If you ever asked why fried food is bad for you, you're not alone.

We understand your concern.

After all, the sizzle of french fries in a deep fryer or the sight of a funnel cake at your local fair can be hard to resist. These foods are fun ways to enjoy life.

But how do you feel after eating fried food at your favorite restaurant or on a hot summer day at the fair?

A little queasy, perhaps? Queasiness is a sign you've hit your upper limit on fried foods. Uggh! The hot sun continues to beat down on you as the food churns in your stomach.

So how much fried food can you digest? And how much is too much?

Your liver and your bile have answers for you.

Let's take a look.

The Hidden Reality of Fatty Fried Food

Turns out tatty fried foods take a toll on your body.

They may taste great, but aren't so great for you.

Packed with difficult-to-digest fats, they are especially stressful for your liver, your body's chemical processing plant.

And doctors who specialize in liver disease will tell you, the link is clear and alarming.

A consistent diet of fatty, fried foods can accelerate conditions like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

So, the next time you're eyeing that extra serving of fries, remember: your liver's on the line!

Bile: Your Body's Fat Digestion Superpower

Bile is what kick starts your digestion of fat.

Made in the liver, bile is collected, concentrated and stored in the gallbladder.

When you understand how bile works in the body you can assess how much you're producing. And that helps you make informed decisions about how many funnel cakes and fries to eat.

Stored bile is released and mixed with your fries when they reach your small intestines. The bile helps break up the large fat globs into small droplets for easy digestion (a process called emulsification).

Fatty, fried food demands a lot of bile and puts the liver under pressure to make more and more of it. And it can't always keep up.

If you overdo your fry intake, there might not be enough bile to break up the fat.

Then you start experiencing nausea or diarrhea, symptoms that don't exactly scream "Pass the ketchup."

Bile also plays a big role in cholesterol metabolism. Fried foods like deep-fried meats, cheese sticks, or fish and chips can increase cholesterol levels.

You can lower cholesterol levels by stimulating bile flow, which is how herbal formulas like Bitter Ghee work to help those with cholesterol problems.

Stimulating bile flow also flushes your gallbladder, preventing it from getting clogged with stones.

In a country, like the US, where half a million people lose their gallbladders annually and a third of the population has high cholesterol, those stats make bile a hot topic.

The Dosha Connection

Ever wonder why some people can wolf down fried food without any problem while others can't stomach more than a few bites?

The answer might lie in Ayurveda's concept of doshas or body types, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.

Kapha people tend to have thick bile, which gets congested in the gallbladder causing gallstones.

And eating too many fried, fatty foods increases the likelihood of stone formation.

Congested bile causes a deficiency of bile for digestion. It is also associated with poor fat digestion and metabolism.

Bile congestion and stagnation can cause side effects like headaches, nausea, indigestion or constipation after you eat a high fat meal.

Vata bile is thin and tends to be deficient due to dryness, which also causes constipation.

In both cases, you know you have a deficiency of bile when stools are lighter colored or you have trouble digesting fats.

Excess bile production can also cause problems. The dosha most closely associated with its increased output is Pitta, making these folks prone to bile excess.

Too much bile can irritate your intestines, give you diarrhea, and overstimulate your mind causing you to be irritable and angry.

However, we all tend to produce more bile in hot summer months, the Pitta time of year.

Reducing bile production is key to less irritability during hot weather.

Whether it is congested, excessive, or not enough, the right amount of bile production is essential to effective digestion of fried foods, and your health in general.

Ayurveda's Answer to Healthy Food Choices

If your current diet includes too much fatty fried food, a change in dietary habits is called for.

While this might sound daunting, it doesn't have to be.

With Ayurveda, you don't have to give up on taste for good health.

Following an Ayurvedic diet is easier than you think. And you don't have to memorize a list of foods.

Instead, Ayurveda teaches you to classify foods according to some well established and basic principles.

As each dosha benefits from emphasizing foods with specific qualities, you must first discover your body type.

If you don't know what it is, take our free dosha quiz to find out. Then, choose one of the buttons below to discover the best diet for your dosha.

VATA DIET PITTA DIET KAPHA DIET

The possibilities are endless. And your liver will thank you.

Enjoy a Healthy Liver with Ayurveda

Knowing why fried food is bad for you is your first step towards a healthier lifestyle.

Bile, the unsung hero, needs your help to keep your digestion smooth and your cholesterol levels in check.

Fortunately, you have a world of flavorful alternatives waiting for you.

And whether your dominant dosha is Vata, Pitta, or Kapha, there's a diet and lifestyle plan that's just right for you.

Take your first steps towards a healthier liver and bile production today.

Your body will thank you for it.

Read a longer article on Healthy Bile Production here.

Augment your diet with these specially chosen ingredients below which may be useful for 'Fatty fried food'. Individual results vary depending the cause of your imbalance and by constitution. Please research the ingredients below to find which are most helpful for you, and check with your doctor before making any changes to your health and wellness routine. Please check with your medical doctor before making any changes to your health & wellness routine, and for the proper use of these products.

DIET TIPS

DISCLAIMER: The pathogenesis of each person's condition is unique, and so the diet must be fit to the individual and the unique root causes of the condition in your body. The information on this page is for educational purposes only and should not be used to treat a medical condition. It is not a substitute for medical care. Please check with your doctor before making any changes to your health and wellness routine.

Everything you eat has an effect on your body, which Ayurveda categorizes in a simple and easy way, using biocharacteristics (gunas). Biocharacteristics are qualities (like cold and hot) that describe the effect a food or herb has on your body. Cooling foods like cucumber, decrease metabolism. Heating foods like chili pepper, stimulate your body and increase metabolism. For 'Fatty fried food', you should select foods with the following biocharacteristics. Individual results will vary, based on your body type and the root cause of your imbalance.

Liver & Gallbladder:

Cholagogue

CHOLAGOGUE

Cholagogues stimulate the production & release of bile from the liver & gallbladder. This refreshes and cleanses these organs, as well as increases bile in the small intestines.

SEE ALL 'CHOLAGOGUE' FOODS / HERBS

Weight Loss:

Hypolipidemic

HYPOLIPIDEMIC

Scrapes fats / cleanses blood vessels by 1) purging bile, 2) strengthening the liver's ability to metabolize fats, 3) by increasing uptake of cholesterol in the liver, and 4) by inhibiting fat cells.

SEE ALL 'HYPOLIPIDEMIC' FOODS / HERBS

Joyful Belly is a recognized college of biocharacteristics medicine.

AVOID ACCUMULATION IN STAGE OF DISEASE 0

FATTY FRIED FOOD IS IN STAGE OF DISEASE 0 - POTENTIAL CAUSE

Potential causes increase and disturb your imbalanced doshas and biocharacteristics, causing them to accumulate and spiral out of control. For example, if you're overheated and eat a chili pepper, heat may become excessive and cause disease. As a dosha or biocharacteristic accumulates in your body according to your dietary and lifestyle habits, it is more and more likely to cause disease. You can reduce an imbalanced dosha or biocharacteristic in two ways, by removing, or lessening the frequency of aggravating causes from your diet and lifestyle, as well as by favoring balancing diet and lifestyle practices. For example, try eating something as cool as a cucumber when you're overheated, instead of a chili pepper. (See all disease stages on JB)

GET MY FREE AYURVEDA BODY MAP 'Fatty fried food' is likely to aggravate the following doshas and biocharacteristics. If you have a systemic imbalance of one of these doshas or biocharacteristics, Ayurveda would generally recommend removing, substitute or lessen the frequency of 'Fatty fried food'.

Are you prone to a problem with 'Fatty fried food'? Find your imbalances and create a diet for your Diet by taking the free diet quiz:

TAKE THE DIET QUIZ

The following symptoms & habits may be related to 'Fatty fried food'. See your quiz results for a computerized assessment of your body type. Please click on the symptoms below to learn more about them. On average the biocharacteristics of people reporting Fatty fried food were less aggravated than 56% of other symptoms. From the 11,744 people who reported Fatty fried food average deviation in biocharacteristic levels were the following:

Risk Factors of Fatty fried food

Complications of Those Reporting Fatty fried food

WHAT'S NEXT?

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