Free Yourself From Heartburn

If you have experienced a burning sensation in the chest and throat, nausea after eating, it is difficult for you to swallow food, you have a lot of hiccups or aphonia, especially after a large meal, there are numbers that you have gastroesophageal reflux.

What is gastroesophageal reflux?

It is a burning sensation in the upper stomach and near the heart that is experienced continuously, 3-4 times a week until daily discomfort.

This discomfort puts pressure on sufferers to deliberately try any promising drug.

What are your causes?

Once food is in our digestive tract, it must pass through the esophageal sphincter, the one that communicates with the pit of the stomach, and this step must always be unidirectional.

Unfortunately, sometimes the esophageal sphincter is not properly closed or opens wrongly causing food and stomach acids to reach the esophagus and mouth.

This unnatural process irritates and damages the lining of the esophagus, since the food that comes from the stomach is mixed with highly acidic gastric juices that burn the mucous membranes of the esophagus.

Some factors that cause it are:

• Eat large meals.

• Eat foods that irritate the stomach such as tea, spices and alcohol.

• Excess abdominal fat.

• Eating excessively acidic foods.

• Eat a diet that is very high in fat.

• Constipation.

How to avoid reflux naturally

Conventional medicine will tell you to look for an antacid like Almax or Omeprazole, and these will only fix your symptoms. Sometimes not even this, because you will need a couple or more of them to get relief, but they will not eliminate the root of the problem.

But as Hippocrates already taught us, food and good habits can be the medicine for this problem:

• Green juices and smoothies. They are a key tool to start the day well and encourage you to continue taking care of yourself throughout the day. One of the causes of reflux is constipation (straining to eliminate stool can cause opening of the esophageal sphincter) and a glass of green juice loaded with soluble and insoluble fiber in smoothies can help you regulate intestinal transit. They are also a highly alkaline drink that will help neutralize acid waste in the esophagus first thing in the morning.
• Vegetable feeding. Plant-based foods are loaded with micronutrients, fiber, and active enzymes that create an alkalizing effect within our bodies. Vegetables are easier to digest than animal products so the stomach does not need to work as hard or produce as much acidic gastric juices to digest food.
• Avoid the consumption of animal products. Milk, meat, fish or eggs not only require a longer digestion time and release of more gastric juice but also create an acidic environment in the body once they have been metabolized, a condition that favors the appearance of reflux.
• Avoid irritating drinks. Coffee, isotonic, soda … All of them create a lot of acid in the stomach, irritating the gastric mucosa. Carbonated drinks also increase the appearance of symptoms. So choose drinks like white tea, roiboos, herbal teas, or simply cucumber flavored water.
• Eliminate gluten. Wheat, rye and barley are the most common cereals and all contain gluten, that protein that is harder and takes more time and effort to digest.
• If you are overweight. Lowering abdominal fat will reduce pressure on the esophageal sphincter and will not cause it to open.
• Don’t eat your fill. Eat slowly and chew your food a lot. Remember that the stomach has no teeth, and stop eating when you start to feel full. Large meals distend the stomach and this can lead to reflux.
• Rest after eating. Wait an hour after eating before: stretching, bending, jumping, etc. This will prevent gastric juices from going against gravity and rising up into the esophagus.
• Sleep with your head elevated. Sleep with your upper body slightly elevated. If you feel reflux at night, sleep with back cushions or another method so that your head and chest are higher than your stomach.
• Antacids Don’t use antacid drugs. Although they can help relieve symptoms, they also cause the stomach to produce more acid to compensate for the alkalinity that these create. And this is a fish that bites its tail.

Effective natural remedies

To relieve symptoms immediately before you have acquired these new habits that will make reflux disappear, I propose these remedies:

1. Natural digestive enzymes: taking enzymes can help you have faster digestions.
2. Chamomile: take it as an infusion to neutralize and soften stomach acids.
3. Raw honey : add raw honey to your infusions: to neutralize the pH of the stomach by reducing the acids that can rise.
4. Licorice: prepare licorice infusions, as it softens and covers the wall of the esophagus, protecting it from acids. This infusion is not recommended if you have high blood pressure.