Ox bile is a term thrown around when nutrition experts talk about improving digestion for weight loss. This may lead you to wonder what ox bile is, and if you should add this dietary supplement to your regimen.
While this may be a suitable supplement to improve fat digestion in some individuals, it’s not the best way for everyone to improve digestion of dietary fats.
Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about ox bile enzymes, the health benefits and side effects of taking bile acids, and whether or not ox bile supplements are right for you.
Please keep in mind the information provided is for educational purposes only. I am not a healthcare professional, and nothing I say should be used as medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare practitioner for all medical advice.
How Digestion Works
Before we can talk about bile products, you need a basic understanding of how the digestive system works.
Proper digestion is made up of two components: stomach acid and bile. You need both of these components in order to properly break down your meal.
The first step when you eat is your body creates stomach acid, also known as hydrochloric acid or HCL. This acid helps break down your food.
After that, the broken down food is sent to the small intestine. This is where the bile, which is created by your liver and stored in your gallbladder, completes the process of digestion.
HCL (which is highly acidic) combines with bile (which is highly alkaline) to create a sizzle. That sizzle breaks your food down into usable nutrients. If either part of the normal digestive process is broken, this can lead to other health problems, such as constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, nausea, anxiety, and acne – just to name a few.
What Is Bile?
Bile is an important fluid your body makes to help you break down fats and absorb fat soluble vitamins. The major components of bile include more than 95% water. The remaining components are made up of bile salts, bilirubin, fats, and inorganic salts.
Having proper digestion of lipids (which are fats) is important to your overall health. This is your body’s main way of eliminating harmful substances, such as toxins, drugs, and heavy metals.
Healthy bile production can become thick and sticky with the overconsumption of things like highly processed foods and medications. Since thick and sticky bile doesn’t flow correctly, the removal of toxins becomes more difficult.
Proper bile flow is necessary to break down dietary fats. It’s also necessary for normal absorption of vitamins (especially the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K). Thus, it’s important that your body produces enough bile to aid in the proper breakdown of nutrients.
Of course, it’s also important that your bile flows correctly since this is usually a bigger problem.
When you have a bile deficiency where your body can no longer properly digest fats, this is when various bile supplements come into play. Some of the bile supports you may add to your supplement regimen include: Beet Flow, Xeneplex, coffee enemas, and an ox bile supplement.
Which Supplement is Right for You?
When a person with minor bile flow issues consumes a high fat content meal, the Beet Flow supplement can help improve the GI distress that accompanies meals high in fat. Some of the side effects of thick and sticky bile include gas, loose stools, diarrhea, stool lighter than the color of cardboard, stomach cramps, itchy skin, or other skin irritations, such as acne.
If your health condition doesn’t improve with Beet Flow, you can add more aggressive supplements to your regimen. These include Xeneplex (a coffee suppository), or a coffee enema.
A beet flow flush is also helpful when it comes to improving bile flow.
When your gall bladder dysfunction progresses to the point where you need to have your gallbladder removed, this is when an ox bile supplement is appropriate.
What Is Ox Bile?
Ox bile is the extract of the bile of an ox. Since it contains many of the nutrients and digestive enzymes humans need to digest food, it’s turned into a supplement. The supplement aids in the normal digestion of fats in those who’ve lost their gallbladder.
Ox bile supplements contain ox bile extract powder from a bovine source. Sometimes they’re also combined with various digestive enzymes, such as amylase, protease, and lipase.
An ox bile supplement after gallbladder removal can be important to reach an adequate nutritional status. While your liver will still produce bile after your gallbladder is removed, you can experience a lack of bile salts for proper digestion. This is because your main storage area was removed, aka – the gallbladder.
Who Should Take Ox Bile
While some health practitioners advise ox bile for gallbladder stones, as well as other early signs of impaired bile – the best use of ox bile is after gallbladder removal.
You can use the supplement Beet Flow, combined with Xeneplex or a coffee enema, in your initial attempt to chip away at gallbladder stones. Pairing this supplement regimen with a healthy low carb diet is also helpful.
The use of ox bile after gallbladder surgery can be important for both healthy motility, as well as to help your body restore a normal energy metabolism. If you experience any of the signs of poor fat digestion post gallbladder surgery, adding an ox bile supplement can make a big difference.
What’s the Best Ox Bile Supplement?
When it’s time to choose the best brand of ox bile, always use a high quality supplement. Spending your money on the cheapest supplement you can find is not only a great way to waste money, but you may also not receive the health benefits that ox bile has to offer.
Since I only use brands I trust, I purchase my high quality supplements from Natural Reference. They offer a brand of ox bile called Bilex from Douglas Labs.
If you purchase a supplement from another source, be aware that some brands add other components into their ox bile supplements, such as HCL. This renders the product useless since HCL taken too close to a bile supplement nullifies the digestion process.
How Much Ox Bile Should I Take?
When it comes to how much ox bile to take, this will vary per person.
If you choose Bilex by Douglas Labs, you can start with 2 capsules right before bed. You’ll also want to stop eating at least two hours prior to taking Bilex. This timeframe is necessary so that the ox bile does not neutralize your stomach acid too soon.
While some people can get away with a single dose, others may need to add an additional 2-3 doses throughout the day. To determine the right amount for you, enroll in the free digestion course.
The course has an entire section on how to improve fat digestion in those who’ve lost their gallbladder. It also teaches you how to determine the dosage that’s right for you, as well as when you should move to a lower dose.
Since the timing of ox bile is so important, be sure to watch this section a few times and take notes.
Health Benefits
While proper digestion of dietary fat is the most important benefit, there are several other ox bile benefits for those who no longer have a gallbladder. Some of the health benefits include:
- Improvement of diarrhea and loose stools – especially in conjunction with a high fat meal.
- Can help with the elimination of gallstones.
- Helps remove toxic substances from the body.
- May help clear gut infections and SIBO.
- Can improve skin conditions, such as psoriasis, acne, and itchy skin.
- May improve liver function.
- Can help improve bacterial overgrowth or other gut microbiome dysfunction.
- Helps with absorption of fat soluble vitamins, like Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, and Vitamin K.
Does Ox Bile Cause Weight Loss?
By this point you may be thinking, “Give it to me straight – is ox bile weight loss a thing?”
While the point of using this product long-term isn’t necessarily for weight loss, this can be another benefit in a roundabout way.
Since proper digestion is required for long term weight loss, taking ox bile after gallbladder surgery can improve your chances of losing weight. This is even more true when you follow a low carb, high fat diet – like keto.
If your bile production processes remain impaired after surgery, there is less of a chance that any weight you lose will stay off long term. Of course, that’s if you’re even able to lose weight in the first place without the proper removal of waste products.
Side Effects
The next logical question is are there any ox bile side effects?
When you begin using this supplement, some of the digestive impairments you already experience can worsen. Some of these include constipation, loose stools, diarrhea, and stomach cramping.
If used incorrectly, you can experience some of the same exact symptoms listed above – even if they weren’t a problem before.
This is why it’s imperative that you enroll in the free digestion course. This will help you understand how to avoid or improve these symptoms with an ox bile supplement. It will also teach you which symptoms require higher doses of the supplement, as well as when it’s time to decrease your usage.
FAQs:
An ox bile supplement is used to help those without a gallbladder improve fat digestion. It can help with common GI distress caused when someone loses their main storage system for bile, aka the gallbladder.
While I suggest taking the digestion course to get the exact timing down, your first dose of ox bile should be taken before bedtime. Additional doses may be necessary throughout the day.
Yes, ox bile should only be taken on an empty stomach. The stomach acid produced from a meal can interfere with the benefits of the supplement.
If you have loose stool after a meal, then you can take additional doses 2 hours after your meal.
Yes, this supplement can be helpful with proper fat digestion in those who’ve had their gallbladder removed.
Constipation can occur when there isn’t enough stomach acid to complete the process of digestion. In this instance, you’ll need to learn the proper way to incorporate an HCL supplement. (Also taught in the digestion course).
Take your first dose of ox bile before bed. This allows time for it to get into place for proper digestion.
As far as when you should expect relief from digestive impairment, this can vary per person. Some people may experience almost immediate relief, while others may need to fine tune their supplement routine even further.
Conclusion: How to Improve Fat Digestion Without A Gallbladder
In the instance you’ve had your gallbladder removed, an ox bile supplement can greatly improve how your body digests fat. It’s important to choose a high quality supplement, as well as to get the timing right, in order to experience the benefits of a product like Bilex.
Whether your goal is weight loss, or you just want to feel better after a meal, both sides of digestion are important. Continue to learn about how digestion works, as well as how to improve digestion, in this course.
If you prefer to work one-on-one to improve your digestive woes, you can also book a personalized plan.
The good news is you can live a normal life without fear of rushing to the bathroom, even after gallbladder surgery. However, once you no longer have a proper bile storage area, you need to put in a little effort to maintain the proper balance of bile acids.
Ox Bile Supplement
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