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PrintAcid reflux, or heartburn, is characterized by a considerable burning sensation in the stomach and esophagus region. Extremely bothersome, there is a direct correlation between the foods we put in the body and the experience of acid reflux.
When we eat alot of highly acidic foods, our body starts to become accustomed to this diet. In turn, our stomaches cannot sufficiently process the acid, and this burning liquid moves back up into the throat.
While there are many home remedies for acid reflux, knowing which foods cause acid reflux is your best bet from experiencing it in the first place.
If you frequently get acid reflux, I would recommend you follow a healthy, alkalizing diet. This will help you take great strides in bettering digestive function and reducing the overall symptoms of acid reflux, and prevent the uncomfortable feeling from ever starting.
List of Foods to Avoid if you get Acid Reflux
Below is a list of foods that cause acid reflux. While it may not always be easy, try to avoid these foods when possible.
1. Fried Food
More challenging to digest, fried foods, and foods high in trans-fats, wreak havoc on the digestive tract. These foods are heavy and slow down the overall digestive process, leaving excess acids that can eventually move upward into the esophagus. Fried fats also remain stuck in the digestive process for longer periods of time, and can create increased pressure in the stomach.
2. Processed Baked Goods
Sweets like brownies and cookies create an acidic environment, especially if they are processed baked goods that are full of artificial colors and preservatives. In general, avoid all forms of refined white sugar and enriched flour, as they rank highest on the “acidic” charts.
3. Coffee
While coffee acts as a laxative, more often than not, the high levels of caffeine in coffee lead to an increased secretion of gastric acid in the stomach which may cause acid reflux.
4. Carbonated Drinks
Drinks like soda pop, tonic water and Perrier increase pressure levels in the stomach, which in turn increases the acidic response. As an alternative, try drinking more purified water that’s not too cold. Stay away from acidic fruit juices, like orange juice, especially before going to bed.
5. Hot and Spicy Foods
It may seem obvious, but spicy foods do not help acid reflux. Avoid chili peppers and hot/spicy sauces. When dining out in restaurants that offer Indian or Thai food, ask your waiter for “no-spice.” For many people, the Indian version of “mild” can still wreak havoc on heartburn.
6. Alcohol
Alcohol not only increases gastric acid in your body, but it also dehydrates you and may cause you to wake up in the crucial part of the night when our body detoxes from the previous day. In this sense, drinking alcohol today can set you up for poor digestion or acid reflux tomorrow.
7. Meat
Plain and simple, meat is one of the hardest things for the stomach to digest. In general, meat that is lower in fat (fish, lean chicken, turkey) creates less acid, whereas a thick juicy steak requires more acid in the stomach. Limit meat intake to 2-3x weekly and chew well before swallowing. Better yet, eliminate as much meat from your diet, and eat plenty of raw fruits and veggies.
8. Dairy
While a cup of cold, creamy milk may provide some temporary relieve to acid reflux symptoms, you may be better off reaching for a glass of water. Milk creates excessive secretion of acid, especially if we drink it when the stomach is full, which will only make matters worse.
Other Ways to Prevent Acid Reflux Symptoms
In general, it is a good idea to eat until you are about 3/4ths full. Chew food thoroughly and eat smaller meals throughout the day, instead of two or three heavy meals. Focus on being present with your food. This will help you avoid over-eating.
I’d also recommend that you chew your food for at least twenty bites and do not lie down immediately after eating. Daily exercise (even just a nice brisk walk), can do wonders for digestion and circulation. With these simple changes, you can avoid acid reflux easily and without medications.
Taking a beet derived Betaine HCL supplement before meals can help aid digestion, and prevent most of the symptoms of acid reflux. However, before taking a supplement, change your diet and avoid the foods that cause acid reflux. You’ll be amazed at how much this will help put the fire out.
Do you know of any foods that cause acid reflux in you? List them below.
~Dr. G
More Green Living Articles:
- 10 Home Remedies for Acid Reflux
- Betaine Hydrochloride: How it helps with Digestion
- The Health Benefits of a Raw Food Diet
- Eating Late: Does it Really Matter?
April 11th, 2012 at 9:17 am
Cutting out diet Cokes did it for me.
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March 19th, 2012 at 12:39 am
Meat does give me acid reflux.Body builders get these complications because of large amounts of amino acids so they may often take antacid medication.Cheese does not give me acid reflux.I use cheese as a buffer against it.People need to understand that different things affect people differently.COOL PAGE,I’LL SAVE IT.THANKS.
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August 6th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Boy, this guy doesn’t leave us much consume, other than the pills he is promoting.
We are not herbivores. The reason that saturated fats and cholesterol got such a bad rap several decades ago is that the studies were performed on rabbits, which ARE herbivores. Duh! Who’d a thunk!!
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August 6th, 2011 at 10:06 am
Ummm, meat is EASY to digest. Carnivores have short, simple digestive tracts, herbivores multiple stomachs. Meat breaks down readily and quickly. Now, I certainly agree that fatty meats are a problem, but meat per se is absolutely easy to break down. The fact that it has to be refrigerated lest it begins to decompose would add to my point.
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yolzy replied on May 14th, 2012:
I heard heaps of times that meat takes up to 2 days to digest..u might have to read about it again
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August 6th, 2011 at 8:25 am
I had acid reflux for many years. I cut out sugar and gluten. No more reflux.
I eat all sorts of meat and poultry and I drink coffee. I NEVER get acid reflux anymore. Meat doesn’t produce acid reflux, gluten, sugar, and dairy do, though.
If you check Paleo diet or Primal diet sites, you will read countless stories about thousands of people like me who had acid reflux for years, and cured it after cutting out grains and sugar.
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August 6th, 2011 at 8:17 am
I used to have frequent reflux problems in the night if I had eaten large meals for dinner or if I had had any thing to drink in the evening. Since I have started a weight lifting exercise program I have had not a single episode of reflux no matter my eating or drinking habits.
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August 6th, 2011 at 7:51 am
I suffered from terrible reflux, and, eventually, ulcers. Here is what I discovered were my triggers, and why I think they affected me;
1)Colas and other sodas with phosphoric acid. I noticed that the large amounts of coke and pepsi I drank were associated with heartburn and reflux, but other sodas without phosphoric acid did not.
2)Cured pork products. I LOVE the taste of all the cured pork products, such as pork roll, bacon, scrapple, et al. All of them caused or exacerbated my symptoms. Convenience-store hot dogs are invariably pork, and would invariably cause reflux.
3)Lard in baked goods. I noticed that packaged baked goods containing lard (and probably trans fats too) gave me terrible hearburn.
4)Highly fatty meats. Philly cheese steaks and pork sandwiches were the next to go
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5) Coffee from a coffee truck. This one was a real mystery – I could not figure out why this gave me so much trouble, when coffee from a convenience store usually didn’t. I deduced that while the coffee makers in the convenience stores were likely cleaned frequently, the urns on the coffee trucks are difficult to clean, and so likely harbor heliobacter pylori, the bacterium that causes ulcers. (I still have yet to prove this theory, luckily I work in a laboratory that can help me).
6) Eating right before (or in) bed. Allowing time to digest the food and allowing acid production to subside decreased my symptoms tremendously.
7) Sleeping on my back. By switching to sleeping on my right side, my symptoms abated significantly.
Untreated ulcer symptoms. All of the above, plus a significant amount of personal and work stress eventually put me in the hospital.
9) Misdiagnosed ulcer symptoms. Major university hospital totally misdiagnosed my severe gut pain as appendicitis. One perfectly-pink appendix and 2 weeks later the symptoms returned.
10) After they returned, a visit to an old-school D.O. resulted in a prescription for prilosec, which along with avoiding all of my known triggers (and changing my work and personal situations) allowed my ulcer to heal.
And by mostly avoiding the triggers, I can even on occasion enjoy some of the forbidden foods (yum, scrapple!)
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August 6th, 2011 at 3:45 am
It is interesting that processed baked goods made the list. In addition to artificial colors, flavors and preservatives, such products are often loaded with inferior quality cooking oils such as soybean oil. Soybean oil is one of the cheapest cooking oils on the market and a contributory cause of acid indigestion. It is used almost exclusively in commercial salad dressing as well as many other processed foods, fried items and snacks. I would highly recommend eliminating soybean oil whenever possible or combining it with foods that will neutralize the heartburn inducing effects of the oil. If you are having trouble identifying the source of your stomach acid problems, look at the list of ingredients. Don’t be surprised if soybean oil in some form is part of the recipe.
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May 25th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Hotdogs. I just ate one from a 7-11 and I’m currently having a massive acid reflux.
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Adrian replied on May 25th, 2011:
I did not even put mustard and catsup, because last time I ate hotdogs I thought those two caused my previous reflux.
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Paul replied on May 21st, 2012:
Nobody eats ketchup on a hotdog.. Gross..
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May 25th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Amazing blog. People will get great help from your efforts. Being in the healthcare field it is hard for me not to interject my clinical experiences. I find that there is an intimate relation between the nerves and the organs responsible for heartburn symptoms. It’s often thought of as an outside to in problem. Meaning people think that ant-acids will calm down / reduce the acidity and therefore their heartburn. I have gotten great success with spinal adjustments and allowing the body to regulate itself back to a proper homeostatic environment. The body regulates itself from the inside out. Patients love it when they do not have to take all the chalky pills and liquids before / after each meal. I would encourage anyone with heartburn to seek out a chiropractor in their local area.
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April 27th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
I have always wondered why certain foods have made me experience heartburn. It must be all the spicy foods I have been eating, but now that I have a larger list I can avoid these items too. Thank you!
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March 9th, 2011 at 5:40 am
Thank you for information.
If you allowed me, I want to share my experience.Up to last month I have a serious acid reflux problem.One of my friend advises an e-book which gives lots of information how to cure this disease.After her advice,I examine the web site which is sold and I am persuaded and buy it. It’s different other types of ebooks and also it’s much cheaper than them.Now, I haven’t any problem and strongly advises to you!
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January 11th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
tomatoes are another food that cause GERD for me.
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June 23rd, 2010 at 5:54 pm
This is very good information and I can use it all, except the Prilosec
I was on this drug for a while and it works very good. However, I am also taking Plavix, and it seems they have found that Prilosec decreases the effectiveness of that drug. I now take Zantac which I don’t think works as well as the Prilosec.
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