GERD Diet

GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease) is the most common digestive disease that needs many medications to solve the problem, but the effective issue to prevent and treat GERD is diet and lifestyle changes. The diet itself can contribute to gastroesophageal reflux disease development, and the GERD diet can cure the disease. GERD diet is a combination of solutions for helping sufferers to reduce painful, irritating, and annoying diagnostic and clinical signs. GERD diet besides medications can have a significant role in having a better healthy life.
Medications such as antacids and PPIs will lower stomach acid. But how low stomach acid causes acid reflux? Low stomach acid allows bacteria to grow in the stomach, and the number rise of bacteria by itself can induce reflux. Having a good GERD diet will collaborate with the reduction of disease development.

Several changes are suggested to help diminish GERD symptoms; The most important is a good diet for GERD and lifestyle changes. Below is a list of changes you should make in your GERD diet and lifestyle totreat GERD:
♦ Eat smaller meals: Eating smaller portions and slowly eating in your GERD diet may help control symptoms; chewing gum after that helps the digestion. If you chew your meals more, it decreases the amount of food that passes through the LES. Late night, large and calorically dense meals increase the gastric distention, so more acids reflux happens. Therefore the first change in the GERD diet is the eat smaller meals.
♦ Break time between meals and lying down: your GERD diet should having meals at least 2 to 3 hours before bedtime does not let acid reflux to occur, so eat dinner early at night.
♦ Stop smoking: the nicotine from tobacco relaxes and weakens LES, and the chance of acid reflux increases; stop smoking can help to cure GERD.
♦ Being on a healthy weight and losing excess fats: reducing and eliminating risk factors of GERD is one of the best ways of its treatment. Since obesity is one of GERD's risk factors, using a weight loss diet to achieve a healthy weight helps treat GERD.
♦ Avoid wearing tight clothes: tight and fit pants and belts may put pressure on the stomach and lower part of the esophagus and affect acid reflux.
♦ Relaxation techniques: breathing therapy and diaphragmatic breathing can reduce heartburn symptoms.
♦ Medications: Antacids, H2 Blockers, PPIs, Prokinetic agents. Of course, be sure to take these drugs in consultation with your doctor.
♦ Restrict and avoid foods and beverages that trigger GERD: fatty, sweet, sour, spicy, fried, acidic foods and alcohol and carbonated drinks. Acidic foods and drinks have a direct effect on the irritation of esophageal mucosa. Coffee, alcohol, chocolate, mint, fats, carbohydrates reduce the LES tone. Alcohol and fats also have a role in the reduction of gastric motility. Eliminate using these things in the GERD diet.

Some foods aggravate gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms, so you should avoid these foods in your GERD diet or eat as little as possible. Which foods cause heartburn:



♦ Fast foods and fried foods: french fries, deep-fried onion rings, pizza, potato chips, processed snacks, etc.
♦ Dairy foods: butter, cheese, whole milk
♦ High-fat sour cream and ice cream
♦ High-fat salad dressings and sauces and dips
♦ Chilli powder and pepper
♦ High-fat cuts of red meat (bacon, sausages, pig rib, salami, bologna)
♦ Tomato-based sauces (tomato sauce, salsa, chilli, and pizza sauce)
♦ Acidic juices like tomato juice
♦ Citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit)
♦ Pineapple
♦ Chocolate
♦ Peppermint or spearmint
♦ Garlic and onions
♦ Carbonated beverages, soda, caffeinated drinks, and alcohol



some drugs and supplements may worsen the reflux of GERD, including the below list:


♦ iron or potassium supplements
♦ antibiotics
♦ aspirin or other pain relievers
♦ bisphosphonates
♦ alpha-blockers
♦ nitrates
♦ calcium channel blockers
♦ tricyclics
♦ theophylline

On the other hand, many foods can help to prevent acid reflux, and you should eat them enough in the GERD diet; these foods include:
♦ Foods rich in fibres: complex carbohydrates and whole grains such as oatmeal, brown rice, and couscous
♦ Root vegetables: beets, sweet potatoes, and carrots
♦ Green vegetables and leaves: broccoli, cucumber, asparagus, green beans, celery, lettuce
♦ All steamed, roasted, stir-fried (with little oil) vegetables
♦ Some Alkaline foods such as bananas, melons, cauliflower, fennel, nuts
♦ Watery foods: watermelon, broth-based soups Low-fat and fat-free soups such as clear broth-based soups (Fat can be skimmed from the top of soups and stews)
♦ Egg white because the yolk is full of fat and is not considered.
♦ Lean meats and seafood: low-fat meats, chicken breasts, turkey, fish which are grilled, broiled, baked, or poached. The skin of chicken and fat of meat should be trimmed before cooking.
♦ Decaffeinated tea, herbal tea (Chamomile tea, Ginger tea, not mint)
♦ Fruit ices, gelatin, ice pops, ice milk.
♦ Healthy fats: Sources of healthy fats include avocados, walnuts, flaxseed, olive oil, sesame oil, and sunflower oil. Replacing these healthy fats in your GERD diet with saturated and trans fats helps the symptoms. The fat in milk can provoke acid reflux; therefore, nonfat or skim milk (1% milk) is better. Low-fat probiotic yogurt and cheese (<3 g fat per oz.) along with meals are considered in the GERD diet.

Some people believe herbs and other natural remedies can be helpful in acid reflux symptom treatment. Here are some natural herbs to treat acid reflux or GERD(1):

Chamomile:

A single cup of chamomile tea may have a relaxing effect on the digestive tract and help to reduce acid reflux symptoms. If you have an allergy to ragweed, don't drink chamomile tea.

Ginger:

Ginger is another remedy that helps treat GERD; the root of the ginger plant is a well-known herbal digestive aid. It has been used for centuries for heartburn or acid reflux.

Licorice:

Licorice effect on acid reflux symptoms treatment has proved in several studies. Licorice increases the mucous coating of the esophageal lining and helping it resist the effects of stomach acid. You can buy Deglycyrrhizinated licorice or DGL in pill or liquid form from a drugstore.

Slippery elm:

Slippery elm is a natural remedy used in dried and produced in the form of capsules, teas, and tinctures. It protects and heals irritated mucous membrane tissue in the esophagus, stomach, and intestinal membranes and can help reduce acid reflux symptoms.

Other remedies:

Catnip, marshmallow root, fennel, and papaya tea have all been said to aid digestion and stop heartburn, but there is little scientific evidence to confirm their effectiveness in gerd treatment. Note that herbal remedies do not undergo testing for safety and effectiveness by the federal government and are not approved by the FDA.

At first, eating foods that contain acid in your diet plan doesn't significantly change the amount of acid in your stomach because most of the acid in your stomach comes from parietal cells in the stomach, not from your foods.
The second, GERD or acid reflux, is not caused by too much stomach acid. It's caused by the acid in the wrong place, literally in the esophagus, or by the severe GERD in your mouth. If certain foods, such as tomatoes, pepper, coffee, onion, etc. trigger your heartburn, it's not because they are acidic, but because they tend to relax the muscle at the end of the esophagus that is in charge of keeping the stomach acid in the stomach and prevent come it up.
So maybe some of the foods in the alkaline diet help you, or not. There is no enough scientific evidence to prove it.