With the latest developments of Zantac, these top remedies for heartburn are gaining prominence. Just earlier this year, April precisely, the FDA — Food and Drug Association — asked retailers to pull Zantac off the shelves owing to suggestions that it may contain a questionable human carcinogen.
Zantac has been a leading medication for remedies for over a decade and might be what you’ve used all your life. Do not panic. I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that there are excellent alternatives to Zantac, and here’s what’s better: they are all-natural. So, you’re not just getting rid of a synthetic drug with a probable ingredient; you’re substituting with equally effective natural medications. Does it get better?
5 Top Remedies For Heartburn
Heartburns leave you unbelievably inconvenient but are luckily preventable and treatable. In this section, we’ll look at five excellent remedies for heartburn. These options are natural activities to try out even before you settle for any medication.
Just so you know, credible studies have proven that these alternatives are effective and negate the need for any orthodox medicine.
Stretch Your Meals By Eating Smaller Portions Throughout The Day
Overeating exerts a high level of pressure on the stomach. By eating a large amount of food in a serving, the body is triggered to release stomach acid for digestion purposes. However, this may not go as smoothly as it should. Research has shown that heavy meals, particularly when it has high contents of fats, can leak out of the stomach into the esophagus, thereby triggering heartburn.
To understand better, study how you eat. A lot of people eat heavy dinners, which is why heartburn occurs most before bedtime. Also, overeating at night is a prominent cause of obesity, which is suggested to increase the risk of heartburns for some reasons, including increased intra-abdominal pressure.
As an alternative, space out your meals throughout the day. If you are used to eating 3 heavy meals daily, increase the count to 5 or 6 lighter meals. Also, make sure you eat your calorie-dense foods in the morning or afternoon.
Cut Down On Foods That Influence Stomach Acid
There are several foods that trigger the production of stomach acid, thereby increasing the risk of food spilling out of the stomach. Cutting down on such foods will go a long way in reducing reflux.
According to research, some of these foods are:
- Processed foods containing flavors, artificial ingredients, sweeteners, and preservatives.
- Fried foods or meals processed in refined oil. Such foods must be immediately taken out of your diet.
- Alcohol.
- Caffeinated products.
- Citrus fruits, such as grapefruits, lemon, orange, and lime.
- Specific vegetables, for example, tomatoes.
- Garlic and onion.
- Chocolate and caffeine.
Treating heartburn does not mean that you have to avoid these foods completely. You can simply cut down on them. Some may not even affect you as every individual reacts differently. Make sure to note what triggers your attack.
Eat More Healing Foods
Healing foods refer to foods that heal or nourish the body specially. They are whole foods and, thus, never aggravate the digestive system. A diet that contains such foods is highly effective in healing digestive issues, such as acid reflux, IBS, and leaky gut.
Here are the most common and beneficial healing foods you can find easily.
- Fresh organic veggies, particularly options that contain prebiotic fibers, examples include fennel, squash, artichokes, cucumbers, and asparagus.
- Healthy fats, which nourish the digestive tract and are easy to digest. Examples are ghee, coconut oil, and avocado.
- Standard animal protein, such as grass-fed beef and free-range chicken.
- Fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, especially wild-caught mackerel, salmon, and sardines.
- Bone broth, containing glycine to rebuild and strengthen your gut lining and nutrients and enzymes like glutamine and collagen.
- Nourishing foods, for example, ginger, aloe vera, parsley, and raw honey.
- Foods that nourish your beneficial belly bacteria, particularly cultured, unpasteurized dairy products, for example, Greek yogurt and kefir.
Manage Your Stress Better
Stress is not just the lull you feel in your head. Stress is a hormonal trigger that can affect all bodily systems, ranging from digestion to immunity. A 2013 publication in the Journal of Digestive Diseases and Sciences established two interesting findings. First, psychosocial stress levels are considerably linked with reflux esophagitis defects. Second, the severity of reflux esophagitis directly affects stress levels.
These discoveries are tied to many implications. We now know that high levels of stress and even inadequate sleep can lead to the production of stomach acid, which, as we know, is a significant cause of heartburn. Patients suffering from chronic digestive illnesses, especially gastroesophageal reflux disease—GERD—have reported that stress is a typical trigger.
This means only one thing: manage your stress better to prevent or cure heartburn.
Take Supplements That Aid Digestion
When dealing with heartburn, eating good food is a top priority, but supplementing can be helpful as well. Using the right supplements will help cure the digestive tract as well as reduce symptoms of heartburn. They include:
- Digestive Enzymes, these help the body to digest and absorb nutrients from foods more easily, thereby avoiding acid buildup. Experts advise 1 – 2 capsules of standard digestive enzymes before every meal until symptoms disappear.
- HCL with Pepsin, supplementing with this, keep painful symptoms away until you’re finally healed. Taking a capsule of 650 mg before each meal is recommended.
- Probiotics, even if you eat probiotic foods, you can still use probiotic supplements. The daily recommended dosage is 25 – 50 billion of standard units.
- Magnesium, magnesium deficiency is rife among us these days, although most don’t even know they have the condition. Having abundant levels of magnesium will aid digestion and help you manage stress and sleep better. Take 400 – 800 milligrams daily.
Final Thoughts
Heartburn can make you very uncomfortable. Some people tend to think they are having a heart attack when heartburn hits. Thankfully, the top remedies for heartburn discussed above are highly effective. Remember that they are all-natural and cost very little.
To play devil’s advocate, there are competing thoughts. Quickly, there are people who say heartburn is caused by your stomach being too acidic and they start popping anti-acids. However, it is exactly opposite. Your stomach should be from 1-3 pH. This means a highly acidic level. As the number gets higher, the level of acidity lowers. Simply put, this happens when your stomach gets too alkaline and this affects the function of the pyloric valve whose job it is to keep the stomach contents contained. The closing of the valve is linked to the pH level.
When acidity is higher (which means your pH number is lower), it triggers the valve shut in order to keep the stomach contents from backing up, or refluxing, into the esophagus. As we get older, we lose a certain amount of stomach acid naturally and your pH drops. These same people pop a pill and feel better momentarily, but over time taking these pills just makes things worse. In fact, if you look at the side effects of anti-acid medication, one of the biggest listed is “Heartburn.”
Now, high Fat with Low Carb diets do a couple of things to help with this. First of all, with weight loss you put less pressure on the stomach and allows it to work more efficiently. A healthy diet, such as a Keto lifestyle, allows the body to populate with the right gut bacteria and this helps control issues as well. High-fat alone can actually relax the pyloric valve, however, because Keto is a balanced eating program and with the increased fiber content, this actually aids in gut bacteria growth, weight loss and gut pH optimization. So, consult your doctor and figure out which one works for you. It comes down to individual factors in the end.
