January 21, 2011
Foods That Trigger Acid Reflux and Heartburn
There are a number of foods that trigger acid reflux and heartburn. Although everyone is different certain foods cause acid reflux more often, and more commonly, than others. Additionally, how much you eat, and when you eat can also trigger the effects of acid reflux.
Traditionally, onions, garlic, highly acidic fruits and juices (like citrus), caffeine and alcohol are all known to cause some type of heartburn (mild or severe) in a vast number of people. Additionally, foods that are difficult to digest like fatty foods (fast food), whole milk products, and ground beef can also cause some level of heart burn.
However, you may have your own triggers that upset your stomach a great deal, but don’t bother anyone else. To help you identify these causes, keep a food journal. That just means you should write down what you eat, when you eat, and how much you ate each time you sit down for a meal or a snack. That will help you to know exactly what you’ve eaten in the last few hours since your most recent bout of heartburn. If there are any trends, you’ll be able to easily point to them because you’ve been keeping track of your meals.
Regardless of what you’re eating, you can still get a mean case of heartburn if you eat too much of it. Have you ever heard of too much of a good thing? If you flood your stomach with food all at once, that sends it into acid production overdrive, and you may find that an upset stomach is the least of your problems. Keep this from happening by eating smaller meals more often. That way you’re still getting the same amount of nutrition, but you’re making it easier for your digestive system to process.
Additionally, when you eat can impact your heartburn pain. If you eat too close to bed time, or right before you lie down for a nap, that can be a sure fire way to trigger acid reflux, even if you just ate some whole grain toast, something that shouldn’t cause heartburn in the first place. This is because when you lay down, gravity can no longer help your body keep food down in the stomach. That allows acid and food to wander up into your esophagus, which results in pain and irritation. So, just try not to eat so close to bed time. Food should be consumed two hours or more prior to lying down to avoid an attack of acid indigestion. If this rule can’t be followed, then try propping yourself up with an extra pillow to provide your body with something resembling a more natural alignment of your digestive tracts, and attempt to keep foods down in your stomach where they belong.
If you’re looking for more information about foods that trigger acid reflux and heartburn, why they trigger those conditions, and how you can naturally relieve those symptoms, check out The Reflux Remedy Report. It contains a whole host of information about heartburn, as well as holistic tips and tricks for being heartburn free. Visit refluxremedy.com today to learn more.
Filed under Acid Reflux by admin
January 17, 2011
Heartburn Indigestion Symptoms
Heartburn indigestion symptoms can be a pain in the neck. They are nearly as wide ranging as their causes and methods of prevention. So, what is heartburn indigestion, what are its symptoms and how can you keep it from coming back?
Heartburn Indigestion
Heartburn indigestion happens when too much acid is produced in the stomach. This results in a buildup of pressure in the stomach and allows acid up into the esophagus. If this happens frequently enough it can cause long term damage to the esophagus that is difficult to repair for frequent heartburn indigestion sufferers.
Symptoms
Heartburn indigestion symptoms include pain that radiates through the stomach and chest. This is drastically different from the chest pain of a heart attack. It’s often associated with a burning sensation, where heart attack pain is felt as a weight on the chest, associated with shortness of breath and pain in the nearby extremities. It’s crucial to differentiate between these two conditions as correct treatment can be the difference between life and death in some situations.
Other symptoms associated with heartburn indigestion include burping, hiccups, and an overall feeling of an unsettled stomach.
Causes and Prevention
So, now that you know what to look for, what are the causes of heartburn indigestion and how can you stop it from happening to you? By practicing a healthy lifestyle and possibly changing a few of your daily habits you can easily eliminate heartburn indigestion from your life.
First, monitor what you eat. Certain foods: like caffeine, alcohol, onions, citrus and garlic are known to cause acid reflux, but you may have your own unique triggers. So watch what you eat so that you are able to point to a concrete cause of your most recent bout of heartburn indigestion.
Second, don’t eat quite so much in one sitting. Bombarding your stomach with large amounts of food causes it to sort of freak out, and frantically attempt to digest and process all that food. This results in pressure and acid build up, which equals pain and indigestion for you. So, just don’t eat so much all at once. That’s not to say you have to eat less across the board. To consume the same amount of food in a 24 hour period, just eat 4 little meals and a few snacks as opposed to 2 huge meals.
Third, don’t lie down right after you eat. This is sure to cause heartburn indigestion symptoms to creep up on you. That’s because gravity can’t help your body keep food and acid down in your stomach where it belongs. If acid is allowed up into your esophagus while you’re sleeping or napping, heartburn indigestion symptoms are sure to follow. So, try not to eat less than 2 hours before you go to bed, and if you do break that hard and fast rule, put an extra pillow under your head in an attempt to keep acids down where they belong.
Lastly, make sure that you de-stress your life. Stress causes a wide variety of illnesses, including heartburn indigestion. So make sure you take appropriate steps to avoid it. Meditate or put on some soothing music, practice yoga or exercise, take a deep breath, read a book, do an art project, go for a walk, do anything that will help you to relax. Take the focus off the situation and put it back onto your overall well being and you’ll find you’re a much happier and healthier person.
For more information on heartburn indigestion symptoms and how to prevent them naturally, visit refluxremedy.com now!
Filed under Indigestion by admin
January 12, 2011
Acid Reflux Food to Avoid
Acid reflux is a terribly common problem among people in today’s fast paced culture of high fat foods and things that can be eaten on the go. There are a number of acid reflux foods to avoid, and certain things that will help eliminate and prevent your heartburn.
First, let’s look at what acid reflux actually is and how it happens. Stomach acid helps to break down food in your stomach so that your body can extract the vitamins and nutrients it needs. Certain things like difficult to digest foods, stress, smoking, or lying down after eating can cause that acid to creep up into your esophagus. This causes pain, indigestion, burping, hiccups and can even result in damage to the esophagus if the reflux occurs frequently.
Trigger Foods
Everyone has their own foods that will set off acid reflux, however there are a few common triggers. These foods should be avoided to help prevent damage to the esophagus, and keep heartburn at bay. They include:
- Garlic
- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Citrus (including juices that are high in acids)
- Onions
- Meats that are difficult to digest (like ground beef, marbled sirloin and chicken wings)
- Dairy
To help find out what your own triggers are, start a food journal. Keep track of what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat it. That will help you to better understand what sets your acid reflux off, and narrow down your specific triggers. Some of your food triggers may surprise you!
What you can do
Now, just because there are a ton of foods you should avoid doesn’t mean you need to go on an extreme, crash course diet. It’s always best to try to maintain a balanced diet, so things like dairy, citrus and meat that are part of a healthy diet should not be completely cut out. They should just be consumed in moderation, and possibly in tandem with other heartburn preventatives.
Heartburn Preventatives
Sometimes foods that are known to cause heartburn for you just can’t be avoided. Maybe you’re at a friend’s house and they cooked nachos for you with ground beef, onions, and a whole host of other heartburn triggers just waiting to settle into your stomach. So what can you do?
Try taking a papaya enzyme tablet after you eat. Papaya contains digestive enzymes that will help your body to digest foods and prevent acid buildup that causes reflux.
Try drinking a full glass of water after you eat. This will help dilute stomach acids and flush your digestive tract out so you won’t have to experience excess irritation. For more effective relief or prevention, try adding a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar to a full glass of water. This will help neutralize the acid in your stomach in addition to washing it away.
Eat an apple before or after your meal. Apparently the old adage “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” has some basis, as many people are finding success with this technique for keeping acid reflux at bay.
There are countless home remedies you can try to prevent and relieve heartburn. The Reflux Remedy Report promotes natural heartburn remedies and can help you prevent your acid reflux, as well as formulate a diet appropriate for acid reflux. For more information on acid reflux food to avoid and other preventative measures you can take, visit refluxremedy.com today!
Filed under Acid Reflux by admin
January 11, 2011
Acid Indigestion Symptoms
Heartburn and acid indigestion plague millions of people worldwide. But, for someone who is experiencing it for the first time, it can be difficult to identify the symptoms of heartburn. So, what are some of the acid indigestion symptoms, what causes these symptoms, and how can they be prevented?
Symptoms
Symptoms of acid indigestion can be scary if you don’t know what they are. Chest pain is a main symptom; however it is different than that of a heart attack. Heartburn pain is often described as a burning sensation that radiates from the abdomen up into the chest and neck. A heart attack can feel like a weight on your chest, pain, and pain or numbness in your arm. It’s important to know the difference between these two symptoms and react accordingly.
Other symptoms of acid indigestion include reflux, or acid making it all the way up to your mouth, burping, hiccups and an overall feeling of indigestion.
Causes
These symptoms are a result of either acid overproduction, or acid being allowed into your esophagus, which can have a number of root triggers. They include daily habits, food and food consumption, and stress, among others.
Daily habits often cause acid indigestion. Something as simple as lying down right after eating isn’t good for digestion, and can easily result in heartburn. This is because when you’re in a horizontal position, acid is allowed to move freely through your stomach and esophagus. So, if you’ve just eaten, there may be acid and even food left in your stomach when you lie down. That means it’ll end up in your esophagus and cause acid indigestion if you don’t stay up for a bit longer. To avoid this, try eating no less than two hours before meals.
Food and how much of it you eat are huge triggers of heartburn and acid indigestion. Things like garlic, onions, caffeine, alcohol and citrus are common triggers, but you may have your own unique things that set you off. Keep track of what you eat so that you can easily point to your own acid indigestion culprits. Additionally, eating too much food at any one time can cause heartburn. This is because the body can’t process the sheer volume of food, and goes into overdrive of acid production. That creates a pressure buildup and causes indigestion and discomfort. In order to avoid this, try eating smaller meals more frequently. That will help your stomach more easily digest what you do give it, and keep indigestion at bay.
Stress is also a big indigestion trigger. It’s known to increase acid production, which can result in heartburn and discomfort. So, do things that will help you to relax. Listen to soothing music, take deep breaths, read a book, exercise, practice some yoga, whatever you need to do to help you calm down. It will help you prevent acid indigestion later in the day if you squash stress at its source.
Prevention
Preventing acid indigestion is easier than you may think. Simple things like altering your daily habits and food intake as stated above can majorly help improve your quality of life when it comes to heartburn. However, there are plenty of other things you can try to keep heartburn at bay.
- Papaya tablets can help you to more easily digest your food, and keep acid production down to a healthy level. Papaya contains digestive enzymes that help break down your food and make it more digestible.
- Eating an apple before or after a meal can also help to keep heartburn at bay.
These are just a few of the natural prevention techniques found in The Reflux Remedy Report. The report contains hundreds of holistic methods for keeping your foods down where they belong.
For more information on acid indigestion symptoms and how to prevent them, visit refluxremedy.com today.
Filed under Acid and Digestion by admin