In this revised edition of his best-selling book, formerly The Amazing Liver Cleanse, Andreas Moritz addresses the most common but rarely recognized cause of illness - gallstones congesting the liver. Twenty million Americans suffer from attacks of gallstones every year. In many cases, treatment merely consists of removing the gallbladder, at the cost of $5 billion a year. But this purely symptom-oriented approach does not eliminate the cause of the illness, and in many cases, sets the stage for even more serious conditions. Most adults living in the industrialized world, and especially those suffering a chronic illness such as heart disease, arthritis, MS, cancer, or diabetes, have hundreds if not thousands of gallstones (mainly clumps of hardened bile) blocking the bile ducts of their liver. This book provides a thorough understanding of what causes gallstones in the liver and gallbladder and why these stones can be held responsible for the most common diseases so prevalent in the world today.
It provides the reader with the knowledge needed to recognize the stones and gives the necessary, do-it-yourself instructions to painlessly remove them in the comfort of one's home. It also gives practical guidelines on how to prevent new gallstones from being formed.
The widespread success of The Amazing Liver & Gallbladder Flush is a testimony to the power and effectiveness of the cleanse itself. The liver cleanse has led to extraordinary improvements in health and wellness among thousands of people who have already given themselves the precious gift of a strong, clean, revitalized liver.
Andreas Moritz is a Medical Intuitive and practitioner of Ayurveda, Iridology, Shiatsu and Vibrational Medicine. Author of The Amazing Liver & Gallbladder Flush, Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation, Lifting the Veil of Duality and It's Time to Come Alive. Founder of the innovative healing systems, Ener-Chi Art and Sacred Santemony - Divine Chanting for Every Occasion.
For today’s edition of, I’m answering two questions. Both concern the gallbladder.
First, how does a high-fat ketogenic diet relate to the presence of gall stones? Can the former cause the latter? Or is the story a bit more complicated than that?
Then, I discuss which fats are most amenable to the gall bladder-less. Also, where does non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD, come in?Let’s go:So I’m currently in school for diagnostic medical sonography, and interestingly enough, while learning to scan gall bladders I found that I have a stone! It’s mobile, but currently looks like it is too big to migrate into the cystic duct (whew). I have been doing a ketogenic diet for a few years, and am curious if you have any knowledge of data on people on the diet and gallbladder pathologies?Also I have a report do in a month or so, and am choosing to focus on the ‘leaky gut syndrome’ that I’ve heard you speak of, and was wondering if you have access to any data about that?Ok, well thanks for everything man!
Love your work!-Ben YarbroughGallstones are a tricky one. We all know that gall stones and gall bladders have something to do with how much fat we eat. Here’s how I currently understand diet’s relation to gall stones:The primary role of the gall bladder is to collect bile from the liver, concentrate it into potent super-bile (my term), and release the concentrated bile to break up incoming dietary fat into smaller molecules that lipase can attack and digest. Dietary fat is the.If the gall bladder isn’t regularly emptied, gall stones can form. Usually made of hardened cholesterol, gall stones are quite common and often produce no symptoms.
Problems arise when normal gall bladder emptying flushes out a stone small enough to make it into but too large to pass through the bile duct and a blockage occurs. Gall stones can also directly damage the walls of the gall bladder, leading to cholecystis, or gallbladder inflammation.A high-fat diet can exacerbate or even uncover gall stone issues by increasing gall bladder emptying. Remember: the more fat you eat, the more often you empty your gall bladder—and everything in it. But the original cause of the gall stones isn’t the high-fat diet.It’s not eating enough fat, believe it or not.
That’s right: assuming there aren’t any gall stones present, eating more fat will keep your gall bladder clear of stones. Risk factors for gallstone formation are as follows:. A.
High levels, which concentrate cholesterol deposition in the gall bladder. This is why women, especially pregnant women and/or those taking hormonal birth control, are more likely to have gall stones. Obesity, which also increases cholesterol levels in the gall bladder.One of the bigger risk factors for gallstone formation is weight loss, with a caveat: high-fat diets reduce and even prevent gallstone formation. In fact, when you compare people who lose weight on a low-fat diet to those who lose it on a high-fat diet, that 45% of the low-fatters develop gallstones while none of the high-fatters develop them.That’s right. Zero.When you don’t eat enough fat, and the gall bladder isn’t emptied regularly, the bile gets more concentrated. Anything that’s in the bile, like cholesterol, also becomes more concentrated.
If it hardens, you’ve got yourself a stone.Although the common treatment for gall stones is to just remove the bladder, there are other ways that don’t involve removing an organ. You can use ultrasound to break the stones up into tiny, easy-to-pass pieces. That same study found that a drug called ursodeoxycholic acid, or UDCA, can dissolve gallstones already present in the gall bladder.What I think is happening in your case? I’m not a doctor, but I’d say your ketogenic diet hasn’t caused the gallstones, but the increased fat intake may flush them out. Ask your doctor about UDCA. Once you’ve got the gallstones cleared out or dissolved, sticking with a high-fat intake should decrease your risk of developing any more.As for leaky gut, I wrote a decent post that.
You should find it a good place to start.Where do coconut and mct oil fall in this category? Especially for someone without a gallbladder and NAFLD? Thanks!For folks without gall bladders, coconut and MCT oil are probably better options than longer-chain fats. The shorter-chain fatty acids found in coconut oil and MCT oil don’t require as much bile to break apart, so the concentrated bile produced by the gall bladder isn’t necessary.Remember, your liver still makes bile without a gall bladder. It’s just not the super-concentrated potent stuff a gall bladder spews out.Honestly, it’s unclear how having a non-alcoholic fatty liver changes things. There’s that missing your gall bladder increases the risk of fatty liver, but that’s neither here nor there. You’ve already got NAFLD.
What to do?Well, short chain fats seem to be better for fatty liver than others. One study compared soybean oil (high PUFA omega-6) to coconut oil in rodents, finding that than soybean oil. That’s good news.
You can also take some extra steps to improve liver health and bile activity.Support your liver with from. Higher fat intakes require greater amounts of choline to allow the liver to process the fat.Support glutathione production and recycling with, and any polyphenol-rich foods you can imagine (, etc).Consider some taurine (or beef heart), which.Consider some ox bile products, which may replace some of the effects the gall bladder typically provides.Consider bitters (or foods with bitter flavors), which have been used for centuries to improve digestion.You may have to moderate your fat intake until you get everything sorted out. Use your symptoms as a guideline: if you feel nauseated, get loose stools, and have stomach issues after eating a high-fat meal, dial it back.That’s it for today, everyone. Thanks for reading!I’d love to hear about your experiences with gall stones or without a gall bladder. Extra points if you’ve dealt with NAFLD, too.
I did about a year and a half of a little to no carb diet that did not go well. Part of the bad results were my first experience with pain from gallstones. I found a home remedy of downing some diluted apple vinegar that took car of the pain, but after a while I had to take the apple vinegar every night before bed, otherwise the gallstone pain would wake me in the middle of the night. After I introduced carbs back into my diet, I’ve rarely had any problems with my gallbladder. Just one person’s experience. Bitter foods include arugula, chicory, collard greens, bitter melon (never tried this personally), unsweetened cocoa, coffee, citrus peel, nettles, dandelions, chard, endive, rocket.
From an internet search, it looks like several of the cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower) are also considered to be bitter.When I prepare some foods that I consider to taste bitter, but I know are good for me, I add just a splash of cider vinegar, which seems to cut the bitterness some. I use a weak vinegar solution to wash my garden lettuce that has bolted too, which seems to reduce its bitterness. I just recently (9/23) had my gall bladder removed because of inflammation and it was “the most packed with stones” the surgeon had ever seen.
This article is very interesting to me now. So far, I have been eating as before and haven’t had any problems.
I’m also almost fully recovered and back to most of my normal activities, except going back to the gym. I’ll give it a little more time before doing that but I am working on body weight movements otherwise. I’m male, 47 and in fairly good shape. Still experimenting with food since the surgery but it’s not been an issue for me so far! OK, very good article. As someone that has been battling my gall bladder for 30 years, this really explains and lot but also leaves me with questions.
I was on birth control for about 6 years in the ’70’s. Then in the ’80’s or so a “new diet” emerged of very low to no fats.
🙁 Yes, lots tons of weight but that is when I began the gall bladder war. I’d eat something fatty have a flare up and husband would have to do Foot Reflexology to relieve the spasm. Over and over and over again through the years. Then about 2 yrs. Ago I started have the juice of One Lemon, 1/2 tsp. Honey in warm water every morning before any food. I have Not had a Flare Up all this time.
I do have one very large stone done by an imaging company. What is the lemon juice doing?
5 or 6 years ago I had a series of half a dozen or so gallbladder attacks over the course of a year. Most only lasted a couple minutes to a couple hours, but two of them were 23 and 30 hours of the most intense pain I’ve ever felt. I was hunched over in bed, or in the shower, thinking that death would be a welcome alternative. It was over a one year waiting list for the gallbladder surgery, and by the time they called me for an appointment, I already had it under control with a very low fat diet. I was basically living off chicken breasts, rice, and veggies. I was also taking a Burberis Vulgaris tincture, which is said to help the gallbladder. It could have been a placebo effect, I don’t know, but the gallbladder generally seemed to relax shortly after taking it, if I took it the moment I felt signs of an oncoming attack.
I had already eliminated Margarine and canola oil from my diet, as I had read that they can be a contributor, and as I started bringing more animal fats back into my diet, I discovered this website. I’ve gone on and off a primal diet a number of times since then (my old line of work didn’t leave a lot of time for home cooking.
Much easier to maintain since the career change), dropped about 30 pounds of body fat, and the only times I’ve felt my gallbladder since, were the times I was regularly eating wheat (I don’t know if it’s the inflammation wheat causes, or the weight gain, or what). But even then, they weren’t full-blown attacks. I’m back on a primal diet now (hopefully to stay!), with an excellent workout routine from Mark Laurens “You Are Your Own Gym”, and I’ve never felt better. If gallstones are still a manageable size, you can do a flush to clear them out. There is a book (The liver and gallbladder miracle cleanse) which gives the details of the cleanse. To make it more low carb friendly you can substitute malic acid powder in water, or gold coin grass tincture to soften and break down gallstones and omit grains from the cleanse guidelines. I have done this and seen my gallstones come out the other end.
Though it is not useful once gallstones become too large, it is a good preventative tool for those of us who haven’t always eaten clean. I’ve followed this protocol a couple of times from the book, The Amazing Liver and Gall Bladder Flush by Andreas Moritz.
One week on a vegetarian diet and malic acid. I started on a Monday and did the flush on a Sunday. On the last day you eat lightly, drink an olive oil and citrus drink before bed. In the am you tend to have several bowel movements. I passed whitish, calcified irregular shaped pieces along with pea green putty consistency pieces. The book recommends once a month or six weeks to continue this protocol until one no longer has excretions.
The malic acid is to soften the stones and the epsom salt is suppose to dilate the bile duct so that the stones can pass. I used a straw for the epsom salt as that was some nasty stuff. I also encapsulated the malic acid for daily use.This was at least seven years ago. Since I’ve read many controversial articles essentially stating that it’s about the olive oil.
Frankly, I’ve never seen calcified olive oil.Wondering if anyone has followed this protocol, your results, or other information to contribute to this particular protocol. I followed the Moritz Liver & Gallbladder cleanse.
It works to flush out stones-painlessly. His book is thorough and explains the flush process in precise detail. YouTube videos are available too.
Simple shopping list of inexpensive items too, nothing fancy. I had small green pea size stones issue out, I was stunned. Moritz states that the American diet regrettably guarantees stones in everybody, by the hundreds ( even in children are found to have them).Hope someone else is helped with this info! After my pregnancy I had severe pain from gallstones. This was before I was primal.
I had “quite a few” gallstones and as per the advice I went low fat as it stopped the pain. However, I was concerned that eating no fat was really not healthy (though I lost a stone of the baby weight) and after researching started eating some fats that I found I could tolerate, oily fish, avocados, olive oil, nuts. Eventually, I had a date for surgery, but my symptoms had gone and on the advice of my doctor, cancelled the operation.I went primal and can eat saturated fats,so I assume I am fine, that was 6 1/2 years ago.
Thank you for this. I started having gall bladder attacks the very first month I did the Whole 30. I continued to have them as I changed my diet over to a paleo protocol. Six months in, I was diagnosed as having gallstones.
I refused to have surgery–but I also stopped eating paleo, afraid of having attacks. (They would last 3 days on average.) Another one came, inevitably, but this time there were two stuck in the duct between the pancreas and the gal bladder and the pancreas was secreting so many enzymes to cope with the intruders it was essentially digesting itself. So, the gall bladder was taken out. That was a year ago. It’s been a long year. (A snack which includes lots of hummus can be problematic, if you know what I mean.) Thanks for the info about coconut oil.
I use it occasionally, but I think I’ll start using it more often. I’ve been HFLCMP for about 6 years now (lost 45lbs, gained back over half trying to move off plateau with whey shakes – turns out I’m very susceptible to the insulin-raising nature of whey – who knew?), after years of lowered fat, “healthy whole grains”, root veggies, and canola (SUCH a good girl!!!). Not to mention years of high dose Ortho-NovumTurns out I have 2 large stones, 1.5 and 2.5cm. They don’t give me any trouble – save the occasional twinge – but I would like to get rid of them without losing any bits and pieces.I would be willing to try UDCA, but the docs say there there, we can just snip it out, no problems (???!), UDCA requires SO much time, and has a 50% failure rate (and, conversely,a 50% success rate!) Gallbladder lithotripsy sounds like a good 1st step, and maybe a sufficient one, if it really produces fine sand. At least as long as the ultrasound doesn’t detrimentally impact the kidneys and other abdominal organsI’m also 67, female, and fatter than I should be.So – my question is: does anybody know who does this? It seems to have fallen from favour ( at least for stones still in the gallbladder), and Mr.
Google pointed me only to a paper by 2 Chinese docs who have developed a shatter-and-vacum system for the extraction of stones stuck in the ducts.All help appreciated. Hi Leaf Eating Carnivore, i think my partner’s experience (Primal diet as of 5 years ago) will be of great interest and very relevant to you. I found a very knowledgeable and helpful Dr who was very prompt in replying to my concerns. Here’s my contact to her followed by her reply. Her website is“JBApril 24, 2017 at 3:20 pmI would greatly appreciate a prompt responsemy partner, who was diagnosed with MS 5 years ago after an attack that affected the vision in her left eye.
Her MS is managed through diet and this has worked brilliantly. We focus on avoiding/repairing leaky gut, promoting great digestion and a very healthful diet. However, recently she has had a gallstone attack, which resulted in jaundice, hepatitis and an overnight stay in hospital (all cleared up now).
An ultrasound scan has shown that my partner has a large (27mm) and a number of small gallstones. Having researched gallstones, it seems a most likely cause of the stones has been my partner being on the contraceptive pill for many years.The hospital has stated that gallbladder removal is the only way to address her gallstones.
I am worried of the effects this will have on her digestion long term and the management of her MS, through an anti-inflammatory diet (packed with key nutrients) and lifestyle. I am struggling to find information for us to to decide the best route forward. Is it possible to remove the cause (i.e. Stop taking the Pill) and dissolve such a large stone with medication or ox bile? Is this approach too risky? And is gallbladder removal is the best course of action, is it possible to ensure that the effects upon digestion and inflammation of the intestines (due to dripping bile) be corrected through supplementation, etc?
I would very much appreciate any help and advice you can offer.Thanks in anticipationJB”Here is her reply.“DrSarahBrewer Post authorApril 24, 2017 at 4:26 pmHi JB, I have information on diet and gallstones HERE which you may already have seen, and there is a link to the Multiple Sclerosis Diet HERE. In an ideal world it would be possible to remove the stone and retain the gallbladder, but in practice this rarely works well. Stones usually reform because the gallbladder doesn’t contract properly which can occur for a variety of reasons that are not properly understood. Surgery to remove a stone but retain the gallbladder would cause additional swelling and scarring, and the essential oils used to dissolve a stone can irritate the gallbladder lining and lead to inflammation and further stiffening. The end result is that bile is once again retained and concentrated so that salts and cholesterol precipitate out. When the gallbladder is removed, bile trickles into the gut regularly rather than being squirted in when needed.
For most people this causes no problems, although a few people do experience diarrhoea (postcholecystectomy syndrome). In fact, because a large stone is present, gallbladder emptying is most likely already dysfunctional and the bowel has already adapted to bile trickling down as-and-when it is produced. Perhaps you can discover how others with MS have fared after gallbladder surgery via the Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis forum at I hope that helps. As I write this I’m looking at my own gallstone in a glass container – it was the size of a quail’s egg and I’m very glad it is now sitting on my shelf! Best wishes, Sarah B”I hope this helps.The issues seem very relevant to you. There are ways and means of supporting your digestion to ensure that it is likely improved after you remove your poorly functioning gallbladder. There are significant risks of keeping it in the state it is in.Best regardsJB.
I know this is an old thread but wanted to comment. I now eat a low carb, high fat, moderate protein diet – not quite ketogenic, but no grains and minimal potatoes. I was terrified to do this because I have fatty liver, celiac disease, IBS, and gallbladder sludge/inflammation. When my cholesterol hit 290 and my blood sugar went from pre diabetes to diabetic, I knew I had to do something drastic, so I research diets that reverse diabetes. Since going high fat low carb, my cholesterol fell 100 points in 3 months, and my blood sugar is approaching normal. I have not had as many gallbladder flairs, and I was afraid it would get worse.
I find that carbs and sugar make my gallbladder and gastro issues much worse. Oh, and the diet has completely reversed my hypertension. I went from having a blood pressure that would spike at 180/100 to a regular blood pressure of 110/80. I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.
With regard to gallbladder pain – I am lucky not to have stones, but have had inflammation and sludge. When and if I have twinges, I do two things. First, I start using a high quality milk thistle. There is some thought that gallbladder problems originate in the liver, and milk thistle protects the liver. I would take it every day, but it gives me a mild headache. The second thing I do is a juice that consists of one apple, one celery stalk, one carrot, one baby beet, and one small piece of ginger. This normally would have too much sugar from the beet and the apple, but it is a remarkable tonic for liver discomfort and/or gallbladder pain.
Twice usually does the trick – its a miracle juice. Has to be fresh though, and truly juice, not blended, because that contains too much fiber. Anyway this is what has worked for my gallbladder and liver issues, and the high fat/low carb diet has not made it worse at all. Hi Mark,I too am an ultrasound technologist for the past 22 years.
I routinely look at my GB for demonstration purposes so I know exactly where and what it looks like. I have been following a ketogenic diet for the past 2 months with IF and today I scanned my GB and to my surprise saw a very large GB and my CBD was also enlarged. I am very confused since I scanned myself about 2-3 hrs after lunch which consisted of 1/2 avocado, olive oil, pumpkin, chia seeds and 2-3 TBS of cashews along with leafy greens and chicken breast. GB is suppose to be contracted post prandial and well mine is doing the opposite. Have you heard of anyone reporting this?
No sign of any GB stones or sludgethanks for any guidance.Pantea. I have been eating low-carb, moderate protein, high fat (lots of butter, cacao, coconut, MCT oil, avocados, etc.) for some time. For some reason my AST and ALT are elevated, maybe related to a diagnosed hyperthyroid condition of unknown cause.Thinking it is a sign of liver problems, the doctor ordered an abdominal ultrasound which came up clean except that I have an “enlarged gallbladder with no gallstones present”. The NAFLD I was diagnosed with years ago, when I was eating lots of processed high-carb crap, is gone.Like most doctors, this one doesn’t know much about nutrition and since most people eat high-carb low-fat, I don’t trust he will have much insight about why an enlarged gallbladder would happen.It seems plausible that the gallbladder could be enlarged in people eating keto and high fat diets as they need to have more bile to digest the fat. So having a larger buffer for storing bile to release a lot of bile quickly would make biological sense.Perhaps an enlarged gallbladder with no stones is a sign of healthy adaptation to ketogenic and high-fat diets?If so, it seems likely conventional doctors would be clueless about this since most people eat SAD and give themselves high-carb diseases like NAFLD and type 2 diabetes and would be more likely to get gallstones due to stagnating bile in the gallbladder.