Heartburn is primarily caused by elevated gastric acid spilling into the throat or gullet.
The best way to reduce your symptoms of ‘stomach-acid’ health issues (a spectrum of disorders that encompasses GERD (also known as heartburn), gastritis, all the way to duodenal and peptic ulcers is to primarily become more self-aware.
What this means is that you should be conscious of not just what food items go into your body but also your lifestyle and general eating habits.
First of all, let’s talk about the foods that cause irritation or predispose gastric acid build-up in your GIT (gastrointestinal tract) or digestive system.
SPICY foods like red peppers, chili, etc.
- GASEOUS or FIZZY drinks like colas, Pepsi, etc.
- FRIED or OILY foods (it’s also good to watch out for TRANS-fat; more on that later).
- CITRIC or ACIDIC foods, especially on an empty stomach. These include your oranges, lemons, limes, and tangerines.
The key to becoming ulcer free is to develop a futuristic mindset as regards your health and lifestyle. Becoming aware of the causes is not enough, you need to come to terms with the fact that you will be abstaining from these food items for quite some time.
The second step is for you to work on your eating patterns. What do I mean?
Firstly, you should eat more often, for example, three to five times a day.
But, also, you should eat smaller quantities. Four or five small meals a day serve your body much better than two or three large meals. Also, your stomach would be less strained.
A third step is to reduce your stress levels and avoid stressful situations like overworking, for example, functioning till late in the night. Many people don’t know but stress is a major cause of recurring ulcer pains and gastritis episodes. The body works as a whole and any form of disbalance (mental or physical) can radiate not just to your immune system, but to any vulnerable part of the body. The digestive system is next in line for those with stubborn gastric acid. What this means is that you should be conscious of your body’s signals and know when your stress levels are increasing. A lady who is on her period and having a busy day might want to be very careful about what she puts in her stomach throughout the day. Things like cola, chips, or alcohol should be far from her plate and drinking cup. This brings me to the next point; what are the best foods to heal an ongoing gastric-acid-generating abdominal pain? It goes without saying that alcohol and smoking also have to be stopped almost permanently if you truly want to reverse your stomach issues.
I will start with the most ideal (in my experience), which plainly is — OATS. Before you run away or complain, it does not have to be oatmeal per see. Eating any form of oats, even dry oats will grant you immediate relief from ongoing stomach pains. If you don’t like oatmeal, you can chew it dry or soak it for one to three minutes in warm or cold water, and maybe add a little bit of salt or pepper — which is the way I have my oats every morning. The pepper is obviously an option only after you have developed sufficient healing — you might be surprised but I suffered ulcer and gastritis issues for several years, up until I was in my mid-twenties.
I battled with it so much that I almost had an endoscopy or should I say, ‘went through with the procedure. I was actually on the procedure table but a few minutes in, I pulled the endoscopic tube right out of my throat because of the sheer discomfort I was experiencing (some of your might have read about it in my book — Respectful Ideation — Poem number 7 or so). It was actually in my fourth year of medical school and my teacher who was a gastroenterologist suggested I go in for the procedure to see what was the cause of my constant stomach pains and get to the root cause. We all knew it was ulcer but possibly because I was always coming back to him despite the drugs, he opted I go in for the procedure. I was constantly popping pills back then; if I wasn’t twisting and squirming on the bed, I was running from one doctor to the next.
Back to the procedure, everybody was confused in the theater that morning; I kept telling the doctor to stop, giving him signs with my hand that I couldn’t take it anymore, but he kept inserting the tube, telling me to relax without obviously understanding the amount of discomfort I was in. I was in discomfort primarily due to my throat issues; I also suffered a lot from tonsillitis back then because of the cold — I lived in Eastern Europe in those days and so I had a very sensitive throat, which was made worse by the consistent stomach acid spilling up my throat. Interestingly, my diet was not the worst (from home I knew what foods to avoid) but there was also a lot of stress involved in Ukraine; living as a black medical student far away from home. I write extensively on that as well in my book, AFROLEON.
So, the thing about stomach disorders is this — you have a stomach, which is mainly for digestion. For your food to digest, you need enzymes and a lot of things take place, but the atmosphere for those processes to go on becomes friendlier when your gastric acid is in top form. That’s all it’s for — for digestion. However, some people have a little bit more acid than others; also, anatomy has a part to play here.
When the acid gets increased (by eating those foods we mentioned above), it can spill into your esophagus (or throat) and predispose you to heartburn. Heartburn is also a positional symptom in that you should not lie down immediately after eating. We all know that but one of the most important things I learned during those nine or so years of torment is that lying on your left side is the most ideal position (not just after eating if you have to lie down urgently) but also for sleeping and many other health conditions. I would probably discuss this in a future article. Let’s just say that your stomach is more in its anatomical position when you lie on your left side. If you lie face down or any other way, it’s like turning a bottle or ketchup upside down without its cover; there is a sphincter on either end of your stomach but they are never completely closed so food and acid can always slowly but surely, spill back towards your esophagus leading to heartburn.
The next milestone (unfortunately, still in a negative undertone), is Gastritis, which, for the layman means irritation; for medical people, that means inflammation, and it goes a long way. Inflammation has certain characteristics starting from rubor, a Latin word meaning redness, tumor — swelling, calor — heat, up to functio laesa — loss of function. In total, there are five cardinal signs of inflammation but the one you feel the most is dolor — you guessed it, meaning — pain!
After gastritis, the stomach starts to kind of peel — just like an external wound on your skin does — which is where you get an ulcer, and in its most severe form, can lead to perforation, bleeding, etc.
But as someone who has experienced almost all of the items on the stomach acid spectrum, I can tell you that oatmeal has been my fighting sword. I eat oatmeal daily for breakfast with fruits (as I said, I am even bold enough to add pepper; these days I feel like the pepper is not even enough, to show you how confident I have become with my stomach and eating habits). You will probably read about a lot of options like fiber foods, berries, and vegetables, but from my personal experience, oats or oatmeal is the way to go. You also have to be careful with some vegetables because a lot of them release sulfur and other gases which are not the best on an empty stomach. Combination, moderation, and a little nutrition knowledge would go in handy here. Obviously, the ‘smoother’ the oats, the better (if you are eating them raw), but sometimes rough oats might also be useful. I once knew of someone who had some bleeding issues in his colon (after ingesting some poison), and virtually all medical attempts were failing him. After chewing dry oats for one or two days, he started fairing remarkably better. That’s to give you an extent of the healing power oats possess.
I don’t recommend water, or tea (especially if you are going to include lemon or lime); in my experience, water alone isn’t enough. Milk or some dairy products might provide temporary relief but they are not the best in the long run. Except if you are taking plant-based sources like almond milk, soy milk, or oat milk, which still in a way brings you back to oats.
If you are in severe pain or have some regimens prescribed by a doctor, do take them, but this article is for steps to eradicate your symptoms in the long run. It never hurts to do these things alongside your therapeutic modalities.
You might be surprised that I still have H. Pylori in my stomach from the last test I did randomly, about two years or so ago but like I said, I have not suffered stomach issues for almost ten years. That’s to let you know that having a positive or negative H. Pylori test does not really have as much effect on your stomach environment and symptoms as you think.
From my research, stress, or should I say ‘distress’ has a hidden but quite significant role to play in recurring gastrointestinal issues, especially ulcers and gastritis. Dyspepsia, too.
