Try the Koufman Low Acid (and low fat) Diet Part 1 of 2

I CAN SING (a little)!

My throat is continuing to heal. Last night when I went to bed I found myself humming, and this morning I could sing notes, about one octave. As recently as a week ago, nothing came out when I tried to sing. Hallelujah (chorus) (Handel)! I mostly credit this diet, but I also bought an electric adjustable bed after my coughing got so bad. I had been sleeping on a wedge under my mattress since April, but now I can go to sleep sitting up much more upright, and raising the lower part of the bed keeps me from sliding down. I usuallly lower myself a little sometime in the middlle of the night so I can continue to sleep, but by then all of the food should be out of my stomach. Someone said that can take up to six hours.

Gingin, Welcome! The rules are are different on this GERD diet. They make more sense to me. The yogurt is slightly acidic, so it is off the list for the two-week induction diet. After that, you can eat it but need to balance it with something alkaline, like a banana. Skim milk is alkaline. Milk products do bother a lot of people, but I believe it is not related to their GERD, but is actually a lactose intolerance.

@ sunbeam - how are you doing on the induction diet? You noticed a change in only a few days, right?

ARM, I'd have to check back on this thread, but I think I began to see reduction in my symptoms day 4/5. I'm continuing to see improvement per my post on singing earlier today.

MMM, I previously asked my choir director if I should come to rehearsals and try to sing. He thought it would make my throat worse, so I will wait for the advice of the ENT voice specialist. I will see him on November 3.

So if you are doing a low acid diet, what is the lowest ph number that would not cause problems.

Hopefully I will understand it better then when I get my book because honey is on the 2-week induction list and is below 5.

hi sunbeam,

i haven't tried baking soda. The problem is PH is a logarithmic scale. thus PH 4 is 10X stronger than PH5.

Trying to neutralize yogurt was too time consuming, alot of stirring and waiting. Even after 8 Tums, i only got to PH 4.8.

I think neutralization works on small volume items like raisins or liquids that are very easy to mix.

I think its just easier to avoid the food. I found i have been getting more response by just attempting to completely eliminate oils... and stay above PH5.

I stopped cheating with oatmeal cookies, nuts, processed foods. I think its been helping. I think all my cheating kept me at like 80% healed for 2-3 months making no progress.

My goal is too cure LPR, not struggle by and be stuck taking hi dose PPI forever.


I talked to my GI, the doc said i didn't have to worry about vitamin deficiency even with hi dose PPI. He does want to me start scaling out soon. I have been on PPI for 7 months and my blood tests were fine. I don't really mind eating like this for another 7 months if i am making more progress. Hopefully i am fully healed by then.


Right now I added DGL 15-20 min before meals... (3 to 4 tablets) I think its been helpful, its still early though, still testing.


Jesse.

Thanks, Jesse, for your thoughts. I've been eating a healthy diet for years, so this reflux hit me out of the blue. I eat brown rice, beans and vegetables from my garden for lunch most days.

Once I know how much baking soda to add, I would just need to add it and eat. I wouldn't need to wait. So that is an approach I will include in order to eat healthy products including yogurt.  I also want to get back to eating more fruits;  I could blend them with baking soda to reduce their acidity.

I agree with you, we really need to avoid fats as much as possible. Fats require a lot of acid to digest, so they encourage our bodies to produce more acid. But we do need some small daily amount in order for digestion to work.

I found a commercial alkaline product available called Coffee Tamer or Calci Blend. I don't know why they gave a different product name to the larger size of the same product. It would probably dissolve better or something. I plan to play around first with baking soda, as soon as I get my pH meter.

Post Edited (sunbeam48) : 9/29/2011 7:35:47 AM (GMT-6)

Hi Sunbeam,

Have a great vacation .. thanks for all your posts on the diet!

I had a question on the electric bed you mention in your first post in this thread. Which one did you get and
from where - and would you recommend it?

Thanks

Hey everybody,
I'm back home from vacation in Shenandoah National Park - what a glorious place! I am happy to be back where I can control my food better. I did OK, but home will always be the best place for me to eat.

How are all of you doing:
ARM, any improvements?
Gingin, have you had any improvements on the induction phase?
Jesse, still doing well?
Anyone else joining this diet?

Hi all,

this is a good place to record progress for historical reasons.

Diet has been good. I shifted to a completed vegan diet about a week or 2 ago. I want to avoid all meats for now including fish and turkey.


I notice the center point soreness in my chest diminishing somewhat, still early too tell though.

belching/ burping diminishing.

i would say i made some progress since sept, slow progress... but at least something...




i basically plan to stay on a strict form of the induction diet for 2 months to see what happens.

i scaled out successfully from the afternoon dose of prilosec ( i was taking like 20-40mg near lunch time for a few months)

i am basically on 2x nexium 40mg. i want to try scaling one of doses of nexium in 2 weeks.

seems like worrying and stress seem to aggravate the condition... so i am trying to control them.


i wanted to add for anyone wanting to scale out of nexium:

you could go from nexium 40mg...
to prilosec 40mg... for 2 weeks...
prilosec 20mg.... 2 weeks...

to zantac 150 for 2 weeks...

done

*obviously consult a doctor before trying this.
some doctors think you can quit cold turkey, go find another doctor if this happens.

I keep seeing people trying to quit cold turkey...with horrible results. why?
Just use an OTC H2 to scale out with...



-Jesse

Hi Jesse,
I am on Nexium 40 mg, taken once when I get up in the a.m. It has been prescribed twice daily, but I usually take it just once, supplementing as needed with Gaviscon. My goal would be to reduce this further: my GI doc said some people can "get by" with taking a PPI for two weeks, then an H2 med like Zantac in alternating 2 weeks. I would need to be symptom-free before I would cut back further on the Nexium. I have Barret's so I need to progress cautiously.

Yes, you are right. The second Nexium didn't help much. I get better results with the diet.

Night-time symptoms are not a problem. For about 10 days in August I had terrible night-time coughing that did not allow me to sleep much. I got the adjustable bed after that. The night-time coughing had subsided a lot before I started the diet or got the bed. It was after I started the diet that I got rid of the day-time coughing.

I generally have not had many night-time symptoms at all. Mostly I have had stomach pains (gastritis) and esophagus pains. I still have some throat clearing occasionally.