Acid reflux and GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux disease) are common ailments that cause the esophageal sphincter, which is responsible for stopping excess acid from coming up from your stomach, fails. It can be healed to work normally again with treatment, but until that happens, symptoms such as heartburn, pain in the chest, overactive salivary glands, acid regurgitation, sore throat, excessive burping and a burning sensation in the stomach may occur. Often, patients are advised to go on a course of prescription medication, with little or no further information given, especially in relation to natural alternatives to heal GERD.

Although doctors may be quick to prescribe a long-term solution to these symptoms, there are indeed many tried and true natural combatants against GERD. Giving your esophagus a break from acid will allow it to heal, and ensure its ability to perform its job within the digestive process. With a functioning esophageal sphincter you will no longer suffer from the very uncomfortable and disconcerting symptoms of GERD or acid reflux.

The list of natural alternatives to heal GERD includes several cheap, easy-to-follow changes in your diet and lifestyle; natural aids for helping the healing. Red apples are at the top of the recent list of possible aids. Numerous research studies have been published that indicate that one red apple a day can greatly reduce your stomach acid. Other natural healing avenues include drinking a glass of water after every meal to help keep the seal on your esophagus more firmly closed. This assists your esophageal sphincter in doing its job to keep acid in your stomach, and not in your throat. The gel from an Aloe Vera plant, either diluted or alone, has been shown to act as an effective soothing device to combat stomach acid. Also, honey has been related with esophageal sphincter repair and has been shown to be a natural alternative to heal GERD.

Stay away from caffeine, alcohol and nicotine while trying to heal GERD. Natural alternatives often work better when you abstain from these substances as well. Salt can aggravate the condition, as can many fatty foods. Also, try to limit your food intake to smaller portions at a time, eating several small meals over the course of the day instead two or three big meals. Your stomach does not have to work as hard at producing the acid needed to break down a big meal; therefore, your stomach acid pumps get a break if you throw smaller meals at it over a the course of a day. Consider ingesting stomach enzymes with each meal to help your stomach digest food without additional treatments.

Calcium carbonate is a natural, short-term remedy for heartburn, as is licorice, which can help soothe the mucous membranes in your stomach that protect it from acid. Try a cup of peppermint or chamomile tea after meals instead of coffee, as they are caffeine-free and can help soothe your stomach. Chewing gum can also be effective for soothing heartburn symptoms by stimulating saliva production, which can dilute your stomach acid. Try sleeping with your head slightly elevated at night to reduce the ability of stomach acid to creep up your esophagus and throat. These natural alternatives to heal GERD will reduce your cost of prescription medicines, and restore your body?s ability to digest foods without over-producing acid.

Acid reflux is a medical condition in which the patient?s lower esophageal sphincter (LES) does not close after taking in food. All of the food we eat passes into our stomach through the LES, and if it does not close, the acid produced inside of our stomach can reach to our esophagus causing acid reflux disease. This can lead to heartburn, chest pain, and a multitude of other conditions, so it is extremely important to ask yourself: what are good foods to eat with acid reflux?

Preparing a diet regimen for treating acid reflux can be intimidating, and the problem may increase if you have any kind of food allergy. Normally acid reflux flares up post meal, hence it is important to have food that discourages reflux. Those suffering from this disease should have food in small amounts, spreading their meals throughout the day instead of having two or three large meals per day. If you take small amounts of food throughout the day, you will experience less stomach distension and lower acid levels. These techniques will ease pain and peripheral conditions that manifest through acid reflux.

An acid reflux reducing diet consists of all the essential food groups- fruits, vegetables, grains, meats and dairy products. However, some of the specific items under these groups are not prescribed. People suffering from acid reflux disease, are asked to avoid drinks containing caffeine, alcohol, chocolate and peppermint. One should also avoid foods with a high fat or grease content because they are harder to digest and cause your body to produce even more acid.

When you ask your doctor: ?what are good foods to eat with acid reflux?? he or she will normally recommend grains that have a low fat content like rice, multigrain, corn, oats, graham crackers, unseasoned pretzels and bran. White bread, rice cakes, and low fat dairy products are also good for patients suffering from acid reflux. Cabbage, celery, fennel, peas, green beans, broccoli, carrots and cabbage can be included in the diet, and fruits like bananas, apples, peaches, berries, melons are also great choices. Citrus fruits must be avoided since they aggravate the problem.

Feta cheese, cheese prepared from soy and vegetables can be eaten, while ice cream, whole milk and chocolates must be avoided. If you must eat meat, keep it low fat, like skinless boneless white meat chicken, low fat fish, egg whites, London Broil steaks and lean ground beef. Many people use a wide variety of seasonings, toppings, and condiments while preparing food. However, you must remember that these should also contain a low percentage of fat.

Avoiding chocolate based desserts is mandatory. Jelly beans, pudding, baked chips, cookies, fat free snacks, sweets, sorbet and yogurt containing low fat are allowed. When wonder what are good foods to eat with acid reflux, you should include high fibrous foods since it clears the stomach nicely and is filling at the same time. Food items like strawberries, scallions, ham, scrambled egg, Mozzarella and Cottage cheese, muffins and root beer can be eaten in moderation.

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

According the studies done by the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), more than 60 million Americans experience heartburn at least once a month, and about 15 million deal with it every day.

For all you statistic buffs out there, that breaks down to about 1 out of 18 people in the U.S. suffer from dreaded heartburn, also known as acid reflux disease.

The exact cause of acid reflux is still arguable, but most doctors will agree on one of two major causes.

1) Too much stomach acid

2) Too little stomach acid

It may surprise you but more people are suffering from a stomach acid deficiency than from an over production of stomach acid.

Regardless of the cause, acid reflux is one of the most unpleasant human sensations and taste experiences you?ll ever have.

Imagine a caustic acid so powerful it will ?etch glass,? erupting like chemical lava up into the most sensitive and delicate parts of your body . . . your throat, mouth and nose.

There?s a good reason acid reflux disease is commonly called heartburn . . . your stomach acid is a caustic acid that can seriously burn and scar you.

Your stomach has a triple layer of cells and inside the inner most layer are the ?parietal cells? which create the hydrochloric acid. This digestive acid is vital for the proper digestion of food. Your stomach acid doesn?t just dissolve your food . . . it chemically breaks it down all the way to the molecular level.

In fact one drop of your stomach acid will burn through wood.

Imagine this gastric acid being forced through your esophagus over and over again.

Industrial uses of hydrochloric acid include drain cleaners, leather processing and ?pickling? steel to remove rust.

This is why acid reflux disease and chronic heartburn can lead to worse conditions like Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) and even cancer. In the case of GERD, the throat becomes so chemically eroded by gastric acid that it actually mutates into a tough lining just like the stomach lining. Ignored this type of cellular mutation can change into throat cancer.

Now in case you?re still curious, let me explain how a lack of stomach acid can trigger a gastroesophageal reflux from acid indigestion.

Your digestive acids are made from fluids in your gall bladder, pancreas and bile ducts which require minerals, nutrients and enzymes for the cells inside your upper stomach to create the final gastric acid product.

After years of eating processed foods and foods high in animal fats, these minerals, nutrients and enzymes become depleted.

Now picture all the food you eat piling up inside your gut, causing that bloating, gassy feeling from being full all the time.

You see a lack of digestive stomach acid will slow down digestion causing flatulence, nausea and a gaseous stomach. All this food creates pressure and stress forcing your body to make sporadic bursts of gastric acid . . . causing the heartburn sensation.

Keep in mind these ?parietal cells? that make this caustic digestive juice are located near the top of your stomach, which means its right next to your esophagus.

So it?s easy to imagine them a little stressed out, and even in a biological state of emergency, to the point where they briefly secrete generous amounts of gastric acid, which then just sits on top of that gigantic heap of undigested food stuff.

That?s why antacids don?t cure heartburn, they only inflame it.

Whether you make too much digestive acid or not enough the worst thing you can do is eat and then lay down. This makes it even easier for the acid to reflux up into your throat and mouth, even discoloring your teeth and most definitely ruin your once baby-sweet breath for the rest of the day.

Live well,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist