Acid Reflux

I Never Realized How Acidic My Food Life Was!

I've always felt badly for people who struggle with acid reflux. I've seen all the advertisements for over-the-counter and prescription heartburn meds all my life and have felt grateful that I haven't ever had an issue with it. 

Until a year ago. 

It started with an occasional dose of of a popular chew-able medication and progressed to almost non-stop chewing gum and some Googling. Finally last March I made an appointment to see my GP about it. The appointment was to be on March 16. 

Then: COVID-19. There was no way I was going to the clinic. I canceled the appointment. 

And now here we are in July and I've started "The Acid Watcher Diet," by Dr. Jonathan Aviv. I have 4 or 5 weeks before I have to go back to work and it's the perfect time to spend all day shopping, preparing, and cooking food. His book has a 28 day plan for healing and preventing acid reflux.  The Acid Watcher Diet

Here are the NO GO Drinks:

Coffee other caffeinated beverages -I've been drinking coffee, black and strong, since I was about 11. I've been drinking black tea since before that. 

Wine-I've been on and off with wine, either red or white, for the last dozen years. I won't really miss it.

Pop-I gave that up years ago. No problem. I don't drink any effervescent beverages at all. So I'm good there. 

No Go foods:

Citrus

Vinegars

Peppers-the spice kind

Tomatoes

Chocolate

Mint

Raw Onion

Raw Garlic

The big 3 for us is the tomatoes, onion and garlic. Lemons are a close 4th. This stumped me for a day or so. 

Lifestyle Changes:

Aviv also recommends not allowing the stomach to be empty. So my tendency not to start eating for the day until 9 or 10 is out. Also, he says don't lay down or go to bed less than 3 hours after eating the last meal of the day. Since I usually get up between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning, I tend to be heading to bed at 8:30 pm. Bob doesn't usually get home until nearly 6, so often we don't get to eat until 6:30 or even 7:00 pm. 

As always, Bob is always amenable about our meals. I told him what I'm planning and we decided I'll get supper ready when I need to eat, and he'll just eat when he gets to it. No problem. But I am having to work on staying awake almost another hour to give digestion some time. 

So far I've had a lot of good stuff to eat. This is day three. Last night we had Miso-Agave Glazed Halibut and sesame bok choy.

Oil Pulling

Image from Meijer.com

I've come across mentions of the practice of oil pulling in the past few months and decided to give it a try.

The most recent article I read was here in Elephant Journal. I had tried it for a few days last summer with sesame oil and just couldn't stick with it. This article mentions using coconut oil and I do agree that it is a bit easier on the taste buds.

There are many articles (here, here, and here are a few) about the health benefits of the practice and I'll be the first to admit that some of the claims are rather...fantastical. But essentially the idea is that the sticky oil "pulls" the toxics and bacteria away from the surfaces in your mouth. You spit out the oil and with it? The icky junk. You are supposed to do this first thing in the morning before you eat or drink or brush your teeth so that you can get all that stuff that has accumulated in there overnight. It does seem to make some sense.

It's not for the faint-hearted, though. Recommended pulling time is 15-20 minutes, but I think any amount of time you do it will be better than not doing it at all. I'm allowing a minimum of 10 minutes in the morning and, if I can keep myself occupied with lunch packing or sorting out my attire for the day, I'll go longer.

The jar cost about $9 at Harris Teeter but it won't go to waste if I give up. It's a great massage  oil (no, it doesn't smell like coconut), or conditioner for the hair and can be cooked with at moderate temps.