Although other lifestyle factors, such as smoking, can come into play when it comes to gas or heartburn, your diet has a major role. When you regularly feel a burning pain in your chest or throat that’s accompanied by burping or bloating, it can sometimes indicate gastroesophageal reflux disease.
What Causes Heartburn?
Your lower esophageal sphincter prevents the foods you eat from returning from your stomach back into your esophagus. If the sphincter a band of ringlike muscles doesn’t close tightly enough, digestive juices and partially digested food can wash back up into your esophagus, leading to gas, bloating, a sore throat and a sour or bitter taste in the mouth.
How To Get Rid of Heartburn
Most people will recommend consuming ginger for acid reflux, whether it’s in cooking or added to smoothies. Bananas and melons are both generally good for heartburn because they have a pH of 5.6 and 6.1, however, a small number of people might experience worse heartburn after consuming these foods. Milk has long been touted as a way to get rid of heartburn, but the fat in milk can exacerbate the condition because it takes time to digest.
Dealing With Flatulence
To get rid of gas from the other end, add high-fiber foods such as fruits and vegetables and whole grains to regulate bowel movements. Skip cruciferous vegetables, which have a hard to digest compound that can increase gas, and add apples, artichokes, berries, corn, leafy greens, pears and peas, all of which are high in fiber. You can also add probiotics to your diet, which are “friendly” bacteria that can reduce the symptoms of flatulence.
Think Smart For The Future
Foods that can trigger acid reflux :
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Carbonated drinks
- Chocolate
- Peppermint
- Tomatoes and tomato sauces
- Spicy or fatty foods
However, not all foods will affect everyone the same way, so determine which foods set off heartburn for you and remove them from your meal plans. Finally, work on losing weight, quitting smoking and reducing stress, as all of these factors can play a role in gastroesophageal reflux disease.
TIPS: Chew your food slowly to reduce gas; this creates less work for your digestive system to do.