November 12, 2010
Acid Reflux and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
Acid reflux is a problem that plagues millions of people in the world today.? When it occurs frequently, like twice a week or more, it can be characterized as Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, or GERD.
GERD happens when a muscle in the digestive system called the lower esophageal sphincter malfunctions for one reason or another.? When operating properly, the sphincter allows food to flow one direction ? into the stomach ? and keeps acid down where it belongs.? When it becomes too relaxed acid can get into the esophagus which causes pain and irritation for the sufferer.
Symptoms of GERD include heartburn ? characterized as a burning sensation in your throat or chest, difficulty swallowing, cough, regurgitation of food or sour liquid ? characterized as acid reflux, and the feeling of a lump in your chest or throat.? When these symptoms occur frequently, GERD is generally to blame.
Some people have been shown to be more susceptible to GERD than others.? Pregnant women often struggle with GERD as a result of extra pressure on the stomach.? Some people with Diabetes struggle with a disease that slows the digestion process, keeping food in their stomachs too long, which causes excess acid production and can lead to GERD.? Smokers also seem to have a higher occurrence of GERD, as do those who are overweight.
Symptoms of GERD can be resolved in a number of ways.? In extreme cases, surgical intervention is necessary.? It involves tightening the lower esophageal sphincter to prevent acid from escaping the stomach.? However, this is often a last resort, as there are many other options for alleviating GERD.
Medications are one option, though they may not be the best option either.? While they can help to target the specific cause of acid reflux by neutralizing acids or stopping acid production all together, they are an expensive and inconvenient solution that results in several trips to the doctor and pharmacy.? Additionally, over the counter medications are not meant to be taken for more than two weeks at a time.
For those searching for more natural solutions, there are many options out there.? Simple things like tracking what you eat, and avoiding foods that set you off is one way.? Certain foods such as caffeine, garlic, onions and citrus are common triggers among GERD sufferers.? Even changes in habits can help, like eating smaller meals more often.? This technique prevents an onslaught of food from entering your stomach, which then prevents pressure build up and overproduction of acid.? Also, GERD sufferers should avoid eating less than two hours before bed.? This helps gravity keep acid in your stomach where it belongs.
There are a host of natural foods that may help relieve symptoms of acid reflux for GERD sufferers as well.? Just eating an apple can help absorb extra acid.? Drinking a glass of water can help flush acid through the digestive system faster.? Ginger, a well known herbal cure for all kinds of stomach ailments, can also help neutralize stomach acid.
For more information on GERD and relieving its symptoms naturally, please check out The Reflux Remedy Report at www.refluxremedy.com today!
Filed under GERD Treatment by admin
November 3, 2010
Acidophilus and GERD
What in the world could gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and acidophilus bacteria have to do with each other?
Truth is acidophilus bacteria and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has a lot to do with each other and that’s what this article is all about.
First off I have to mention one of my favorite two-time Nobel Prize winners, Linus Pauling. Linus Pauling is one of those unsung heroes few people are aware of that helped make our world a better place.
He strongly believed that all degenerative diseases could be linked back to a mineral deficiency.
Now you might ask yourself, “What do mineral deficiencies have to do with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and acidophilus?”
In the course of tracking down the root cause of gastroesophageal disease (GERD) I found an interesting, yet hidden connection, between minerals, healthy flora and the cause of gastroesophageal acid reflux diseases (GERD).
You see a healthy flora is necessary for a healthy gut and the gut, or gastro intestinal tract, is the core of all life and vitality.
Of course with a holistic view point, everything is ultimately interconnected, yet the gut is essentially the place where all nutrition is extracted from the foods we eat and then delivered to each of your 50 trillion cells in order to sustain life.
Truth is healthy flora, like acidophilus, cannot thrive in an acid pH environment very long. Your gut is where food goes after your stomach acid has broken it down into small food molecules. It is in the gut where acidophilus and other beneficial microorganisms thrive to help break your food down into even smaller molecules, like vitamins, minerals and their many co-factors.
According to leading doctors and researchers on the subject, if you suffer from even the beginning stages of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), like heartburn and acid reflux, the worst thing you can do is start popping antacids.
First off, you may not really be suffering from producing too much acid, secondly antacids were proven many years ago to have absolutely no medical benefit and in fact often increase symptoms of heartburn, acid indigestion and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
So instead of taking harmful GERD causing antacids, try taking a supplement of live-cultured acidophilus instead. Many GERD suffers experience almost instant relief of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), plus they’re essentially addressing the “root cause” of their acid reflux problems, whether from over, or under production of stomach acid.
Neutralizing stomach acid in either case can be a serious mistake on you or your doctor’s part. Make sure you don’t end up taking any drug that covers symptoms for any extended period of time and if you are, ask your doctor to work with you to get you free of the drugs, symptoms and root cause of GERD.
Finding the right mineral rich diet combined with a good probiotic blend of acidophilus and a healthy active lifestyle are they master keys to naturally eliminating the root cause of your gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) concerns.
You were born to heal,
Todd M. Faass?
Health Ecologist
Filed under GERD Treatment by admin
October 27, 2010
What causes GERD?
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease ? or GERD ? happens when acid in your stomach chronically backs up into your esophagus. This acid doesn?t belong there and irritates the lining, causing heart burn. If this happens to you more than twice a week, doctors label it as GERD.
It all starts with the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES). It?s a muscle at the bottom of the esophagus, which should open and close to manage the flow of stomach contents. A normal LES prevents food and acid from backing up into the esophagus. An LES that isn?t functioning properly leads to GERD.
So, what causes the LES to act up repeatedly and essentially cause GERD? Medications, foods, certain health conditions, and various habits are among the many things doctors are pointing at.
Medications
Certain medicines, such as NSAIDS ? like aspirin and ibuprofen? have been linked to GERD. Research has shown them to commonly cause this problem, or increase the severity of symptoms in GERD sufferers. Other medications known to aggravate GERD include iron supplements, antibiotics, potassium and sedatives. If you?re having trouble with any of these medications, talk to your doctor for a possible solution.
Foods
There isn?t any one food that causes heartburn in all GERD sufferers. Everyone has their own specific triggers. Generally fried food, anything containing caffeine, alcohol, garlic, mint and onion are a few common ones. Keeping a food journal that documents what you ate and your reaction can help pinpoint your specific triggers.
Health Conditions
Hormones are thought to regulate the LES, so GERD and the associated heartburn often occurs during pregnancy, when hormones are out of whack.
Additionally, approximately 20 percent of people with Type 1 Diabetes have something called gastroparesis. The condition causes a delay in emptying stomach contents, which in turn can cause pressure build up, resulting in reflux.
When it comes to Asthma and GERD, there is some argument as to which came first for those that suffer from both. Some argue the constant coughing and constriction of the chest that occurs during an asthma attack puts pressure on the chest, resulting in reflux and essentially leading to GERD. Others say GERD sufferers may inhale acid from the esophagus causing irritation of the lungs. Doctors often point to GERD as a cause of asthma in adult asthma sufferers or if asthma gets worse at night or when lying down. Nevertheless, there appears to be a link between the two.
Obesity can also cause reflux. The additional weight causes pressure on the abdomen, resulting in acid build up.
Hiatal Hernia, a condition that occurs when the stomach is pushed above the diaphragm, has also been linked to GERD. The problem has been shown to worsen symptoms, although has not yet been proven to be a direct cause of GERD.
Habits
Even simple things like smoking and wearing tight fitting clothing are sometimes attributed to GERD. Smoking slows the function of the LES, causing acid to back up into the esophagus. Tight fitting clothing places constrictions on the chest and abdomen with the same results. Even snacking before bed can lead to GERD, as eating less than 2 hours before lying down can result in reflux.
For more information on GERD and natural remedies, please check out our book Reflux Remedy Report.
Filed under GERD Treatment by admin
For more than 5000 years raw apple cider has been used as a natural remedy for many ailments, especially heartburn, acid indigestion and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Did you know archaeologists recovered apple remains in Swiss Stone-Age lake dwellings and at a dig near Jericho in Jordan dating to 6500 BC? They also discovered dried apple rings in the tomb of Queen Pu-Abi (2500 B.C.E) in Southern Iran.
If you didn’t know about the powerful medicinal and healing qualities found in natural apple cider vinegar and you suffer from heartburn, it’s time to get with the program.
Apples are often overlooked like many of Mother Nature’s remedies because they are so common.
It is no coincidence that raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar contains a valuable nutrient rich base called “The Mother.”
“The Mother” of raw apple cider vinegar helps people with heartburn and acid reflux because it is naturally rich in readily available vitamins, minerals and essential amino acids, for starters.
The truth about heartburn, as with most dis-ease, is its root cause can be traced back to simple under-nutrition.
That’s right, your heartburn, acid indigestion and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), may be caused from simple nutritional deficiencies, which means your heartburn is NOT a drug deficiency.
Modern society differs from ancient times in fewer ways than you may first think. If we were to take away all the refrigerators, commercial farming practices and chemical food processing, you and I would find ourselves having to eat and live much like our ancestors did, depending on natural cures and wholesome home grown foods to provide us with everything we need.
Yet even if you unplug your refrigerator and stop buying commercially processed foods raised on artificial fertilizers, you still have to take the time to cultivate rich soils to produce the nutrient rich foods the ancient ones enjoyed.? It has been long known that artificial fertilization sterilized American soils to death about 80 years ago.
That is why you have heartburn and that is also why raw apple cider vinegar is so amazing. Even though apple farmers have been hybridizing apples and growing smaller less nutrient rich versions of the “original” apples, apple cider vinegar still contains “The Mother.”
Apple cider vinegar is a “super food” chocked full of the goodness of Mother Nature.
There is a new science of healing is called epigenetics. This new science is resurrecting the ancient ways of healing mind and body by simply reconnecting us from the DNA and cellular level to the environmental level and back again.
There is a built-in intelligence within you, which has hidden connections to the world that seems to be outside of you. When heartburn, acid indigestion or gastroesophageal acid reflux plague your daily life, that means something important has fallen out of balance.
Raw apple cider vinegar contains a perfect balance of fiber, flavonoids and antioxidants so vital for staying healthy and slowing down the aging process.
The pectin in the apple peel provides galacturonic acid, which reduces your body’s need for insulin.
In addition, apples are high in vitamin C and free-radical fighting Queretin beneficial for healthy cells.
French researchers found a flavonoid called “phloridzin” that may help protect post menopausal women from symptoms of osteoporosis and boron which strengthens bones.
So keep in mind that organic raw apple cider vinegar not only helps you defeat heartburn, acid indigestion and esophageal reflux diseases (GERD), it also helps restore and empower the hidden connections you have from the DNA , cellular level to “The Mother,” naturally . . . without drugs.
“To eat an apple going to bed, will make the doctor beg his bread.”
You were born to heal,
Todd M. Faass?
Health Ecologist
Filed under GERD Treatment by admin