More food tips to halt acid reflux

My blogs about eliminating acid reflux and GERD (Burp! How to prevent & stop GERD and Acidic foods can stop acid reflux and GERD) received a lot of interest, so I thought I'd share some more tips about how to prevent acid reflux.

An apple a day...may set your esophagus on fire!
Apples are good for you, unless you have acid reflux. Not just apples, but most fruits. Fruit sugar (fructose) can generate large amounts of stomach acid. The sweeter the fruit, the greater the chance of acid reflux.

Fruits that aren't likely to cause acid indigestion are lemons, limes and grapefruits. They're not sweet, which means they don't have a lot of fructose. Dried fruits are really high in sugar, and highly likely to cause GERD.

Starchy carbs and grains leave an acid residue
If you're like most Americans, you probably love a big bowl of popcorn. You probably thought you were doing the right thing by eliminating butter. Well, at least you still get to eat your treat. Sorry, but all corn is acidic and can easily drive up your stomach's acid level.

If you've given up white bread for stone-ground whole wheat because you thought it was healthier, you're still eating an acid-producing grain. While bleached white flour isn't good for you in many ways, whole wheat (or rye or spelt or quinoa) also leaves an acidic residue and may be ratcheting up your stomach acid.

The same goes for potatoes. If you've given up french fries for baked potatoes, the only thing you've done is eliminate fried trans-fatty acids. When your stomach digests potatoes, the result is an acidic residue that increases acid reflux.

White rice isn't such a good deal either if you have excessive stomach acid. Brown rice is better, but you might consider giving up rice altogether.

Okay, so I've taken away every fruit that you love, removed your whole-grain breads and deep-sixed rice. What's left?

Good food that doesn't cause acid reflux
To replace the fruits you're used to eating, switch to grapefruit. If you like lemonade, try fresh-squeezed lemon juice combined with stevia, which is available from the indicated retailer in the left column. Same goes for fresh-squeezed lime juice. Do you feel deprived? Don't. Your esophagus will thank you. What's worse: not eating all the fruits you love or never having acid reflux again?

Bread can easily be replaced by sprouted bread, also known as Genesis or Ezekiel bread. Instead of grinding grain, ground sprouts are combined and formed into a dough. You can buy sprouted breads as a sliced loaf, hamburger buns, hot dog buns, tortillas or pitas. You'll find them in the freezer section, although one local store keeps them in the refrigerated dairy section. Sprouted grains are highly nutritious and do not leave an acid residue when digested. Make sure you don't buy sprouted bread that's sweetened with barley malt, sugar, cane sugar or any other type of "natural" sweetener. It will defeat the benefits of eating sprouted bread and may give you acid indigestion.

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I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates