Acid Reflux Foods

Fed up of visiting the chemist for over the counter acid-reflux relievers? Well, before you hit the chemist shop to pick another strip of antacid to soothe your heartburn and put a check to those awful tasting burps, just tweak up your dinner. Fried munchies, chicken wings, fizzy cold drinks and chilled beer taste great, but then again, they can also make you feel sick later on. Heartburn can get you tossing and turning in your bed all night and leave you with sleepless nights. To keep the esophageal sphincter from unleashing gastric juices into the esophagus and straight up to the throat, it is important to nosh on the right kind of foods. Certain food items leads to the buildup of gastric juices in the esophagus and weaken the sphincter muscle, thereby aggravating the symptoms of ‘gastroesophageal reflux disease’ (GERD). Listed below are a few food products which you should learn to pass on, if you wish to live a healthy and happy life sans any heartburn. 

 

 

Fried Foods 

Crispy deep-fried delights like French fries, tempuras, doughnuts, fried chicken and anything edible that is straight out of the deep fat fryer isn’t just bad for your arteries, hip, waist and every inch of your body, but is even more scary for your digestive tract. These greasy, golden, irresistibly fried wonders apparently takes hours to digest and stay in the stomach for long, thereby boosting acid secretion in the gut, which eventually surges up to the esophagus. Result - heartburn and regurgitation. So, if you don’t wish to be stuck with a flaring heart, stay away from fried food items.

 

Chocolates 

Chocolate-chip cookies, brownies, gooey chocolate desserts and chocolate ice creams may be ultimate crowd-pleasers, but they don’t really please your gut, more so if you are down with symptoms of GERD. Chocolate has higher concentrations of ‘theobromine’, which is known to unlax the esophageal sphincter and cause stomach acid to move up into the esophagus.

 

Coffee 

Think there is nothing like an early morning cup of steaming hot espresso to kick-start your day? Well, there is no denying that the caffeine-kick is the ultimate way to stimulate your sleepy brain and feel awake. However, if you think that drinking coffee flares-up your heart, then you probably should give your morning cuppa a miss. Caffeine is believed to relax the lower esophagus, thereby leading to acidic regurgitation. Go healthy, switch on to green tea, and bid adieu to your heartburn for good.

 

Carbonated Drinks 

Some drinks just hit you right in the gut and carbonated drinks are surely some of them. Gulping soda pop, tonic water, carbonated soft drinks and acidic fruit juices just help to accelerate the acidic response in the stomach, leading to flare-ups and an acidic taste in the mouth. Instead of guzzling these processed drinks, switch on to healthy and purified water or fresh fruit juices.

 

Spicy Foods 

If you don’t wish to be stuck up with a stinging heart, just stay clear of the not-so-noble chili pepper! Spicy food is acid reflux’s worst enemy. No matter how much you dig for spicy Mexican enchiladas or Indian vindaloos, gorging on these super-hot dishes would only leave you with heartburn. So if you suffer from acid reflux, bland is the way to go.

 

If you too think that, “One martini is all right, two are too many, and three are not enough”, then it’s surely time to take a health detour and uncover a few alcohol facts. Apart from damaging your liver and causing severe dehydration, alcohol intensifies the esophagus’ sensitivity to acids as well as trigger influx of gastric juices in the gut. Since alcohol tends to have very high acidity level, bingeing on it too often can spell disaster for your gut and esophagus.

 

Meat 

If you are susceptible to heartburn and sour burps, then you shouldn’t really mind passing on the juicy steaks for a slice of lean meat. You probably know that meat is the hardest form of protein that requires more acid to digest. In that case, it’s best to stay away from high fat meats like red meat, pork and lamb since the gut slogs overtime to break these food items and produces excess acid that can sneak through the esophageal sphincter and cause heartburn and acid reflux.

 

If you don’t really wish to fan your flaming heart further, then skipping the above-mentioned acid-reflux foods and switching on to other gut-friendly alternatives like multi-grains, celery, peas, peaches, apples and loads of water will keep heartburn at bay.