What should be noted in the diet after cholecystectomy

  Under normal circumstances, the bile produced by the human liver does not flow directly from the bile duct into the duodenum. When people do not eat, bile can enter the gallbladder through the cystic duct, concentrate and store in the gallbladder, and after eating, the gallbladder starts to contract, so that bile is discharged into the common bile duct and then into the duodenum to participate in the digestion and absorption of food. This is a physiological response to adapt to the human habit of meal sharing. This physiological response relies on the coordinated movement of the biliary tract to control the storage and discharge of bile. After cholecystectomy, the gallbladder has lost the function of concentrating and storing bile, so when the unconcentrated bile enters the small intestine. The concentration of bile acids in the patient’s intestine will not reach the critical microcolloid concentration. The content of their bile salts is also reduced by half than normal; if the food they consume contains more fat will cause poor digestion of fat. However, after a period of time, the body of these patients will gradually adapt to this situation, which will take about 2 to 3 months. So, what should be noted in the diet after cholecystectomy?  1, within 1 to 2 days of gallbladder removal, the function of the whole digestive system of the patient will be affected to a certain extent, so the food should be strictly fasted. At this time, intravenous drip can be used to supplement various nutrients. From the 3rd postoperative day onwards, patients can eat some liquid diet such as rice soup, soy milk, lotus root powder, juice, etc. according to the specific situation. Then gradually change to skim milk with sweet bread, rice porridge, bean curd soup, date paste and pasta, etc.  2. Within 1 month of gallbladder removal, patients should reduce the intake of fatty foods and forbid to eat high-fat foods and fried foods. Some patients may think that after gallbladder removal, their original disease has been cured, so they can change the habit of low-fat diet in the past, which is actually a wrong idea. After gallbladder removal, the body will lose the function of regulating the bile discharge into the intestine, and the digestion ability of fat will be weakened accordingly, so it is impossible to digest more fatty food in a short time, so these patients will often have symptoms such as bloating, diarrhea and indigestion after consuming fatty food. Therefore, patients after cholecystectomy should reduce the intake of fatty foods within one month after surgery, and can eat some low-fat semi-liquid food or low-fat soft meals, such as various kinds of porridge, noodles, pasta, bread, cookies, tofu, egg whites, skim milk and lean meat, vegetables and fruits with less fiber; they should also do not eat or try to eat less fatty meat, animal offal, egg yolk and fried food, and should not eat all kinds of high-fat and high-calorie “fast food”, cooking food should be used as little as possible animal oil, dishes should be steamed, stewed, cold mainly, avoid spicy and stimulating food, especially can not drink alcohol to reduce the adverse stimulation of the biliary tract.  3, 1 month after gallbladder removal, after several weeks of adaptation, the common bile duct connecting the liver and small intestine will gradually stretch and expand, thus replacing the gallbladder’s function of storing bile. If there is no obvious abnormality in the digestive function at this time, the patient can gradually enhance nutrition, and can generally consume ordinary diet, such as lean meat, aquatic products, milk and bean food, etc., and can also eat more soy products and mushroom food to supplement the lack of protein in the body. In general, the patient’s diet during this period should also be light, but there is no need to excessively restrict the intake of fat, because a certain amount of fat in the intestine is necessary to stimulate bile secretion as well as to expand the volume of the common bile duct and maintain the fluidity of the bile duct. In addition, eating more high-fiber and vitamin-rich foods is also very beneficial to the recovery of patients after cholecystectomy.  4.Patients who have had their gallbladder removed for 3-6 months can increase the number of meals appropriately. However, it should be noted that each meal should not be eaten more than once, because eating less and more meals can reduce the burden of the digestive system, which is beneficial to the recovery of the patient’s body after surgery. In addition, during this period, it is better for patients to eat some vinegar every day, because vinegar will not only enhance the digestive function of the stomach, but also regulate the acidity and alkalinity in the intestine, which is beneficial to the function of bile. Drinking tea regularly and eating more fresh fruits and vegetables also help the digestion and absorption of food.