Recovering The SelfA Journal of Hope and Healing

Health

Defeating the Raging Inferno Within: How to Conquer Heartburn

Guest Blogger: April Saunders

Heartburn is easily one of the least pleasant sensations that a person can routinely experience, and those who have issues with it often feel like their insides are boiling at the least predictable times. If a certain pizza sauce has too many spices in it, that will lead to heartburn. If someone has the audacity to eat something salty, that will lead to heartburn. If someone accidentally consumes spicy food, that will lead to heartburn. Even eating too much at one sitting can cause heartburn. Luckily, there are some things that can be done to help people avoid that fate, but it takes caution and a little planning to pull it off.

Eat Less More Frequently

A lot of people have switched from two or three large meals per day to five or six small ones spread across two to three hour periods. Not only does this help people stabilize their blood sugar, it gives them smaller doses of all the things that could potentially cause heartburn, and it keeps the stomach active so there’s little chance that an influx of acid will end up causing problems. Even something as simple as a fruit cup between the breakfast and lunch periods can do wonders for someone’s heartburn.

Don’t Eat Before Bed

Midnight snacks are tempting, but they’re terrible for anyone with stomach or heart issues. There should be at least four hours between someone’s last evening meal and bedtime. The body wants to shut down while it’s resting, but an active stomach upsets the balance of different mechanisms within it, and it’s almost a surefire recipe for pain.

Avoid Fatty and Sodium-Rich Food

Sodium is a no-brainer; everyone who gets heartburn knows to avoid it, but relatively few people act on what they know. It’s something that needs to be repeated until someone learns: sodium is bad. It’s not necessarily harmful in super-small amounts, but it’s hard to avoid, and it’s easy to consume far too much of it.

Fatty foods like red meat are another major cause of heartburn. It might be painful for some people, but it’s much healthier for a heartburn sufferer to go with chicken or fish over beef and pork. Certain kinds of fruits and nuts are also out of the question, and processed snack foods should be avoided at all costs.

Take it Easy

Everyone needs exercise, but intense workouts are prone to triggering heartburn. That’s especially true following a meal. The best thing that heartburn sufferers can do for their bodies is to take routine and leisurely walks. A few miles per day will drastically improve their health, and it’s far less likely to cause problems than other forms of exercise. It might look less effective, but it’s truly a case where less is more.

Make Lifestyle Changes

There’s no getting around it: Someone who routinely suffers heartburn needs to adopt a regimen that is unlikely to ever trigger it. That means giving up alcohol. It means avoiding tomatoes and garlic whenever possible. It means adopting a regimented meal schedule. Nothing can be left to whim or chance; longevity and quality of life become the two most important concerns, and while the adjustment may prove difficult, the results are more than worth it.

Very few people have to live with heartburn as long as they’re willing to adapt before it becomes too severe. It may be impossible to get by without antacids or other aids, but the effects of heartburn can be drastically reduced, and plenty of heartburn sufferers are able to enjoy their favorite activities will into their golden years. There’s hope, it just takes work.

 

About the Author

April Saunders writes for www.edrugstore.md where you can find out, how to find an online pharmacy.

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