Natural Remedies For Heartburn

More often than not, heartburn experts and sufferers say a lot of the same things, like what product or method works for them and what doesn't, and what should do the job for you as well, based on their research or their experience. And quite often, these words of advice contradict each other, as each preacher believes their way is the most effective solution. And it may very well be, too - but for them, not you.

So what are you supposed to do in this tug-of-war where countless words of advice pull you in just as many different directions?

You do have to choose of course, lest you remain a

Healthy Digestion the Natural Way:
Preventing and Healing Heartburn, Constipation, Gas, Diarrhea, Inflammatory Bowel and Gallbladder Diseases, Ulcers, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and More

victim of heartburn for life. But don't stress yourself too much by taking each suggestion seriously.

Keep in mind that not everyone is a credible authority on the subject; chances are that more than half the preachers out there are (relatively) clueless sufferers like yourself who were lucky enough to stumble onto a drug or a natural remedy for heartburn that did wonders for them.

Even certified experts on the subject who recommend medication to treat the condition know for a fact that the same drugs won't be effective for everybody. Some bring about undesirable side effects, while others just plain don't work. No one drug is a universal cure-all.

The same can be said about methods that offer natural heartburn relief. While also backed up by ample research, none can truly guarantee the same results for everyone. Each person gets natural heartburn relief from these methods in varying degrees, and that is if they get results at all.

It's pointless to stress over the idea that there's a universal cure out there that you might have missed or have yet to come across, since such a remedy doesn't exist. If it did, then all the other methods and products aimed at alleviating the condition would be obsolete.

Don't take this to mean that I think you should quit your search and live with a lifetime of heartburn. All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be pressured or fooled by the overwhelming amount of info on the subject.

Search smart, and try out the methods that have a good deal of study behind them. Save the unorthodox suggestions from questionable sources as a last resort. Start your trial and error with methods that are relatively safe, plausible, and have the best chance of working for anyone.

Of all your options, the natural remedy for heartburn seems to fit the bill, if only because it lacks medication's risks while keeping its credibility and potential for effectiveness.

To make a long story short, if you can't decide how to go about treating your heartburn, settling on a natural remedy for heartburn is a step in the right direction. Only once you've exhausted all its possibilities without having anything to show for it should you consider moving on.

Journals play an important role in our lives. They preserve memories, thoughts, feelings, and countless other personal clutter in our heads. But aside from being an outlet for our emotions and a record of our thoughts, journals also serve as a compilation of our experiences. This is what makes them a significant asset in sticking to a natural remedy for heartburn.

Avoiding specific foods is the natural remedy for heartburn I'm referring to. As I'm sure you already know, heartburn has several causes, and specific foods just so happen to be particularly high on that list. And since there are a wide variety of foods that cause heartburn, it is essential for those who suffer their effects frequently to keep track of them.

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While there is a short list of foods that cause heartburn, it grows a whole lot longer and incredibly more complex when you make the shift from general to specific. And that's where the journal comes in.

Fatty foods, dairy products, citrus fruits and juices, acidic foods, and spicy foods are the general categories that make up the short list. You can tell just by reading through it that you're bound to have a hell of a hard time remembering the specifics for each food group without getting a migraine. And that's without considering alcoholic, carbonated, or caffeine-laden drinks as "food". Such a move would only make for an even bigger headache.

Keeping a food journal will help you stick to your natural remedy for heartburn by providing you with an extensive list of heartburn food to avoid, keeping heartburn at a safe distance. It allows you to immediately verify whether or not a specific food is safe for you to eat or not, significantly cutting down the chances of heartburn.

But having a longer list of specific foods that cause heartburn to complement your short list of general heartburn foods to avoid isn't the only function of your food journal. Believe it or not, it actually serves a higher purpose.

The plain and simple truth is that for most (if not all) heartburn sufferers, the short list isn't 100% accurate - something you might have guessed due to the incredibly wide range of food the general categories can actually include.

It's possible that there are certain foods that fall under the short list that you could eat without danger, while there are sure to be supposedly "safe" foods out there that give you heartburn. Your food journal can keep track of these foods once you've found out what they are, allowing you access to a far more accurate list to adhere to.

Even better, finding the link between these foods could very well determine what in particular triggers your heartburn, providing you with critical info you can use to steer clear of heartburn for good.

For all it can do for you, your food journal may very well be your natural remedy for heartburn's most essential tool - your greatest weapon in your fight against heartburn.

Of all the supposed cures for heartburn out there, a lifestyle change could very well be the best natural remedy for heartburn you will ever be able to find. Sounds simple, yes. But it's easier said than done.

Take a moment to think and evaluate yourself. When was the last time you thought of what you were going to eat ahead of time, as opposed to just stuffing your gut with whatever you found in the fridge? Do you remember when you last followed the adage "early to bed, early to rise"? Is a good dose of nicotine your only means of relaxation? And have you ever opted to pick up a barbell instead of a bottle of booze?

You know as well as I do what the ideal answers to these questions are. And you know better than I do what you, personally, have to work on to get healthier and prevent heartburn from taking over your life.

Only you can decide that you need a change of pace. The only part I play here is that of the advisor; whether or not you take my advice is your decision to make.

That said, there are several steps you can take to make your lifestyle a natural remedy for heartburn.

First of all, you need to be more active. Exercise. Lethargy does nothing to keep heartburn at bay. This is especially true if you are obese.

Heartburn occurs when the contents of your stomach (including stomach acid) somehow make their way back to your esophagus in a process called reflux. Obesity can cause this reflux as a result of increased abdominal pressure, significantly increasing the odds of heartburn.

Secondly, you have to learn to kick back and relax without relying on cigarettes and beer. Smoking only serves to weaken your body and the lower esophagus sphincter (LES), the band of muscle that separates the stomach from the esophagus, giving you more reason to stress. And drinking alcohol is a really, really bad move if you frequently suffer from heartburn, since it triggers an increased production of stomach acid and relaxes the LES - a particularly volatile and incredibly painful combination.

But giving up smoke and booze doesn't mean that you have to give up on relaxation altogether. Though heartburn's link to stress is more psychosomatic (more mental than physical) than anything, stress has proved to slow digestion in the stomach, contributing to - if not directly causing - a higher risk of heartburn. So find a way to unwind, without choking on smoke or drowning in alcohol.

Last, but definitely not least, involves your diet. Since upwards of 90% of victims suffer from heartburn as a direct result of specific foods that they eat, knowing which heartburn foods to avoid and staying clear of them allows heartburn frequency to take a nosedive.

Though by no means a fool-proof plan (some people may have no problem eating food that are supposed to trigger heartburn, while others get heartburn from food that is supposedly safe), sticking to a diet without any of the heartburn foods to avoid is a big reason why changing your lifestyle is such an effective natural remedy for heartburn.

Now that you know what it takes to prevent heartburn, I've done my part. It's your turn, and your decision to make. Are you satisfied with your life as is, or are you prepared to commit to this natural remedy for heartburn and be better off for it?

If you're a frequent victim of heartburn who enjoys going out with friends for a couple of beers at the end of the week, or hopping from bar to bar as part of a wild Saturday night, then you better make a few changes before your partying allows your heartburn to get the best of you. While you don't have to lock yourself in your room on weekends, you should, at the very least, consider this natural remedy for heartburn: cutting back on alcohol.

At this point, you might be asking what alcohol has to do with heartburn. Can it's effects even compare with foods that cause heartburn, smoking, stress, and other triggers or contributers to heartburn? Hard to say for sure, but let's just say alcohol does a lot. You may not think so, since it's effects aren't readily apparent, but that doesn't mean a glass of red wine is completely innocent. It means you more harm than you know.

So what exactly does alcohol do to you, anyway? And why did cutting back on it earn the distinction of being a natural remedy for heartburn?

For one, it causes an overproduction of stomach acid. This by itself is really no big deal, since the production of stomach acid alone doesn't really play a major role in inducing heartburn. But the effects of alcohol don't end there.

By drinking alcohol, you make your esophagus more sensitive to stomach acid. While this isn't really a good thing, it's not all that bad either, since your stomach acid isn't really supposed to go up the esophagus anyway. But again, if that's the case, then what's with the ban on beer and wine being a natural remedy for heartburn?

Here's the dagger: alcohol also relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), leaving you open and all too vulnerable to acid reflux.

Now I realize that this may seem a bit technical, so allow me to break it down for you. The LES is a band of muscle whose main function is to separate the esophagus from the stomach. When it functions properly, it prevents the contents of your stomach (acid included) from shooting back up the esophagus. When this can't be prevented, it's called reflux, and it's what brings forth the unwelcome sensation you know as "heartburn".

Alcohol throws the LES out of whack, causing it to relax when its supposed to contract to stop reflux from happening, setting off a volatile chain reaction.

Once something triggers reflux, the abundance of acid produced by alcohol crosses over from your stomach, past the LES, and back into your esophagus. Since alcohol has made your esophagus more delicate, you suffer a great deal more damage and pain than you would have from a regular acid reflux. Worse yet, the overproduction of acid drowns your esophagus in a flood of this burning acid, taking the hurt to another level.

You may not notice the effects of alcohol, and the fact is you may not even feel them until heartburn strikes. Only then will you realize how much alcohol consumption can complicate heartburn, ensuring that in the event you do suffer one, it'll hurt. And hurt bad.

That said, it's worth saying that alcohol alone is not as prominent a trigger as foods that cause heartburn, but all the same, cutting back on it certainly deserves to be dubbed a natural remedy for heartburn.

If you've ever picked yourself up off the floor after an especially agonizing bout with heartburn thinking whatever floored you was something you ate, you're probably right. More than 90% of sufferers experience heartburn as a direct result of specific foods they eat. This is why so many advocate a proper diet as a natural remedy for heartburn.

This diet is found on the premise that there are foods that are generally safe to eat for people prone to getting heartburn, and there are likewise foods that cause heartburn that must be avoided at all costs.

Of the two, the latter is generally that of greater concern. After all, while indulging in safe foods is all well and good, chancing upon foods that cause heartburn without knowing what they could do to you is no picnic.

That said, here's a short list of heartburn foods to avoid. If you're a frequent sufferer of heartburn and your pantry is filled with these foods, you know what to do.

1. Fatty Foods

We've likely eliminated about half your options already, and we're just getting started. Take it from me though, the fat you take in will definitely take its toll on you - not only by packing on some extra pounds in the worst possible places, but by leaving you vulnerable to heartburn with every bite.

You know what this means, don't you? Yup. No quarter-pounder with extra cheese for you. In fact, err on the side of caution and steer clear of all fast food chains, including burger stands, pizza places, and doughnut shops. Not an easy task, but a lot easier than playing the victim to heartburn each time you sink your teeth into the fat-laden, oil-soaked, artificial-flavored delicacies of the fast food industry.

2. Dairy Products.

Another devastating restriction, a ban on dairy takes away an entire range of dessert options. Now before you start cussing at your screen, know that there is a good reason dodging dairy is considered a natural remedy for heartburn.

Like fat, dairy is hard to digest. This means that your stomach reacts to a banana split by increasing the gas and acid it normally uses for digestion, so that it can effectively break down the stubborn milk by-product. And you can just guess what too much stomach acid can do for heartburn.

3. Citrus Fruits (and their respective juices).

Not nearly as devastating as the previous two heartburn foods to avoid, unless you just so happen to be a fan of oranges and lemons or build your meal around a big chunk of grapefruit.

The knock on citrus fruits? They're acidic. As we've discussed in the section on dairy, when it comes to heartburn, more stomach acid = more pain. And while we're on the subject...

4. Acidic and Spicy Foods

...foods that are high in acid like tomatoes and cranberries are also best avoided. Same goes for red peppers and other spicy foods. Potential heartburn triggers, all of them.

It's important to note that this list is by no means absolute. Though most will agree that avoiding these foods acts as a reliable and natural remedy for heartburn, some will say that indulging in them does nothing to trigger heartburn.

It's true; not every sufferer will get heartburn by eating these foods, while others may experience heartburn from them, and maybe even other foods that most deem "safe".

This list can't include every heartburn trigger known to man, but it does cover the foods that are most likely to cause heartburn. And for those looking to use diet as a natural remedy for heartburn, it serves as a solid starting point.

One of the reasons why so many advocate a natural remedy for heartburn over any other heartburn treatment is simply because, more often than not, it works.

Don't take that to mean that it eliminates the threat of heartburn entirely, though. The truth of the matter is that nothing can really be done about our predisposition to heartburn. But a natural remedy for heartburn does the next best thing: prevention.

It does this in a manner of ways, and though some may differ according to each unique, natural remedy, they all effectively play a part in natural heartburn relief and prevention.

Here's a quick breakdown of how they do it, and which natural remedy for heartburn in particular is responsible for each effect.

Stomach acid stability. A couple of remedies keep the production of stomach acid at a safe pace, as opposed to heartburn triggers that can cause a rise in production and even enhance the acid's potency, making for an ideal environment for heartburn. Should heartburn choose this time to strike, the acids will be primed to give you a very painful and potentially traumatizing experience.

The natural remedies involved in acid stability? Staying away from smoke and alcohol.

Saliva consistency. Saliva shields your esophagus from damage and counters stomach acid in the case of reflux. A certain natural remedy for heartburn keeps saliva production up to speed, while a certain heartburn trigger works to slow it down. The good news? You can only have one or the other. Go for the remedy.

Heartburn trigger: smoking. Natural remedy: not smoking.

Digestion maintenance. Natural remedies for heartburn make sure your stomach does what it should do, not what it shouldn't. And the stomach's main job is to digest your food properly, not push it back up your esophagus in a process called reflux (which is what it does when foods that cause heartburn find their way into your gut).

While smoking slows down digestion and must also be avoided, the real issue here is reflux - something several natural remedies can avoid.

Remedies in question: avoiding foods that cause heartburn, taking smaller, more frequent meals (as opposed to big meals that keep you full for half a day), and chewing your food properly.

LES upkeep. Several heartburn triggers cause the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) to relax, which is a lot more serious than it sounds. The LES is a band of muscle that separates the stomach and the esophagus, and contracts when necessary to prevent reflux.

While no natural remedy can repair a malfunctioning LES, it can make its job of preventing reflux easier by giving your stomach no reason to bully your esophagus, providing you with natural heartburn relief.

Which natural remedy for heartburn is capable of this? All of the above, and more.

Smoke fills the air as you blow out a puff from a freshly lit cigarette. The stress of having experienced another heartburn has led you to go through half a pack in the last hour. You don't know why they keep coming, but they do - in spite of you sticking to more than one credible natural remedy for heartburn.

After all the effort you've put into prevention, you're at a loss of what to do. You've kept active; made yourself an athlete thanks to training in the gym. You've made sure to get enough sleep at night, knowing that you need the shut-eye to keep focused throughout the day. You've verified the foods that cause heartburn and done away with them in your diet. You've felt the positive effects of each natural remedy for heartburn, yet you still suffer.

You mull over your plight, lighting another cigarette as you do so. Why?

The answer lies between your fingertips.

Obesity, stress, alcohol, and especially foods that cause heartburn are all known triggers for that painful and all-too familiar fire in your chest, but then again, so is smoking. By going through as many cigarettes as you do, you've made yourself as vulnerable to heartburn as the other triggers could have made you.

Though you may not immediately make the connection between smoking and heartburn, there are actually several ways a pack of cigarettes can wreak enough havoc to your body to make you a prime target for heartburn. These are why quitting the habit is a widely recommended natural remedy for heartburn.

One of the ways smoking exposes you to heartburn is by weakening your lower esophageal sphincter (LES). The LES is the band of muscle that separates your stomach from your esophagus, preventing gastric acid and the contents of your stomach from finding their way back to the esophagus in a process called reflux. Should the LES fail to work as it's supposed to, then there is a greater chance of reflux, and consequently, of heartburn.

What's more, smoking also triggers a rise in the production of stomach acid. You can just imagine what an abundance of acid coupled with a malfunctioning LES could result in. Pain. Extreme pain. And a lot of it, too.

As if these weren't enough, smoking causes an imbalance in the body as well, resulting in more aggressive stomach acids. Regular acid is brutal enough, but compared to the smoke-powered super-acid, it's remarkably tame.

And the effects of smoking don't end there. It isn't satisfied with attacking your stomach, it affects your mouth as well - your saliva, in particular.

What does smoking do? Nothing much really; it just slows down saliva production. Why does this matter? Saliva is one of the body's notable lines of defense against refluxed stomach acid. Your saliva has the ability to counter the sting of the acid and flush it back down to the stomach.

So smoking not only puts you at risk of heartburn, it jump starts the production of stomach acid, boosts this acid's potential harm, then slows down one of your primary defenses to ensure maximum pain and damage.

Though you may not notice how smoking affects you or feel its effects as quickly as any of the foods that cause heartburn, it does take its toll. That said, you may want to consider this simple, natural remedy for heartburn: quit it.

Heartburn isn't pleasant. In fact, the pain that heartburn causes has proven to be enough to bring sufferers to their knees. Because of the extent of their discomfort, sufferers are in constant search of a miracle cure: one that works and works fast. But the truth of the matter is that every quick fix out there sacrifices a great deal just to relieve the pain fast, unlike any natural remedy for heartburn that aims to provide safe and lasting relief.

These quick fixes are usually found in medication. It's a fact that drugs are capable of relieving heartburn and its symptoms a lot faster than natural cures for heartburn can. There's a couple of catches, though: 1) quite a few drugs are liable to deal a host of potential side effects to those who take them, and 2) even when the drugs do work properly, their effects are only temporary; they may be gone nearly as quickly as it took for them to take effect.

Natural cures for heartburn on the other hand, are relatively safe since they help our bodies adapt to the condition through natural means, as opposed to introducing a foreign element to our system and hoping it does its job before it triggers an unfavorable reaction. Also, every natural remedy for heartburn has effects that last considerably longer than any drug.

While these are every natural remedy for heartburn's advantage over medication, many find it hard to immediately adjust to the lifestyle changes that are typical of natural remedies. These conservatives usually want to be eased in to the natural process before committing to the major changes most natural cures demand. These same people are those who can find satisfaction in a heartburn herbal remedy or two.

Even one heartburn herbal remedy can provide the same results that most drugs promise without the risk of adverse effects. It does this by gently coaxing the body to respond naturally to heartburn in a manner that will provide relief or rid it of the heartburn entirely.

Though these types of natural cures for heartburn don't have the permanence of most natural remedies, they compensate by taking effect as quickly as drugs do, without leaving us open to potential side effects. These herbal remedies stimulate digestion (bitters), soothe and reduce irritation in the esophagus (demulcents), and deal with gastrointestinal complications (carminatives) safely, naturally, and effectively.

With the all the available natural cures out there, there really is no reason to settle for medication. Regardless of what you're looking for in a cure - be it security, permanence, effectiveness, or even immediacy - a natural remedy for heartburn is surely the way to go.

Have you ever felt a mild, yet sufficiently irritating pain in your chest after eating dinner, or crumpled to the floor in extreme, agonizing pain minutes after you stole some dessert from the kitchen fridge? If so, were you suffering because of karma? No, but maybe you should stop stealing food all the same. Was it because you were a glutton? Could be, but not really. Chances are you were in pain because of the food you ate, so you should consider taking a natural remedy for heartburn.

You should know that you didn't get heartburn because your dinner went bad or because your fridge is on the fritz. Even if your dinner was perfectly fine (which it probably was), it wouldn't have mattered. Heck, it could have been prepared by the finest culinary talents in the world, using the freshest and most mouth-watering ingredients known to man, and you would still have gotten heartburn. It's not the food. It's you.

Yes, there are foods that cause heartburn. But that doesn't necessarily mean that those same foods would automatically trigger a heartburn in every person who eats them. For these foods to cause heartburn, the person who eats them must be predisposed to heartburn.

Heartburn occurs when the lower esophagus sphincter (LES), a muscle band that should separate the stomach from the esophagus, fails to do its job, allowing the contents of your stomach - along with an unhealthy dose of gastric acid - to shoot up the esophagus in a particularly painful process called reflux.

As long as the LES does what it's supposed to do, then there's no problem. But some people don't have a very reliable LES. These are the people who are susceptible to heartburn. The good news, though, is that a faulty LES doesn't have to translate to blinding pain after each meal. That intense fire in your chest can easily be dealt with using a natural remedy for heartburn.

A proper diet is a natural remedy for heartburn, and one that has proven very effective in preventing it. By avoiding the foods that cause heartburn, eating smaller meals, and taking your time in finishing your food instead of stuffing yourself like there's no tomorrow, you can significantly cut down the frequency of heartburn.

This natural remedy for heartburn may not be able to address your inclination toward heartburn, but it can surely keep you from suffering it and keep you healthy while it's at it. Besides, an ounce of prevention will always be worth more than a pound of cure.