It’s not a big mystery what causes gastritis, for one thing, gastritis isn’t a drug deficiency . . . you can rule that out.

Gastritis like any disorder or degenerative health issue, it’s a matter of nurturing proper nutrition and having healthy lifestyle habits.

When you ask what causes gastritis you are really asking what causes the stomachs protective layer of specialized cells to become weakened?

Normally you have a protective mucus lining that shields your naked stomach cells from corrosive stomach acid.

Your digestive system isn’t designed to digest itself.

Once you identify the underlying root cause of your gastritis and remove the cause, your body heals relatively fast.

Here’s a list of gastritis triggers and possible causes:

• Helicobacter pylori is the name of a bacteria found in ulcerations of people with gastritis. The interesting thing is millions of people have these bacteria and they don’t have any gastritis symptoms. The reason is bacteria, like viruses are opportunistic organisms, which means if the conditions are right they will flourish and thrive . . . so the condition is a cause of gastritis, not the bacterium.
• Pain drugs like Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) often irritate the stomach environment, changing the conditions. Taking aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen can upset the delicate digestive system leaving it vulnerable to infection and inflammation causing gastritis.
• Alcohol is literally more addictive than crack cocaine and because of this fact it’s considered a socially acceptable drug because getting everyone to stop taking alcohol is impossible . . . prohibition never works. Alcohol, like NSAIDs changes the conditions of your digestive system’s environment, making it subject to bacterial infection and causing gastritis.
• Stress will also change your internal conditions making your stomach more vulnerable to the cause of gastritis.
• When your cells lose inner-net communication they can end up causing an immune reaction and attacks itself without realizing it. This is called an auto-immune dysfunction, which is rare but it does happens more often in people with other auto-immune disorders like diabetes type 1, Hashimoto’s disease or Addison’s disease. The cause of autoimmune gastritis can be a simple communication breakdown triggered by a nutritional deficiency and lifestyle factors.
• Gastritis can be triggered from eating too much animal proteins and fats in which case bile reflux disease can develop often causing gastritis. Bile helps you digest animal fats. Bile is made in your liver and stored in your gallbladder and prevented from contaminating your small intestine by a valve . . . if bile leaks by it will inflame and turn into acute gastritis.
• Other problems that can cause gastritis or are associated with it are AIDS, Crohn’s disease, parasites, liver failure, kidney dysfunction and some connective tissue disorders.

Bottom line is if you learn to keep your internal conditions properly balanced though right diet and lifestyle you can prevent or even reverse the cause of gastritis.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass

Health Advocate

If you value staying healthy, learning more about acid and alkaline foods is one of the most important things you can do to.

The last time you may recall hearing anything about acid or alkaline was probably in science class.

Basically acids and alkaline are opposites.

There is a simple pH scale used to rate how alkaline or acid something is. Of course we are talking about food so nothing will be too acidic to be very corrosive or too alkaline to be caustic.

The scale starts at the acid end represented by zero and ends at the alkaline end at 14, in the middle ZERO is neutral.

The acid and alkaline foods you eat is the most important factor to living a long and healthy life, other than the obvious things like air, water and sunlight or exercise.

When you are healthy the pH of your blood should be very close to 7.25 or 7.4. This is slightly alkaline or salty. Foods that are ‘alkaline producing’ in your body contain trace minerals, which are nutritional cofactors essential for the cellular absorption of vitamins.

Foods that are ‘acid producing’ must be neutralized so that a healthy alkaline balance is maintained. Alkaline foods neutralize acid foods . . .

If you eat too many acid producing foods like animal protein, saturated fats and refined sugars you may use up all your salty minerals that keep you slightly alkaline.

Once your minerals are depleted from your blood a state of low oxygen may set in called acidosis.

Bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and cancer cells crave an acid environment.

If you fail to eat enough plant-based foods which provide cofactors of minerals, enzymes and vitamins, then your immune system is forced to ‘borrow’ salty minerals from your tissues, teeth and bone.

People with high serum calcium have a problem. Their blood is full of calcium, not from eating alkaline plant-based foods, but because the calcium salt has been extracted from your body’s store rooms of minerals.

Eating acid producing foods can bankrupt your body of minerals necessary to make stomach acid. This is why so many people suffer from acid reflux, not because they make too much stomach acid, but rather, because they make too little.

Acid reflux and other health issues can be a simple alkaline food deficiency . . .

Your gallbladder, liver, kidneys and pancreas all depend on you eating alkaline producing foods to provide mineral cofactors, enzymes and nutrients. Eating acid producing foods like milk, which is 87% casein or animal protein, weakens bone density, reduces nutrient absorption and can lead to degenerative disorders like acid reflux disease, hiatal hernia and dastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD.)

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass

Health Advocate