Gastro-esophageal acid reflux or GERD for short can be treated with a traditional Westernized medical angle using the chemical approach or you can use a treatment with more of a holistically angle using a nutritional approach.

According to guidelines established by the American College of gastroenterology, GERD is defined as “symptoms or mucosal damage produced by the abnormal reflux of gastric contents into the esophagus”.

In searching for the right GERD treatment or cure it’s important you not get confused by elusive medical lingo. Simply put GERD is your heartburn gone wild. What was a simple case of acid indigestion has been allowed to inflame into a bad case of burned throat tissue.

Thanks to television programming, direct-to-consumer advertising and mass media propaganda millions of people end up using treatment that turn their heartburn into GERD.

If millions of people were addressing the root cause of their acid indigestion and heartburn in the first place, instead of popping antacids, then you and millions of others wouldn’t be even asking what GERD treatment they should use.

Why? Because there wouldn’t be any GERD and if there were they would be rare cases. GERD treatment is a huge business that sells antacid products, proton pump inhibitor chemicals and ultimately surgery and the maintenance products for that.

Your heartburn was never intended to lead you down a sales funnel of gimmicks and gadgetry . . . GERD treatment is a product made by the medical industry that you want to avoid at all costs.

GERD treatment is a gateway for laparoscopic or fundoplication surgery as a protocol to help you avoid the inevitable throat cancer you’re likely to get if you continue to just use GERD treatments to cover symptoms.

Before you even buy another bottle of antacids or fill that GERD treatment prescription for Proton Pump Inhibitor chemicals (PPIs), do yourself a favor, find a physician that is willing to give you a stomach acid test.

One of the biggest scams of GERD treatment is selling people on chemically blocking stomach acid production, when in fact their GERD symptoms are from a lack of stomach acid.

Don’t just take my word for it, look into it yourself. What I found is GERD treatment leads to acid rebound, which is a chemical dependency on PPIs . . .

Whenever you use a treatment, whether for GERD or acid reflux, whatever it is, keep in mind that treatment is only blocking symptoms . . . the root cause of your GERD is still there.

That’s why the nutritional approach is a smart avenue to look into before falling into the GERD treatment trap.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass

Health Advocate

By definition being pregnant is the same as a hernia. The bigger the fetus, the more pressure placed against other organs and the bigger the hernia.

A hernia is simply internal pressure against any organ.

A ‘hiatal’ hernia is when the pressure is directed up towards the opening in your diaphragm where your esophagus exits.

Any pressure in this area is called a hiatal hernia.

It usually happens because of a poor digestive system, which allows undigested food to burden the stomach and force it’s growing mass up into the hiatus (the opening).

Being pregnant, especially in the 3 trimester can have the same effect as chronic indigestion would have, except it’s from a growing baby instead of undigested food.

Now hopefully your hiatal hernia is caused only from your baby, I hope you don’t suffer from poor digestion too . . . although it has been known to happen.

The last thing you would ever want to do when pregnant is introduce any drugs into your system.

If you suspect acid reflux and indigestion as a factor for your hiatal hernia pain please don’t just start popping antacids.

Antacids are chocked full of aluminum and other materials that can harm your baby. Besides, you may not even have an over abundance of stomach acid, you may be suffering from a lack of gastric juice, which more often than not is the case.

The symptoms of too little stomach acid and too much are similar, as far as acid reflux goes.

Your baby needs a lot of nutrition and minerals to boot, plus if you are already deficient you need to know your baby now has biological priority.

So see a qualified health practitioner, get on a healthy diet and introduce some food support supplements.

I recommend food support supplements derived from RAW whole food sources.

To defeat acid reflux and indigestion you need easy to absorb (bioavailable) minerals and vitamins. You can’t even absorb vitamins without proper mineral balance and your enzymes need them too.

You also need plenty of minerals for make stomach acid . . . so focus on nurturing your cell health as the best way to stop hiatal hernia pain and grow a healthy baby.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass

Health Advocate

Maintaining a balanced diet doesn’t just mean eating an adequate portion or serving from each food group in the food pyramid. Health professionals recommend that individuals keep pH balance in mind when choosing what foods and beverages to consume on a daily basis. Avoiding certain foods can go a long way in decreasing the potential for diseases and medical conditions like acid reflux to arise.

Classification

Food with a pH of 7 is considered neutral. Higher pH levels are classified as alkaline and lower pH levels are classified as acidic. Human blood typically ranges from 7.35 pH to 7.45 pH. While this falls just above neutral and within the alkaline classification, people shouldn’t eat a large share of acidic or alkaline foods. Striking a balance between the two groups is ideal for a healthy lifestyle and disease prevention.

Health Risks

Consumption of large quantities of acidic foods can lead to undue emotional stress, toxic imbalance and changes to naturally occurring immune system functions. Mineral absorption rate is compromised by the abundant intake of acidic foods and can cause a significant decrease in energy and cell repair. Cancer forming cells may increase as well as the likelihood of fatigue, disease and death.

Making a Change

Regulating your diet is the most effective method of adjusting your body’s pH level. People with high pH levels are prone to illness and should make every attempt to change their diet. By replacing some foods that are acidic with foods that are alkaline, you can ward off several harmful conditions.

Food Groups

• Vegetables: Instead of acidic olives and winter squash, try cucumbers and pumpkins.
• Fruit: Replace blueberries, cranberries and currants with strawberries, raspberries and raisins.
• Protein: Nix high fat animal protein like beef and pork and opt for almonds, whey, and chestnuts.
• Dairy: Products like ice cream, cheese and butter are highly acidic. Balance them with non-traditional products like lecithin granules, molasses and bee pollen.
• Sweeteners: Alkaline sweeteners such as Stevia, can be used instead of corn syrup and sugar.
• Alcohol and Caffeine: Beer, coffee, and most sodas have high acidic levels. Drinking water or vegetable juices are a much healthier option.

Acid Reflux and Diet

A perfect diet is not one that features alkaline foods only. It is essential to eat a variety of foods that will help the body maintain the appropriate pH balance. Knowing the types of food that will help to prevent acid reflux is very important. Eating foods that hinder the symptoms of acid reflux is one method of controlling this medical condition. Eating smaller portions throughout the day, limiting meals right before bed, and consuming more meals per day will decrease the occurrence of acid reflux. In general, the consumption of citrus, fatty foods, caffeine and alcoholic beverages should be closely monitored. Diet is an excellent tool for remedying acid reflux and should be taken seriously.

If you are having chest pain caused from hiatal hernia there are natural remedies you can take and things you can do to make the pain stop.

Your hiatal hernia is your acid reflux and heartburn symptoms gone wild.

Hiatal hernia is a perfect example of what can happen when you only treat symptoms of a simple acid indigestion.

Ignoring the cause of your hiatal hernia and chest pain is the same as only treating symptoms.

To stop your chest pain caused from hiatal hernia for good, you won’t need any medication; instead all you need is some real science.

That’s really all folk remedies and ancient healing wisdom is . . . science.

Medicine has become a political activity and doesn?t concern itself with nurturing a healing experience and often ignores real science. Tragically, today Big Medicine is driven solely as a profit generating machine . . .

Your hiatal hernia once began as a little heartburn, graduated up to chronic acid indigestion and now you’ve got some serious chest pain.

The chest pain from hiatal hernia is a dangerous thing, not only because it’s painful, but because it is inflicting harmful stress on all your organs and taxing your immune system.

If you’ve been eating a Western pattern diet for more than 30 years you can’t afford to expend anymore of your stored minerals and nutrients . . . which is what often causes acid reflux diseases and hiatal hernia in the first place. . .under-nutrition.

If the stress from your chest pain and pressure from the hiatal hernia persist you could end up with adrenal fatigue, a compromised immune system and other complications.

First thing you can do is put your hands over your head and take some slow deep breathes. If this helps move your arms in a circular pattern, like a windmill, breathing in and out as deeply as you can.

Next step up on your tip toes with your hands above your head, breathe in deeply and then as you exhale suddenly drop from your toes to your heels while bringing your arms down to your side. Repeat this process ten times.

If you are feeling relief from the chest pain, keep doing it until the hiatal hernia relaxes and the pain decreases enough to go for a nice walk. Get some fresh air, swing your arms and walk for about 20 minutes and rest.

To stop the hiatal hernia from causing more chest pain repeat as necessary.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass

Health Advocate