Reflux, GORD, GERD, “indigestion” are all basically the same thing.
Ineffective digestion by the stomach, resulting in acidic food remaining inside the stomach instead of moving on through the digestive process, and then trying to return to say “Hi” to you later on when you really don’t want it to!
Reflux can have a couple of deeper causes which can be treated or avoided. One, is eating foods that just don’t agree with you. Common irritating foods are high carbohydrate meals and red wine. The other cause can be H. Pylori infection (the stomach ulcer bacteria). Testing can confirm this and antibiotics can fix it (but be sure to follow up with probiotics afterwards, and I highly recommend avoiding any antibiotics in the fluoroquinolone family (levaquin, ciprofloxacin), as they can cause permanent health problems from just one use if you are unlucky.
So, best to avoid reflux if possible. But, if it DOES rear it’s ugly head?
Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (or anything else quite acidic).
I know this seems counter-intuitive. If it’s already acidic, shouldn’t something alkaline like bicarb soda or some over-the-counter antacid help? Or some prescription proton-pump-inhibitor (PPI) such as Nexium or Losec?
PPIs were only ever designed to be temporary-use, not permanent solutions, and they can cause side effects in the body. They stop your body producing as much stomach acid, which impacts your ability to chemically break down your food for assimilation into your body. They can cause magnesium deficiencies which is a real problem because magnesium is vital for health.
An antacid will stop your immediate symptoms by increasing the pH of your gastric contents, however it does not help that partially digested food move through the digestive system. Your stomach contents have to be acidic to trigger food to move on to the next part of digestion!
“Your stomach contents have to be acidic to trigger food to move on to the next part of digestion!”
One other thing, don’t follow up a meal with a cold water!!
This causes dilution and cooling of the contents of the stomach, two things which slow down a chemical reaction! You want food to move quickly out of the stomach instead of hanging around in there!
So, if you have reflux, without fail I find that half a lemon, juiced into a shot glass and taken, fixes reflux within 5 minutes.
An alternative is apple cider vinegar. You can dilute these things a little if necessary to make them easier to swallow. Tell me if it works for you!
