Ulcers are a highly painful condition. They can cause eating to become a chore as foods you previously enjoyed suddenly seem to have turned on you, creating misery and discomfort. You don’t have to live with the pain and discomfort of ulcers. Simple nutrition principles can help remove the burning pain of ulcers and leave you free to enjoy your life.

Tips for Eating

Some important steps to take to calm ulcers begin before you even pick up a fork. Before you begin eating it is important to try to relax. Meals that are eaten slowly and calmly will help. Rushing through a meal will increase ulcer pain. Take care to chew your food thoroughly and enjoy it.

Eat small and frequent meals evenly spaced throughout the day. Avoid overloading your stomach with a large meal; a smaller meal is more easily digested. Aim for about three small meals and three snacks. Try to avoid eating in the three-hour period before you go to bed as going to bed with a full stomach will increase acid secretions overnight, which will result in ulcer pain that can wake you up in the night.

Eat at the table and sit up straight. Do not lie down immediately following a meal as this can cause stomach acid to leak into your esophagus, creating the painful, burning sensation commonly called “heartburn.”

Foods to Avoid

Some foods should be avoided, as they are more likely to irritate an ulcer. This doesn’t mean that they should never be consumed, but consuming them infrequently will increase your comfort and help heal the ulcer. This list includes:

• foods and beverages that contain caffeine, like coffee and chocolate
• tomato products, including spaghetti sauces
• citrus foods like oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit
• high-fat foods, especially those that have been fried
• spicy foods

Foods to Include

Certain foods are very helpful for a person who is suffering from ulcers and should be included frequently.

• Foods that are high in protein should be included in every meal and snack. This includes lean meats, low-fat dairy and eggs. Other great protein options are nut butters and tofu.
• Fiber is also very beneficial, as it keeps the digestive system working efficiently. Foods that are high in fiber such as fruits, vegetables and whole grain breads and pastas should be on your plate regularly.
• Fresh, frozen or canned fruit is good, as are fresh, frozen or canned vegetables.
• Fish is a good choice if you have an ulcer, regardless of whether it is fresh, frozen or packed like tuna or salmon.
• Soups, whether broth based or cream based are excellent, as long as they are mildly spiced.
• Good snacks to eat while on an ulcer diet include sherbet, frozen juice bars, flavored gelatin, graham crackers, angel food cake, pretzels and hard candies.
• Seasonings and flavorings are fine also, such as salt and pepper, most herbs, ketchup and mustard as tolerated.

For more information on the ulcer diet, feel free to download the Reflux Remedy Report at refluxremedy.com today!

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.

An acute attack of gastritis is a severe and sudden short term condition, whereas chronic gastritis would be a long term condition.

Acute gastritis may happen suddenly, but usually there have been some underlying factors that built up enough to cause a severe and sudden digestive upset.

Here are some causes of acute gastritis:

• Aspirin and other NSAIDS
• Corticosteroids
• Alcohol
• Consuming extremely acidic substances
• Physical or emotional stress
• Acidosis
• Parasitic, bacterial or viral infestation
• Standard American Diet (SAD)

Even though acute gastritis is sudden, there are signs that will tell you something is out of balance. For instance, if you notice you have hard dark stools that sink, you may be suffering from chronic dehydration and one of its complications is acute gastritis.

If you’ve noticed any indigestive issues like loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting you probably are experiencing the rapid onset of an acute gastritis attack.

Like everything else you have basically two approaches you can take for acute gastritis. The pharmaceutical approach isn’t going to cure the cause of your acute gastritis, but it may cover some symptoms . . . just beware of making things worse from side effects.

The nutritional approach is going to require you looking closely at your personal dietary habits. By using whole foods and the nutrient complexes within them you will naturally reverse all your gastritis pain, whether acute or chronic.

If you choose to ignore the cause of your acute gastritis and continue to try and drug your gastritis pain and symptoms away, your risk of it becoming chronic gastritis is worse.

Unfortunately, unless you address the root cause of your acute gastritis it could advance into a gastric ulcer.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you have too much stomach acid, it could mean you simply have an imbalance of digestive flora.

Only your stomach is acidic by nature, everything else is alkaline. Even the bacteria found in gastric ulcers are there because of the loss of an alkaline balance in your tissues. Once balance is restored the stomach and surrounding organs can function properly and the acute inflammation process will stop.

Acute gastritis improves rapidly with the right treatment, which sometimes involves using antacids to allow the ulcerations to heal. Keep in mind antacids should only be used in emergencies and for a short time.

Many of antacids are useless and often make acute gastric symptoms worse in the long run.

Eating more alkaline producing foods will benefit your recovery from acute gastritis without risking drug side effects.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass

Health Advocate

If you have an ulcer, eating can often be a bit of a challenge. Ulcers can cause meal time to be painful if it’s a gastric ulcer, or can result in pain hours after eating if it’s an ulcer located in the duodenum. If you have one, you may be wondering what to eat when you have an ulcer. Here are a few tips and tricks that may make meal time a little less painful while your ulcer heals.

1. No matter what you eat, make sure you do so in small portions. Large meals will overwhelm your already sensitive stomach, and can even result in an overproduction of acid, which will exacerbate an existing ulcer. So, rather than eating a few large meals every day go for smaller more frequent ones. That helps your body’s digestive system and makes the healing process go more smoothly.

2. Focus on easily digestible foods, like whole grain seedless breads, certain low acid fruits and vegetables, low fat dairy products (the fats found in milk and cheese can be hard to digest, causing excess acid in your stomach, so aim for low fat products), lean meats, fish and creamed nuts (like low fat peanut or almond butter).

3. Above all, focus on maintaining a balanced diet. Providing your body with the proper nutrition will help it heal much faster.

4. Avoid the following foods if you have an ulcer: Vegetables like onions and tomatoes, anything high in acid; breads that are high in fat like croissants; high acid fruits, like grapefruit, oranges, lemons, and citrus juices; whole milk products and creams; highly seasoned meats, poultry and fish; deli meats; sardines; fried foods; nuts; gravy; and high fat desserts, like cakes, cookies, pastries and donuts.

5. The important thing to remember when you’re trying to let your ulcer heal is to avoid foods that upset your stomach regularly, or can cause heartburn. Things like spicy foods, alcohol, caffeine and garlic can all irritate the stomach and result in additional stomach acid your ulcer doesn?t need.

Here are a few things to add to your new dietary habits that may help your ulcer improve:

1. Reduce your stress level. If you know a meal is going to be painful, try to relax about it. Stressing over it will only make the pain worse. Stress signals your body to produce more stomach acid, which will irritate your ulcer. So, if you feel stress coming on in any situation whether it’s the morning commute, something at work, or your kids at home stop and take a deep breath. Avoiding stress now can have a pretty major impact on pain later.

2. Stop smoking and focus on a healthy lifestyle. Smoking is known to increase stomach acid production. Smoking also slows the body’s ability to heal. Eating healthy and exercising regularly will help your body heal faster.

Practicing all these techniques should help your ulcer heal normally so you can move on with your life.

Still want to know more? Well, stop wondering what to eat when you have an ulcer and head over to refluxremedy.com for more tips and tricks.