By Setareh Kiumarsi
Reflux… Heartburn… Stomach Burn?!
— Imagine your digestive tract is like a pot with a fire burning underneath it. Every time you eat, it’s like adding food to that pot… The food is supposed to cook (digest), be absorbed, and the rest eliminated!
— Now imagine you’ve eaten a heavy, rich meal full of mixed ingredients. Your digestive tract does its best to release loads of acid, bile, and digestive enzymes (which act as the fire under the pot) to digest this food… But often, the food is too “stubborn”, heavy, and phlegm-producing, so the fire can’t handle it, and a ball of undigested, hot, fermented phlegm remains at the top of your stomach; it keeps getting pushed upward into your esophagus — causing a burning sensation, reflux, and sour belching!
So what can we do?!
In the rest of the article, we’ll talk about foods and habits that worsen reflux and home remedies to manage it.
Which foods make reflux worse?!
— Remove cheese from your diet — especially from breakfast!
— Avoid cheeseburgers and pizza… In general, remember that combining animal protein with cheese or yogurt severely worsens reflux!
— High consumption of white flour worsens reflux in many people. So limit foods like macaroni and lasagna, which typically combine white flour, beef, and lots of hard-to-digest oils.
— Factory-made biscuits, pastries, and cakes are mostly made with white flour, milk, eggs, sugar, bad oils, and lots of preservatives — all hard to digest. Cut back on these “delicious toxins” and instead make homemade treats with whole wheat flour or rice flour, natural sweeteners, and digestive spices like saffron, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.
— Minimize these foods:
Bananas, Greasy, spicy foods, Beef and veal, Pork, Cured meats (sausages, salami, etc.), Egg yolks, Seafood, Vinegar and pickles, Chocolate, Peanut butter and peanuts, Cashews, Sour fruits (sour cherries, green plums, etc.), Fruit leather and sour snacks, Alcohol, Very spicy foods, All kinds of peppers, curry, Raw garlic, raw onion, raw scallions, Eggplant
Which habits make reflux worse?!
If you suffer from reflux…
— Don’t overeat! When you fill your stomach to the brim, the food spills into your esophagus and causes reflux. (See the article on overeating.)
— Cut out caffeine (including coffee, black tea, and chocolate). Caffeine increases stomach acidity and worsens heartburn and reflux!
— Don’t drink cold water or iced drinks during meals! Doing so extinguishes the digestive fire (as mentioned earlier), slows down digestion, and increases the likelihood of undigested phlegm — which can lead to reflux.
— Don’t lie down or recline for at least 2 hours after eating! Digestion is a downward process. When you lie flat after eating, this downward motion is disrupted, slowing digestion and pushing food upward into the esophagus.
In the next post, we’ll talk about home remedies for acid reflux.
Please mention the author “Setareh Kiumarsi” when republishing this article, which has been lovingly written in the hope of better health for all.
