5 Natural Remedies for Acid Reflux
Do you experience acid reflux? Between 25 and 40 percent of Americans suffer from a chronic condition called GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), brought on by many factors including a loosening of the valve between the esophagus and stomach. But if you’re aware of the numerous natural remedies for acid reflux, you do not have to be one of those sufferers.
Acid reflux is not only uncomfortable, it is often indicative of an unhealthy habit or lifestyle. Targeting and remedying the causes of it is crucial to achieving overall health. Rather than relying on expensive (and potentially harmful) medication to cure your acid reflux (known as PPIs), try these simple tips.
1. Natural Remedies for Acid Reflux – Eat Smaller Meals
Rather than gulping down three big meals a day, try having five smaller but well-defined combinations of meals and snacks. Eating great quantities in short spans of time overwhelm the esophageal sphincter and burden the stomach, which can worsen acid reflux.
2. Spice up Your Life
Herbs like licorice root, slippery elm, and—one of our favorites for its cancer-beating properties—turmeric are excellent additions to a great number of recipes Researchers believe that ingesting herbs help coat the lining of the esophagus and shield it from acid. Deglycyrrhizinated licorice in particular has shown great promise as a reliever of gastrointestinal ulcers in clinical trials, and is also commonly regarded as a treatment for the pain associated with acid reflux.
3. Improve Your Posture
Lesser known among the natural remedies for acid reflux, improving your posture can actually help more than you think.The post-dinner coma sets in so easily that we tend to recline after eating; this can actually contribute to acid reflux. Keeping your back straight after a meal keeps the food and acid in the stomach where it belongs. (Better yet, try eating smaller meals as mentioned above so that you’re comfortably full, not bursting and ready for a nap.)
4. Stop Smoking
Everyone knows smoking isn’t exactly good for you, but the true cost of smoking floors us. One of the less serious effects is acid reflux, since nicotine relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter. But if this is what it takes to get someone to stop, that’s good enough.
5. Lose a Little Weight
Finally, one way to treat acid reflux is to lose weight. Admittedly, this is one of the most difficult solutions, but it’s also one of the most rewarding ones. Obesity or even being a few pounds overweight raises the risk of acid reflux. Back in 2007, researchers found a positive correlation with body mass index (BMI) and GERD.
Of course in addition to helping acid reflux, losing weight can have a lot of worthwhile benefits. This is because excess weight lowers levels of C-reactive protein—an indicator of inflammation, which according to many researchers is the root cause in most chronic diseases including diabetes and cancer.
Weight loss doesn’t have to be all drudgery and no fun. There are slower, more natural ways to lose weight than popping pills and running yourself to death. Read here and here for tips to lose weight naturally.
For more natural remedies for acid reflux, check out our other information on how to treat acid reflux naturally.
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There is more that should be spoken about both from a personal perspective (a veteran of nearly 40 years of acid reflux- no healed!!).
Remove all meat, dairy and wheat products from the daily nutritional intake. Remove ALL processed foods.
Understand that it actually is a functional issue. Eat clean and green, I healed my self of debilitating reflux and bloating and now I am totally healed. ..NO MEDS and NO MEDICAL INTERFERENCE.
I used the purple pill and others without relief for several years after the sudden onset of GERD. I got fed up at no relief and set about to heal myself. I cut out all processed foods, only pastured meats raised by known people, raw milk, limited grains and most soaked made from home ground organic wheat berries. I'd already lost 15 pounds, then another 15 more. Smaller meals, which became easier as I ate more nourishing foods I ate less. No eating after six. No black pepper, its a huge trigger for reflux for me, white pepper no problem. And getting sun on my belly a few times a week for 15-20 minutes. Only coconut oil, grass fed butter, lard rendered by friends from their pastured animals and olive oil No reflux for 4 years now. My osteopenia, bone loss, is reversing too. I don't think there's a magic answer but overall cleaner , healthier foods and trial and error will find what works for each individuals health/body.
Yolla
Should try some of these.
Eating wheat products does it to me, so I've dropped them and don't have that problem any more.
hot ginger/green/mint tea i enjoy…
Well done! I did the same-can't eat pulses or grains. Make my own flour from sweet potato flour(Chinese shops)rice flour but can't eat any rice, & potato flour. Don't eat any processed or ready foods,no chemicals/additives at all.I find this controls my migrains but has also helped reflux (familial)Homeopaths/herbalists helped me,doctors not even interested when I tell them how I do it.We have to take responsibility where we can for our health.