Dietary Changes
★★★★☆
In Truth, these acids have nothing that's wrong about them, but I am not metabolizing them correctly for now. I cannot take aspirin or even White Willow Bark For now. (high in salicylic acid) Foods high in salicylates don't seem to be a problem.
Foods high in citric acid are troublesome now. I may have moderate amounts of naturally fermented foods. (lactic acid) Acetic acids are also troublesome now. Even Rose Hips tea caused a disturbance. (ascorbic acid and citric acid) I have trouble metabolizing sulfur. It is acidic, but moreover, the body conducts a very complex process with it in order to use it. (when I try to understand what all the liver does in this, I have to "roll out the fainting couch"). If sulfur isn't properly methylated, oxidized, etc., its unfinished business will be expressed to and from an unhappy colon.
What brought me to realize that my case was some "gross acidosis", was (I must admit this), 5 years of Hcl supplementation. I began it after a lifetime of digestive ills that peaked with a 3 month period of upper stomach pain, projectile vomiting, and dry heaves. (liver problems too) Scope showed no ulcer, no H. Pylori, but there was inflammation. After research, I began Hcl with Betaine (sounds like beet uh een). My results were great, and I could eat well. After a couple of years, I began to have negative symptoms that seemed unrelated to the Hcl. (no stomach pain). After 5 yrs., there was pain nearly everywhere but the stomach. I increased Hcl. Pain increased. Kidney pain increased exponentially. Ted's words, "acid kidney", came to mind.
I went for a scan. The results were; No stones, no obstructions in kidney, but a small liver lesion and a small hiatal hernia. I stopped Hcl. The pain began to subside. I now have somewhat low stomach acid, but I choose B-complex with an extra pinch of niacin to treat it. These are the acids that I may have.
The rewards for the practice of finding my troublesome acids are: no more kidney pain, minimized liver and stomach pain, much reduced bleeding, (purpura, gums), very few canker sores, (autoimmune), and very few shingles outbreaks, (herpes). I am now able to slowly reduce my meds. I have learned this practice from reading the brilliant posts here, and I am again grateful. Connie
Dietary Changes
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Dietary Changes
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(Bend, Oregon)
11/20/2010
At 40 I developed acid reflux and tried traditional medicines off and on, but found 10 years relief from not drinking beer. Oddly, wine and coffee didn't bother me. After reading from others, I see it's the grain connection. Unfortunity, at 52 my acid reflux has resurfaced and is miserable. I'm not sure what to do, but I'm going to reduce eating all grains and see what happens.
(Bowling Green, Kentucky, Usa)
11/21/2010
★★★★★
Lisa,
I am 50 years old and have had difficulty with acid reflux for over a year. I, too, have noticed that beer is a big aggravator for me. There have been numerous things that help temporarily, but I have finally figured out that the acid/alkaline foods and beverages I drink seem to determine my level of reflux.
I am using 1/2 tsp baking soda with lime in the morning and at bedtime. I use more during the day if I am having heartburn or know I am going to eat acidic food. I also try to eat more alkaline foods than acidic. You can google and find a list of foods and where they fall on the list. Beer is very acidic, as is sugar, which may be why so many people find relief by eating low carb. Baking soda is very alkaline. I am also eating a grapefruit for breakfast and an apple for snack on a daily basis. Hope this helps. It is a miserable feeling to have reflux, but even worse is not knowing how to help yourself. Using the acid/alkaline food chart has helped me manage myself very well.
(Ballymena, Northern Ireland)
08/18/2012
★★★★★
My acid reflux started about 1 year ago. I wasn't sure at the beginning why I was so sick, had a nausea, was dizzy sometimes, tired.. Then I found out it is acid reflux. I was trying to heal it with Aloe, Apple cider vinegar and baking soda.. It did help for awhile but definately didn't heal it. Then I said to myself STOP. If I wont heal it, I can develope a cancer of aesophagus. I stopped to drink coffee, stopped to eat chocolate, began a vegan, started to make vegetable and fruit juices everyday and I feel 100% better! When I eat chocolate, I start to feel sick again. So I am better off from all these things.
I definately recomment lifestyle changes, because your body is trying to say: 'Stop to put all this rubbish to me! I need much more nutrition to keep you healthy and happy! ' I am quite glad now, that I started to have a GERD, because that made me think about my lifestyle and now I started to live healthy again with right choices of food as I used to do years ago. I make vegetable and fruit juices for my wee son as well, buy lots of vegetables and fruits everyday, try to make some new healthy vegan food nearly everyday. And I am very happy when my son eat it and like it, because I know, that I am giving him the best nutrition. So people. Don't be afraid to change your diet. It is the best think you can do for yourself in long term. I didnt want to take medicines for this, because I knew, it will only make my problem worst and then I will really get sick. I don't even need any medication anymore. Food is my medication. And avoiding coffee, chocolate and meat was the most important thing for me.
Dietary Changes
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(Sacramento, CA)
04/30/2009
★★★★★
I went on the Atkins diet twice in my life and both times, my GERD disappeared. I have mentioned that to all the Drs I have ever seen and they all just shook their heads and blew it off as an anomaly. I am happy to hear of someone else having that same experience. I won't go back on Atkins, but now I am motivated to once again cut most of the bad carbs out and see if it helps.
(Jackson, Wyoming)
01/28/2010
I'm not an expert on this matter, but it may be that carbs aren't the issue. It could be what is in most carb foods, and that is gluten. An amazing amount of people have some sort of intolerance to the gluten protein. The good news is there are several foods that are gluten free or low in gluten. I had severe GI problems (including awful reflux) and found out that I'm intolerant to gluten. Once I removed it from my diet I felt great! Good luck.
(Smithfield, Pa)
12/30/2011
I have done low carb and I have also done plant-based nearly vegan diet for over 2 years. I found that either of these diets works to eleiminate both acid reflux [GERD].
I think the main thing is to avoid all processed foods. No processed sugar or flour. [I don't like to call them "refined" cause there is nothing fine about them.]
I took prevacid for a year and would wake up in the middle of the night choking on the taste of stomach acid in my mouth. Then, because I also had diverticulosis, I started eating oatmeal 5 days a week for the fiber. For the longest time I became convinced that animal foods were one of the bad things that contrubuted to disease but now I am not so sure.
Eventually I went vegetarian and from that I went nutritarian based on a book by Joel Fuhrman, MD called Eat To Live. I stayed on that diet for over 2 years up until 2 months ago when I went low-carb high-fat. Low-carb high-fat is really what all the low-carb high-protein diets are about. They don't want to emphasize the high fat part cause it would scare folks off. Reading Gary Taubes Good Calorie, Bad Calories is what got me interested and turned me around into accepting that animal foods may not be all that bad as long as you avoid processed animal foods and those with hormones and antibiotics.
Anyway it has now been about 5 years since I have had any symptoms of GERD or diverticulosis. Plus after going on the vegetarian diet followed by the nutritarian diet I lost 40 pounds and since going low carb and eating much more meat & fat but no potatoes, bread and the like I have not gained back a single pound but in fact have lost a few and my lipids have gotten even better as well as my blood sugar which went from 99 to 89. I also supplement with DHA, vitamin D and magnesium taurate.
I will be 65 years old in another month. Wish I ate better when I was younger.
(Ny)
08/08/2017
You are so right about the carbs, becuz I remember 12 yrs ago when I went on the Atkins diet for 4 months my heartburn went completly away!! I think I will try the paleo diet.
Dietary Changes
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(Ny)
08/08/2017
You are right too. I think it is the "bromides" in the flour that is upsetting the stomach. They used to use iodine, but not anymore. And the bromide blocks any iodine from getting to the body and the thyroid and therefore more people are getting thyroid nodules and goiter.
Dietary Changes
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(Port Washington, NY)
10/23/2008
★★★★★
I have taken Prilosec or Nexium for 45 years straight, and have recently detoxed as part of a program to help my thyroid and adrenal fatigue. Long story short, I simultaneously stopped taking my Prilosec, and I was fine. My detox consisted of raw veggies, fruit, fish and chicken. When I went off detox, reflux returned with a vengeance. My Naturopath suggested that I remove gluten from my diet, and I have been completely acid free for 2 weeks without any medicines. This is unheard of for me. I strongly believe that for some people reflux is a sign of gluten intolerance or worse. By removing Gluten, everything improves...skin, brain, energy, etc.
Dietary Changes
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Dietary Changes
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Dietary Changes
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Dietary Changes
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Dietary Changes
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Dietary Changes
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Dietary Changes
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Dietary Changes
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For 3 months my husband and I ate nothing but veggies and meat. Cut the wine and beer from diet too. Also took supplements that rid the body of fungus as well as very strong acidophilus.
Winthin one week, sore throat was gone.
2 Weeks - acid reflux disappeared completely (yay no more prilosec). Sore arthritic feeling knees stopped.
3 or 4 weeks - husband and i who suffer sinus infections frequently quit sneezing, coughing, etc. No more sinus infections for either of us.
3 years later - unfortunately I quit the diet because of pregnancy and dr. advised it would be bad for baby. Now sore knees and throat are back, and now have MRSA. With a lot of the cures here dealing with toxin cleansing etc. I wonder if yeast helps breed the MRSA?? Unfortunately, when I tell friends of my miracle cure when they are ill, their response is 'i could never change my diet that drastically' and they continue seeking that quick fix. Our forefathers had it right -- "You are what you eat".
(Flushing, New York, USA)
02/01/2013
Dietary Changes
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