Dieting to Prevent Heartburn: 7 SECRETS

Will the right combination of a specific heartburn diet with healthy changes in lifestyle get you the heartburn relief you need? Recent studies provide information to indicate that new diet habits can really reduce heartburn and at the same time make major improvements in overall quality of life. But will a diet really bring permanent relief for your heartburn? Classical medicine has frustrated millions of heartburn victims in this respect, because of its lack of results over the long-term and the potentially dangerous side effects that it produces.

Because heartburn is just a symptom of a complex medical problem known as GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux disease) or acid reflux, we need to know if new diet plans will target the real causes. It is important to understand that chronic heartburn cannot be healed in a permanent way without a full holistic solution that clearly works on the root causes.

A muscle called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) plays a major role in heartburn. The result is that acid escaping via the LES corrodes the epithelial cells in the esophagus, which is the reason for the disagreeable burning sensation called acid indigestion or heartburn. GERD is provoked when this "janitor" muscle at the junction of the stomach and the esophagus weakens and no longer succeeds in halting the flow backwards into the esophagus of gastric juices.

New diet habits must reduce excessive acidity in the stomach but also work in cooperation with a debilitated sphincter. Therefore new diet habits must handle both aspects that result in acid reflux. We set out seven simple rules for diets below as the initial move towards a holistic, all-natural GERD treatment:

1. Eat smaller meals. Big meals stress the digestive system unduly, more stomach acid is manufactured and an existing acid reflux condition can be worsened. Instead of 2-3 big meals per day, eat 5-6 smaller meals.

2. Give your stomach a better possibility to work in the 2-3 hour window after a light meal, rather than the 5-6 hours for a heavy one. This is much better planning for the last meal of the day, to avoid lying down when acid can still flow back along your esophageal passage. So eat your last meal of the day as a light one and go for a short walk if you can, to aid digestion.

3. Don't gobble your food. Chew it properly to prevent air being sucked in, which makes the stomach balloon and pushes open the esophageal sphincter, this opening the way for stomach acid to reflux.

4. Make way for herbal tea instead of coffee as well as reducing intake of high-fat or spicy meals, peppermint, citrus juices, soda and alcohol, coffee and caffeine, chocolate and any food with a large amount of tomato. Don't eat food that irritates the inside of your digestive tract, which in turn can cause your esophageal sphincter to malfunction and relax at the wrong moment.

5. Studies done in Sweden support the theory that acid reflux danger can be reduced by 50% by adopting a high fiber diet and that high-fiber diets are effective for optimizing digestion and sweeping away toxic matter.

6. Dairy produce, especially milk, should be cut down. It causes for more acid, mucus and allergies, all conditions that stimulate Candida overgrowth and bring on further digestive problems contributing to GERD.

7. Because obesity and excess weight also act to lever open the lower esophageal sphincter, reduce calorie intake as well.

The right program using the diet guidelines above will reduce the risk of GERD and at the same time increase your fitness and health.

A food plan to combat heartburn with the right inner balance is the first part of a full natural and holistic program against acid reflux. It is the only way to permanently improve this condition. Diet plans are just one part of the whole solution, in the same way that heartburn is a fragment of the whole acid heartburn picture. All the factors need to be treated by the solution in order to bring an effective resolution of the problem.

Article Source: http://www.articles.com.mx

Jeff Martin is a certified nutritionist and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, Heartburn No More . To Learn More About Foods that Might Trigger Heartburn Visit: Diet and GERD

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