
Finding the right food plan for your acid reflux diet can be a little like trying to find your way through the forest on a moonless night. It's easy to take wrong turns, to run into dead ends, and to do more harm than good. Why? Because there is no universal food plan for an acid reflux diet. You have your own unique set of foods that either aggravate or alieve your condition. These same foods may affect another person completely differently.
With that said, there are still some general considerations when designing a food plan for an acid reflux diet.
Foods That Help Relieve Acid Reflux
Foods to eat for acid reflux relief generally contain little or no acidity. These include fruits and vegetables such as apples, bananas, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, peas, and green beans. These foods help create a healthy balance of acidity in your stomach. A good healthy balance of meat and grains is also helpful because of their components that aid in digestion.
Foods To Remove From Your Acid Reflux Diet
Life is hectic for most of us these days. People are always on the run, grabbing a quick bite when they can, rarely eating three healthy meals a day. The result is a diet of fast foods and unhealthy snacks which are not only full of sugars and calories, but are also bad your digestive system. Let's take a look at some of the foods that are generally best to avoid if you're designing a diet for acid reflux.
Fast Foods - your poorest choices are French fries, fried chicken, and greasy burgers.
Fruits & Vegetables - potatoes and onions are the biggest contributors to acid reflux and heartburn. Most doctors Will suggest that you avoid both. Fruits (such as tomatoes, oranges, lemons, grapefruits, and cranberries) that are highly acidic should be avoided as well.
Dairy - milk, contrary to popular belief, is an acid. Minimize your consumption of milk, sour cream, ice cream, and even cottage cheese.
Drinks - coffee and tea can trigger acid reflux. In addition, you should minimize your intake of alcohol. Liquors and wines are particularly poor choices.
Desserts - even though you'll hate to hear it, chocolate can be very upsetting to your digestive system. So, chocolate cakes and brownies should be avoided.
As you can see, designing a food plan for your acid reflux diet is simply a matter of avoiding those foods that are most likely to aggravate your acid reflux and partaking in those foods that promote acid reflux relief. Your doctor should be able to provide you with a more extensive list. However, let me repeat ... a general rule of thumb to follow is to determine what works best for you and develop your diet around those foods. Don't be afraid to try new foods and don't hesitate to experiment with some of the old foods to find a healthy balance.