Diet When Afflicted With Acid Reflux
Acid reflux is an internal disorder of the body where the acid from the stomach reverses back into the esophagus. There can be various causes for this occurrence but if you can change your lifestyle change food habits and other negative habits you can cure the disease. The medical name for acid reflux is GERD (gastroesophageal reflux) disease. Over one-third of the American population is afflicted with this disease irrespective of age and gender.
The preliminary step to prevent acid reflux is to change the diet and identify such food items that cause irritation and heart burn. Normally food items like chocolate, spicy foods, citrus fruits, as well as fried and fatty meals aggravate the acid reflux symptoms. Moreover, untimely and unnecessarily eating foods, eating excessive foods drinking and smoking are few avoidable causes for acid reflux. Therefore it is prudent to stay away from these types of food items and consume a well-balanced, healthy and sensible food plan.
What can be a proper diet plan to prevent acid reflux? There are numerous recipes both normal and herbal that can help cure acid reflux.
- Milk: Milk is used to have an immediate soothing effect in the stomach thereby reducing the discomfort caused due to acidity. However avoid whole milk or fatty milk. Avoid milk product such as cottage cheese, sour cream, ice cream and ice cream related products (I.E. milk shakes, floats, etc.). But products like fat-free cream cheese, feta or goat cheese, low-fat soy cheese can be eaten.
- Meat: For alleviating the tendency of acid reflux food items like extra lean ground beef, London broiled steak, skinless chicken breast, egg whites, imitation eggs, and fish without additional fat but avoid the intake of buffalo wings, chicken nuggets, ground beef, and marbled steak.
- Grains: Whole grain or white bread, corn bread, oatmeal, bran cereal, white or brown rice can be safely eaten during acidic reflux and foods like pasta with rich sauces, macaroni and cheese should be totally avoided.
- Vegetables and fruits: broccoli, carrots, peas, green beans, and baked potato, banana, fresh or dried apple, apple juice are considered safe for intake and raw onion, french-fries, mashed potatoes, citrus fruits and juices, which include lemon, lime, lemonade, orange, orange juice, grapefruit and grapefruit juice, cranberry juice, tomato and tomato juice should be restricted.
- Snacks: Avoid taking chocolate, doughnuts, butter cookies, brownies, corn chips, and potato chips and prefer to eat pretzels, baked potato chips, graham crackers, rice cakes and fat free cookies.
- Beverages: The best beverages are water, non-alcoholic drinks and carbonated drinks but you should absolutely stop drinking alcohol, regular or decaffeinated coffee and tea, and highly-sugared or carbonated drinks such as soda
The above suggestions are general in nature and may not suit everyone. Therefore consulting a doctor is always advisable.