Top 10 Home Remedies for Acid Reflux and GERD

Acid Reflux has become increasingly prevalent in our society mainly due to our diets.  After talking to many acid reflux suffers, extensive research, and spending hours reading forums, here are the  top 10 list for remedies and lifestyle changes that can help you reduce and ultimately eliminate acid reflux.

Acid reflux occurs when the stomach acid flows backwards into the esophagus. When this happens, you may feel a burning sensation or a sourly taste in the back of your throat .

A more severe and consistent form of reflux is Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD).  GERD Symptoms include heartburn (most obvious), nausea, gas, bloating, shortness of breath, asthma, hiatal hernia, vocal issues, and chest pain.  Some people also experience persistent coughing and lack of sleep as the symptoms get worse when you lay down.

If your occasional acid reflux is becoming persistent, it is time to address it through your diet and some lifestyle changes.  If untreated, it can show up as various other diseases and eventually lead to terminal states like esophagus cancer (I really don’t like being so negative but this is a call for action if you haven’t done anything about it yet).

I want to focus on the diet aspect of healing from acid reflux as well as a few suggestions for remedies for remedies and lifestyle changes.  Your commitment to addressing your condition naturally could mean you eliminating this nasty condition permanently.

1.  Swedish Bitters is a 500 year old herbal tonic that aids in digestion and helps with various ailments. It is a strong tincture made of aloe vera, rhubarb root, zedoary root, theriac ventian, angelica root, carline thistle, myrrh, and camphor. Many claim that it helps their digestive system function better. Take one teaspoon with water once a day and can be used as a great preventative and to strengthen your immune system.

2.  Papaya Enzymes very effective in helping you digest food so keep some with you at all times and take it before a meal and especially before eating some of the avoidance foods.  You can take some before and after a meal.  Papaya enzymes are very inexpensive and can be commonly found in the supplement isles.  Even people who don’t have Acid Reflux can benefit from eating enzymes to aide in their digestion of food.

3.  A good probiotic supplement is an absolute must.  It will help you with digestion as well as keep a good balance of your intestinal flora.  The Sedona Labs iFlora multi-probiotic formula contains Acidophillus and 15 other “friendly” bacteria that humans need for proper digestive function.  There are many different types of probiotics available and not all probiotics are the same so make sure you do your research.  Most cheap and commercial probiotics only have one or two types of bacteria strains and you strive for a probiotic supplement that has at least 5 or more bacteria strains in them.  There are other ways to get more probiotics like eating fermented foods and cultured vegetables.

4.  Aloe Vera Juice is very healing for this condition.  Pick a high quality one that contains little to no preservatives. Take about 4 oz in the morning and then after each meal.  Aloe juice has been known to aid in many types of digestive disorders.

5. Do not eat within three hours of sleeping.  As your condition worsens, you will have no choice but to really follow this rule.  I read in some forums where people were getting up in the middle of the night and getting sick.

6.  Some people swear by Lemonade. Yes lemons are great.  Drink lemon spiked water, start your day by squeezing some lemon juice in your water.  For some this is enough to see a drastic improvement in their condition.

7. Ginger is anti-inflammatory and a great remedy from nature that is a great treatment for gastrointestinal condition.  I personally love fresh ginger but if that is too strong for you, you can make a tea from it or buy candied ginger.  You can make a great ginger tonic with water, raw honey, lemon juice, and freshly squeezed ginger juicer.  This tonic is also great immune booster.

8. Ah, apparently our old friend and a cure-all for so many human ailments,  raw unrefined apple cider vinegar is a natural remedy that helps ease acid reflux.

9. You can buy a very effective amish remedy called Caleb Treeze Stops Acid Reflux. It is a carefully balanced mixture of unrefined raw apple cider vinegar, ginger juice, and garlic juice and the results are amazing.  It will stop your heartburn within one minute.

10. The 10th top solution to acid reflux is not really a home remedy but I cannot stress enough the importance of understanding what you can or cannot eat and making some lifestyle changes in your eating habits.  Eliminating acidic foods is on the top of the list.  That means you must avoid or completely eliminate alcohol, coffee, smoking, fast foods, and most packaged foods.  Eliminate all sodas / carbonated drinks – there is no exception to this rule.  For many people tomato based foods is a huge issue.

I highly recommend a book by Dr. Jamie Koufman called Dropping Acid:  The Reflux Diet Cookbook and Cure.

Avoid packaged foods as many of the preservatives in packaged foods are acidic like citric acid, malic acid and absorbic acid.  Oh wow, incidentally they even contain the word “acid” in it – a big clue that if you see this as part of the ingredient list, don’t buy that packaged product.  You are getting a lot of your acid intake from preservative acids from canned veggies, crackers, cereals, commercial yogurts, and frozen meals.  If you do end up buying packaged foods, check the labels to make sure that none of the preservative acids are in it.  Avoid onions and cheese as well.

Juicing with vegetables is not only extremely healthy but it will help you reduce your acid reflux.  Green juices are very alkalizing.  One former sufferer claims that he has been cured by carrot juice and it was the only solution that worked for him.

Some might find it skeptical to say that a optimal dietary plan can “cure” their acid reflux disease.  However, this is the whole philosophy of this blog, by changing the way you eat to support your healing, you can literally reduce or eliminate your disease.

Some examples of staple foods geared towards reducing acid reflux are almonds, apple, bananas, oatmeal, all melons, green salads, green vegetables, chicken, turkey, fish and seafood, fresh fennel, celery, parsley, and rice.  Mainly foods that are alkalizing are very good for you.

These are our top recommendations to get you on the way towards putting your acid reflux issues behind you.

If you have some suggestions, comments and questions, please post them here. We would love to hear from you.

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Tags: home remedies, home remedies for acid reflux, home remedies for GERD, natural remedies, natural remedies for Acid Reflux, top 10 home remedies for acid reflux and GERD