GALL BLADDER FACTS

Another great testimonial about this lifestyle.  

“I started yo-yo dieting and exercising when I was 8 years old even though I was a slim child with no genetic tendency towards being even slightly overweight!

I had started baby ballet a few months prior and was so gifted a dancer that in just a month I was moved to the advanced ballet class with the older girls and was (apparently) even better than all of them.

My ballet teacher who was once a prima ballerina was so impressed by my ability that she pulled my mom aside and I had the ill luck to have overheard this conversation. She told my mom that if I continued to dance that I would someday be a prima ballerina assoluta. (I had to look up this definition when I got much older  but at 8 years old I had no idea what kind of compliment I was being given). But THIS I remember…she said that for me to be a ballerina I would have to go on a strict diet because I was not a ‘skinny’ girl. That actually my (slim) frame was not ideal for ballerinas and it would hold me back. The ballet world would think I was too ‘fat’ and my body was not ideal.

There. My life was changed at that moment. I started a lifelong struggle with body image at that moment that I heard I was too fat. And even though I stopped dancing only 2 years later, the dieting and exercise continued. I would do 45 minutes of aerobics and toning in my room with my door closed and I was only 8 years old.

I never had an eating disorder but I was definitely obsessed with my weight. My eating was either feast or famine because I could never stick to a real diet. I had no concept for what was healthy and what was right. I went about ‘dieting very blindly. And because I could never stick to an actual ‘diet’ i actually started gaining weight. All the feasting was catching up to me which made me try more starvation diets only to feast later on. Because i never lost weight and I would hide my binge eating, my mom never knew how obsessed I was with my weight and my body. No one knew. It was my own secret.

To make a long story short, everyone in my family was thin except for me…which made me even more obsessed.

I have been on every diet I can think of and have been to countless nutritionists with little success. I was really at the end of the line and I always felt trapped in my body. I’m an emotional eater and have a major sweet tooth. Once I start I can’t stop. I once went on a sugar binge that lasted almost a year. I felt like crap every single day!

Then one day, I had the good fortune to meet Maria who really understood me and my background! She showed me a lot of compassion and I knew she really cared about helping me.

She mapped out a great eating plan, but more importantly recommended supplements to curb my moods and emotions–which was at the crux of my emotional eating.

Since then, I have bought every one of her cookbooks. I feel very educated about health and eating and can consciously make the right choices.

By the way, I have made almost every one of her desserts and ate it guilt free!! But I slowly stopped craving sweets altogether. When you don’t deprive your body of something, it stops craving it.

Now, I am healthy at 5’6″ and 117lbs and am no longer dieting or going crazy about my weight and body which had consumed the better part of my life. I can live and enjoy life the way I was meant to…something I haven’t felt since baby ballet.

Thank you Maria. You are a superstar and life changer….and forever my go-to gal. I love you!!!!” Romy J.

Click HERE to get your 30 day meal plans and start your transformation!

In the past few recent decades, we have been mis-informed that fat-free diets and healthy “whole grains” are the healthy way to eat. Even the medical profession is telling parents to have their kids drink skim milk! Don’t get me wrong, there are some fat to totally avoid, such as vegetable oils and trans-fats. But going on low fat diets is more harmful than you realize. This is why I always use full fat (and tasty) foods! High protein and grain-free diets alone are not the way to go. High fat is.

Galls are released by dietary fat. If you go on a little-to-no fat diet, the gall bladder starts to atrophy because it doesn’t need to work; just as when you don’t use your muscles, they atrophy and you are no longer as strong as you once were. Once the damage is done, and the gall bladder is removed, patients mistakenly believe that they can no longer eat fats without discomfort. This is not true, the bile to break down fat is made in the liver, then stored in the gall bladder. Even without a gall bladder, you produce bile and can (and should) consume healthy dietary fats.

After surgery (any surgery) you lose most of your beneficial bacteria; such as bifido bacteria, that keeps your intestines strong and healthy. Adding in probiotics and digestive enzymes are the first step to healing. Your body is smart, after years of low-fat dieting, it no longer produces lipase like it once did; lipase is the enzyme to break down fat (just as when a vegetarian adds in more protein after years of low protein, they feel sick… they no longer produce Protase, the enzyme to break down protein).

After a few days of increasing enzymes and good bacteria, adding in quality fats is essential for your body and cellular health; our brain and cells are composed of over 60% fat people! It is important! I suggest starting with MCT oil.

Coconut oil has both long and medium chained triglycerides (MCT). You can make MCT oil from coconut oil which is all medium chained triglycerides which is an awesome fat because it doesn’t require bile for digestion! I use this in place of butter for all my baked goods and it holds flavor like no other oil so it makes great salad dressing.

Click HERE to find SKINNYFat MCT oil.

Foods high in cholesterol are also essential! You NEED cholesterol to produce bile. Start to add in quality eggs (yes, the yolks…whites don’t count, the cholesterol is in the yolks), grass-fed meats, lobster and other shellfish. I am not talking about “oxidized cholesterol”… which is damaged cholesterol found in skim milk and many processed foods; which triggers heart disease. If you keep avoiding fats and cholesterol, your body will keep on pace with no lipase excretion or bile production causing a vicious cycle.

Click HERE to find my favorite MCT salad dressing recipe.

Click HERE to find my Nicoise Salad

Click HERE to find my favorite MCT pesto recipe.