Are you looking for help with your acid reflux? A variety of natural techniques can help you cure your symptoms. Know what your choices are, so you can make an educated decision.
Stress can cause acid reflux. When your stress level is too high, the stomach produces more acid than normal. Therefore, it is a good idea to engage in an activity that you find pleasurable after eating. You might meditate, read or simply watch some television.
Certain foods trigger acid reflux. You should avoid fat and greasy foods, tomatoes, chocolate, coffee and alcohol. Additionally, citrus fruit, tomatoes and other foods with a high level of acidity can cause problems. However, triggers are an individual thing so you need to read your own body to just what is not working for you. Try avoiding these things to feel better.
Acid Reflux
Try to quit smoking if you are afflicted with acid reflux. Nicotine and stomach acid go hand in hand; the more nicotine you have in your system, the more stomach acid you will have. However, quitting cold turkey can also worsen acid reflux. Instead, you need to try to quit a little at a time.
Exercise can be difficult after you eat if you have acid reflux. Your food can be pushed up into the esophagus as your abdominal muscles are flexing. For this reason, you need at least an hour between eating and working out.
Heart Attack
Reflux can sometimes be extremely painful. Occasionally, it may feel like a heart attack. You should not be ignoring chest pains at any time. You could be experiencing a heart attack. Contact your doctor to learn what you should do. You don’t need serious health issues because of a wrong self-diagnosis.
Try raising your bed’s head. This can be done by using bricks, blocks of wood or by getting those raisers that are built for lifting up a bed. The head of the bed should be six inches more elevated than the bottom of the bed. This will prevent stomach acid from rising during the night.
Don’t wear restrictive clothing. Tight pantyhose, waistbands, and belts usually fall into this category. When you wear clothes that are uncomfortably tight, a great deal of pressure is exerted on your stomach. This can often lead to acid reflux symptoms. Always wear garments you find comfortable and which let your midsection breathe.
Always eat slowly. Don’t eat too much at one time. It may help your condition to eat smaller meals instead of eating until you are completely full. Sit down while you eat and take time to actually enjoy your meal. Eating quickly or eating too much can make acid reflux worse. If you find this difficult, place your fork back on the table between bites.
Moderate Exercise
Do moderate exercise intended to keep you in an upright position. This type of exercise helps with acid reflux for many reasons. For one thing, staying upright allows you to take advantage of the gravity when it comes to digestion. Moderate exercise can also help you to lose weight and reduce symptoms. Although moderate exercise is important, you should not do intense exercise because this can actually worsem, not improve, acid reflux.
You should drink between meals rather than during them. Your esophageal sphincter experiences constant pressure whenever your stomach is filled with liquid. This pressure can force the acid from your stomach to work their way up into the esophagus. Continued exposure to the stomach acid can harm, or possibly destroy, the lining of your esophagus.
Slippery elm lozenge are a good natural remedy to try. The main ingredient, slippery elm bark, will coat your digestive system with a protective layer. When taken as a lozenge, it provides relief for reflux-related coughing. These can bought at most health food and natural remedy stores.
The pH of food doesn’t mean anything when it comes to whether it forms acid or not. For example, during digestion, an acidic food like a lemon actually becomes highly alkaline. If you have acid reflux, this makes it harder to know what is safe to eat. Therefore, you need to be aware of your food’s pH.
Don’t eat too many fatty foods. Eat fast food, fried foods and red meat in very small quantities. Check the labels to avoid foods with hidden fat.
Chewing Gum
Chewing cinnamon gum can help with your acid reflux. Chewing gum increases saliva production, which helps neutralize your stomach acid. Chewing gum also causes people to swallow more. This works to return stomach acids to the proper place.
If you’ve got a few extra pounds, lose that weight. Acid reflux can be exacerbated by too much weight. That extra weight can put additional pressure on your belly and cause even more problems with digestion and reflux. Sometimes losing some weight can help, too.
You may understand how frustrating it is to not eat comfort foods that contain acidic tomatoes, such as pizza or your favorite pasta sauce. Tomato sauces can be made less acidic through the addition of sugar. Sweeter sauce is not as irritating to people suffering from acid reflux.
Is your acid reflux worsening? You need to get in touch with your doctor and find out whether surgery is necessary. The most effective procedure for this condition is fundoplication, which involves creating a new valve that can reduce the amount of acid that gets into your esophagus. This fix will last the rest of your life and could eliminate acid reflux altogether.
What you drink can effect your reflux just as much as what you eat. Some examples of common acid reflux inducing beverages include coffee, tea, caffeinated soft drinks, carbonated beverages and alcohol. Choose water over all else whenever possible.
Can you now control your acid reflux symptoms? You should now know what to do when you experience acid reflux. Now you won’t have to suffer ever again!
