the back of my brain. Or it's something that we do have a conversation on, especially if they're kind of dealing with some lingering digestive issues.

What to eat after gallbladder surgery

So that's one particular supplement that can be helpful. Let's chat about some foods and what can we eat? What sustains us after that gallbladder surgery? Surgically removing an organ in the digestive tract, I mean, it sounds scary. It's, it's understandably scary.

You know, sometimes, again, we just, we don't always think about the downstream consequences or the effects, but the good news is that with having a strategy in mind, or even putting together a plan after that surgery, like we can get you feeling much better, get you feeling in a good place, feeling like you can live a normal life, really, for the most part.

And one of my first pieces of advice to people if they're kind of on that struggle bus and just not tolerating foods really well, is we move to more smaller balanced meals versus the larger, heavier ones. So if you're the person used to eating two or three bigger, like really well-rounded meals in a day, at least for a little while, you might benefit from spreading it out a little bit more. You might do a little bit better with, you know, maybe five small meals or just more of a like five snack sized meals during the day.

Teresa: If you're hesitant to eat much after surgery out of fear, it'll cause pain or other digestive issues. I mean, chances are prior to surgery there was some sort of pain. So afterwards you may be expecting that as well. Or just now you're missing an organ, and hesitant because of that.

Leah: Right.

Teresa: But it's important to get in those nutrients after surgery. So it's important to eat after surgery to help the body heal, and especially we're thinking about getting that protein in because of course , protein is king. Right? We all know that right now.

Leah: Yeah. Yep.

Teresa: When it comes to healing from surgery, we really do need to have protein because our body has a higher requirement for it at this point.

Leah: Right.

Teresa: So for the person who's coming out of gallbladder surgery, we really want to think about maybe leaner proteins that should be easier to tolerate than those higher fat proteins. Think chicken breast, turkey, white fish, eggs and just maybe even a note on eggs, eggs are a great source of choline.  

Which choline is so good for bile production. And, and so we want to have that choline. Eggs is one of the primary places we get it from. But eggs are also higher in fat, and so that could be a problem for somebody just coming out of gallbladder surgery.

So I would probably recommend for a person to start with one egg, like a full egg with the yolk. And then maybe for more protein, if they're having this for breakfast, maybe they add, you know, three quarters of a cup to a cup of egg whites in order to bring that full protein amount up so that it's a meal amount of protein.

Leah: Yep. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great idea.

Teresa: Coming out of surgery too, you want to make sure that your food is soft and easy to digest. So thinking about cooked vegetables rather than raw vegetables. These are gentler on your digestive system, so soups or slow cooker foods or veggies that are steamed or maybe even slow roasted in the oven.

Leah: Yeah, the soups. I mean, I know right now we'll be airing this in October, so it should be that soup season. Thinking about that. But I would say that's probably one of your better strategies. Because you still can get the meats in there that are well cooked, the veggies that are well cooked, but it's all, again, like a little bit more pre-digested in a sense.

Teresa: Yeah, and even as I'm thinking about that too, it's the starchier vegetables, the root vegetables, the potatoes, sweet potato, squashes, all of those, just tend to go over well post-surgery as we're just trying to put some high nutrient foods in.

Leah: Yep, absolutely. Those first few days, especially if you have more nausea or upset stomach, you know, you may only want soft or liquid foods or something like soups, or we'll talk about smoothies in a little bit, something like that. That might be where you start for those first couple of days, or maybe even that first week post-surgery, before you start introducing a broader spectrum of food.

Once you're past that initial recovery period. That's where we can look at adding in a little more soluble fiber, just like really fiber in general, upping the roughage a little bit more. That's where the veggies are going to come in. And this is something I, I had heard it before but didn't make the connection so much before we started preparing for this show is that foods that are high in fiber help to bind bile acids in the small intestine. And then excrete them when we have bowel movements.

So that's how they're kind of escorted out of the body. If they don't get excreted as in the case with like constipation or they just sit in the gut too long, they're recycled back up and reabsorbed. They go back to the liver because that's what happens a lot with, with nutrients that go from the gut, they go through that liver first before they make their way to other places in the body.

So we want these bile acids to get excreted when we've kind of used them up, or like they've already made their way into the digestive tract. So we want them to get out of the body because then that stimulates the liver to say, oh hey, I need to make more bile, because obviously these have been used up and now I need to make more.

So it just helps with the turnover process. Like we make bile, we use bile in the small intestinal tract, and then we get it out and then the bile makes more. We don't want to get more into a loop where those bile acids are getting reabsorbed and then the liver's like, well, I guess I don't need to work as hard to make as much bile acid.

So we want that good fresh bile coming in. So foods that you know, high in fiber. This is mostly like our fruits and our veggies. These are apples, bananas, squash, like you mentioned, the sweet potatoes, those root vegetables, cooked carrots, chia seeds, all of that kind of stuff. And you know, one thing, it's a little hit or miss for clients I find, but avocado might be an option for people.

You get some of those healthy fats in there. You do get some fiber. Some people, it is a little much for the digestive tract at least initially. So start low, go slow. You might start with just, you know, a fourth or even an eighth of an avocado. Tested it out. See how you do.

Teresa: Yeah, I agree. I feel like avocado is one of those that it seems like people who've had gallbladder surgery have very strong feelings about, like, this one does not work for me. Or this is one that I really can eat. It actually does work out, so it's, I I don't feel like that one is, like I said, strong feelings.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: And when it comes to those fats, I mean, we still need to have them, even if we don't have a gallbladder. But we might want to consider keeping them more in moderation. So start out, you know, as we're thinking about how we're incorporating fats in the diet, maybe start out with no more than 10 grams of fat at a time.

Try cooking your food in a couple of teaspoons of avocado oil or topping it with a drizzle of olive oil. Just start slow and see how you tolerate it. Heavy dairy fats like cream or butter, they may give you some trouble after gallbladder surgery. So once again, tread lightly, and just see how your body deals with it. And you'll definitely want to avoid foods cooked in vegetable oils, fried foods or ultra processed foods in general. You may even need to avoid restaurants for a while.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: So, which just for a while, right? We are just trying to figure out how our body is going to work with all these different things that are coming in now that our digestive system has changed a bit.

Leah: Yeah. I mean, I will say that almost unequivocally for people who have had that gallbladder surgery or like have had a gallbladder out, the, the restaurant oils that they use there, like those restaurant meals tend more often than not to be a big trigger for people. So, yes, it's like, it doesn't mean you can never eat out.

It just means like, okay, we learn how our body does with those meals and then have some tools prepared, you know, when we, when we need to eat out or we want to eat out.

Teresa: Yes. I would agree. It's, just be careful and be careful with what you order when you're out. You know, that's, you might still want, all the same principles apply. Leaner cuts of meat lower on the fat side. Maybe you want to be careful with the vegetables and how they're cooked.

Leah: Absolutely.

Teresa: So even when you're grocery shopping, we want to be looking out for canola, cottonseed, corn, and soybean oils on that ingredient list. Those are the types of oils that you want to avoid because they're just more difficult for the body to digest.

Leah: More inflammatory in general.

Teresa: Right.

Leah: Yeah, and we will talk a little bit more about inflammatory foods for the gallbladder, but also more anti-inflammatory foods for that sensitive digestive tract. We do need to take a break, so we'll be back in a moment.   

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Teresa: Welcome back. Today Leah and I are talking about what to eat after gallbladder surgery. And prior to going into break, we were talking about how fats can be difficult to digest after having surgery and talking about what types of fats that we should try to include and maybe which ones we should avoid, including more of those real natural fats.  

And going slow, maybe having 10 grams of fat at a time to begin with and seeing how your body does with that amount and working from there. And then also avoiding the inflammatory oils such as the refined oils, canola, cottonseed, corn, those types of those types of oils. And you know, one thing I think about when I think about eating fats, some of my favorite fats to eat are nuts. Or seeds. And you may be able to tolerate a small handful of dry roasted nuts, seeds or nut butters when you have gallbladder surgery or after gallbladder surgery.

But once again, being careful. For many people, raw nuts might be a little bit too difficult to digest at first, but it really is very easy to dry roast your own nuts at home. And I do this actually quite often around the holiday season. It feels like I do a lot of dry roasted pecans. So when you dry roast your own nuts, it makes them much easier to digest.

First you want to soak them overnight, and then I just strain them, let them dry a little bit, spread them out in a sheet pan, and then roast them in the oven. Really as low as you can go. As low as your oven will allow. For some of us it's 250 is about as low as it gord, but for some of us have a roasting function or a drying function, and it'll go a little bit lower, and then you just bake them until pretty much until they're done.

So for, if you can go very low, it'll take hours. If you have to be up more towards 250, 300, it might only be about 30 minutes. So it's kind of variable. And honestly, it doesn't really matter. You, you just keep testing them. Oh, it's too chewy.

Leah: Oh yeah. Oh shucks. You have to taste test while you're, while you're doing this.

Teresa: Right. And so once it gets to the texture that you like, then they're done. They do turn out golden brown. That's a hint. And you know, throughout the process of roasting them, you can, just turn them over so that they have a more even roast. But it's very simple to do and it is so good. And like I said, dry roasting pecans is like the best. It is so good.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: That's why I only do it during the holiday season because otherwise I eat way too many.

Leah: Yeah. Well, and then, I mean, at some point too, you could dress that up with like some cinnamon, some ginger, like all those holiday kind of spices. It just brings about those winter memories. So, but we're not in winter just yet.

Teresa: No.

Leah: Put a, yeah. So put a, put a stick in that or put a stake in that for right now. But, okay, so roasted nuts, that's a great idea. Or the nut butters where there are, it's already ground up, so those might be some easier fats to tolerate. Protein shakes, I mentioned this a little bit earlier in the show, but protein shakes can be a lifesaver when you're just having a hard time with a little upset digestion.

Because you can blend everything down. Again, it's kind of like a predigestion process. You can add a scoop of protein powder. Most protein powders, really don't have any fat, maybe a gram or two just depending on what you're using. So you do some protein powder, a half a cup of fruit, and maybe just a tablespoon of that nut butter, or a fourth of a cup of coconut milk.

So this would be a way that you can have, this could be a snack, this could be one of those mini meals. Just a way to keep your blood sugar stable, satiate you while also getting like a good punch of nutrients. And just kind of on that note of coconut milk, you know, I, I've experimented with clients with this over the years too, that sometimes those coconut based fats, so think the coconut, coconut oil, coconut milk, even some coconut flakes, some of those coconut fats might digest a little bit easier because of the medium chain triglycerides that are in them.

It's just a different kind of fat versus the fats that we find, the longer chain fats in the nuts or in the avocados or in the dairy fat. So, a coconut based fat might be something that goes over a little bit easier. It's just, it might be another family of fats to try.

Teresa: I think that that's a really great tip because I do find that the coconut fats do digest better for a lot of people. I also like recommending sipping on bone broth, which isn't necessarily a fatty source, but more of a protein source. You can use it as a base of a soup. It's really soothing to the gut and it will help boost gut healing nutrients like collagen and glutamine that are great for just general gut health, but really great for post-surgery healing as well.

If you don't want to make a bone broth at home, you can buy bone broth at your local co-op, or certainly they have them at I think all the grocery stores now. I think every place sells them. Certainly homemade is probably the best quality and the highest nutritional value, but you know, post-surgery you may not be up for making your own bone broth.

Bitter foods stimulate bile production

Leah: Definitely. Yeah. And we mentioned earlier in the show the Key Digestive Enzymes. Those digestive enzymes include some bitter herbs to help with that bile flow. So this would be another way that we can work on that bile production, work on the health of that liver is by incorporating bitter flavors when we eat, when we cook, because we have receptors for bitter flavors all throughout our digestive tract.

So when, when that bitter flavor hits our tongue, it's to sends a signal to the rest of the digestive tract saying, hey, we’ve got food coming down, or we've got something coming into the system, let's start making our own juices and digestive enzymes.

So it is a little different than the Key Digestive Enzymes that we mentioned, which are giving us extra digestive enzymes. It's giving us extra bile. It's giving us extra hydrochloric acid where the, the bitters are actually stimulating your body to make more of its own digestive juices.

Both ways are great and can be really helpful for people, but again, that bitter signals the liver to make bile and you know, what would be the gallbladder, but it's just, it's really kind of signaling the liver to make more bile and to try to time that bile around those higher fat meals or those bigger meals.

It's, think about it similar as like your mouth watering. If you imagine like sucking on a lemon wedge, it's, it's that same type of idea. It's like once you get that, you know, the lemon wedge is a little more acidic, but like once you kind of get that flavor on your tongue, the rest of the digestive tracks starts to respond.

So bitter flavors trigger you to produce that bile. Just like sucking on the lemon wedge would trigger your salivary glands to produce saliva, and that starts that process of digestion.

Teresa: Right, and so the bitter foods, that includes a variety of different vegetables like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, arugula, dandelion greens and cabbage. Bitter fruits include grapefruit or cranberries or the peel of citrus fruits, like the zest of a citrus fruit while you're cooking. Also herbs and spices like ginger and turmeric and peppermint. Notice that those types of herbs are used for digestive support in many teas. You'll often hear of ginger, turmeric or peppermint teas recommended for an upset stomach, so it makes sense that they are digestive aids. And speaking of hot beverages, coffee is a bitter food that helps your body produce bile.

Leah: Best news of the day.

Teresa: Right. But that being said, caffeine can cause problems like diarrhea after gallbladder surgery. So be careful. If you do still want to enjoy your morning coffee, start with a very small amount and see how you do. Sometimes I recommend switching to an organic water processed decaf coffee to still get the benefits of the bitterness without the caffeine. It might take some experimenting with caffeine to see what your tolerance is.

Leah: Yes. Coffee. Big thumbs up there. Another big thumbs up in my book, if you really love dark chocolate. Also, so there's the, just those bitter undertones; the darker the better of course. Like if, if we're talking milk chocolate, like this is not what we're talking about, we're talking, can you go 70, 80, even 90% dark chocolate? Like that's where you're going to get more of those bitter flavors and more of that stimulation of the digestion.

So you can work towards incorporating, you know, some of these foods, maybe you do some already, like what's one or two of those other options that you could throw in there? Maybe again, a lot of us start our morning with coffee already, so maybe your next step is to cook with more turmeric or ginger or add some arugula into your egg scramble in the morning instead of using regular baby spinach or something.

That's one way that you can get more of those bitter flavors in. You can also supplement with liquid digestive bitters. So this is a tincture of bitter herbs. It's, it's a mix with some water, a little bit of alcohol, and then some very bitter herbs like gentian root. You mentioned dandelion root extract before.

Ginger can be in there. So again, like these are really helpful for stimulating that bio flow, keeping it moving well. It helps to stimulate your own digestive juices all throughout the digestive tract. So I love, love, love digestive bitters, and the way I have most people use them is just, it comes in a little dropper bottle.

You suck up as much liquid as you can into that dropper and you drop it on your tongue. I, I, I use the term like, let it marinate on your tongue for like 10, 15 seconds. It is like the, the flavors are bitter, but I don't feel personally like they're disgustingly bitter, like you want to spit it out. It's just like, oh yeah, there's bitter flavor there.

So it does have a bit of a stronger flavor, but I think really most people tolerate it fairly well. And then you can spit it out after that 10 to 15 seconds. Otherwise, most people just swallow it down. Again, like you kind of get that bitter, those bitter receptors tickled a little bit more through the rest of the digestive tract.

If someone's really sensitive to the bitter flavor, you know, we might say, maybe you diluted a little bit in some water and then just drink it down. But again, I think really for the most part, people tolerate just letting it sit on the tongue for 10, 15 seconds, swallowing it, not a problem.

Teresa: And the whole point is that it is bitter. You know, so you don't want to dilute it too much because you want it to taste bitter because like you were saying earlier, you want it to stimulate the salivary glands to start the whole process. And if it's too watered down, well it's probably not going to happen.

Leah: Yeah, yeah. Right.

Teresa: And you can use those digestive bitters before you eat, or during a meal as well. Even sometimes between meals. Whenever you feel like your meal or snack just doesn't sit quite right in your stomach, you can use the digestive bitters to ease that discomfort. We like a brand called Urban Moonshine that we carry on our Nutrikey website.

And it's at our Twin Cities locations too. I recommend the whole dropper generally. But you can start out smaller if you want to just start with five drops or 10 drops. It just gets the digestive juices flowing. It has a strong taste, but it's worth it to help in those moments when you need that extra digestive help. And yeah, it's just a really quick, natural way to help with that.

Leah: Yeah. And I'm definitely in that camp of, like, I always keep a bottle, I keep it in my lunch bag so it travels with me when I come to work and I keep one at home just because you just sometimes never know when that meal is just not going to sit right. Like things bubble up a little bit and it does. I like, for me personally, I find it works really well, so I, I use it a lot with clients.

How you eat matters & the importance of chewing thoroughly

So it is, we did talk a lot about like what to eat, what to avoid, but actually how you eat also matters. Let's talk about this chewing thoroughly. Eating slowly can make a huge difference. Again, especially as your digestive tract is just trying to find that new homeostasis, that new balance. You know, if you've never really thought about how much you chew your food, this is the time to pay attention. I heard one time, 32 times because you have 32 teeth in your mouth, so every bite like try to aim for that:

30 to 32 times chewing. When you chew at the beginning of that digestive process, it takes a lot of work off the rest of the digestive tract and it helps, it just gives that digestive tract a little bit more time again to get those signals of like, oh, we've got food coming. Let's kick out more of those pancreatic enzymes. Let's kick out more of that bile. Like, let's get prepped and ready for this incoming food.

Teresa: It's also like that mechanical digestion, right? Yes. Like we have to break up our food to get it kind of almost, I usually say we need to get our food almost like a protein shake before it hits the intestines.

Leah: Right. Baby food, protein shake, you know, something along those lines.

Teresa: Yeah, so if your mouth isn't doing, then you're leaving it for your stomach to have to break it down. So give them a break. Chew your food.

Leah: End of story.

The importance of drinking enough water for bile support

Teresa: And we don't want to forget about drinking water. Bile is made up of mostly water, so we want to stay hydrated through the day to support that bile production and flow. Dehydration is actually a contributing factor to the development of gallstones in the first place. So if you're someone who forgets to drink water or doesn't like the taste of water, you will likely start to feel better if you start making it more of a priority.

And so I would say if you don't like the taste of water, really look into a filtration system for your water or filtered water of some kind. Maybe you add some lemon or lime, maybe put a little peel in there and we get a little bit of the bitter that we were talking about. But in some way picking up that hydration so that you're supporting your digestive system.

Leah: Yeah. I love that two for one with the, like the, a citrus peel or something like that. Just giving a little bit of flavor to the water. Yeah.

Consider keeping a food journal to note how digestion is going

And for some people, even keeping a simple food journal, jotting down what you ate in what amounts in general and just how you felt keeping those notes of how did your digestive tract do, you know, during the meal, after the meal, even for the next couple of hours. This, just that data to look back on can be really helpful in figuring out your personal triggers, especially in those first couple of weeks after surgery when your body's having to adjust to not having a gallbladder.

If something is causing bloating, cramps, diarrhea, it doesn't mean that you can never eat it ever again. It just might mean we got to scale it back for a little while. Try again when we're a little extra time down the road.

Example day of eating after gallbladder surgery

Teresa: Right. Well, now let's take all that we've talked about today and share an example of what a day of eating would look like after gallbladder surgery. Maybe for breakfast you could have a couple of eggs or maybe that one egg and three quarters to a cup of egg whites. Sweet potato, some butter.

Then maybe for lunch, making a chicken salad. I tell people what chicken salad, because it's mayo based, maybe go light on the mayo in the beginning. We can always add a little bit more later. But go a little bit light on that. An avocado oil based mayo, add some red grapes, maybe even a few of those dry roasted pecans and put it over a bed of greens.

For an afternoon snack, a protein shake blended up with protein powder, a half a cup of frozen raspberries and a tablespoon of nut butter. Kind of tastes like a peanut butter and jelly protein shake. And then for dinner, some baked white fish with lemon zest cooked with a little olive oil, some roasted zucchini, and maybe some rice. Or since it's fall perhaps we do some butternut squash. A fun seasonal vegetable.

Leah: Yeah, absolutely. Those are all sound delicious. Gallbladder out or not, I think. But yeah, those are all great examples. Another breakfast example might be a few patties of nitrate free chicken sausage or a turkey sausage. These are a little lower in fat than your traditional pork sausage. You have some apple slices or maybe even just some apple sauce to begin with. You know, something like that could give you a little bit of that protein, some good carbs, a little bit of fat, just to keep those blood sugars stable.

Lunch might be some nitrate free deli turkey slices, and you spread a little of that mayo or maybe even a little cream cheese in there. You wrap that around a couple of baby cucumbers. You know a snack might be some homemade chia pudding, so you take about a tablespoon of chia seeds in some water, soak them overnight and then you can top it with a pear that's been sliced up.

You can mix in a little vanilla protein powder, that'll up the protein factor a little bit, but that's super tasty. And dinner could be a simple stir fry. Shrimp is a really great high protein source that's really low in fat. Chicken breast, you know, cook that in a little bit of olive oil, avocado oil, toss in some frozen veggie stir fry mix, which, you know, once those thaw out or cook down a little bit, they are a bit softer.

So that's, that's helpful for a sensitive gut and you serve that over a little quinoa or some brown rice, use a little that, you know, tamari sauce or a good, like some coconut aminos, those frozen veggies, like I said, they come out a little bit softer than the raw veggies once you cook them down. So just might be something that you could have on hand after a surgery, a couple of bags of just some different blends of those, those frozen vegetables.

Key takeaways for living without a gallbladder

Teresa: Yeah, that’s a good tip. Well, let's wrap this up with a few key takeaways. Without a gallbladder, digestion looks a little different, but you can absolutely feel good again. Focus on smaller, balanced meals, include lean proteins, add in gentle fibers, and keep fats real but moderate. Avoid heavy fried foods and keep an eye on dairy and caffeine. And remember how you eat can be just as important as what you eat.

Leah: And if you are adjusting to life without a gallbladder, give yourself some patience and some time. Your digestion will adapt. And with a mindful approach, you can still enjoy delicious, nourishing meals that leave you feeling good afterwards. And if you find you are struggling and you're just needing some extra guidance, some extra ideas after gallbladder surgery, whether it was a recent procedure or whether it was 20 years ago, we want to help.

We went over a lot of the basics today. But with an individual counseling appointment, we cater to what works for you and your life and your lifestyle. So you can give us a call at 651-699-3438. Speak with one of our excellent front desk staff. You can speak with someone to set up an appointment, or you can visit our website, which is weightandwellness.com to learn more.

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And our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to provide each and every person with practical, real life solutions for eating real food. It's a simple, yet powerful message that eating real food is life changing. Thanks for listening. Make it a great day.