How I cured my acid reflux

My cure for acid reflux came after visiting medical forums like this. Prior to that I was on over the counter Pepsid AC 20mg that only offered short term relief, then tried Nexium 20mg that only offered a little better relief. My reflux was horrible, I was sleeping each night in a recliner for over a month and many nights I was not able to sleep due to the pain. From what I had read I knew if I went to a doctor I would end up on ppi’s 40mg likely for the rest of my life. I wanted a cure and not a treatment for the symptoms. I googled “forum acid reflux” and read a ton of stories from people in forums for days. Among them I seen a few stories from people (I now call them Angels) who joined the forums to say they cured themselves with a low carb diet and eliminating all grains from their diet including starchy foods like potatoes and sweet potatoes. Some used a keto diet others used akins/40. Any lean meat was fine and a lot of cooked or steamed vegetables. With nothing to lose I gave it a go. Trust me supermarkets don’t make this easy, its like they are a carb producing factory. I decided to keep my diet simple. The diet I used for 4 weeks is shown below. On day 3 of the diet there was a big difference in how I felt. I was not cured or even close but could feel I was on my way. I stayed with the diet everyday and by week three I was 95% cured. By week four I was starting to eat a variety of other foods again and felt I was normal again, but was very cautious of grain and potato products! Its now been 5 months and I’m back to 100% of normal. I still watch my carb (grain) intake very carefully. I never want to go back to that pain ever again! Note, I’m 5’-9” male and down to 156lbs. I lost about 8-9lbs on this diet.

Breakfast:
Cup of chicken broth, brand I used is Savory Choice, you can find it at amazon, there is no onions, garlic etc added to it. Many hospitals use it is how I heard about it.
2 boiled eggs, the first 3 days no yokes only the whites. Big salad, lettuce with some diced cucumber, spinach and chopped lean deli meat (chicken) and some grated cheddar cheese. Dressing I use is mayo, its carb friendly. I put a little on the side of the plate and dip into it. Almonds for a snack.
Lunch:
Chicken cooked in a air fryer (no breading) or a hamburger patty no bun (with cheese and mayo) with steamed broccoli and carrots. Cooking veggies I use a small glass bowl with a saucer plate on top as a lid. Add my veggies with a tiny amount of water then place in the microwave 2.5 minutes.
At some point between lunch and dinner I’d have a big salad again and a cup of chicken broth.
Dinner:
Again chicken or a hamburger patty with steamed broccoli and carrots. Almonds for a snack.

I only drank water (other then broth) and very little water during meals as to not dilute the stomach acid in my stomach. Also during this first few weeks I did not remain sitting after a meal, I’d go for a walk or vacuum, laundry etc anything I could think of for 30 minutes standing up.

A helpful video on youtube I found is titled “How to Completely Cure GERD and Heartburn”. It’s 8:50 minutes long. Also you might research the history of grains in the human diet, its not all good. Its also very helpful to keep a daily food diary.

In my research I found that as we get older we develop less stomach acid in our stomach. An example is a 40 year old on average has half the amount of acid in their stomach as a 20 yr old. One article I read said some people by the age of 80 were found to have almost no stomach acid. I learned a very painful lesson during all this, that is I can’t eat like I did when I was young. With less stomach acid as I get older my diet has to change. Those wondering I did try apple cider vinegar early on. It was very painful for me and I stopped after day 2. Also I reduced my daily intake of Nexium from 20mg to 10mg for the first 3 days of the diet then stopped completely.

To those Angels that helped me “Thank you!” I hope this helps some people. I wish you all the best.

Lisabette:

You need to see a doctor, to find out what's going on. Also, try to make better food choices, tomato soup is very acidic. Its your choice as to whether you take medication.

Sharon

Post Edited (SharonZ) : 5/24/2021 4:59:21 AM (GMT-6)

Hi PetiteMe, I’m sorry I am not sure what the Fast Track Diet is so I would have to say no to that one. I just now looked at your reference to the Acid Watchers Diet and found that very interesting, thanks for mentioning it. The Q you asked did this diet of yours keep you "regulated"? I assume you mean regular as in bowel movements. If so, No not at first. I did some reading on what effects going on a low carb diet will have prior to this diet so had some idea what may happen. It seems it effects everyone a little different and some not at all. It takes a while for your system to adjust to the change and thats what happened to me. I did help things along by going for walks and spending a few moments in the bathroom at times and making a effort to go by contracting the stomach muscles to get things moving even though I did not feel the need to go. If you are having problems or concerns in this area you might see a doctor. You certainly don’t want to add a new medical problem onto the first one.

I can offer some additional info to my first posting. One is regarding the importance of keeping a daily food diary. Prior to the diet I kept a very detailed daily diary of the foods I was eating and how I felt hours after each meal. Using a rating system of 1 being no discomfort and 10 being very painful. Using this I discovered that oatmeal and also bananas were a very noticeable trigger for me in my reflux. I was surprised to see this as many websites on this subject say these 2 foods are good for acid reflux. It was at this point when I made a diet change. Those 2 foods might be fine for many people, you never know what foods will have a effect.

The second item I can offer to help is chew your food thoroughly, to the point there is nothing left to really chew. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for your stomach to process the food quickly and move it along to the small intestine. Taking some of the load off the lower esophageal sphincter or what I call the valve.