What Does Fat Digestion Have to do With Stress?

So often we are taught that our health is in silos - meaning, only one organ does one thing, and it’s not an integrative system.

What if I told you that our stress hormones affect the gallbladder? And what the heck is the gallbladder anyway?

The gallbladder helps us to emulsify fat and produce bile salts. Anything that has fat that needs to be digested into a more water-soluble form, basically. Why should you care about it?

Well, all of our hormones are made from fat. So if we’re stressed, it stands to reason that we will also be needing more fat to make more stress hormones.

That means our little gallbladder has to work overtime. And for some people that doesn’t always equal good things.

It can highlight where it is more difficult for our gallbladder to actually do that work entirely - that our body might not like doing fat digestion at that rate. The bile salts can become sludge-like, crystallise (form into solids) and form stones. Those stones can get stuck in a duct that moves bile into the small intestine. That means pain for you, infection, and inflammation. So you’re not only stressed but you are feeling bloated, short of breath, a sore upper back, heartburn and heart palpitations.

It doesn’t mean we can necessarily avoid the stress that our body is interpreting and making all of that hormone. We can however help our body manage that more easily with a few simple actions:

1. Reduce very high fat foods
   

• High fat foods like dairy proteins, nuts and nut butter, avocado, coconut milk (full fat), sausage, bacon, and red meat and tick off a stressed gallbladder. Lean meats and fish, lots of veggies (cooked or raw), oat and low-fat coconut milks, and some fermented veggies can help to reestablish balance
  

1. Reduce alcohol
   

-when the liver works hard, so does the gallbladder. Reducing alcohol helps to manage how much work the liver does to manage hormone and detoxification. Alcohol also acts as a depressant and affects sleep, so your mood and stress may only temporarily be supported and the effects on your gallbladder not as happy

1. Exercise
   

-exercise pumps the bile and helps the bowel to eliminate. Typically, more water also means better ability to digest

1. Consider magnesium
   

Magnesium takes sludge and makes it more liquid. It also helps the gallbladder to pump easily, and encourages good bowel movements.

1. Work on your stress - for real
   

• I know this goes without saying but stress is important to get help and support for - and I know that some stress is unavoidable. I like to think about it that our body needs us to take care of ourselves and to consider starting even with baby steps, doing the things that really bring us peace. For me, that’s listening to the wind in my backyard and going for long walks. Free and soul-filling - those are the things to start to fill with - even if you can’t cut out your stress just yet. And of course, reaching out to health professional you love and trust that you can discuss how you truly feel without filtering your feeling.