April 8, 2011
Causes of Acid Reflux
Though acid reflux is prevalent in thousands of people the causes for the disease tend to vary from person to person. What may send your insides blazing may be a walk in the park for another sufferer of acid reflux and vice versa. The key to determining and tackling the causes for acid reflux would be to determine your specific triggers and take the necessary precautions to eliminate the triggers from your lifestyle thus improving (or eliminating) acid reflux altogether.
If you are unfamiliar with what is happening to your body before and during acid reflux here’s a little bit about what you should know–Acid reflux occurs when the acids in your stomach make way to your esophagus causing a burn that is referred to as heartburn. This heartburn can be felt in the throat (esophagus area), the chest and often times reaches down into the abdomen.
There is a small circular ring known as the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) that is located at the top of your stomach and at the bottom of the esophagus. The key to avoiding acid reflux all relies on the efficiency and functionality of this ring. The ring is a muscle. The job of this muscle is to close immediately after food or drink passes through, leaving the esophagus and making way to the stomach. If this muscle neglects to close or if this muscle opens too often the acids in the stomach have room to escape the stomach area making way to the esophagus causing acid reflux.
There is another way for stomach acids to reach the esophagus. This is by way of a stomach abnormality knows as a hiatal hernia. A hiatal hernia occurs when the LES and the upper part of the stomach moves above the diaphragm. One job of the diaphragm is to serve as a muscle that separates the stomach from the chest thus keeping stomach acids in the stomach. If you are suffering from a hiatal hernia, stomach acids can move into your esophagus causing a burning sensation and other acid reflux symptoms including regurgitation, nausea, bloating, burping, dysphagia (a narrowing of the esophagus), hiccups and weight loss.
You may be unaware but there is a possibility that there is something that you are doing that is causing acid reflux to take place. Here are a few tips on things that may need to be altered to eliminate the disorder:
- Try eating smaller meals instead of larger meals. Smaller meals are more easily broken down by the acids in the stomach.
- Drink lots of water. Eliminate drinks that are alcoholic or carbonated. Water does an excellent job at stabilizing the stomach acids and aiding in digestion. If you are already experiencing acid reflux symptoms, water may be used to soothe the burn in the esophagus.
- Don’t eat too close to bed time. Eat at least two hours prior to bed time. This allows sufficient time for your body to digest foods.
Diet can directly affect acid reflux. Alter your diet, alter your life. For more information on acid reflux causes visit refluxremedy.com.
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Foods that cause acid reflux don’t necessarily cause acid reflux for the reasons you might first think . . .
Most people are under the assumption that eating pizza or hero sandwiches trigger acid reflux and that’s simply not the case.
The hidden ingredients in food and the lack of nutrients are more responsible for triggering acid reflux symptoms than any one food.
Certainly eating bad food can make acid reflux symptoms worse, yet it’s not the food that did it, rather it may be the type of oil used to fry the fry that triggered your acid reflux.
Also eating bad foods at the worst times can be a acid reflux factor as well. A food eaten earlier in the day may not trigger your acid reflux, yet when that same food is consumed late at night you can almost guarantee an acid reflux reaction.
In other words it’s not what kind of foods that cause acid reflux, rather it’s when you eat food, how much you eat and what toxic ingredients are in the food.
Canola oil is rapeseed oil and has been shown to cause liver cancer in rats, plus what’s worse is now chemical companies like Monsanto make Genetically Manufactured Organisms (GMO) that can help cause acid reflux and other digestive problems in animals and humans.
Always avoid excitotoxins like monosodium glutamate and aspartame, even the new one called Neotame. Basically any artificial flavor, natural flavor or food additive is suspect of causing foods to trigger acid reflux symptoms.
Try using natural unprocessed items like RAW Celtic sea salt on your raw vegetables. This kind of sea salt is good for you, whereas table salt is bad for your acid reflux symptoms.
If you eat foods that cure acid reflux instead of foods that trigger acid reflux your digestive system will function better and the better your digestive system works the less acid reflux you?ll have.
Foods can hurt and some so-called foods can harm, but natural raw unprocessed foods always help, plus processed, denatured or cooked foods never help cure acid reflux, but usually cause it.
You were born to heal,
Todd M. Faass
Health Advocate
Filed under Acid Reflux by admin
You want relief from acid reflux, but you’ve heard about the real dangers of taking OTC antacids. You already know that covering the symptoms of your acid reflux doesn’t spell true relief at all.
In fact the worst thing many people can do is start little antacid pills and tossing back shots of proton pump inhibitors to make acid reflux magically go away . . .
That’s why your reading this isn’t it? My guess is you’ve either heard that acid reflux can become worse by covering symptoms with OTC gimmicks or you’ve already learned that the hard way yourself, right?
The bottom line is this: Alkalize or die.
Your biological functions all depend on this simple fact. Your tissue needs to maintain a slightly alkaline pH of between 7.25 and 7.4 pH.
Acid reflux often has nothing to do with too much stomach acid, but rather too much tissue acid. When the pH of your blood, organs and bones has an acid pH, it means you lack cellular oxygen, minerals and nutrients.
Acid reflux relief means alkalizing your tissue pH, which doesn’t mean popping antacids to buffer access stomach acid.
Truth is having extra stomach acid production is rarer than you might first think and most cases of acid reflux are triggered from a stomach acid deficiency.
Being alkaline basically means being salty and trace minerals are salts. Most people who suffer from acid reflux suffer from just the opposite of what direct-to-consumer advertising leads them to believe.
You see when you lack trace minerals in your tissues; your entire body quickly falls short of optimal health. When you have less than optimal health your automatic healing systems can fail.
Acid reflux relief could very well mean you need these trace mineral salts to help your 60 trillion cells to conduct essential electrical signals, which obviously all your metabolic functions depend on . . .acid reflux is nothing more than a cellular communication breakdown.
Only when you have optimal health can you expect everything to function automatically and correctly.
Your digestive metabolism demands these trace minerals to be available to produce stomach acid, enzymes and other cofactors your immune and digestive system needs. Nature’s best forms of these cellular salts are ionic minerals ideally found in pure artesian well water and in organic heirloom vegetables.
Acid reflux relief can truly only be found in eating the right foods. Food truly is the first and last medicine, everything else is most likely just a gimmick and will contribute zero to your optimal health and acid reflux relief.
You were born to heal,
Todd M. Faass
Health Advocate
Filed under Acid Reflux by admin
April 6, 2011
Hiatal Hernia Acid Reflux
There are several causes for acid reflux. Of the thousands of sufferers of acid reflux daily you would be surprised to discover how the causes for acid reflux in different individuals vary. Many suffer from acid reflux as result of a hiatal hernia. A hiatal hernia is an abnormality of the stomach that occurs when the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) and the upper part of the stomach move above the diaphragm. The diaphragm, amongst other functions, serves as the muscle that separates the stomach from the chest. When this muscle is functioning properly, the diaphragm helps to keep stomach acids in the stomach. If you are suffering from a hiatal hernia, acid then has the space to move past the stomach into the esophagus causing acid reflux disease symptoms.
There are ultimately two types of hiatal hernias, para-esophageal and sliding:
- In cases of para-esophageal hernias, the gastro-esophageal junction stays put but part of the stomach squeezes up into the chest finding its way next to the esophagus. This type of hernia makes home in the chest cavity. Para-esophageal hernias have been known to cause complications such as strangulation and incarceration. During incarceration, the hernia is stuck and is actively being squeezed. During strangulation there is a lack of blood supply which can lead to tissues that are involved in the strangulation dying. In order to stop the strangulation surgery must be the resort.
- The other type of hiatal hernia is a sliding hiatal hernia. Approximately 90% of hiatal hernias are sliding hernias. A sliding hiatal hernia occurs when the gastro-esophageal junction and part of the stomach literally slides into the chest. This usually occurs as a result of weakening anchors of the diaphragm to the esophagus from increased pressure in the abdomen or longitudinal esophageal muscle contractions. Part of the stomach may only slide into the chest while swallowing or a part of the stomach may make way into the chest and permanently reside there. When you swallow, your esophagus contracts, shortens and pulls on the stomach. After swallowing, your junction falls right back into starting position.
There are no concrete known causes of hiatal hernias, however, it is speculated that hiatal hernias may be a result of a weakening in the tissues that support the area. Weakening of the tissues can be due to vomiting, pregnancy, wearing tight clothing that add pressure to the abdomen, sudden heavy lifting, tears or holes in the diaphragm, age, obesity and smoking.
Over half of hiatal hernia sufferers never complain of any symptoms. If there are any symptoms experienced, it usually simulates the discomfort that is most often associated with acid reflux such as heartburn, which can be experienced in the throat, chest, and lower abdomen, regurgitation, which is the expulsion of stomach contents from the mouth, sour or bitter taste in the mouth, hiccups, burping or coughing. Though it is a less experienced symptom there have been cases where sufferers have complained of nausea.
Try eating smaller meals, avoiding foods that are your acid reflux triggers, losing weight and drinking lots of water to lessen symptoms. If you have any other questions please feel free to visit refluxremedy.com today.
Filed under Acid Reflux, Hiatial Hernia by admin