When starting out either after having been diagnosed with acid reflux, gastritis, or just have some symptoms of heartburn, here are the basics on nutrition and lifestyle intervention. You might not have to be taking antacids forever. You actually need acid to digest food and the medicine in long run may do more harm than good. You might even have issues with vitamin absorption from medication reducing acid levels. Talk with your dietitian if you have questions about this. Today, I’m focusing mostly on food.

WHAT TO EAT FOR ACID REFLUX

• Eat more fiber: people who eat a high fiber diet are less likely to have issues with reflux [1]. Along with fiber, drink plenty of water and eat good bacteria. These 3 go together to help with creating a balanced digestive system.
• Eat smaller meals: not having a huge meal in your stomach at one time can reduce the workload your body has to do when digesting. Having a snack in between breakfast and lunch and/or lunch and dinner can reduce hunger and overeating at the next meal.
• Eat less fat: research has shown that those who eat more fat have more reflux symptoms compared to those who eat more fiber [1]. Reducing the amount of fat can also help food more quickly from the stomach to the small intestine as well as other high-calorie foods [2].

LOSE WEIGHT

According to the American College of Gastroenterology’s Guidelines, losing weight can help relieve pressure on the digestive system especially the stomach fat. Those who have a BMI of >25.2 are encouraged to lose weight. Weight loss can significantly improve symptoms and prevent complications from reflux. [3].

How do you go about losing weight? Well one benefit to improving reflux and helping with weight loss is eat more fiber. Fiber is found in anything that comes out of garden, off tree, or bush (Plants).

GET RID OF THESE FOODS FOR REFLUX

These are the most common problematic foods that might be contributing to your reflux issue.

• Alcohol
• coffee
• chocolate
• cow’s milk
• animal fat
• orange juice
• peppermint
• spicy

If you are a coffee lover this will be difficult, but I would encourage you to at least try for a small time of eliminating coffee. Instead changing to hot herbal tea and starting your day off with a tall glass of water may be helpful to start with along with taking a turmeric pain supplement because you might have headaches initially. Coffee might be the issue because it can affect the little sphincter flap that’s in between the esophagus and stomach that helps keeps food and acid in the stomach[4]. It could be the caffeine in coffee, roasting, or other compounds that cause this reaction.

TOOL FOR YOU

For a limited time, I’m giving away my new tool for you on Nutrition and Reflux. Use this tool to help to find out possible root causes of your reflux to help improve symptoms, what to do and what not to do for reflux and a meal plan.