Is It Possible to Do Keto Without a Gallbladder?

 

Is It Possible to Do Keto Without a Gallbladder?

The good news is you don’t have to swear off healthy fats and you can still follow a keto diet even without your gallbladder.

But you’ll need to make some important adjustments or you’ll experience malabsorption issues.

If your body isn’t processing fats right, you’ll notice stools that[*]:

• Smell bad
• Are bulky and soft
• Tend to float or even leave marks on the side of the toilet

You may also experience diarrhea, which further depletes your body of important nutrients, this time electrolytes.

To avoid those uncomfortable side effects, keep these tips in mind if ketosis is your goal.

Ways to Follow a Keto Diet If Your Gallbladder Was Removed

Practice these strategies every day and you should be able to safely enjoy being on a keto diet.

1. Ease Into Keto and Reduce Your Carbs Slowly

It doesn’t matter if you’ve recently removed your gallbladder or it’s been gone for over a decade, it’s still crucial you take a much slower approach to the keto transition than most people would.

Aiming for fast results by adding too many fats or cutting too many carbs at once may lead you straight towards malabsorption as it can put too much strain on your system.

So instead of completely transitioning to keto overnight, you should start one meal at a time, per day.

On day one, for example, you might add a little more fat to your breakfast or lunch while swapping out a few carbs.

Then see how your body reacts before adding additional fats to another meal.

If your stools don’t change much, you can try adding a little bit more fat to your meals the following day.

However, if you experience digestional upset, you may need to cut your fat intake in half before you start adding more to other meals.

Another trick that may help is noshing on carb sources that specifically increase your bile production, such as apples, as you start to introduce more fats to your diet.

Apples can also help your body digest your increased fat intake.

The same happens when you follow this next tip.

2. Pair Your Fats with Soluble Fiber

When you add more fats to your meals and you notice your stools becoming greasy or oily, there’s a good chance your body is unable to digest all the fats you’re eating.

But before you decide to forgo keto, you may need to try eating your fats with soluble fiber instead[*].

Found in nuts, seeds and veggies, this type of fiber pulls water into the digestion process and turns it into a gel-like substance to help your body break down food and fat properly[*][*].

So by pairing your meals containing more fat with some soluble fiber, you may be able to help your body safely transition and stay in ketosis.

Here’s a list of keto-friendly foods packed with fiber[*]:

• Brussels sprouts
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Asparagus
• Artichokes
• Apples (for the transition period only)
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Flaxseeds
• Chia seeds

There are also a few more ways you can help your digestion run smoothly.

3. Help Your Body Digest Foods Properly

In addition to eating foods high in soluble fiber, the following foods can also send a signal to your liver to secrete more bile[*]:

• Lemon
• Lime
• Celery
• Sauerkraut
• Apple cider vinegar
• Ginger

The more bile your liver produces, the easier time your body will have breaking down your additional fat intake.

Two more ways to do just that include using digestive enzymes and ox bile.

These supplements both trigger your body’s own stomach enzymes and bile to get to work on the foods you eat. This means they’re effectively digested and all the nutrients from your meals are absorbed.

This next tip is one you may not have considered, but it’s just as essential as the rest.

4. Stay Hydrated, With One Exception

You’ve probably already heard how important it is to drink water, but if you’re doing so just before or after your meals, you’re not doing your body any favors.

See, when you drink liquids with or around meals, you’re actually flushing out your body’s own digestive enzymes.

These guys show up to break down the food you’re eating, but once you take a few sips of water with your meal, you’re essentially washing them right down your intestinal tract before they can get to work.

To make sure you don’t do this, avoid drinking liquids with your meals and 30 minutes before and after them.

Making this next switch can also create a big difference too.

5. Opt for Medium Chain Fatty Acids Over Long Chain Ones

Most people don’t have to worry about which fatty acids to eat just as long as they’re getting a healthy balance of both medium and long chain.

But when it comes to people without their gallbladder, this isn’t the case.

See, long-chain fatty acids, such as those found in milk, beef and egg yolks, for example, are much harder to digest and require more bile to process.

For someone without a gallbladder, this is a lot of work and it may not be properly completed, leading to fat malabsorption.

A less taxing way to get in your essential fats without causing more work for your body is to choose medium-chain fatty acids, such as those found in grass-fed butter and coconut fats.

With a shorter chain to break down, your body doesn’t need as much bile and it has a better chance of absorbing the nutrients found in these foods since it can actually break them down properly.

Using pure MCT oil from coconuts is another efficient way to help your body break down the fats you eat while also boosting your ketone levels.

This is because MCT oil doesn’t require any bile to be properly digested and absorbed, which means it’s even less work for your body.

At least early on in your keto journey, you should avoid the long chain fatty acids found in nuts, seeds, avocados, olives and meats until your body adjusts.

Reach for foods packed with medium-chain fatty acids such as the ones found in grass-fed butter and MCT oil instead.

Keto Without a Gallbladder: It Is Possible With Minor Adjustments

By keeping these tips in mind, you may be able to enjoy a keto diet safely even if your gallbladder was removed.

You’ll want to pay very close attention to how your body is digesting your food. If you see signs your body is struggling to process the increased fat intake of a ketogenic diet, you’ll need to tweak your process and make slight adjustments.

https://perfectketo.com/keto-without-gallbladder/