Tis the season to eat and make merry but oftentimes, we get bouts of mild to severe acidity, here are some foods and drinks to help prevent acid reflux – and stop it in its tracks
The end of the year rings in a host of festivities and regardless of what you celebrate, you’ve probably started indulging in some sort of delicious fare by now. To add to the season, the number of weddings and parties on the upswing. If the rich food and accompanying drinks are getting your acidity levels agitated enough to keep you awake at night, this article will definitely help you.
Acid reflux is a common medical condition that can range in severity from mild to serious, and heartburn is a symptom of acid reflux.
What is acid reflux?
According to medical sources, at the entrance to your stomach there is a valve, which is a ring of muscle called the lower oesophageal sphincter (LES). Normally, the LES closes as soon as food passes through it. If the LES doesn’t close all the way or if it opens too often, acid produced by your stomach can move up into your oesophagus.
This can cause symptoms such as a burning chest discomfort called heartburn. If acid reflux symptoms occur more than twice a week, you may have acid reflux disease, also known as gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD.
What Causes Acid Reflux Disease?
One common medical cause of acid reflux disease is a stomach abnormality called a hiatial hernia. This occurs when the upper part of the stomach and LES move above the diaphragm, a muscle that separates your stomach from your chest. Normally, the diaphragm helps keep acid in our stomach. But if you have hiatial hernia then acid can move up into your esophagus and cause symptoms of acid reflux disease.
These are other common risk factors for acid reflux disease:
- Eating large meals or lying down right after a meal
- Being overweight or obese
- Eating a heavy meal and lying on your back or bending over at the waist
- Snacking / eating close to bedtime
- Eating certain foods, such as citrus, tomato, chocolate, mint, garlic, onions, or spicy or fatty foods
- Drinking certain beverages, such as alcohol, carbonated drinks, coffee, or tea
- Smoking
- Being pregnant
- Taking aspirin, ibuprofen, certain muscle relaxers, or blood pressure medication
What Are the Symptoms of Acid Reflux Disease?
Common symptoms of acid reflux are:
- Heartburn: a burning pain or discomfort that may move from your stomach to your abdomen or chest, or even up into your throat
- Regurgitation: a sour or bitter-tasting acid backing up into your throat or mouth
Other symptoms of acid reflux disease include:
- Bloating
- Bloody or black stools or bloody vomiting
- Burping
- Dysphagia — the sensation of food being stuck in your throat
- Hiccups that don’t let up
- Nausea
- Weight loss for no known reason
- Wheezing, dry cough, hoarseness, or chronic sore throat
While many of us accept heartburn as an unpleasant side effect of food and drink excesses, it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s actually a lot you can do to avoid heartburn in the first place.
For instance:
Try eating smaller meals instead of three large meals. When we eat large meals it puts upward pressure on our esophagus, causing heartburn, and also large meals cause our bodies to produce more stomach acid, which can lead to heartburn.”
Eating slowly can help, too. This will allow you to chew your food, digest more easily and will prevent overeating, since your brain will have time to realize you are full before you eat too much,” Shapiro said.
Try cutting off the indulgences too close to bedtime. When you lie down, the food in your stomach presses on your esophageal sphincter. By not having a lot of food in your stomach, your heartburn will decrease. Try to stop eating three hours before bedtime.
Of course, sometimes the heartburn just hits and there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. When that happens, these foods and drinks can help:
Water
Drinking at least 250- 300 ml (two glasses) of water on an empty tummy first thing when you wake up helps balance the acid levels.
Oatmeal & Rice
High-fibre, low acidity foods like oatmeal can work wonders when you’re dealing with heartburn. Oatmeal, brown rice and vegetables, plus foods that are lower in acidity like bananas, cauliflower and nuts, are helpful to offset strong stomach acid.
Watermelon
Foods that have a high water content help weaken stomach acid. If watermelon isn’t your thing, lettuce and cucumbers work, too.
Low-fat yogurt or Butterilk
While many are opting for full-fat dairy products these days, when you’re dealing with heartburn it’s better to stick with low-fat yogurt or buttermilk or milk, as they can offset stomach acid. Low-fat yogurt, buttermilk, and low-fat milk may help relieve heartburn symptoms as they’re happening. It’s important that they’re low-fat though, because fat can further aggravate acid reflux.
Ginger
Ginger is known for working wonders on the digestive system (if you’ve ever had a bout of nausea eased by ginger, you know this to be true), and it can help with heartburn too. Fresh ginger is a great natural remedy to help with digestion, so keeping ginger tisane on hand when heartburn hits is a good idea.
Vegetables
Veggies are turning out to be your best friend in any diet or condition. Leafy greens, root veggies and even peas improve digestion and help to prevent GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), as long as they are not cooked with lots of garlic or spice.
Aloe vera
Just like it puts out the fire on your skin by cooling your sunburn, aloe vera can soothe reflux or acid indigestion when taken internally.
You can blend it or make a smoothie or simply drink a glass of aloe vera juice to soothe your tummy.
Sweet potato and Potato
Potatoes, parsnips and sweet potatoes contain easily digestible fibre that can help neutralize stomach acid. Green vegetables such as spinach, kale and Brussels sprouts are alkaline and can help decrease stomach acid, too.
Chamomile tea
The soothing sips and aromas of chamomile tea help to soften and heal any post-meal acidic burn
Jeera or Cumin & Fennel or Saunf
By adding some fennel or cumin in your dish, you can make your meal less acidic. Fennel and cumin are excellent alkaline foods to help blunt elevated acid levels, According to Ayurveda, cumin and saunf are spices that can stimulate digestive juices and keep tummy troubles like acidity and indigestion at bay.
For more information on acidity do read our earlier articles:
https://seniorstoday.in/health/the-abc-of-acidity
https://seniorstoday.in/health/takeaways-from-health-live-session-on-acidity-gas-heart-burn-with-dr-prasanna-shah’
https://seniorstoday.in/health/towards-a-tip-top-tummy
