Artichoke extract healed my gallbladder

In yesterday's blog, I told you how I purged gallstones. Today, I'll tell you how I went from a dysfunctional gallbladder to a healthy one.

It all started with a food allergy
I had a food allergy but didn't know which food was the problem. I eliminated the usual suspects from my diet - dairy, wheat, soy, fish, corn, yeast, citrus, berries, artificial sweeteners, coffee and tea. I stayed away from these foods for three months because it can take that long to purge allergens from your body. It wasn't until I added soy back into my diet that I experienced an allergic reaction.

Unfortunately, my diet was missing some important ingredients that had helped my gallbladder function properly my whole life. Not having eaten these important foods for three months, my gallbladder's function had seriously deteriorated.

I didn't know coffee was a health food!
Before eliminating all the common allergens from my diet, I used to eat strawberries 4-5 times a week and drank 5-7 cups of decaf coffee daily. Both these products are extremely rich sources of caffeylquinic acid, which produces chlorogenic acid and cynarin and is extremely beneficial to your gallbladder. In fact, it stimulates your gallbladder to produce bile - by the bucket!

Even when I added coffee and strawberries back into my diet, my gallbladder didn't function. Food sat in my stomach for a really long time. Breakfast wouldn't leave my stomach until the middle of the night. Because I wasn't digesting food properly, I was malnourished. Food finally left my stomach in a big hard ball, called a bezoar. This led to serious and painful constipation. Plus, I was burping, flatulating and perpetually bloated. I was miserable.

It took a really GIANT dose of artichoke extract to make my gallbladder work again
I did some research and found out that you can stimulate a sluggish gallbladder or lazy liver with artichoke extract. I checked all the labels of supplements for improving liver function and discovered that almost all had artichoke extract. I went for the gold ring and picked up some bottles of straight artichoke extract to see if I could jumpstart my gallbladder.

I took the pills for about three months with almost no results. It wasn't until I bought a more potent extract that my gallbladder finally got the message. In fact, I produced so much bile that breakfast emptied out of my stomach in about 30 minutes. I made so much bile that it also came out unassimilated, and my bowel movements were dark green. These are signs of too much bile production!

I lowered my dose from two pills with each meal to just one with each meal. I stayed with that dose for about two years. That's when my gallbladder didn't need anymore stimulation. Even if I took just one artichoke pill, I had symptoms of excess bile production. I've been off artichoke extract for about three years and have had no problems.

Here's the product that worked for me
The product that finally worked for me is made by Jarrow Formulas. Their artichoke extract is standardized to 500mg per capsule. That's considered a very high dose. There are some that are a bit higher these days, but most are about half that potency.

Do NOT take artichoke extract if your bile ducts are blocked, if you're allergic to artichokes or if you're pregnant or nursing. And, for heaven's sakes, don't give these pills to children!

It might be a good idea to start with a supplement that's a lower dose. If it doesn't work for you, you can slowly increase the number of pills you take. You can more closely regulate your dose until you know the correct one for your body.

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I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.