Whether your acid reflux problems are triggered from too much or too little stomach acid, you need to find the best diet to promote proper digestive balance.

There?s an old saying that variety is the spice of life. So the worst thing you can do if you want to cure your acid reflux would be to eat the same thing all the time.

Truth is millions of people crave one kind of food and what?s worse is when they eat one brand of one kind of food.

In fact that may be the best thing you can do for your acid reflux symptoms; eat foods that are different in some way. It could be the monosodium glutamate (MSG) content, or the aspartame (a.k.a. NutraSweet) content, maybe it?s nitrates or one of the hundreds of other processed food additives and preservatives.

Besides all this chemicals are bad for you in other ways than triggering acid reflux or heart burn.

Acid indigestion is a very serious health problem, especially in first world countries. Mainly because eating microwaved, fried and processed foods leaves your body empty of any nutrients.

Your body will live long and well by simply eating more raw fruits and vegetables and less animal sourced protein. You see, eating foods that are processed with chemicals, foods that are over cooked and basically anything dead, is bad for you.

It may not show ill effects for years, but the bottom-line is raw fruits, vegetables and herbs and spices contain their own enzymes and minerals for one.

Your body can?t digest everything with stomach acid; your body needs these vital enzymes and cofactors to help them digest.

Indigestion is what happens when there isn?t anything to help your body breakdown food into nutrition.

After all the reason we eat is to provide nutrition.

The Standard American Diet (SAD) takes nutrition away from your muscles and tissues, leaving you with acid indigestion, acid reflux and heartburn.

There?s an old saying, ?It?s not so much what you eat, it?s what?s eating you.? This also applies to acid reflux problems. In other words, there?s a reason people in America eat too fast. The reason is that they are ?preoccupied.?

It is important to eat right, yet just as important, is that you enjoy eating the right foods. Acid reflux and all indigestive issues are inflamed from eating on the run, or not taking the time to chew your food.

You should set aside 20 minutes to chew your steak, rest 5 minutes and take another 20 minutes to enjoy your salad, etc . . .

Notice your eating the salad after eating the steak. American?s get this backwards. In Europe it has been tradition to eat the salad after the main course. Europeans also take 2 to 3 hour lunches in most countries as well.

It?s best to eat your protein first, then your carbs . . . try it, you?ll lose weight too!

In America everyone is wolfing don?t everything while standing up, driving or talking on the phone while on the way to something else.

Look at your acid reflux as a blessing- it?s trying to tell you to slow down and select the right foods. It?s asking you to take the time to taste your food and learn to eat things separately instead of piling everything on top of the same plate.

No wonder Americans have so many health issues- we all need to be grateful for our humble portions and learn to enjoy the benefit of eating the right diet . . .then acid reflux, heartburn and esophageal acid reflux disease (GERD) will become a thing of the dark past, a past of a faster less health conscious age.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist

Here you are again, up late at night miserable with heartburn . . . what?s with that? I mean, you?ve tried everything ?they? told you to do, right? Of course you did . . . you and 50 million other heartburn sufferers across America.

It?s sad but true . . . the Swedes even proved it in clinical tests years ago . . . antacids are a sham, a rip-off and a big fat lie.

In fact they only make your heartburn worse.

So let?s discuss something that makes sense, like actually addressing the root cause of heartburn and indigestion. You may be suffering from acid indigestion and heartburn because you?re making ?too much? gastric acid, but probably not.

More people have acid reflux because the food they eat isn?t being digested from lack of gastric power. This allows the stomach acid your body makes splash up from the top of the food filling your gut.

So my first tip is don?t lay down after eating, this just makes it easier for the little acid on top of your undigested food to work its way toward your throat.

My second tip, officially, is don?t take antacids, for the reason I mentioned above. You don?t have the stomach acid you used to have when you were younger, especially if you?re a man.

The more cooked foods and meat you eat, the more nutrients, enzymes and everything else your pancreas and digestive system have to make to dissolve them. So their simply used up now- time to replenish!

So as the years go by, if you don?t learn how to ?replenish? you suffer from specific nutrient and mineral deficiencies.

The secret is to eat foods that contain their own enzymes, minerals and cofactors, cooked food and meat has very little to offer.

Tip number three is to eat more whole raw fruits and vegetables and if you are eating meat chew it well and then eat your vegetables ?after.? If you?ve ever been to Europe you?ll notice they always eat their salads after the main course.

Americans for some reason unknown to me, eat the salads first. This places your carbohydrate ahead of your protein. If your protein source is meat, you?ll need as much stomach acid as possible to digest that animal protein and fat.

In fact you shouldn?t even eat fruit with a meal at all, especially if you?re eating meat.

So eat your fruit in between your meals.

Same goes with drinking water- you need to drink a lot of good water, but if you do it while you?re eating, you?ll dilute what stomach acid you do have- so eat small portions, chew well. Eat protein first, carbs second and fruit in between . . . all while drinking a good source of mineral water in between all that munching.

Oh, and sit up straight!

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist

If you?re like me, by now you?re tired of people telling you what to eat for acid reflux. That?s the last thing I want to hear is someone limiting what I can do, especially when it comes to my food.

I found a simple solution to all this . . . simply make a ?small list? of what foods to avoid.

Expecting to tell someone what they can eat becomes more like a strict religion, might as well write a what-you-can -eat encyclopedia. Knowing what foods trigger acid reflux is nothing much more than a laundry list.

Once you understand the basic principle behind acid reflux prevention, it?s really just common sense.

However common sense isn?t so common when it comes to acid indigestion, especially since scientists estimate more than 15,000,000 Americans suffer from gastro-esophageal reflux disease and acid reflux type symptoms.

Knowing which few foods to avoid in order to prevent heartburn is a lot simpler and effective than popping heavy metal laden antacids, or ending up taking proton pump inhibitors (PPI) for life.

Avoiding certain foods will eliminate these acid indigestion symptoms:

• Burning pain in your chest (heartburn) or upper abdomen
• Irritation in your throat
• Acid taste in your mouth
• Bad breath
• Laryngitis
• Chronic cough
• Difficulty swallowing
• Nausea
• Belching

Unfortunately these symptoms are so common and so nasty that most people go right out and buy whatever the last acid reflux commercial they saw told them too.

One of the biggest scams on the American public, besides anti-cholesterol satins, is acid reflux products. Truth is most people who are led to assume they have too much stomach acid really don?t produce enough.

A stomach acid deficiency still causes acid reflux, but for different reasons than you think.

Imagine all that food sitting in your gut just fermenting, until finally your body makes another shot of acid reflux and shoots it up into your throat. Why? Because ?your gut is full? of undigested food and believe me, it doesn?t take a large amount of stomach acid to feel like ?too much.?

This is what about 80% of people suffer from, maybe more, and it?s all because of a stomach acid imbalance. So the worst thing you can do is eat the wrong foods and pop antacid pills, which by the way have been proven useless and only cause more acid rebound later.

Here?s a humble laundry list of acid reflux triggering foods to avoid:

? Iceberg lettuce (indigestible) Try leaf or romaine.

? Milk chocolate ?Try organic dark chocolate.

? Soda pop- Try mineral water

? Dairy products- Try almond milk or raw goat products

? Gluten products- Try sprouted or real sour dough breads and pasta

? Alcohol- Try ?dry? red wine (low sugar)

? Animal fats- Try lean grass fed meats

? Onions- Try uncooked with greens

Everyone is different, so you can figure out the rest. But basically avoid ?refined? sugars, salts and oils, cut out the fatty meats and enjoy alkaline producing lemons and limes, but avoid sugary orange juice.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist

If you suffer from acid reflux, acid indigestion, acidosis, digestive upset, dyspepsia, flatulence or heartburn you should know not to eat foods high in animal fat, wheat gluten or refined sugar or salt, to name a few.

On the other hand do you know what foods you can eat that will help prevent or cure your acid reflux, heartburn dilemma?

This whole acid causing food thing can be a little confusing, but I?m going to clear that up for you real fast today. I get a lot of people asking me about this, but it?s really quite simple to understand. You see many foods that are ?acidic? actually create an ?alkaline? condition inside your body and alkaline is good, that?s what you want.

This includes heirloom tomatoes, organic lemons and oranges . . . basically all citrus fruits. Once you know this, the rest is straight forward.

Now that we have that cleared up let?s take a closer look at what having an ?acid condition? or an ?alkaline condition? really means and why it?s important to know.

A Comparison: Acid Vs. Alkaline

First, an acid or alkaline state are opposite poles on a scale measured according to the ?pH,? which is short for ?potential of hydrogen.? Pure, living mineral water, which is made of hydrogen and oxygen, should have a natural pH of 7.0 representing the neutral, or half way mark on the pH scale.

A neutral 7.0 pH is neither in an acid or alkaline state. When the pH reading drops below 7.0 it?s considered to have an acidic pH and when the pH reading rises above 7.0 it is said to have an alkaline pH. So as you can see the entire pH scale is only from 1.0 pH being the most acidic to 14.0 pH reading being the most alkaline.

Your optimum health depends on you having a slightly alkaline reading, a 7.4 pH is good. This will naturally fluctuate from 6.5 to a 7.5 pH depending upon the time of day, your metabolic cycle and what you just eat.

The pH reading of your blood, urine and saliva determines your health.

Your urine will naturally become temporarily acidic in the morning because that?s when you carry the most acid waste.

If your blood pH becomes too acidic the hemoglobin is destroyed making it impossible for your red blood cells to carry oxygen to your cells. This is called acidosis and ignored will cause illness, cancer and even sudden death.

Perhaps now you can see why eating the wrong foods could cause an illness like acid reflux disease.

Bottom line is you need to know which foods will cure acid reflux and most of them are alkaline foods that create a slightly alkaline pH, the one exception being citrus fruits as I mentioned above.

German researchers discovered eating acid forming foods flushes the magnesium out of your kidneys, leading to magnesium deficiency. Magnesium is vital for heart health, for proper gastric acid balance and helps maintain optimum pH levels. So naturally, food rich with magnesium and other minerals will qualify as alkaline producing foods. Actually most raw green plants are rich in alkaline minerals.

Here?s a list of 9 very alkaline foods:

• Organic bananas or plantains
• Organic dark chocolate (70%+)
• Organic figs
• Natural mineral water
• Fresh squeezed orange juice
• Organic potatoes
• Organic spinach, kale or collards
• Seeded watermelon
• Organic dandelion greens

I hope you?ve found this information useful. On a final note, keep in mind that anything with refined sugar in it will tend to give your urine a more acidic pH. I would suggest supplementing with agave nectar, raw palm sugar or raw honey, at least these provide a lower glycemic load and provide useful minerals, vitamins and cofactors, whereas refined sugar and artificial sweeteners actually deplete these.

Live well,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist