Acid Reflux Tips
- Avoiding any kind of food triggers: Try to stay away from any kind of food items which can trigger the incidence of acid reflux such as tomatoes, chocolates, beverages containing caffeine, fats, carbonated drinks or soda and mint. These trigger foods would not be same for all the individual, it would be different for different people hence understand the signals provided by your body and act accordingly. Try to cut off fat from the diet. High fat meals tend to relax the muscles thereby delaying the process of stomach emptying and making it more prone for acid reflux. Instead one should go in for lean proteins such as seafood, lean cuts of red meat or fibre rich food as well as whole grains to be added to your staple diet.
- Lose weight: Obesity is known to contribute heavily in leading to acid reflux since it can exert pressure on the stomach thereby pushing those excess gastric juices onto the esophagus. Hence it is important to lose weight for those who are overweight or obese and do not gain weight for those who are in their ideal weight.
- Go in for smaller meals: Many a times, heavy meals are known to fill up the stomach thereby exerting too much of pressure on the large intestines thereby making the reflux even more likely to occur. Instead of not changing the foods which you love to eat you can plan to go in for smaller meals.
- Elevating the bed: It would also a better option to elevate the head of the bed to around seven inches thereby making it convenient for gravity to not allow the gastric juices to come up and keeping it down in the abdomen. One can also go in for wedge-shaped support. Also do not make use of extra pillows since it only raises your head and would not help in solving the acid reflux issues. You would need to get the entire body elevated for ultimate relief.
- Do not lie down immediately lie down post meals: Gravity is known to prevent the acid reflux from occurring hence one should wait for at least four hours’ time before they lie down after consuming food. Instead you should go in for a walk around so as to help encouraging the stomach gastric juices to flow in the right direction. For the similar reason while you are sleeping, ensure to keep the upper body elevated
- Time to review your medications: For those individuals who are taking medications consisting of sedatives, anticholinergic medications, bisphosphonates or calcium channel blockers should first reach out to the doctor and checking to get them replaced with drug that would not lead to acid reflux.
- Quit smoking: As per research it has been confirmed that nicotine can lead to disruption of the ability of the saliva to remove acid from the esophagus hence it would be better to quit smoking as early as possible. Smoking is known to slow down the process of digestion thereby increasing the stomach acid whereas it also limits the production of saliva which is considered to be the natural defense of the body against these stomach acid.
- Reduce the intake of alcohol: Alcohol is known to cause spasm or esophageal seizures which can lead to severe case of acid reflux hence it is advisable to quit alcohol and if that gets a bit difficult to do then limit the intake of alcohol.
- Ensure to wear loose fitting clothes: Try not to wear tight clothes or belts which can lead to shrinking of the stomach instead opt for loose fitting clothes. Wearing something tight around your stomach can again put pressure on the stomach thereby worsening the discomfort as well as pain caused due to acid reflux. Until you feel that the symptoms are in control try to go in for stretchy as well as comfortable feeling clothes.
- Go in for gluten free food: Foods such as barley, wheat and rye are known to contain gluten which is a protein that can lead to or may aggravate the acid reflux symptoms then whenever you purchasing any food item or consuming any food ensure that it does not contain traces of gluten since small traces of gluten are known to cause bigger issues.
