Acid reflux, otherwise known as heartburn, can be a painful medical condition. Fortunately most people who suffer from acid reflux disease can keep the disease under control with the proper acid reflux diet. If you suffer from severe heartburn, here are some acid reflux diet tips to help you get some relief in your life.
One of the best acid reflux diet tips is eating more frequent but smaller meals. Instead of eating three large meals a day, try eating five small meals instead. When you eat less at a time, your stomach is better able to handle the amount of food and it can prevent the acid from coming up causing you to have heartburn after eating. If you do eat five meals a day, be sure that they are smaller portions and not the same size as you are used to eating. They should be approximately half of what your meals look like now. This may take some getting used to now, but following this type of acid reflux diet can greatly decrease the severity and frequency of your heartburn.
Avoid eating at fast food or greasy restaurant places whenever possible. High fat and greasy foods remain in the stomach for a longer period of time and cause stomach indigestion, which easily leads to acid reflux. These types of foods take more work to digest, which can cause your stomach to work overtime, leading to heartburn.
Include foods that are high in complex carbohydrates in your acid reflux diet. These are foods such as wheat bread, rice, and pasta. These types of foods are often easy on the stomach and able to keep any extra stomach acid busy so that you don’t get acid reflux.
Avoid or limit alcohol from your diet. Alcohol has been shown to increase the severity of acid reflux disease. It stimulates the production of extra stomach acid, which is how you get heartburn in the first place. If you are going to drink alcohol, avoid beer and choose a hard liquor or wine instead.
After you eat, be sure to remain in an upright position for at least 45-60 minutes. This allows your food to digest in your stomach before you lay down. If you lay down right after eating it is a great possibility that your stomach acid is going to come up your esophagus, since that is the position that you are in.
Acid reflux disease is not an easy medical condition to live with. It can be quite painful and can actually ruin parts of your social life such as eating out or eating at parties or picnics. There are medicines that can be used to help control severe heartburn, but often these medicines come with unwanted side effects or are quite expensive. Changing the way you eat and adapting a healthy acid reflux diet can dramatically lower the severity of your heartburn and can eventually give you relief from the disease.
