Heartburn or acidity can strike you anytime of the day, making you feel uncomfortable and bloated. It can be a result of a large meal you indulged in a few hours back or more than three hours of gap between meals. Whatever may be the case, it causes enough distress for you to reach for over the counter antacids.
While antacids may give you temporary relief, it is so often not the answer to heartburn, as regular intake of antacids can cause inimitable damage to your body. What is Factually and what causes it? We will try and answer that for you in this article.
Heartburn is typically caused by acid reflux, which generally occurs when the group muscle that lets in food right into your stomach, the lower esophageal sphincter also known as LES, relaxes when it should not be the case.
The resulting condition leads to acid from your stomach retracting into the esophagus, which results in that burning feeling, just behind your chest. This is also known as acid reflux, because of the excess amount of acid in your esophagus.
It is the acid reflux which irritates your esophagus and causes your heartburn. You may suffer from heartburn regularly or occasionally; either way, if you make lifestyle changes you can get great relief.
While they say you should never regret anything in life, a particularly indulgent meal may force you to feel that way, especially when you do not chew well enough and eat more than required. The other reasons why you may experience heartburn are the following,
We know that too much of eating any kind of food can cause indigestion, but the strangest thing is that there are certain foods which help you get rid of heartburn with ease. Yes, natural antacids as they are called, are effective without affecting your health adversely.
In fact, this refreshing drink contains various bioactive enzymes that can help in digestion and also help boost fat metabolism. This natural elixir is rich in potassium, which helps balance out the sodium, makes your body alkaline and stalls further acid production.
Tackle the underlying digestive issues by making changes to your diet, controlling portions and avoiding triggers, like stress. Besides all the above-mentioned foods used as natural medications, you can try the following medications to control your acid reflux symptoms.
A spoonful of baking soda a day can keep the heartburn away. Don’t believe us? You are skeptical about the fact that something as readily available as baking soda can solve your heat burn issues with the flick of your fingers, aren’t you? Well, it works because it has a high alkaline pH balance; in fact, it is as high as 7, therefore it works hard to provide relief to your heartburn symptoms.
So, if you ask how to get rid of heartburn, well, baking soda can prove to be a comprehensive solution to your problem. Here is how you should make your very own baking soda solution.
Ingredients
Method
Mix a ½ teaspoon or 1 single teaspoon (according to your preference) of baking soda into a glass of water. Stir it up, and sip on it. You can repeat the entire procedure again, but then too much of a good thing is not too good so, don’t exceed the ½ a teaspoon dose in a day. Also, remember that you cannot have this remedy more than a week as it has some side-effects such as nausea and swelling.
Ginger root is an answer to almost every ailment, but it is particularly useful to solve digestive problems. It can provide relief to problems right from nausea to acid reflux. You can sip on a hot cuppa of stomach-soothing tea right 20 minutes before a meal. Your stomach before a meal can help calm down your tummy and act as an acid buffer.
Ingredients
Method
First, mince up 3 quarter sized pieces of ginger root and let it simmer it in water for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid and drink it up while still warm. You can add a pinch of Himalayan pink salt or rock salt to the mixture before sipping it slowly to calm down your stomach naturally.
Vinegar has been a tried and tested remedy and has long been used to get rid of heartburn. Though the miracles of ACV have not been backed by science, most people will swear by its efficacy. Your kitchen cupboard must contain either vinegar- white or apple cider vinegar- as it can treat your heartburn with far more efficacy than your average antacid.
But of course, you need to dilute it with water. It may take some time to get used to. But once you get used to it, you will be amazed at the results it provides.
Ingredients
Method
Add the required amount of vinegar to your glass of water and mix the liquid well. Sip on this liquid at least 2-3 times a day. The best time to have it is before your bedtime, especially when you are suffering from heartburn.
Ayurveda has an answer to heartburn in the form of Carom seeds or ajwain as they are better known as, in India. It has been used for ages to treat heartburn and acid reflux much before packaged bottles of medicine were discovered. They are natural antacids, especially because of the thymol component present in the seeds. It also calms down the mucous membrane of your stomach, and is especially useful when your heart seems to be on fire.
There are several ways to use carom seeds to protect you from heartburn. This is an age-old recipe to have carom seeds. Take 1 tsp. of carom seeds and add it to a pinch of black salt and squeeze a bit of lemon juice on it. Consume it. If the taste seems to be too overwhelming, gulp down some water, it is a great way to get relief from heartburn.
Another way of consuming carrom seeds is to make a tea, take 1-2 tsp. of carom seeds and boil the liquid for about 5-10 minutes. Strain it and consume it straight up.
Is your heartburn quite harmless or is there more to it? Occasional symptoms of heartburn are nothing to get worried about, but frequent such episodes may give nod to more serious health issues, like GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disease.
It is very important to know about what are the chief causes of acid reflux, so you can stop it from going the chronic way. Get your diet right first; you need to find out the triggers that are setting off your acid reflux symptoms. Besides, that there are other lifestyle changes that can give you relief from heartburn or acid reflux symptoms.
These are foods that you must add to your diet to combat heartburn. However, it is not enough to add these foods, there are some foods which can trigger off your acid reflux in a bad way. Make sure you avoid these kinds of foods. You need to find out some of the triggers yourself, as what can cause acid reflux in one person may not cause it in others. However, these are some of the common foods that cause acid reflux or heartburn.
Besides eating the right kind of foods and also avoiding certain kind of foods, there are some tips you should incorporate to avoid heartburn. Like with every other disease, a healthy lifestyle is your best bet to combat acid reflux.
What causes of acid reflux? Now you know what can trigger off a sudden burning feeling in your stomach or in your chest. Try and incorporate the above points into your daily lifestyle to get relief from heartburn, but if the symptoms still persist, do consult a doctor to find out about any underlying chronic health issues.
Manoja Kalakanti