A Diet to Stop Heartburn: 7 SECRETS

Does the combination of a particular heartburn diet and changes to a healthy lifestyle get you heartburn relief? Recent studies bring information to show that new diet plans can really lower heartburn and simultaneously make major improvements in quality of life in general. But the question remains, will a diet really bring permanent heartburn for you personally? Classical medicine has run foul of huge populations of heartburn victims in this respect, because of the potentially dangerous side effects that it produces as well as its poor record of results over a long duration.

Because heartburn is only a symptom of a more complicated medical condition known as GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux disease) or acid reflux, we need to know if new diet plans will act on the true, underlying causes. It is important to know that recurring heartburn cannot be dispatched in a permanent way without a full holistic treatment that clearly identifies the root causes.

GERD is provoked when a gatekeeper muscle at the junction of the stomach and the esophagus weakens and fails to block the flow backwards of gastric juices into the esophagus. This muscle is called the lower esophageal sphincter. The result is that acid then corrodes the epithelial cells in the esophagus, which is the reason for the unpleasant burning sensation called acid indigestion or heartburn.

New diet habits must reduce excessive acidity in the stomach but also work in cooperation with a debilitated sphincter. Therefore new diet habits must handle both aspects that result in acid reflux. We set out seven simple rules for diets below as the initial move towards a holistic, all-natural GERD treatment:

1. Reduce meal size. Mega meals put too much stress on the digestive system, more stomach acid is fabricated and an existing acid reflux condition can be degraded. Eat 5-6 smaller meals per day rather than 2-3 big meals.

2. Make your last meal of the day a light one and go for a short walk if you can, to help digestion. This gives your stomach a better chance to function properly in the 2-3 hours for digesting a light meal, compared to 5-6 hours for a heavy one. It also means when you are lying down, the time window for acid to flow back into your esophagus is reduced.

3. Don't gobble your food. Chew it properly to prevent air being sucked in, which makes the stomach balloon and pushes open the esophageal sphincter, this opening the way for stomach acid to reflux.

4. Make way for herbal tea instead of coffee as well as reducing intake of high-fat or spicy meals, peppermint, citrus juices, soda and alcohol, coffee and caffeine, chocolate and any food with a large amount of tomato. Don't eat food that irritates the inside of your digestive tract, which in turn can cause your esophageal sphincter to malfunction and relax at the wrong moment.

5. Studies done in Sweden support the theory that acid reflux danger can be reduced by 50% by adopting a high fiber diet and that high-fiber diets are effective for optimizing digestion and sweeping away toxic matter.

6. Dairy produce, especially milk, should be cut down. It causes for more acid, mucus and allergies, all conditions that stimulate Candida overgrowth and bring on further digestive problems contributing to GERD.

7. Reduce intake of calories. Obesity and excess weight also act on the lower esophageal sphincter to weaken it.

The right program using the diet guidelines above will reduce the risk of GERD and at the same time increase your fitness and health.

This is just one part of the treatment. Heartburn is just one piece of the acid heartburn puzzle and the other pieces also need to be treated to really solve this problem. An anti-heartburn diet that is correctly balanced is the first part of a complete natural and holistic program to prevent acid reflux. In this way and only in this way, you will be able to halt this problem permanently.

Article Source: http://www.articleselections.com

Jeff Martin is a certified nutritionist and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, Heartburn No More . To Learn More About Foods that Might Trigger Heartburn Visit: Diet and GERD

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