 Let's talk about the structure and function of the gallbladder. So as you can see here, the gallbladder is going to be hiding behind the liver there. It's about three to four inches long. It's a muscular sac. When it's empty, it does form folds inside of it, kind of like the stomach does. They're called rugae. But structurally, it does have a body, a fundus, and a neck. That's not really a really big deal. Here's how I like to think about the gallbladder. We'll talk about it. You can certainly survive without it. You know, there's about four million gallbladders removed in the United States alone every year. But you see these two hepatic ducts here at the top of the liver, they're going to be collecting all the bile. The liver is going to make about a liter of bile every day. And some of that can go right down into the bile duct where it can be released in the small intestine. But any overflow, how I look at the overflow of bowel production is going to travel flow backwards into the cystic duct, and it's going to enter the gallbladder. So it catches this overflow. So if you don't have a gallbladder, maybe I can give you some hints as far as to how to survive without one, but if you have a gallbladder, it's going to capture this extra bile that's being produced. So it does store bile. That's the first thing to note. The liver produces bile, the gallbladder stores it. But while it's being stored in the gallbladder, the gallbladder will absorb the water and some other things in there, but it's going to concentrate the bile. So bile coming out of the gallbladder can be ten times more concentrated than the bile being produced freshly from the liver. So don't forget that second function. It doesn't make bile. The liver does. It stores and concentrates bile. So what's bile? Why does it matter? Because of the bile salts that are in bile, bile is an emulsifier. So the primary job of the bile is to emulsify fats, oil and water don't mix. So big globules of fat are just traveling through your intestines. They're going to stay big globules of fat, and there's going to be a very small surface area for your digestive enzymes to actually reach it, which is why if you don't have bile, high fat meals, most of that fat is going to pass right through you, and that's a problem. When I have my gallbladder removed, I couldn't eat a thing of yogurt. The amount of fat in a thing of yogurt was enough to cause serious problems. Now over time, your body kind of gets used to living without a gallbladder, but I'll give you a few tips here at the end. So bile emulsifies fats. What it does is it tears these fats apart into little tiny, so you take these huge globules of lipids of fat, and it breaks them down into little tiny droplets that would be about one micrometer in diameter. It's going to greatly, drastically increase the surface area, so your digestive enzymes are going to be able to properly digest your fat. So the key thing to note there, bile doesn't digest fat. It emulsifies fat, which makes it digestible. I know it's a play on words a little bit, but so bile doesn't digest fat, it makes it digestible. All right, but most, a lot of this bile salts are going to be reabsorbed. So bile also does trap toxins. So bile does play a role in clearing toxins out of your intestines, so that kind of stuff gets passed through you, but a lot of the bile salts are going to be recycled. At the end of the ilium in your small intestine, it's going to reabsorb these bile salts. They're going to head back to the liver and do their job again. All right, so if you don't have a gallbladder, obviously nothing for this class, but if you don't have a gallbladder, a couple tips, it does appear that if you eat on a regular basis, it matters more as far as like eating at the same time. It's almost like your liver can get used to when it should be ramping up bile production. Another thing to note, you can actually take bile salts. You could buy digestive enzymes that have bile in them. It's something to consider. Shorter fats, so your short chain fatty acids and your medium chain triglycerides, like the ones you find in coconut oil, they do not need bile to be absorbed. So if you need to find a way to get some fat in your food, in your meals, you can try MCT oil. You can try the shorter chain fats. They don't need bile. So I think meal timing, eating fats that are smaller and don't need bile to be broken down. Those would be just a couple of tips if you do lose your gallbladder. And then just remember, it's going to take some time. When you get your gallbladder removed, for most people, you're going to need to eat a lower fat diet for a while, while your body adjusts. So I know some people, it doesn't seem to impact, but it certainly did me and most people. Okay, so that is the gallbladder. I hope this helps. Have a wonderful day. Be blessed.