17 Foods For Acid Reflux That Could Help You
Did you ever face an itching feeling in your chest and your throat? Oh, that must be the stomach acid flowing the wrong way!
Many times you could face acid reflux during which your stomach acid may flow back into your esophagus.
Though it could happen sometimes if it becomes a common phenomenon it is referred to as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
The regurgitation of the contents of your stomach back to the esophagus might result in certain uncomfortable and irritating symptoms like pain in your upper abdomen and heartburn.
The severity of these symptoms depends on your lifestyle and your diet. Also referred to as heartburn, acid reflux may generally feel as if your chest is on fire.
However, in reality, it is the food that is coming back into your throat.
Other than this, if you have acid reflux, then you may even face trouble swallowing and have a chronic cough because there could be inflammation in your esophagus.
Though the reason behind acid refluxes me not be accurately known, it is said that your diet could have a significant impact on it.
In this article, we will present before you a list of the best foods that could help to deal with acid reflux.
Ginger
As you must have heard, Ginger has a plethora of benefits for the human body.
One such benefit of this ingredient is that it could be a good treatment to treat heartburn or acid reflux.
With a lifelong history of medicinal use for digestive issues, all you have to do is munch on some ginger to fight off your upset stomach or acid reflux.
Besides directly munching ginger, you could even add ginger to your eating regime, either slicing or grating it fresh into recipes or mixing it with your water or morning tea.
Herbal Tea
If you are a tea lover, then we have got news for you- one good and the other bad.
Firstly, the bad news is that green and black tea contain caffeine in them which could trigger your acid reflux symptoms.
However, the good news is that herbal teas can, on the other hand, relieve the symptoms of acid reflux.
So you could include herbal teas that have licorice, chamomile, and ginger in them for your breakfast or evening snacks.
Oatmeal
It consists of several nutrients, oatmeal boasts myriad health benefits for the human body.
They could help to lower your blood pressure, control your cholesterol levels and improve your blood sugar control.
Oatmeal even helps you to feel full for a longer time, evades any unnecessary snacking, and thus facilitates your weight loss process.
So there are different ways through which you may add oats to your diet. The most popular way is to eat them as oatmeal for your breakfast.
Milk
You may have often heard how milk could help with heartburn. And yes, it is a fact. So it may be beneficial for you to drink milk while you have painful symptoms of acid reflux.
However, the only thing you need to keep in mind here is that there are different varieties of milk.
Sometimes the fat in the milk might enhance the symptoms of acid reflux instead of relieving them.
Due to this, you may choose non-fat milk that can help to provide immediate relief from symptoms of acid reflux.
Vinegar
Acid reflux occurs when the acid in your stomach is too low. So drinking apple cider vinegar before your meals could help to reduce the symptoms of this reflux.
However, for the best results, you could mix vinegar with manuka honey, or even water.
Another benefit of drinking vinegar for acid reflux is that this ingredient has different bacteria and yeast which could help to reduce the harmful bacteria that thrive well in a low acid stomach.
Fruits
When you want to eat fruits to help acid reflux, make sure they’re non-citrus.
So you may have to avoid all the citrus fruits like grapefruit, lemons, and oranges and try other fruits like bananas, papayas, watermelons, or figs.
You could try out these fruits either fresh, frozen, or even opt for fruit juice which your digestive system can easily tolerate.
Potatoes
Being a root vegetable, Potatoes could inarguably help to relieve the symptoms of acid reflux.
Other than this, they are also full of digestible fiber and healthy complex fiber that makes them easy to digest.
However, the only thing you need to make sure of here is that do not add garlic or onions to your potatoes, which could instead activate your acid reflux.
Seeds And Nuts
The major reason behind this is because these seeds and nuts are packed with myriad nutrients and fiber which could help in absorbing stomach acid.
Since these ingredients are quite versatile, you could eat them in many forms.You may munch them raw, add them to your salads as toppings or even prepare shakes and smoothies from them like the chia seed pudding.
Different seeds and nuts like flax seeds, chia seeds, or almonds could be a great choice for all the people out there who suffer from acid reflux or heartburn.
Lean Meats
Lean meats like Turkey or chicken have a low content of fat as compared to other types of meats.
Sometimes lean meats could also include some kinds of fish which have low fat.
The low fat in lean meats could help to relieve the symptoms of acid reflux. So, if you are a non-vegetarian, then do not forget to add lean meats to your diet!
Brown Rice
Brown rice is here in the list of the best foods for acid reflux because it is slow digesting and packed with high fiber.
Other than this, rice in general has the right blend of both soluble and insoluble fiber in the right amount that could help to optimize your digestion process.
Honey
Different researches show how honey could be helpful for acid reflux.
Honey, specifically manuka honey may have the capability to heal GERD because of its texture and antioxidant properties.
So why not use it as a natural sweetener and add it to your milk? Other than this, you could even add honey to your oatmeal to create an acid reflux meal.
Parsley
If you are looking out for an ingredient that could help to relieve the symptoms of your acid reflux, then Parsley is right on the list.
This is because of the soothing properties of Parsley that can help to comfort your upset stomach.
So all you have to do is add a few leaves of parsley on top of your recipes, or simply mix them in smoothies.
Coconut Water
The electrolytes present in the coconut water can help to promote the pH balance in your body, which in turn could control acid reflux.
So dealing with your acid reflux may not be hard and you may not have to prepare any special recipes for it. All you have to do is to drink some coconut water.
Egg Whites
With high protein, low acid, and low fat, egg whites may just be the right food item to include in your acid reflux diet.
All you have to do is to eat the hard-boiled egg white or start your day with an omelet.
Vegetables
The last food ingredients on our list include all the vegetables except Peppers, tomatoes, and onions.
These vegetables whether cooked or raw are good for the acid reflux diet.
There are so many vegetables like turnips, carrots, mushrooms, celery, and fennel so, you may never get bored of your acid reflux diet.
Conclusion
This was the list of some of the foods that could help to reduce your symptoms of acid reflux and may also improve health.
However, it could be advised to consume different varieties of food be it sweet or savory but they should be eaten in moderation.
Moreover, you may avoid the consumption of food late at night when it simply sits in your stomach and hence could come up while you lie down.
You could even reduce the chances of acid reflux by consuming small, frequent meals instead of eating a bigger, heavier meal all at once.