Diet Guidelines For Gerd

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Diet Guidelines For Gerd

Thursday, February 14th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

Who Else Wants to Reduce Acid Reflux Discomfort Levels with a GERD diet?

The ideal GERD diet is low in fat. You see, a low fat diet will ensure that acid reflux will be greatly reduced or in some cases stopped completely. You wouldn’t want to drink your gastric juices which contain some strong acids, but that is essentially what happens when you insist on eating a high fat diet. Avoid the pain and aggravation. Stick to a low fat diet, for goodness sakes.

The Muscle At The Top of the Stomach

Nutrients pass through the mouth into a tube-like structure called the esophagus. From the esophagus it is accepted into the stomach by the lower esophageal muscle (LES). The LES is situated on top of the stomach at the base of the esophagus. The esophagus should be a one-way street allowing food to pass into the stomach but not the other way round. This muscle is like a one-way gatekeeper that allows the nutrients to pass into the stomach but not the opposite way. Unfortunately, it does not work that way for someone with acid reflux disease. The muscle allows gastric juices to flow out of the stomach and back up the esophagus to the mouth. This gastric acid is very painful and causes much irritation in the throat as well as soreness in the chest.

The best thing for the patient of acid reflux under such conditions would be to get on the GERD diet so that there is less irritation in the esophagus.

There no doubts that GERD diet will help in avoiding the pain that results because of acid reflux and such a diet is mostly planned in a manner so that the irritation caused by such disease can be stopped. In fact, the GERD diet has been especially configured to stick to the recommendations with reference to dietary guidelines as defined by the National Research Council and the nutrients included run from basic nutrient groups to more innovative ones.

Therefore, a GERD diet would call for patients of acid reflux to ingest milk as well as milk products. Preferably skim milk and low fat. Whole milk should be avoided as it contains too much fat. Chocolates have a lot of fat. Sorry, if you have acid reflux disease, all chocolate products are off limits. Vegetables are acceptable in a GERD diet. The only caveat is that they are not prepared with oils or creamy dressings.

To lower the incidence of acid reflux discomfort levels, the GERD diet allows the following fruits:

* Melons
* Apples
* Berries
* Bananas
* Pears
* Peaches

To avoid aggravating the lower esophageal muscle (LES), always avoid:

* Tomatoes
* Citrus fruits
* Pineapple
* Grapes

Follow the above GERD diet guidelines for a reduction in the acid reflux levels.