Diet in diseases of the biliary tract

Successful treatment largely depends on the patient’s diet and lifestyle, so diet for biliary tract diseases is one of the main factors in effectively combating the disease.

Pathologies of the biliary tract include such diseases as calculous disease and its exacerbation (colic), cholangitis and cholecystitis in acute or chronic form. The most common combined disease is calculous cholecystitis - the formation of stones in the inflamed gallbladder.

[ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ], [ 7 ]

Nutrition for diseases of the biliary tract

Nutrition for acute and chronic cholecystitis is slightly different. During an exacerbation, food should be as light and gentle as possible, not putting a lot of strain on the digestive system. The first day, you should exclude food, switching completely to herbal teas: chamomile, rose hips, currants, linden. The next day, you can eat mucous soups and strained porridges, weak broths with the addition of rice, rolled oats, barley or wheat groats.

The medical diet for cholecystitis is recommended under number 5.

Chronic cholecystitis outside the acute stage requires eating foods that improve bile secretion and reduce cholesterol levels. Sugar is completely excluded from the diet, and a sufficient amount of fiber is introduced. In acute periods, a diet similar to a fasting day is adopted: this can be a kefir, rice, or watermelon day.

To improve the flow of bile, meals should become frequent but not abundant, the so-called fractional - up to 8 times a day. This will significantly reduce the load on the gallbladder.

The drinking regimen includes drinking a sufficient amount of liquid in the form of pure water, tea, and compotes. You should avoid highly carbonated mineral water, fizzy drinks, and especially alcohol.

What is the diet for biliary tract diseases?

Inadequate and unbalanced nutrition is of decisive importance in the etiology of the development of inflammation in the bile ducts. Fried, pickled, fatty and spicy dishes rich in cholesterol and lipids, overeating and irregular food intake greatly affect the quality of biochemical processes in the body. This contributes to the formation of sand and stones from inorganic and organic substances that accumulate in the gallbladder and ducts. If the diet is balanced, then metabolic processes proceed normally and deposits do not form.

A diet for gallbladder pathologies involves reducing the amount of foods with cholesterol and increasing the amount of plant components in food. You should eliminate fatty foods (meaning animal fats), alcohol, limit the amount of salt, pepper, spices, avoid drinking strong coffee and carbonated drinks. It is not recommended to starve or overeat - the liver is very sensitive to imbalances in food intake. Breakfast, snack, lunch break, afternoon snack and dinner - the minimum number of meals. You need to eat small portions, getting up from the table, without waiting for a feeling of satiety. Snacks should consist of some fruits or a low-calorie vegetable salad.

You should drink about 2 liters of water per day between meals, not during them. Carbonated water can be drunk after settling to remove carbon dioxide. Preference should be given to alkaline mineral waters: Truskavets, Morshinskaya, Borjomi, Nabeglavi, etc.

Diet menu for diseases of the biliary tract

An approximate menu option for pathology of the gallbladder and ducts looks like this:

• Breakfast – cottage cheese casserole made from low-fat cottage cheese, egg whites and honey, rosehip tea.
• Snack – fruit salad with honey or yogurt.
• Lunch – rice soup with mashed tomatoes, baked chicken breast with vegetables, green tea.
• Afternoon snack – fruit and berry compote with crackers.
• Dinner: potato and carrot casserole with sour cream, herbal tea.
• A glass of kefir at night.

Second option:

• Breakfast: protein steam omelette, a piece of yesterday's bread, fruit juice.
• Snack – apple or pear.
• Lunch – cream of zucchini soup, buckwheat with steamed fish cutlets, tomato juice.
• Afternoon snack – oatmeal cookies, yogurt.
• Dinner: fish baked in foil with vegetables, tea.
• At night – a glass of yogurt.

Third option:

• Breakfast – rice pudding with strawberry jam, herbal tea.
• Snack: apple baked with cottage cheese.
• Lunch – vegetable soup, pilaf with chicken, berry compote.
• Afternoon snack: fruit salad with Greek yogurt.
• Dinner: fish casserole with vegetable salad, rosehip tea.
• At night – tea with milk.

Dietary products are mainly cooked in a steamer, boiled or baked in the oven or microwave. Fried foods irritate the digestive tract, so their use is excluded.

Dishes should be undersalted, consuming no more than 8-10 g of salt per day.

Despite the rich menu, portions of dishes should be small, you should not eat until you feel full. Overeating increases the load on the gallbladder and increases pain.

The diet for diseases of the biliary tract consists of wholesome products that serve as the basis for a rational balanced diet. Such nutrition is indicated not only in the presence of the disease, but also as a preventive measure against pathologies and exacerbations of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

What can you eat if you have biliary tract diseases?

• lean meat dishes cooked in a steamer or in the oven (do not fry), mainly chicken, turkey, veal;
• dairy products, non-acidic yogurt, fresh kefir, cottage cheese, unsalted feta cheese (soaked), low-fat cheeses, fermented baked milk, yogurts;
• egg whites in the form of omelettes or boiled;
• non-acidic fresh fruits and berries (pears, sweet varieties of apples, melons, watermelons, strawberries, wild strawberries);
• vegetable crops (potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, zucchini, beets, celery);
• bread only in the form of crackers, toasts; fresh baked goods are prohibited;
• the amount of vegetable oil in the daily diet should be limited to 25 ml per day, butter – to 20 g;
• cereal porridges (oatmeal, rice, semolina, buckwheat);
• pasta, vermicelli;
• honey, sour jam, jam;
• fish cooked in a steamer or boiled;
• milk or vegetable soup.

Diet recipes for diseases of the biliary tract can also be used for other diseases of the digestive tract: gastritis, enterocolitis, pancreatitis. The goal of such a diet is to minimize the load on the digestive system and liver, stimulate bile secretion, and restore metabolism. In the chronic and calculous form of the disease, it is recommended to follow this type of diet constantly so as not to provoke an exacerbation of the disease.

What should you not eat if you have biliary tract diseases?

To reduce the load on the bile excretion and digestion systems in general, it is necessary to exclude the following products from the daily menu:

• fatty soups, borscht and strong broths;
• saturated fats of animal origin;
• egg yolk;
• fresh baked goods, including sweet ones;
• salty foods (chips, crackers, roach, sausages);
• smoked products (lard, fish, meat, cheese);
• sauce mayonnaise, ketchup, adjika, satsibeli;
• sugar;
• strong coffee, chocolate, cakes, pastries;
• offal;
• plants containing oxalic acid (rhubarb, spinach, parsley);
• legumes (lentils, peas, beans, soybeans).

The food consumed should be at a moderate temperature (not too hot and not from the refrigerator).

In cases where the gallbladder has been removed, this diet will have to be followed for life. It is not difficult and should become a habit over time:

• exclude fatty foods, hot spices and fried foods;
• do not eat too much at one sitting (you need to eat a little every 2-3 hours);
• do not starve (you can only have light fasting days on rice porridge or kefir);
• Avoid drinking alcohol in any form.

Over time, when the digestive system returns to normal, the diet can be expanded a little, after consulting with a doctor.