Food and heartburn « Heartburn and Acid Reflux News Blog

Timing of Heartburn Pain

1) Immediate pain: starts right after consumption of acidic food. It is caused by acidic substances from food irritating esophagus.

2) After meal pain: starts after heavy meal when there is too much food in the stomach and stomach acid refluxes back to the esophagus.

3) Alcohol/spicy or bitter food related delayed pain: starts several hours after alcohol/spicy food consumption. My guess is that alcohol causes some kind of delayed action when stomach starts actively producing acid several hours after consumption.

4) Chocolate/caffeine consumption heartburn pain. Starts when you consume some chocolate or caffeine late in the evening and lay down later. Heartburn happens because chocolate and caffeine relax the valve between stomach and esophagus and let acid get into esophagus.

Learn about chronic heartburn and chronic heartburn causes.

Sabrosa salsa is easy on heartburn

Sabrosa means tasty in spanish and it would be especially tasty for heartburn sufferers since it is produced in a way to be easy on heartburn.

So how Duane Thompson, the inventor of this product, did it? Even though his salsa contains some tomatoes they are thoroughly cooked and pureed to keep acidity low. Another ingredient which is great for taste and good for you stomach is roasted green and red peppers.

So if you’re keen to try some salsa and keep your stomach safe – try some of Sabrosa salsa. You can find it in selected Sam’s warehouse locations or directly in Sabrosa foods online store.

Milk is not a remedy for nighttime heartburn!

Milk is a very popular home remedy for heartburn. Well it may work fine during the day to soothe the stomach after heavy meal. But don’t use it before sleep to prevent nighttime heartburn. The problem is that milk is only effective for 30 or 40 minutes. Since it is a high calorie food which requires quite some energy to be digested your stomach will produce even more acid than milk originally neutralized. That is why if you had some milk before going to sleep to treat your heartburn you can expect a sleepless night.

I strongly recommend to replace it with water since it will dilute the acid and get it out of stomach faster.

Don’t try to get rid of heartburn by eating something (there are lots of beliefs that eating something will help heartburn). If it is something high calorie it will produce even more acid.

Best recommendation is to stay awake for 2-3 hours after your last meal. This will guarantee that you will go to sleep with an empty stomach and zero nighttime heartburn.

If you cannot stay awake for that long I strongly recommend getting wedge pillow. It will elevate your body in a way preventing acid from getting to your esophagus. Wedge pillow could be uncomfortable for some people but you don’t need to sleep on it entire night (except a case when you have a severe chronic heartburn which needs to be treated for several months). Usually you will need it only for first 2-3 hours of sleep.

Quick tip to reduce night time heartburn

Sorry for the delay in writing – I was on short vacation. I hope you find my blog interesting and useful. Even though it is not very personalized I try to put as much useful information here as possible.
There were a couple of occasions recently when I was drinking beer or wine. Usually when I drink it over some certain amount I’m guaranteed to have night time heartburn. Usually my limit is 1 glass. Anything more than that = pain (usually minor but still pain).

So I tried to come up with some idea on how to reduce this pain even when you overindulge. I though that when you drink much you usually have alcohol staying in your system for some time. I read that alcohol usually stays from 1 hour to 10-12 hours. So the goal is to get rid of this alcohol as soon as possible. Doing this has two benefits. First it will reduce the night time heartburn (or hopefully it won’t show up at all). And second it will reduce the hangover.

So here are couple advices.

Eat food while you drink. Food, especially high protein food such as meat, cheese and peanuts, will help slow the absorption of alcohol into your body.
Drink water 1 hour before going to sleep (after being done with drinking). Alcohol pushes out water from the body. At the same time water pushes alcohol from the body too. This will also reduce morning dehydration and hangover (if you were drinking way too much)
Incliner Sleep Wedge is an innovative sleep solution. It was scientifically designed just to help acid reflux sufferers. It relieves acid reflux by elevating your head, shoulders and upper body as doctors recommend. It helps you to sleep in a natural position for controlling heartburn, respiratory problems and digestion ailments. An alternative to sleep wedge pillow is Mattress Genie

Over the course of living with heartburn and acid reflux I found only one herbal treatment which is very effective. It is Slippery Elm. I mostly use it in the form of the powder and make a tea out of it. Tea isn’t very tasty but it covers stomach and esophagus with gel like liquid which protects them from acid. Usually one cup of tea is good enough to have zero heartburn through the night and in the morning.

When it comes at night (hopefully it won’t) don’t suffer in the bed. Stand by and sip some water. This will dilute acid in your stomach and also help your stomach to clear up. Also wait for some time 10-20 minutes before going to sleep again. Water and acid will leave stomach sooner when you’re standing or sitting.

I hope these advises will help you to win a fight over the heartburn!

Heartburn and some fruits acidity

I was playing with different smoothies recently to figure out what works and what doesn’t work for me. So here is my list:

Milk, banana, protein – no heartburn but taste is so-so…

Milk, banana – no heartburn – but it is just a banana… Boring!

Milk, banana, strawberry – no heartburn and tastes very nice

Milk, banana, strawberry, peach – don’t overdo with peach, it can add nice taste pattern but also can cause minor heartburn. So experiment here.

Milk, peach, strawberry – risky one. But still worth a try if you don’t like banana. Try to start small on peach since it is quite acid.

I want to try to add some kiwi to my smoothies since they taste delicious. But they are the most acidic (not counting lemon probably)…

If you see any of the smoothies causing you constant heartburn stop it and try a trusted “no heartburn” one. Then slowly add very tiny pieces of fruit you like and see what happens.

Experiment and you’ll find it!

Here are some other methods on how to cure heartburn.

Smoothie a day will keep your heartburn away!

For a week or so I’m torturing my blender and stomach with different smoothie combinations to see if my heartburn likes them. Today I took some time and wrote one recipe down and took a picture for you. This recipe causes zero heartburn for me and I hope it will be the same for you.

Â So here is my favourite smoothie recipe:

Here is the basic recipe:

1 cup of milk

1 banana

2 average strawberriesBlend it all and have your morning (or evening) delight!In my case it looks like this – isn’t it tasty?

What to do if fruits are causing heartburn?

This is a usual problem for all heartburn sufferers. No acid, no acid, no acid… But what if I want that strawberry, raspberry or orange in my diet?!?!

And how can you imagine living the rest of your life without eating fruits? Well there is a trick which can help you to get your vitamins without pills.

Take a couple glasses of milk put them to the blender, add banana or two add fruits or berries you want, blend them togetherÂ and your heavenly smoothie is ready.

It is definitely not exactly the same as eating whole fruit but as close as it possible. Banana and milk in your smoothie will compensate for an acid in acidic fruit and entire drink will be neutral.

You probably will have to experiment before you’ll get an ideal combination.

Enjoy!

Acid reflux and burping

Acid reflux is a condition when your lower esophagus sphincter (LES) is not closing completely or relaxing more frequently than normal. This causes heartburn and burping.

There are couple simple methods to avoidÂ burping too much:

Reduce carbonated soft drinks intake. Air in them will cause a lot of burping.
Milk products can also cause burping.
Cut down on caffeine. It relaxes LES.

Another cause for burping could be aerophagia. For more information on how to deal with it look at this aerophagia page

Acid reflux tips

1. Acid Reflux And Apple Cider Vinegar

Q: Does Apple Cider Vinegar help heartburn?

A: Maybe. Some people swear by it. But there is no medicinal evidence that it helps. Read this article for more information about how Apple Cider Vinegar can help you.

So it worth a try.

2. Acid Reflux And Apples

Q: Does Apples help Heartburn?

A: Apples are acidic fruits so there is no clear evidence that they should help heartburn.

But several sources on internet claim that certain kinds of apple help acid reflux.

3. Acid Reflux And Burping

Q: Is burping caused by Acid Reflux?

A: It maybe. Though there are multiple other conditions like aerophagia which can cause burping.

Work with your doctor to discover exact reason for it. Try elimination diet.

4. Acid Reflux And Caffeine

Q: Does caffeine increases heartburn?

A: Yes. It is clinically proven that caffeine relaxes LES (lower esophageal sphincter) and causes heartburn.

So switch to decaff coffee or cocoa. Read this article about caffeine to know more about it.

5. Acid Reflux And Baking Soda

Q: Does baking soda helps heartburn?

A: Yes. Certainly baking soda and any of the previously mentioned neutralizing agents can be used to treat GERD. These medications are very safe to use in the recommended doses. However, stronger therapy is often needed because GERD is a chronic disorder and the symptoms tend to recur very frequently, often many times per day.

6. Acid Reflux And Beer

Q: Does beer increases heartburn

A: Yes and No. Some kinds of beer will make it worse while others won’t. Unfiltered wheat beer seems to be the safest for heartburn. See more details on alcohol and heartburn.

7. Acid Reflux And Honey

Q: Does honey helps heartburn

A: There is no medical evidence that it helps heartburn. But it can help lots of other medical conditions which could have caused acid reflux. So if honey doesn’t hurt you should use it. Raw and unpausterized honey is the best.

8. Acid Reflux And Lump In Throat (Globus Hystericus)

Q: What is Lump in the throat and what could be causing it?

A: Lump in the throat (Globus Hystericus) is a common complaint that many patients have when presenting to their ENT (otolaryngology-head & neck surgeon) physician. This lump sensation in the neck is most often described as “annoying,” but not painful. The sensation is more pronounced when swallowing and may even interfere somewhat with swallowing whether it be solids or liquids. Often, a person may feel compelled to swallow a second or third time to make sure things get down. The lump itself is described to be roughly the size of a golf ball and is precisely located in the middle of the neck right above the sternum and below the Adam’s Apple.

Heartburn and acid reflux definitely can cause it so try some PPIs and see if they help. If PPIs doesn’t help then most probably the cause is in anxiety. Try exercising more, doing yoga or pilates. Reduce your caffeine. Also it can be related to aerophagia

9. Acid Reflux And Throat Clearing

Q: Is heartburn related to throat clearing?

A: Yes and no. Heartburn may cause throat clearing because your throat could be inflamed by acid. But if you’re on PPIs and don’t have heartburn symptoms and ENT says that everything is fine with your throat then it could be just a bad habbit. You should work on getting rid of it. Try control throat clearing reflex and it should go away. It can take several weeks though.

10. Acid Reflux And Protonix

Q: Will protonix help my heartburn.

A: It most probably will since this drug is one in the family of proton pump inhibitor drugs. PPIs are the most powerful drugs for your heartburn. They reduce acid in your stomach by more than 90% to the level which won’t hurt your esophagus but still will be good enough to digest the food.

Apple Cider Vinegar and Heartburn

I was always wondering how does very acidic drink can cure heartburn which is caused by acid and LES dysfunction? Usually vinegar supporters claim that it helps by increasing acidity in the stomach. But won’t it hurt inflamed esophagus? Isn’t drinking lemon juice going to give the same effect. It is just slightly more acidic then vinegar according to http://www.manageyourheartburn.com/foodhb.php…

Here is a quote from an article I recently posted on my web site at http://www.manageyourheartburn.com/articleview.php?ArticleID=13

“Claims of apple cider vinegar’s effectiveness are anecdotal at best. It’s rarely been tested methodically, the way a drug would be, simply because that kind of research is usually funded by pharmaceutical companies and apple cider vinegar isn’t a pharmaceutical product so of no interest to them. The companies that could benefit from it being proven effective don’t have the money to fund the kind of research required.”

“And there is the possibility that it actually does work for some people. As mentioned, different remedies work for different people when it comes to GERD. It’s hard to cite any one cure as THE best option in every case. The point is, don’t pin all your hopes on a folk remedy whose usefulness is anecdotal and unproven.”

So read it and decide for yourself…

Learn more about chronic heartburn and chronic heartburn symptoms.

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