Please help, I have lost 22lbs. now on the Atkins plan, I have been just delighted with this plan and I will never stop. However, I became very ill with what my physician diagnosed as gastroenteritis, which has really turned out to be cholelitiasis (gallstones). I now am scheduled for surgery on Monday! My doc says that many people who loose a significant amount of weight develop gall stones, and that the Atkins diet may have hastened their formation due to the high fat content. Now, I am very worried about being in ketosis when I go in Monday for the surgery. I will never leave this diet as it works wonders for me and my doc says all my lab blood work is "perfect" since being on the Atkins diet. I really need to hear from someone who has experienced this same issue. Please help!!!

Sorry you have to have surgery, but hopefully you will be feeling much better afterward.

Your doctor is half right ... rapid loss of a significant amount of weight can lead to the development of gallstones, but it's usually in relation to a lowFAT diet. I explained this in detail to another member a few months ago, please click here to read it.

There is no need for you to stop low-carbing up to the time of your surgery. In fact, if you were to suddenly stop eating fats, that might stimulate the formation of more stones, since the bile would just sit in the gall bladder, and sediment would collect ...

However, I would suggest you try to eat mostly monounsaturated fats, such as olives and olive oil, avocadoes, nuts and nut oils .... and limit saturated fats from cheese and red meats. The reason I suggest this is because the MONO fats are simpler to digest, requiring less bile to break down the single (mono) fatty acid chain. Don't go totally lowFAT.

You might up the carbs a little, in the form of veggies and maybe some lowcarb fruits -- berries, melon, kiwi. The fiber would be good for the gut. Don't worry about ketosis for now. After the surgery, focus on getting your strength back, and try to consume the most nutritious foods, including carbs, if that's all there is (hospital food leaves a lot to be desired ) .. then you can safely resume low-carbing -- and ketosis -- afterward, when you're feeling stronger.

All the best ... and keep us posted how you're doing...

Doreen

Doreen, thank you so much for getting back to me so fast. I did read your eariler reponse to the other low-carber question regarding the gallbladder. I think I know how this all happened to me, I have been a low-fat dieter (with little or no weight loss) for many years, then in August I started on the Atkins plan and started losing weight (imagine that). I started eating those things I avoided on the low fat diet such as cheese, cream, and red meat - I guess the gallstones were bound to happen sooner or later. Anyway, I will heed your advise and concentrate on regaining my strength - although I don't expect to be in the hospital too long (outpt. laser procedure) for any of their so called food I am just so pleased with my weight loss - I really had given up and decided that I would always be "fat" and there really was no real diet that would help me. The low-carb plan has been so great and has saved my life! Thanks for your help