May 10, 2011
Acid Reflux Disease and Diet
Acid reflux disease is very much connected to what you eat. Food is one of the major contributors to acid reflux disease. Acid reflux disease has the ability to cause long-term harmful effects. If you have acid reflux you may be experiencing heartburn, regurgitation, chest pain, difficulty swallowing, sore throat, nausea and hoarseness. The term ‘You are what you eat‘ couldn’t be more true when it comes to acid reflux. Your diet has a lot to do with how you feel. There are foods that are great for preventing and treating acid reflux. There are also eating habits that are known to decrease the chances of developing acid reflux disease.
Finding the Right Balance
The body needs the right balance of foods in order to perform properly. Many people think that foods that have an acidic taste are foods that cause acid reflux. This isn’t always the case. Citrus fruits have an acidic taste but are more neutral when they are digested. You need a balance of acid forming and alkaline forming foods to have good nutrition. A diet that is heavy in either acidic or alkaline foods can cause an imbalance. Too much acid forming foods in the body causes an increase in hydrogen levels. An abundance of hydrogen can increase your chances of developing acid reflux.
Types of Foods
The kind of food you eat is directly related to acid reflux disease. You should be eating a wide variety of healthy foods. Fatty foods are not good for acid reflux. The higher the fat content of the foods you eat, the more your body will need to produce stomach acid to break it down. Fat molecules are more difficult to digest and therefore cause the stomach to create more acid. If you have a weak lower esophageal sphincter (LES), the presence of more acid can be dangerous because the acid may seep into the esophagus. You should focus on eating low fat protein, fruits and vegetables. Drinking water, aloe juice and eating ginger and papaya are great for acid reflux prevention and treatment. You should avoid alcohol, caffeine, sodas, onions and garlic.
Eating Habits and Lifestyle
Acid reflux may be triggered by a variety of foods. The food that triggers your acid reflux may not be what triggers someone else’s. To find out what is causing you to reflux you should keep a daily food journal. When you feel acid reflux, look to see what may have caused it to occur. Try to remove that item from your diet, but be sure to find an equally nutritious replacement. Your eating habits can contribute to acid reflux disease. You should avoid eating right before bed as this can cause the production of excess stomach acid at a time when you are in a laying down. This may permit stomach acid to enter the esophagus.
If you would like to find out more information about the types of food and eating habits that can help you to prevent acid reflux, review The Reflux Remedy Report today.
Filed under Acid Reflux Disease by admin
January 25, 2011
Intense Stomach Pain After Eating
If you’re experiencing intense stomach pain after eating, you may have a stomach or gastric ulcer. Pain after eating is one of the main symptoms of this condition, as well as nausea, weight loss, heartburn or acid reflux, loss of appetite, vomiting, blood in your stool, or you may not have any symptoms at all.
Gastric ulcers occur when the delicate lining in the stomach becomes damaged or torn. This can be the result of too much acid in the stomach that wears away the lining or some other trauma.
The most common cause of gastric ulcers is the H. Pylori bacteria. The bacteria are fairly common in most people. It becomes a problem when it runs rampant and causes damage to the stomach lining. Although some people can get ulcers from too much stress or too much spicy fooulcer, it’s much more common to get an ulcer as a result of H. Pylori.
So, what can you do about it? If your ulcer is in fact due to H. Pylori, you’ll have to undergo a series of tests, antibiotics and more tests to make sure the bacteria is in fact gone. In the mean time, or if your ulcer is the result of something other than H. Pylori, you can help your body heal itself by following a few simple steps.
1. Be careful of what you eat. Certain foods, like fatty foods, some types of meat (ground beef, marbled cuts of meat, etc.), whole milk and other fatty dairy products, and some vitamins (like iron and calcium) are very difficult to digest and can exacerbate an ulcer. Use caution when consuming these foods if you have an ulcer. You may want to focus your diet on more easily digestible foods, like those that contain whole grains, fish, and other foods that are high in vitamins that your body needs to heal.
2. Avoid pain killers. Although your intense stomach pain after eating may have you reaching for a bottle of Aspirin, you should resist that urge. Pain killers are known to cause gastric ulcers, and can significantly worsen existing ulcers. So, use other methods to relieve your ulcer pain.
3. Eat smaller meals. This will help your body better handle the digestive process. When your stomach is already injured, adding large amounts of food can stress the area and slow the healing process dramatically, as well as worsen your pain. So, simply eat less more frequently to help your body heal.
4. Focus on lowering your stress levels. Stress can worsen an ulcer by increasing the amount of acid in your stomach. So do what you can to mellow out. Get a massage, take time to curl up with a good book, add exercise to your daily routine, practice meditation and deep breathing, or listen to some soothing music at work. Do whatever you need to in order to take the focus off the stressful situation and place it back on your overall mental health. Your body will thank you for it.
You don’t need to continuously suffer intense stomach pain after eating. See your doctor and take steps to help your body heal from its ailments. For more information on intense stomach pain after eating, and healing the condition naturally, visit refluxremedy.com.
Filed under Stomach Pain by admin
January 17, 2011
Pain in Stomach After Eating
If you experience pain in your stomach after eating, you may have an ulcer. If your pain is intense, or has been going on for quite some time, you should seek the advice of a physician.
Generally, stomach ulcers are caused by bacteria called H. Pylori, not by stress or spicy foods as was once thought. H. Pylori is a corkscrew shaped bacteria that is fairly common among all people, regardless of age, sex or health condition. What causes it to run rampant in some people and not others is still a mystery, but if your ulcer is blamed on H. Pylori, you’ll likely be prescribed a series of medications and tests to make sure the bacteria is eradicated.
Regardless of the cause of your stomach pain after you eat, there are a number of things you can do to help prevent or relieve it.
- First, modify how much food you take in at once. By limiting your intake, but increasing the number of times you eat during the day, you can help your stomach to better deal with the digestion process, and reduce stress on your body.
- Second, make sure you’re not eating foods that will aggravate a stomach ulcer or other digestive disorder. Things like fatty foods, dairy products, garlic, acidic fruits like citrus, caffeine and onions should be avoided. Breads and products that contain whole grains, fish and lean meats and fruit containing antioxidants (like the ‘superfruit’ blueberries) should be targeted if you suspect an ulcer.
- Third, although you may be trying to target certain foods and avoid others, a balanced diet is crucial to maintaining a healthy body. Everything in moderation is vital. Make sure your body gets the nutrients it needs to heal by providing it with essential vitamins found in all types of food.
- Fourth, exercise regularly to keep oxygen rich blood flowing throughout your body. This will help your body heal, and prevent future injuries and traumas like ulcers.
- Fifth, don’t take pain killers if you’re experiencing pain in your stomach after you eat. Although pain killers may be your first instinct when you’re having pain, just don’t do it. Pain killers can often exacerbate an ulcer and take your situation from bad to worse. Even over the counter pain medications have been shown to cause ulcers, so if you already have one, don’t aggravate it by taking additional pain medications.
- Sixth, if you’re a smoker, quit. Smoking has been scientifically shown to cause a host of health problems, including death, so quitting will help your case. It actually increases acid production in your stomach, which can irritate an existing ulcer. So just quit it.
- Lastly, make sure you’re keeping your stress levels down to a healthy amount. Too much stress causes the body to create excess stomach acid, which irritates the esophagus and stomach lining, making it difficult for an ulcer to heal. So, meditate, take deep breaths, listen to music, take up a hobby, or anything else that helps you stay calm in a stressful situation.
Pain in the stomach after eating can be a debilitating symptom of a potentially serious problem. For more information on this disorder and how you can help your body heal from it, visit refluxremedy.com today.
Filed under Stomach Acid, Stomach Pain by admin
January 10, 2011
Diet for Gastritis
For too long now doctors have been recommending a bland diet to help prevent or cure gastritis.
In fact a bland diet, more often than not, isn’t good for gastritis or acid reflux.
Gastritis comes mainly from inflammation in the cells found in your stomach lining. Many things can trigger the kind of inflammation that leads to gastritis, even a bland diet.
One of the most common triggers of gastritis symptoms is from bacteria called Helicobacter pylori, the same bacteria involved in the formation of stomach ulcers.
Anything that causes an acidic environment inside your body’s tissues can trigger the inflammation of the stomach lining (gastritis).
Some known causes of an acidic environment which the gastritis-type bacteria thrive in are:
- Digestive bile back-up
- Immune imbalance
- Ibuprophen and other Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs).
A diet that produces an alkaline environment in your body tissues will prevent, reverse and cure gastritis, but there is no need to limit your diet to the bland side of life.
You see it is a scientific certainty that gastritis bacteria cannot live inside you when you have an alkaline pH. All that really means is your has a healthy balance of ionic minerals, nutrients and cofactors that help maintain healthy oxygen levels in your tissues.
If you suffer from indigestion, heartburn, stomach aches, hiccups, nausea, vomiting or dark stools you most likely are suffering from an acid pH that can lead to gastritis symptoms. All that means is your body tissues are lacking ionic minerals, nutrients and oxygen.
Bacteria that cause gastritis thrive in a low oxygen acidic environment. The ONLY place you should have acid is within the stomach area and in your body waste. All your cells, including the cells in your stomach lining need an alkaline environment to survive.
That’s why gastritis and the damage it causes to your tissue can be reversed and healed. As soon as normal oxygen and mineral levels are restored the healing process begins to win over the gastritis.
Your diet should be made of a variety of delicious vegetables and fruits. Simply eliminate the gastritis triggering, acid forming diet foods and products. Diet foods that are over cooked, diet foods high in refined sugar, diet foods containing vegetable oils, canola oils or hydrogenated trans-fatty oils will add to acid waste build-up.
Your gastritis diet depends on you eating small portions throughout the day. It is better to have 5 meals that are small than one or two large meals.
A gastritis diet rich with steamed or raw vegetables of a variety of colors will help provide enzymes, minerals and nutrients your body needs to maintain an alkaline environment.
Keep in mind bacteria, virus, fungus, yeast and even cancer cells can NOT live in a balanced alkaline tissue. Your gastritis diet should be anything but bland . . . just know to avoid some spicy or fatty foods, especially while your gut is healing from the gastritis damage and ulcerations.
You were born to heal,
Todd M. Faass
Health Advocate
Filed under Gastritis Diet by admin