Anything wrong with what I eat?

So I was wondering why just about everything I eat causes my throat to turn into a volcano of sorts (i.e. burn of course). I thought I'd make a list of the foods I've been eating most often of late. Many of these are based on the Kouffman Reflux Diet, but I thought I'd best be certain. I've graded foods with stars based on how frequently they make my throat burn.

* Sometimes reflux
** Often reflux, but not always bad
*** Bad reflux can result from this for some reason

Breakfast
Oatmeal (Quaker Oats) **
Weetabix (Normal, no sugar, sometimes organic) ***
Shreddies (Normal, no sugar, limited milk) *

Lunch
New York Bagels (Normal, Wholemeal or Seeded, no/very little butter) *
There is one important exception to this; I burned on these with salmon and bananas on a car journey to a job interview, despite taking meds and Gaviscon Advance Mint-flavour tablets)

Salmon *
Honey-Roasted/Normal Ham **
Salad - Lettuce, Cucumber etc (No tomato) *
Granary Bread
Onken Low-Fat Natural Yoghurt **
Manuka Honey (Occasional, small pots on their own) **
Bananas (usually 2 together) *

Tea/Dinner
Fruit/Veg:
Brocolli *
Potatoes (No butter/sauces)
Peas
Carrot
Green Beans
Banana *
Melon (Honeydew) *

Meats:
Chicken Breast (No/Little skin) *
Turkey Breast (No skin) *
Cod Fish Cakes (Breadcrumbed) **
Scampi (Breadcrumbed) *
Cod (Breadcrumbed) *
Pollock (No skin/breadcrumbs)
Salmon
Burger (Barbecue only, no sauces, low fat)
Gluten-Free Sausages (Barbecue only, low fat, no sauces)
Pasta (sometimes with small amounts of cheese, mixed white and brown) **

Other:
Bread Sauce (Turkey only, little) *
White Baguette (Side-Dish, usually with fish cakes) *
Turkey Stuffing balls (1 or 2, no mint) ***
Gravy *
Yorkshire Puddings (Rare, 1 or 2)


Snacks/Other food and drinks

Alkaline Water (Saka, 8.2pH, sometimes the first or only thing needed to set off my burning!) ***
Rich Tea Biscuits (1 or 2, no toppings or drinks with them) **
Oat Flapjacks (Rare, mine are made only with pure honey, no sugar, I use dates instead) **
Milk (Rare these days. Low fat, skimmed) **
Hot Water and Tap Water ***

Foods that have causes me to burn that I no longer eat

Lasagna (Cheese, Mince and Pasta Sheets, virtually no tomato)
This one made me burn only a minute into eating it!! Seems a bit too soon, doesn't it?

Starbucks Ice Frappe
Ginger Biscuits
Digestive Biscuits
Gingerbread
With the exception of a recent train journey where no burning occurred


Foods that don't always make me burn, but you'd think they would
McDonalds Frappe (eh?)
KFC standard chicken and chips meal
Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream


Most of this was from my previous diet too, so as you can see, I never truly had/have an unhealthy diet in general. I have cut sweet treats out that I really miss such as cupcakes, McDonalds, pizza, ice cream and chocolate, but sometimes I have had these with no symptoms. Ignoring these for now, is there anything in my list that stands out? Could other factors besides these foods be contributing to my reflux?

Post Edited (Daxter) : 9/2/2013 12:32:49 PM (GMT-6)

Many people have reported success from eliminating dairy or gluten or other foods from their diets in a number of ways, but these tend to be specific to each person. In general, don't depend on these changing your life, but they are worth trying. Make sure to eliminate your specific triggers for heartburn and not just the ones you read online. I have read from multiple websites that apples are good to control heartburn, but they give me so much pain that I have to avoid them.

I have had GERD for long enough to play around with my diet plenty. For me personally, avoiding my strongest triggers is worth doing, but I do not often avoid all of the trigger foods that you will read on websites because of what the trade off means to me. When I did a couple 24 hour fasts and one 48 hour fast, I continued to have heartburn throughout the entire fasting period. What you decide to eat is up to you. I decided not to restrict my diet if it would make such a minor difference, but you can decide for yourself.

Mcedge said...
Daxter,

I assume you suffer from LPR and you don't get heartburn. Have you had tests to confirm this?

Maria

A Peptest (spit test) came back positive for 1 in 3 samples, but it was low. All my other tests so far, including barium swallows, endoscopies and ENT scopes have been negative, but I haven't had a restech 24 hour test yet, simply because I can't afford it outside the NHS. So nope, not been confirmed, but based on the meds that work and how long it's been going on for, there's no doubt in my mind that it's real.

I agree with the others, try eliminating wheat and dairy. I only eat gluten free and am on a low lactose diet. I also found out that i don't seem to digest raw vegetables well, so I am off that. I try and eat foods that digest easily and are LOW in fiber. High fiber foods do not work for me (see Fast Track diet) I am doing fairly well, and have been able to go from 40mg Nexium to OTC Zegrid. I will be continuing to decrease until I get on Pepcid. I think the PPI drugs have messed with my digestive system. I would first try the elimination. Also eat small meals.