An acid reflux diet is necessary if you are prone to acid indigestions and its annoying symptoms – heartburn, sour taste in the mouth, the constant lump in your throat, etc.
Acid reflux is a problem all too common to most people especially those who are overweight and those who tend to eat the wrong foods. Sometimes, acid reflux can be the result of some damages in the stomach lining or infection that could lead to bloating and the rise in acid levels going up the esophagus into the throat. As the acid backs up into the esophagus, it causes a burning sensation in the chest called heartburn. If heartburn happens frequently, it can disrupt a person’s quality of life and daily activities, it can also raise unnecessary alarms i.e. the thought that one is having a heart attack.
An acid reflux diet can relieve the symptoms of heartburn, acid reflux and indigestion. In most cases, changing one’s diet is enough to manage the condition but in cases where the symptoms persist after changing your diet, consulting a physician will be necessary. There are certain foods that cause stomach acids to reflux and avoiding these or eating a small amount of these foods can help prevent or minimize the occurrence of heartburn. Identifying the foods that trigger your acid reflux is one of the first things that you must do so you can quickly eliminate them. For most people though, just about everything can cause acid reflux to occur and this is because a lot of foods have similar ingredients that can cause the reflux of stomach acids.
A good acid reflux diet will include foods that contain high carbohydrates and this is because additional carbohydrates quickly absorb any excess stomach acid that can cause reflux. Rice and bread are examples of foods that can help minimize stomach acids. Eating small amounts of foods also helps prevent frequent acid reflux. You can eat five or six small meals a day instead of three large ones to help your digestion and reduce the occurrence of acid backing up into the esophagus.
When on an acid reflux diet, avoid eating at fast food restaurants. Menus in these restaurants tend to be high in fat and foods like these tend to sit in the stomach longer as they are harder to digest. The longer the food stays in the stomach, the more acids are required to digest them. When your stomach is forced to produce high levels of acids, some of the acids might reflux into the esophagus causing heartburn.
Your acid reflux diet should also exclude alcohol as well as caffeine based beverages. Alcoholic drinks like beer can double the amount of acids in the stomach increasing the chance of acid reflux. Caffeine products and even chocolates tend to relax the muscle that closes the esophagus from the stomach causing acids to sip in and damage the esophagus lining.
Banana, fresh and dried apples, baked potato, broccoli, cabbage, extra-lean ground beef, skinless chicken breast, egg whites, fish, goat cheese, fat-free sour cream, white bread, oatmeal cereal, corn bread, rice cakes, fat-free cookies, jelly beans and red licorice are some of the foods that are safe to include in an acid reflux diet.
