Acid Reflux and Tips to Reduce Symptoms

Acid Reflux and Tips

 

Acid reflux is a disorder in which stomach acid escapes through the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES). That's a valve that separates the stomach from the esophagus. The problem is, stomach acid is supposed to stay in the stomach. When it enters the esophagus, acid reflux occurs, with symptoms including:

• pain and burning in the chest
• heartburn and nausea
• burping and hiccups
• hoarseness
• chronic sore throat

Another symptom of acid reflux is regurgitation - that foul taste in your mouth when you "mini-vomit" in your mouth after a meal.
Acid reflux is a common and persistent problem, particularly with the popularity of fast- food and the nutritional gaps in the average American diet.
Fortunately, you can treat acid reflux with Digestive Science Reflux Elimination System. More on that shortly. First, let's learn more about acid reflux and how you can reduce your symptoms.

More About Acid Reflux

While it's common to experience sporadic symptoms of acid reflux, if symptoms occur more than twice a week, you have acid reflux disease. Risk factors include obesity, pregnancy, smoking, eating large meals, and lying down after meals.

In addition, acid reflux can occur from a lack of digestive enzymes. In this scenario, the stomach produces more acid to compensate. Then food digests slower, and symptoms of acid reflux can occur. The culprit? There are many, but age, poor diet, stress and antibiotics can all reduce the digestive enzymes required to balance the stomach acid responsible for reflux.

The problem is exasperated by the popularity of antacids, which make life even more difficult for your already minimal digestive enzymes. While they might bring temporary relief, antacids alter the pH of your stomach and are not suitable for long-term use.

How You Can Reduce Acid Reflux

Chew gum - Chewing gum may relieve heartburn and reflux. The reason? Saliva neutralizes stomach acid. Just avoid peppermint gum, which can aggravate heartburn, and skip gum if it makes you swallow air, which can cause belching and bloating.

Slim down - Extra pounds around the midsection can make heartburn worse and trigger reflux symptoms. Shed just two pounds and you can ease both.

Eat smaller meals - Large meals stack on excess weight and can cause the digestive problems you want to avoid (that's you, reflux!). Eat smaller meals, and eat them more frequently, to reduce strain on your digestive system and for less reflux and heartburn.

Avoid trigger foods - Some foods are notorious for causing gas and acid reflux, including beans, soda and fatty foods like soda and cheese. Other common reflux trigger foods include citrus fruits, tomatoes, coffee and tea.

Ditch the cigarettes - Among several million reasons why you shouldn't smoke, this nasty habit loosens the LES valve, through which stomach acid enters the esophagus and you know what comes next.

Keep a journal -Digestion problems can be unique to each patient. What causes reflux in one patient may do nothing to another. You can reduce this problem by keeping a journal of your reflux symptoms, regarding trigger foods, meal size, time of day and other factors that cause your symptoms.