Warning: Be careful using ginger!

I don't understand how anyone can eat ginger. It is the worst tasting thing I ever tried except red cabbage. I would rather eat a serving of the Devils testicle dipped in hot sauce... that's how bad I think it is. :lol:

Edit: This isn't medical advice but there are tons of home remedies out there that claim to be able to dissolve Gull Stones. Google it, it may be able to help avoid any surgery if needed. I would give them a try if it was me. ;) What ever you do don't let them remove your Gull Bladder. They say that there are nearly 800,000 gallbladder removal surgeries performed annually in the U.S. at a cost exceeding $6 billion. In most cases I think it is just a scam to make quick cash. I don't believe their theories about unnecessary organs.

Candied ginger ain't so bad. And beer. I like beer...mmmm

I was on the forums earlier this week thinking that there was a disappointing shortage of discussions about gallstones and the effects of culinary choices on gallbladder health. I'm glad that we finally have a thread dedicated to this subject.

Reading this as I drink my ginger ale...... gonna have to do some research now. :)

EDIT: Not finding anything about bile at http://examine.com/supplements/Ginger/

"drash" wrote:
Reading this as I drink my ginger ale...... gonna have to do some research now. :)

After you do your research on "Ginger Ale" you might start calling it just "Ale" :mrgreen:

edit: Hmmm, shouldn't this be in the off topic forum?

The first time I had a Gallstone attack was 9 years ago and at the time I was in college eating lots of jarred salmon and spaghetti as I wasn't used to cooking my own meals. It was triggered by a spontaneous pizza night and I was in the ER for 4 hours thinking I was having a heart attack.

The second time was actually last month. I was dieting and then one day I had wings and I had a really bad Gallstone attack in the middle of Molyjam (but after I got home 12 hours later, I still finished while on drugs hahaha). Had to go to the ER and get an ultrasound and everything. It was magnitudes worse than the first time it happened and there were actually TWO pains. One from a stone in the duct, and another from the gall bladder just panicking. They recommended surgery, but I was like "screw that". I figured I'll just eat properly and die if I was a big enough idiot to cut back on so much food and then spontaneously do something like eat chicken skin on buffalo wings or really fatty foods again.

At different levels of severity, Gallstone/Gallbladder attacks can be worse than pregnancy pains. After you have an attack that bad, you're pretty much limited from eating certain foods for life though. You can do a lot more damage to your body by being inconsistent in your eating habits. It's a lot more complicated than just having ginger or ginger tea.

For example if you don't eat very often (1 or 2 meals a day), and consume low amounts of cholesterol, which your body needs (in addition to an acid) to make bile in the first place, your body will compensate by creating its own cholesterol. You need some of that acid from apples too to prevent the stones from forming due to imbalance between the acid and cholesterol. Apple a day will keep the doctor away.

I'm no doctor, but I'd recommend if you're not eating several small meals a day, you should do it just to keep your metabolism up and keep your fat intake lower than 25g per day. Also just eat with a little more variety to make sure you're not missing anything. To think earlier this year I was interested in Soylent, but you know, there's a lot more to our health then just getting allegedly "everything the body needs". Chewing on foods, keeping your stomach full of stuff, regularly getting gas every now and then. There could be some benefit to it.

"Prelucid" wrote:
To think earlier this year I was interested in Soylent, but you know, there's a lot more to our health then just getting allegedly "everything the body needs". Chewing on foods, keeping your stomach full of stuff, regularly getting gas every now and then. There could be some benefit to it.

Almost every time I go to the market these days I think "I wonder when Soylent is going to be a reality?" Real tired of this endless dance around what to eat for every meal of every day! You could still chew gum and keep your stomach half-full of Soylent right? :)

"drash" wrote:
Almost every time I go to the market these days I think "I wonder when Soylent is going to be a reality?" Real tired of this endless dance around what to eat for every meal of every day! You could still chew gum and keep your stomach half-full of Soylent right? :)

Maybe, who knows. If you can stand eating cake batter every day. Rob Rhinehart claims that the type of flavour is endurable... I was definitely seriously interested in this, but since it was a long ways off, the fact that I live internationally, and the product being untested for the long term, I stepped back and thought about it.

Something worth noting is that the creator of Soylent intentionally left out cholesterol as he noted the body would create it itself... but the deficit of cholesterol in people's meals and automating of production I think can play a big role in gallstone attacks. Both times I had an attack I was suddenly eating a fatty meal (pizza/wings) after having been on low nutritional diet and not eating often at all each day.

"2EyeGuy" wrote:
I just discovered (the hard way) the very painful possible side-effect of ginger. :oops:

My doctor just said I have gallstones, and a gallstone probably got stuck in the tube leading from the gall bladder, which is why I had terrible abdominal pains for three weeks. (The pain is gone now, but I still have gall-stones).

Ginger is considered very suspect because it increases bile production. It's not unanimous that ginger is bad for gallstones, there is a minority that says it might be good for them, but it is definitely interferes with normal gallbladder operation in some way.

Remember, just because a drug is "natural", doesn't mean it doesn't have serious side effects, and doesn't mean it's not still a drug. Things that have an effect, usually have side-effects too.

BTW, my doctor had heard of the Oculus Rift and its kickstarter development kit. He keeps asking me about it. :)

It's large amounts of ginger that may increase bile production and cause problems for people with gallstones

Consider this; doses of up to 4 grams of ginger per day are considered safe

Random trivia: at very high doses, ginger can act as a blood thinner

SOURCE: The Texas Herbal Safety Website - Ginger Factsheet

Actually ginger is a good way to PREVENT gallstones. The increased bile production prevents the stones from precipitating. However, if you already HAVE gallstones, ginger can prompt an attack.

If you don't like raw ginger, try ginger-honey crystals, amazon sells them in sachets, dissolved in chilled water they are super refreshing and strangely soothing. I'm stocking up for when my Rift arrives. Brand is called Prince of Peace, I think it comes from China.

P.S. If you have a soda-maker these crystals make an AMAZING ginger soda.
P.P.S. Add cayenne pepper for an extra zing. Or some tabasco if you want to blow your lid off. :lol: