Cure Heartburn by Changing your Diet

By Raymond Harper

Simple solutions to avoid heartburn

With acid reflux disease on the increase there are now an awful lot of people carrying antacids with them and a lot of people are now questioning if you can cure heartburn this way or is there another answer to solving the problem without constantly having to take acid reflux medication. Of course there are other ways to solve the problem and one of these ways is changing what we eat.

Change your diet to cure heartburn

Although acid infant reflux occurs, this is usually outgrown and so the condition usually occurs in adults due to problems with the lower esophageal sphincter or LES for short, but a lot of the problem is also with our lifestyle. Our diet, lack of exercise and the now common problem of stress also plays a part. One of the ways to help ourselves is in the choice of food. By eating a healthy diet and with the correct choice of food we can help to alleviate the problem.

If you are trying to eliminate heartburn symptoms you should be trying to avoid acidic foods like oranges, grapefruit, pineapples and lemons, also tomatoes are very acidic. Other things to avoid are high fat foods which tend to increase acid production.

Food to avoid with acid reflux

When choosing meats go for very lean cuts, and avoid fast foods like deep fried chicken and burgers. Avoiding cream style or fried vegetables, butter sour cream and ice cream can bring heartburn natural relief. You should also avoid coffee both regular and decaffeinated. Different studies have shown different results with coffee and it seems that caffeine is not the main problem as decaffeinated coffee also has the same effect in inducing acid reflux. Other tests have shown that coffee does not adversely affect acid reflux but you can try avoiding it and if it does not make any difference then you can slowly start drinking it again, and monitor any changes. Alcohol should also be avoided if you want to cure heartburn.

One myth you should avoid is drinking milk to calm the stomach. At one time people with stomach ulcers where told to drink milk. This has been proven to be wrong for some time now and in fact it has been show that drinking milk will increase the secretion of stomach acid which may increase the risk of stomach ulcers and heartburn. Drinking milk late at night can cause acid reflux while you sleep.

Foods you can eat to reduce heartburn

So eating certain foods can give you acid but also other foods can reduce reflux occurring.  This includes multi-grain breads, couscous, rice cakes. Some dairy products including low fat cottage cheese, feta and goats cheese. Some fruit including apples, bananas, melons and berries, nearly all vegetables, egg whites, fish and lean meat and Soya products.

The aim is to reduce acid producing foods and foods that are hard to digest. Hard to digest foods stay longer in the stomach and in trying to digest them more digestive enzymes are required, therefore more stomach acid is produced.

Other small changes you can take to cure heartburn

But also when changing your diet, eating habits also have a large part to play. Besides the wrong food producing an over abundance of acid eating large meals is also a problem. It is much better to eat smaller portions of food on a more regular basis than eating three large meals a day as most of us tend to do. Smaller meals exert less work on the stomach and therefore require less acid secretion for digestion. Overeating puts a lot of stress on the stomach and requires a much larger amount of acid for digestion. The digestion process starts in your mouth. Never rush your food and chew it properly.

Do not lie down after eating. Staying upright after a meal helps food to digest. And do not eat at least 2 hours before going to bed. Also when in bed try elevating the head of the bed to aid digestion. Using wedge pillows or even an electrically operated adjustable bed can greatly help you to avoid night time acid reflux and may help cure heartburn.