Other Health Benefits Of Gum
In addition to the benefits above, chewing gum has been linked to other benefits.
These include:
- Prevents ear infections in children: Some studies have suggested that gum containing xylitol could prevent middle ear infections in children (
- ).
Bottom Line:
Chewing gum may help people quit smoking, prevent middle ear infections in children and help your gut return to normal function after surgery.
Tips For Controlling Your Acid Reflux Symptoms
After binging on spicy pizza or greasy onion rings, anyone can suffer from occasional indigestion resulting in acid reflux. Thats the uncomfortable sometimes painful condition when your stomach acid, and even food, creep back up into your esophagus. But if you get hit with heartburn a couple times a week or more, you may be experiencing a chronic form of acid reflux called gastroesophageal reflux disease .
If you live in or near the Fairfax or South Riding, Virginia, communities, youre in luck. Dr. Chethana Rao at Prima Medicine is an expert on acid reflux. She can help you solve your acid reflux issues with fast-acting medications, long-term treatments, or both.
Meanwhile, there are some simple ways you may be able to ease your own symptoms. Here are 7 lifestyle changes that may reduce or eliminate your acid reflux symptoms.
Tomatoes And Citrus Fruit
Fruits and vegetables are important in a healthy diet. But certain fruits can cause or worsen GERD symptoms, especially highly acidic fruits. If you have frequent acid reflux, you should reduce or eliminate your intake of the following foods:
- oranges
- tomato sauce or foods that use it, such as pizza and chili
- salsa
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How To Get Rid Of Stomach Acid With Basil Leaves
Basil is one of the best remedies for how to reduce stomach acid. It can provide you with instant relief from stomach acid burning in the throat.
How to use?
- Take three to basil leaves
- Add them to a cup of water
- And simmer it for a few minutes
- Strain the mixture and sip it slowly
- You can drink it a few times a day to get relief from stomach acid
Benefits of Basil Leaves
The basil leaves are known to have carminative and soothing properties that sooth the acidity in your stomach and provide you instant relief from the burning sensation. Drinking basil tea is an excellent way to reduce stomach acid in the lungs. Add it to your diet and get visible results in no time.
Precautions
Before using basil leaves, wash them thoroughly.
Is It Just Heartburn Or Gerd
Frequent heartburn can be a major issue. If you experience heartburn two or more times a week, you may have gastroesophageal reflux disease .
In this chronic condition, frequent exposure to stomach acid irritates and damages the esophagus. Over time, that can lead to problems such as difficulty swallowing. An estimated 40 percent of Americans report symptoms of GERD but the condition can significantly improve with lifestyle changes.
If you’ve tried home remedies and lifestyle adjustments and still have frequent heartburn, consult with your family doctor or a gastroenterologist. There are multiple treatments that can help, including medications and minimally invasive surgery for acid reflux.
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How To Get Rid Of Acid Reflux In Throat
The burning sensation and uneasiness can cause a lot of discomforts, and you might immediately wish to visit the doctor to get it cured. But before you head out, look in your kitchen.
There you would find many ingredients that can alleviate the problem immediately. Following are the most effective natural ways to get rid of acid reflux in throat fast:
Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
There are a few theories regarding just why apple cider vinegar improves digestion and low stomach acid. First, the vinegar is acidic and will slightly lower the pH in the stomach. Frequent doses of raw apple cider vinegar is also purportedly effective in correcting candida overgrowth, and candida problems can contribute to low stomach acid production. It is very effective as a quick solution when one is experiencing heartburn, perhaps because the acidity signals the LES to close tightly.
Upon waking, drink 1 tsp. raw apple cider vinegar in 1/2 cup warm water. Take this concoction before each meal and, if needed, after meals to stop heartburn.
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What Causes Stomach Acid
Your stomach produces the gastric acid to digest the food. However, at times, the acid is secreted in large amounts than what required for digestion, and at times the production is low. Both the conditions are not good for you as these hamper the digestion process, can damage your stomach lining or cause troubles like vomiting, nausea, etc.
How To Reduce Stomach Acid With Exercise
Stress and anxiety are other prime reasons that may lead to increased acidity. Due to high levels of stress, you resort to unhealthy eating habits that directly affect your digestive health. Hence, you must work upon lowering your stress. While you may not be able to avoid stress, some ways can help you out inefficiently reducing it. Physical activity is one such medium to relieve stress.
What to do?
- Try going out for a walk and connect with nature
- Or you can try meditation and breathing exercises
- Indulge in some fun physical activities like aerobics
Benefits of Exercise
Physical exercise acts as a stress booster. It not only helps you in keeping fit but also prevents various health disorders.
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What Causes Too Much Stomach Acid
Most people who experience excessive stomach acid symptoms complain about a burning sensation from the start. Well look at excess stomach acid symptoms in detail, but first, lets consider what causes excessive stomach acid.
Acid can build up in the stomach due to diet, excessive alcohol consumption, abnormally high acid production, or it can simply be hereditary. When excess stomach acid goes untreated, it can lead to ulcers. Diet plays a big role in controlling stomach acid too. There are certain foods that cause more acid and others that are better tolerated. Heres a look at what causes excess stomach acid, starting with food.
In most cases, symptoms of excess stomach acid can be attributed to diet. It can be helpful for people to keep a food journal, which enables them to pinpoint what food or foods are bothersome. Once certain culprits are identified, it is simply a matter of eliminating those foods from the diet to find relief.
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Foods That Reduce Stomach Acid
Too much acid secretion by your stomach may cause conditions like GERD or Gastroesophageal reflux disease. Also known as stomach acid reflux, it is a condition in which you may feel the reflux of stomach acid in the throat which may cause a burning sensation. If you wish to prevent such a situation, then add the following foods to your diet:
- Oatmeal
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Four Things To Do Throughout The Day
Start By Limiting Your Meals
When you eat and drink when you have stomach acid , your body automatically starts producing more stomach acid to deal with what youre putting into it. It knows that it will need to start digesting at some point, even if youre just drinking water. Your body doesnt know exactly what youre having and will work based on the chewing and swallowing process.
Yes, even if you chew gum regularly, you will start to produce more stomach acid. This can be beneficial if youre struggling to digest something, but if you have high stomach acid levels or heartburn, youll want to keep the chewing to a minimum.
To help to keep the stomach acid production to a minimum, consider reducing the amount that youre eating and drinking during the day. Keep your meals small, so your stomach doesnt need to create as much acid to digest it all. Your body also wont take as long to digest everything that you eat, meaning the acid levels can reduce to normal sooner rather than later.
Smaller meals throughout the day can also be good for weight loss. You constantly keep yourself feeling fuller, since you dont leave as long between your small meals. At the same time, you keep the calorie intake down, because youre eating less during and between meals. Youll hardly feel like youre on a diet and your heartburn wont cause a problem that gets you down.
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How To Prevent Gas
Gas pain can just be a nuisance or be due to a medical condition such as celiac disease or irritable bowel syndrome, possibly requiring the aid of a medical professional. But in general, preventing gas pain is something that can be prevented by altering lifestyle habits and diet. The following are some tips you can start doing today to prevent stomach pain:
- Stop chewing gum, as you tend to swallow more air doing so
- Avoid smoking
- Chew with your mouth closed to avoid swallowing excess air
- Cut out gas triggering foods from your diet
- Avoid straws, as they are sucking a lot of air in as well
- Incorporate more exercise into your daily routine
- Avoid the consumption of carbonated beverages and food known to cause stomach upset
- Eat fewer fatty foods
- Read labels
- Temporarily cut back on high-fiber foods
These 23 natural remedies can help you finally get relief from embarrassing gas and painful bloating.
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Emily Lunardo studied medical sociology at York University with a strong focus on the social determinants of health and mental illness. She is a registered Zumba instructor, as well as a Canfit Pro trainer, who teaches fitness classes on a weekly basis. Emily practices healthy habits in her own life as well as helps others with their own personal health goals. Emily joined Bel Marra Health as a health writer in 2013.
What The Research Says
No diet has been proven to prevent GERD. However, certain foods may ease symptoms in some people.
Research shows that increased fiber intake, specifically in the form of fruits and vegetables, may protect against GERD. But scientists arent yet certain how fiber prevents GERD symptoms.
Increasing your dietary fiber is generally a good idea. In addition to helping with GERD symptoms, fiber also reduces the risk of:
- uncontrolled blood sugar
- hemorrhoids and other bowel problems
Talk to your doctor if you have questions about whether certain foods should be a part of your diet. Foods that help improve acid reflux for one person may be problematic for someone else.
Working with your doctor can help you develop a diet to control or lessen your symptoms.
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What Are You Going To Do To Cure Your Heartburn
Are you simply going to treat the heartburn with short-term remedies or are you going to attack the real underlying problem that is driving your symptoms? I suspect that the larger long-term recommendations are a bit intimidating and you are not sure if you can make that type of commitment. You are not alone.
Here is an approach that may help you ease into building your path to relief and good health:
We know you can do this because so many others before you have succeeded. Dont delay, this is your disease and its your quality of life that is at risk. You can do this!
This article is from Reflux MD
Medical Resources Used for This Article
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Eliminate Foods To Which You Are Sensitive
As I discussed, low stomach acid perpetuates food allergies and sensitivities by creating leaky gut. Then, when we eat the foods to which we are sensitive, the body responds with stress. Thats counterproductive, because stress turns off digestion.
Its important to temporarily remove the foods to which you are sensitive, to allow healing.
Dont have the time or finances for a complicated food allergy panel? I recommend using this method for At Home Food Sensitivity Testing. You simply measure how your pulse responds to eating specific foods.
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How To Lower Stomach Acid With Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar is one of the most effective home remedies for how to reduce stomach acid and prevent heartburn or acid reflux after a meal. Those suffering from stomach acid burping will also see a significant difference after using this apple cider vinegar remedy.
How to use?
- Add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water
- To it add freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Consume the drink post meal to prevent heart burn, or you can drink it before your meals to boost digestion
Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar
The enzymes present in apple cider vinegar help in breaking down the food and reduce acidity. As such it readily relieves you from heartburn. Also, please note that apple cider vinegar is acidic thus, it also helps in restoring the stomach acid pH level which is necessary for optimal digestion.
Precautions
You must use raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar only. Hence, before purchasing the bottle have a look at its label to know whether it has under gone any processing or not.
Cloves To Decrease Stomach Acid
Cloves help to eliminate stomach acidity and dispel gas, due to its carminative effect that increases HCL in the stomach. Clove is one of the best remedies to decrease stomach acid. Acidity may also be caused due to low stomach acid.
Steps to Use Cloves to Reduce Stomach Acid Fast:
- Chew 2 to 3 cloves regularly.
- So, that the juices released into your digestive system.
- Eat crushed cloves and cardamom mixed in equal amounts, to minimize stomach acid.
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Foods That Help Acid Reflux
S To Naturally Heal Low Stomach Acid
Today, Im going to talk about natural remedies for low stomach acid. The truth is, your stomach must be highly acidic to break down the food youre consuming and for proper absorption. If you have acid reflux symptoms of any type GERD, heartburn, etc. or if you have a condition like leaky gut syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease, even most skin issues today, or a lack of certain nutrients, those are all major warning signs that you have low stomach acid.
To combat this issue, you actually want to naturally balance the pH level of your stomach. Im going to talk about the top five steps you can follow and natural remedies you can take to improve your stomach acid and digestive function.
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Consider Eating Less Chocolate
GERD patients are sometimes advised to avoid or limit their consumption of chocolate. However, the evidence for this recommendation is weak.
One small, uncontrolled study showed that consuming 4 ounces of chocolate syrup weakened the lower esophageal sphincter .
Another controlled study found that drinking a chocolate beverage increased the amount of acid in the esophagus, compared to a placebo .
Nevertheless, further studies are needed before any strong conclusions can be made about the effects of chocolate on reflux symptoms.
Summary:
There is limited evidence that chocolate worsens reflux symptoms. A few studies suggest it might, but more research is needed.