Posted 11/23/2015 8:15 PM (GMT 0)
Before I start sharing, I wanted to stress that though I will be sharing things that worked very well for me, they might not work for you. There are so many variables involved, such as the causes of our GERD (and other issues), as well as food allergies, food sensitivities (different than food allergies), genetics, how our bodies respond to certain drugs, stress levels, etc. so please bear that in mind.
I cannot stress this enough, having a food journal / notebook is of paramount importance. If you don't keep track of the foods you eat, when you eat them, in what quantities, as well as what you drink, you'll never really figure out exactly what your food triggers are. Our brains forget over half of what we remember after 24 hours, and 90% after a week. Relying on pure memory to figuring out what foods or beverages might trigger a reaction doesn't work. I learned this lesson the hard way.
For example, a friend of mine cannot eat bananas, because they trigger his GERD. Well, for me, bananas actually help my GERD and I always eat half a banana when I wake up in the morning. This is a prime example of how one food can affect two people differently.
If you have esophagitis, your doctor (like last one) might advise you that you can have one drink or two. The problem with this advice is that just because you drink alcohol and don't feel any pain does NOT mean that it is not doing any damage or causing inflammation. Inflammation is probably the #1 or #2 cause of many of our issues, but most people don't realize it because they are not feeling any pain or discomfort.
If you have esophagitis or gastritis, you cannot drink alcohol. Not even one sip. Just avoid it completely until you are 100% healed. People ask me how long they should stop. Well, it's not easy to answer that because it all depends on what caused your issues and how severe it is. My erosive esophagitis is a grade B and it will probably take me a whole year (or more) before I am fully healed. If you have a grade A or less then it might take you a few weeks to 6 months.
I've borrowed heavily from the likes of Dr. Jamie Koufman, the author of DROPPING ACID, Dr. Chris Kesser, Dr. Mercola, and Dr. Daniel Twogood. With my severe pain with my current bought of esophagitis, for the next 3-4 weeks I am only eating homemade applesauce, potato and carrot soup, bananas, and some white rice.
Yes, it's a very boring diet. But the key here is twofold: 1) I need to eliminate all the pepsin from my digestive tract. 2) I need to eat soft, nutritious foods so that it will allow my body to heal itself.
In my case my esophagitis is really bad, so it's painful for me to eat. So eating homemade applesauce and soup with mashed up vegetables allows this to happen. I'm staying away from all sugars, except the complex carbs that I just shared, no gluten, and no dairy.
When I sleep at night I make sure my entire bed is elevated 6 to 9 inches so that in case I do get reflux at night, it will help keep the acid down.
For snacks I enjoy organic, peeled apple slices or half a banana.
I've learned that when I stay away from ALL processed food and stay on a very strict, bland diet, that my body begins to repair itself. My biggest mistake up to this point is when I started feeling better I began drinking alcohol again and I started eating the wrong foods.
After the 3-4 week period I'm going to add more green vegetables, fish, some poultry, and continue with my soups and applesauce. I have no time limit set for this, my best guess is that I will be doing this for at least 4-6 months because this time, I really want to get better and am willing to do anything to get there.
I am so fed up of taking PPI drugs like Dexilant and seem to help me for a little while, but then my esophageal spasms, return, my heart rate begins to increase, and the side effects are just too unpleasant for me. After reading a lot of expert opinions from Dr. Kesser and Dr. Mercola, I am convinced that Dexilant was only dealing with the symptoms and not the root cause.
I'm being this extreme because I believe that the cause of my specific condition has been my bad diet and my lifestyle, which I have completely changed. I go for walks almost every day. I mediate. I'm nicer to people and generally focus on the present and don't worry about yesterday or tomorrow, because this moment is the only thing we truly have.
I've learned a lot about my body these past few years and I am confident that this time around I'm going to conquer this horrible ailment, which has placed my life on hold for the past several years.
In some of my older posts I advocated going to the store and buying organic baby food and applesauce. Well, I learned that many makers of these products put some type of acid in them to maintain freshness. This defeats the whole purpose of eating these products. I would eat baby food at home and then my esophagus would hurt or spasm and I couldn't figure out why.
Well, it was the acid they were putting into these products. So I began making them at home and the problem disappeared. I boil and mash up my own vegetables now and for the next 3-4 weeks that's going to be my staple.
I eat anywhere from 4 to 6 small meals per day because I've learned that if I don't eat for longer than 4-5 hours, my stomach starts to hurt. When I eat my potato-carrot soup, it calms it down.
Sometimes, about 1-2 hours before I go to bed, I'll eat a couple of slices of peeled, organic apples or some applesauce and that also helps with my episodes.
I will keep you posted on my progress if you're interested.