Millions live with heartburn every day.  Prescription heartburn medications are a multi-million dollar industry, but offer little or no relief to many sufferers.  You may not want to use medication for heartburn relief because of the possible side effects.

For those who experience heartburn regularly, no treatment appears to be perfect, especially prescription medications.  The following tips may keep heartburn and acid reflux symptoms to a minimum and give you some much-needed relief.

Many foods that can trigger heartburn, so reducing the amount of those foods you eat, or eliminating them entirely, might go a long way toward relief.  Spicy and acidic foods can be heartburn triggers.  Unfortunately, these are the foods we all like to eat.

One way to find heartburn relief is to simply moderate the intake of (or altogether eliminate) acid-producing foods such as spicy chicken wings, pizza, tacos, and citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons and limes.  It may seem difficult at first, but you may be surprised.

There are minor ingredient changes that can be made so you can enjoy your favorite foods without worrying about creating heartburn pain.  For instance, when you order pizza, eliminate the pepperoni and just have cheese. The missing pepperoni will help to greatly reduce your chances of heartburn.

Try making chicken tacos without salsa, substitute teriyaki for BBQ chicken wings, use turkey instead of sausage in your favorite recipe, and enjoy grapes or apples in place of an orange. You can probably come up with many more ideas to let you eat the foods you enjoy while avoiding heartburn.

You can drink lots of water along with your meals and pop an antacid before eating to help prevent heartburn. But after you’ve eaten and you feel the heartburn symptoms starting up, avoid drinking water, because it only adds fuel to the fire. In its place, have a glass of milk. There are also various natural remedies you can try, like baking soda or apple cider vinegar.

Heartburn is caused by certain foods that you eat, so it should be easy to prevent it or at least reduce the severity. But it does take some effort and commitment to find heartburn relief, and without a plan, you might as well keep carrying around your antacids.

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If you suffer from the symptoms of heartburn, it’s quite likely you have a condition called Gastroesophageal reflux disease, commonly referred to as GERD.  The most common symptoms are heartburn, nausea and regurgitation.  It’s a bit of a misnomer that  part of the name of GERD is the word “disease” because it’s actually not a disease at all, but a very treatable condition.  One should realize that, like any condition, acid reflux should be properly diagnosed before settle on a course of action to treat the symptoms and causes.

Due to the fact that acid reflux symptoms can be serious in some instances and because some symptoms that may be shared by more serious disorders, it’s important for a physician to properly diagnose the disorder.  This can be accomplished by a series of tests that can confirm diagnosis while ruling out other possibilities.

Barium X-rays can assist in identifying abnormalities in your digestive system.

• Bernstein test – During this test, heartburn symptoms are replicated.
• Endoscopy – A process where a camera is used to take pictures through an endoscope.
• An esophagoscopy allows doctors to see inside the esophagus.  Similarly,  procedures like a gastroscopy or a duodenoscoy allow a doctor to see inside the stomach and intestines.  Sometimes, these procedures are performed simultaneously.  Doctors usually refer to this as an esophagogastroduodenoscopy.
• Manometry is a process where a tube goes down a patient’s nose and into the esophagus.  This device sends information to a computer and measures the muscular pressure in both the stomach and esophagus.
• Esophageal manometry allows doctors to measure the motility of the LES (lower esophageal sphincter) at the top of the stomach, as well as the rest of the esophagus.

If you have concerns that you are suffering from acid reflux, it is important to realize that taking over-the-counter medication will only mask the symptoms and won’t do anything to cure the condition.  Acid reflux almost always comes back and can be long-term problem.

The good news is that acid reflux is highly treatable condition once properly diagnosed.  In rare cases, acid reflux can actually pose very serious health risks; therefore, it is important to consult a physician to confirm both the diagnosis and the seriousness of your chronic condition so you can follow the best treatment plan catered toward your individual situation.

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In our previous post, Foods to Avoid Acid Reflux (What Not to Eat) , we discussed the foods that should be avoided in order to relieve the symptoms of acid reflux and heartburn.  After reading that, I’m sure you’re asking yourself “Well, what can I eat?”

The basic goal is to stick to foods that (1) enhance proper digestion and (2) don’t relax the lower esophageal sphincter (LES).  The LES is the muscular valve that opens to allow food to travel from the esophagus into the stomach and closes to prevent stomach contents back up into the esophagus.  When the LES is relaxed by the consumption of certain foods, it doesn’t close properly and stomach contents – namely stomach acid – makes it’s way into the esophagus and creates that nasty burning sensation and can do some real damage to the lining of the esophagus.  Acidic and toxic foods relax and irritate the LES.

Moderation is the name of the game for many foods.  Fruits such as apple cider (organic), blueberries, raspberries and strawberries can be consumed in moderation.  Garlic, cooked onions and scallions are vegetables you can eat.  Many raw vegetables are high in fiber and should be part of a well-balanced diet.

Lean meats can be eaten with discretion.  Most dairy products should be avoided, but in moderation, low-fat cottage cheese, yogurt and skim milk can still be part of a reflux-free diet.  Consuming too much fat such as saturated fats, especially hydrogenated fats or refined oils can cause chronic diseases and many digestive problems.  Too much fat will also cause the gallbladder to work harder and weaken the LES. Good fats are olive oil, avocados, almonds, walnuts and fish oils.  The bad fats include margarine and refined soybean, sunflower and corn oil.  A proper diet should limit fat such as meat fat, cream, butter, lard and cheese.

A diet high in fiber is essential to maintaining a healthy body.  Low fiber diets can cause digestive problems and are associated with acid reflux and other chronic diseases. Fiber will absorb and eliminate toxins in the body and greatly improve digestion. You should consume a total of 25-40 grams of fiber per day – both soluble and non-soluble.  If you eat enough non-starchy vegetables and sprouts as part of your regular diet and avoid eating too much protein, you probably won’t have to worry about fiber intake.

Knowing the foods for heartburn – what to eat, how much to consume , and what to eliminate from your diet – will put you on the road to a life free from the pain and discomfort of heartburn and acid reflux – not to mention, a healthier, happier you.

Certain foods can aggravate heartburn and acid reflux symptoms. These are foods to avoid acid reflux.  Once you know what they are, you can minimize them or eliminate them from your diet altogether.

Highly acidic fruits and fruit juices like orange juice, lemons and lemonade, grapefruit and cranberry juice and tomatoes. Starchy vegetables should be avoided such as mashed potatoes and french fries.

Many meats, dairies and grains can aggravate symptoms. Avoid fatty meats such as marbled steak, high-fat ground beef, chicken nuggets and buffalo wings; dairy products like sour cream, high-fat milk and ice cream and cottage cheese; and grains such as macaroni and cheese and spaghetti with sauce.

Liquor and wine can exacerbate uncomfortable heartburn symptoms; likewise, so will coffee and tea (decaf or regular).

Fatty, creamy salad dressings are on the “no-no” list also as are vegetable oils because they are high in polyunsaturated fats.

Sweets, desserts and junk foods can aggravate acid reflux symptoms, too. High-fat cookies, brownies or doughnuts will do it. Potato chips and corn chips can also create unpleasant symptoms.

While this is certainly not an exhaustive list, it provides a good framework of what foods to avoid if you are trying to gain some control of or entirely eliminate the symptoms of GERD, heartburn and acid reflux.

Begin to eliminate (or at least reduce) these foods from your diet and you should begin to experience relief from heartburn and acid reflux.  While it’s not a “one-shot” fix, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Now that you know the foods to avoid acid reflux, you might be thinking “What can I eat?”  In the next post, we’ll discuss foods you can eat that won’t aggravate heartburn and acid reflux symptoms and instead, will bring relief and begin allowing your body to begin healing itself of the damage caused by acid reflux.