Type 2 and gallstones

There are quite a few people on the forum who follow LCHF with no gallbladders at all.
I'm wracking my brains but I can't think of any names at the moment. I think they don't add a lot of extra fat a the beginning but also don't avoid fattier foods like meat, bacon, dairy etc.. hopefully some will come along soon .

I was diagnosed with gallstones years ago. I was offered an op but wouldn't be able to drive for several weeks. As I was looking after my mum 70 miles away I refused the op. Several years down the line, i was dx T2 and went keto. Never gave the gallstones a thought.

Juju66 said:

I have been diagnosed as Type 2 two years ago after a gallstone attack which brought problems with my health to light. I was prepared to follow a low carb diet but on research found it used full fat products which obviously I cannot have due to the gallstones. I am now desperate to loose the weight so my all round health can be improved but find myself increasingly frustrated as which way to turn and which diet to follow. Can any one advise?

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So far as I'm aware research has indicated that gallstones are a product of not eating enough fat and are the reason why fats in the form of seed oils are added to the Newcastle Diet protocol in order to avoid developing them when following the low fat starvation method of weight loss.
Personally I avoid seed oils at all costs so would just enjoy fatty meat instead.

Antje77 said:

I don't know about that, but I've always eaten plenty of fat and still got the stupid stones.

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Dunno either although the NHS says


Hence the recommended oils on the ND..which is by nature very low fat.

I had my gall bladder removed in 2000 well before my type 2 diagnosis. I had had several gallbladder attacks over a year or two prior to having the operation, with no rhyme or reason to what set the attacks off. I can eat as much or as little fat as I like now with no ill effects.

Gallstone attacks for several years prior to removal. T2 diagnosis a few months later. As did many followed the low fat guidelines Prior to diagnosis and low carb eating. I attribute the stones to this low fat eating and lack of stimulation of the gallbladder. And science backs that up. However once I had them fats sometimes triggered attacks. Once the gallbladder was removed and I was onto low carb high fat eating I found I had to increase the fats gradually and across the day. I now eat as much as I need in the way of fats without issue. And no more pain which was excruciating at times and involved several hospital trips due to the severity of pain without a diagnosis at the time and lots of (incorrect) speculation as to what was causing it. Oddly it was the fear of it deteriorating into pancreatitis and causing diabetes that swayed me into the decision to remove the gallbladder. Little did I know it was heading my way anyway

I have known someone diagnosed with gallstones who was somehow left off the list for the op. when he got around to asking about it, his diagnostic scan was out of date, so he was sent for another one - no stones. He said that they were cross with him for wasting their time, but he'd been having quite severe pains some years earlier. Though since taking cod liver oil, he said, he'd felt better and not had any problems....

Resurgam said:

I have known someone diagnosed with gallstones who was somehow left off the list for the op. when he got around to asking about it, his diagnostic scan was out of date, so he was sent for another one - no stones. He said that they were cross with him for wasting their time, but he'd been having quite severe pains some years earlier. Though since taking cod liver oil, he said, he'd felt better and not had any problems....

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I had a nasty attack a week preop, the first in several months. It convinced to keep the appointment I had considered bailing on as I was reluctant to chop bits of my body out.

Oddly on admission for mine they said “oh you’re the diabetic!” No I said, confident they had mistaken me (not confidence inspiring though really) . 6 months later I was diagnosed. Fasting pre op bgl results, I delved into later, showed they were right all along.

Overall, having got the darn (not allowed to express it more accurately) large stones I’m glad it’s all gone. Though with hindsight I wish I had never done the crazy low fat nonsense that probably caused them initially. Had I known when they were much smaller I’d have tried to disperse/pass them using a high fat diet and maybe slow action dispersal medication (usually discouraged on the basis they typically reform - due to assumed lack of diet change)

Antje77 said:

Don't beat yourself up. Like I said before, I've never done low fat, low calorie or any other adjustment of my diet until diabetes (and I liked my fats just fine) and I still got gallstones.

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Nah not beating myself up. Sometimes it’s just luck of the draw (or genetics). I did what I did at the time believing it to be the right thing. Can’t go back now. But I can highlight the failings of dietary advice for the benefit others, hoping they get an alternative option to minimise risk earlier than I did.