1. health and fitness
2. disease
3. gerd and acid reflux

Before You Begin
I want you to know this
I am not a professional writer, so please excuse my writing style. I try to keep things
simple and to the point, but sometimes I have trouble finding the right words to get the
message across. I am also assuming that you read most of the info on my website so I
won’t rehash some of the things that are there.
Please read the whole report, just make time and read it. I want you to understand why
I’m telling you to do things, not just to do this or don’t do that.
I want to say something here about right motivation. Right motivation means you are not
just trying to put an end to or get away from something that is bad, but you are moving
towards something that is better, better than it was even before you had the problem.
If you are mature enough to grasp what I’m trying to impart to you in this book and on
the website, the importance of personal responsibility, of taking keen interest in your own
health and habits, of seeing through the brainwashing culture of modern society, a whole
new chapter in your life will open up. You will be MORE than you were before, better.
The views expressed here are my personal beliefs. This information came from my own
experience (mostly years of trial and error), books I’ve read, internet research and other
people who have had similar problems.
Please read the disclaimer at the end of this report. It is easy to get rid of acid reflux once
you understand the principles, so let’s get started.
This book came from my website www.natural-reflux-cure.com
I hope you got it there, but if you got it some other way please go to the site for additional
information.
The book is given as a FREE download in the spirit of helping others overcome their
health challenges. All I ask is please visit the site, click on the “Donate” button and give a
little something to help me keep the site up and to show your appreciation for the time I
put in to this.
Good luck!
Why did you develop acid reflux?
In the United States, the current medical answer to this is: no one knows what causes acid
reflux.
The first thing you have to accept is the fact that most likely your problems have been
caused in great part by you. This is good news for you because you can change your
ways. The choices you’ve made with your diet and lifestyle are the primary culprits. In a
lot of people these bad habits were taught to you by your parents or the people around
you as you grew up and later by your friends. TV commercials for junk food, our fast
paced lifestyle and the poor quality of our food finished you off. You have been
influenced by the mass consciousness of modern life.
Any recent thing that may have changed something in your body can be a trigger for
digestive problems. Pregnancy is a big one for women, or a medication you just started
taking. Man-made medications can really throw your body out of whack. You could have
a physical problem, like a hiatus hernia, that is contributing to the problem.
All health problems in humans are the result of combinations of various factors and since
our experiences and chemical/physical makeup are each our own, no one should ever
claim that they know the one definitive cause for any illness. That being said, just keep
reading and in a little bit I’m going to explain what I think is most likely causing your
problem and how to fix it.
Some of these factors are; genes and heredity, birth trauma, birth defects, vaccinations,
toxins that you, your parents or grandparents were exposed to, illnesses you’ve had,
medications, drug or alcohol abuse, stress, poor general outlook about life, whether you
were breast fed or given artificial milk, physical fitness, pregnancy, poor lifestyle, poor
diet and improper nutrition.
Some of these factors you can’t do anything about at this point. If you didn’t have reflux
troubles when you were younger then something has changed in your body. Most people
have been doing things that are harming their bodies and in many cases probably have no
idea these things are bad for them.
These are the major factors contributing to acid reflux that we want to correct. If you stop
damaging your body and allow it to heal you can put this problem behind you. Even a
problem caused by a hiatus hernia will greatly improve.
Over the last 50 years or so, the nutritional value of our food has become so degraded
that even when we think we’re eating good food, it isn’t nearly as nutritious as it used to
be. Besides being less nutritious, chemical additives, pesticides, hormones and
insecticides have polluted our food.
Probably the worst things are processed foods. All of these types of so-called “foods” are
unnatural to the body. The things our bodies need to get from our diet are not to be found
in complete form in these products. The fat free and low fat craze is making this even
worse.
Before we go into detail about the causes listed above, let’s just take a commonsense look
at the way things used to be.
Humans are a Product of Nature
Our physical bodies are a product of nature, just like all other life forms on the planet.
For tens of thousands of years or longer we lived off of the products that nature gave us.
Evidence suggests that in the beginning Man ate a mainly vegetarian diet (don’t worry;
I’m not going to try to turn you into a vegetarian).
The point is this; our bodies are designed to get the things we need to remain healthy
from natural foods. Foods like fresh fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and meats. Our
bodies evolved from the natural things of the Earth and all the things we need to remain
healthy are found in nature’s foods.
Think about this; for thousands of years humans ate natural foods. It
is really only in the last 100 years that we started eating
manufactured, convenience foods. In the last 50 years this change to
manmade foods accelerated dramatically and at the same time our
fruits and vegetables have been genetically altered, sprayed with
pesticides and began being fertilized with manmade chemicals. The
same with our meat supply, growth hormones, antibiotics and
pesticides are what you get today in that juicy steak.
Man keeps trying to make things more complicated as far as health and nutrition are
concerned. We are given an overload of conflicting and ever changing advice about
vitamins, minerals, cholesterol, fat intake, heart disease and my favorite, the food
pyramid. We are just creating our own problems as we make things more and more
complex.
There is a simpler way – just eat natural foods like you are
supposed to!
How many fresh foods did you eat in the last week? If you are now
counting things like the tomatoes and lettuce on that burger at the
fast food joint or the canned or frozen vegetables you boiled up for
supper the other night, stop trying to kid yourself right now. Fresh
foods are raw, alive, containing the life force of the plant, unaltered by man and as
recently harvested as possible.
So does this mean you have to eat like some crazy health nut? No, not at all, although
being conscious of your health and diet are very important. Your body has not been
designed to be that weak; it is an incredible piece of machinery. The body was made to be
able to survive even when a good food supply was not available for periods of time.
Today however, we are living on foods that the body was never designed to eat and we’re
eating this diet for years, even decades. Your body is made up of the food you put into it.
Your body is constantly renewing every cell and maintaining itself through the nutrients
you get from your food. Your blood is completely renewed every 120 days and your
whole body every 7 years. That’s right; you essentially have a new body every 7 years.
The catch is this; the quality of this body is dependent on the quality of the food you’ve
been eating. If you ate a good diet when you were a kid you will feel good in your teens.
If your diet took a turn for the worse as you went through your teens and early 20’s you
will feel it in your late 20’s and 30’s. This is how it works, how you eat in your 20’s is
how you feel in your 30’s. How you eat in your 30’s is how you feel in your 40’s.
If you never learn the lesson of how important it is to eat a good diet of fresh natural
foods, your health will continue to decline. You can tell yourself it is because of aging
and begin spending money on pills or wake up and take control of your own health. If
you eat a diet of Twinkies, donuts, candy, ice cream and frozen dinners, over a period of
time this is what your body is made up of. The body and its internal systems begin to
break down, this happens at the cellular level. For many people the first major warning
signs appear in the digestive system.
What happens today is instead of correcting the problem, our diet, we run to the doctor
and they give us pills for our ailments. Our ailments, like reflux for instance, are merely
symptoms of the underlying problem, not the problem itself. Keep taking the pills and
soon you will need more pills to counteract the side effects from the first pill. This is how
it works. We all see it with others. We have been trained from childhood to do this. Don’t
get me wrong, modern medicine is great when it comes to some things.
In a way, you are lucky to have gotten reflux. It is like an early warning signal that things
are about to get worse if you don’t make corrections now. If you never have digestive
system problems that force you to improve your diet, you can continue to do serious
damage until something irreversible occurs, like a heart attack or some other life
threatening disease. You are only lucky if you heed the warning and correct the problem,
your diet, not take the pills and continue on as before.
The instructions on most of the reflux pills tell you the same thing, “not for long term
use” and “make lifestyle changes”. They just count on the fact that it’s easy to just keep
taking the pills and it’s hard to stop taking them and make the necessary changes.
How this affects digestion
Your problem is with your digestive system, it’s not merely heartburn. Because of bad
food and bad habits your digestive system has been so overworked it can no longer do its
job as efficiently as it once could.
When your digestive system is not in good shape because of decades of poor nutrition,
food is not efficiently moving through your system and you are not getting all the
nutrition out of the food you are eating. What does this mean? If your system were in tiptop shape and your diet consisted of nutritious, natural foods, after swallowing your food
it would quickly be broken down by the stomach and moved right along to the small
intestine for further processing. It wouldn’t lie in your stomach for extended periods of
time; it would move through your whole digestive system efficiently, with the least strain
on your body and with proper assimilation of nutrients.
Remember, your digestive system is the biggest user of energy in the body. If you
weaken your system and otherwise make it harder to do its job of breaking food down, it
takes even more energy and still you do not get all the nutrients to maintain health from
what you eat. This robs you of energy to do other things in life.
Good Food, Enzymes and Digestion
Enzymes are substances formed in plant and animal cells. They are in every cell in your
body and you cannot live without them. Our concern here is enzymes that aid in
digestion, the breaking down of food. There is plenty of information on enzymes
available on the internet, mostly from sites trying to sell their product, so I won’t get too
scientific about them here; I want to keep things moving along to give you the big
picture. There is more on enzymes later.
When good food, well chewed and mixed with saliva, enters the stomach of a healthy
person, it is the enzymes from the food and enzymes in your saliva that actually do most
of the breaking down of the food, up to 70%! This means a big part of digestion gets
done with little effort by the body.
When you have acid reflux, what is going on is that your stomach and intestines, your
digestive tract, is not functioning properly. For different reasons the food you’re eating
isn’t being broken down as it should be. The food you are eating may not be real food the
body wants, or you could be lacking in some enzymes needed for digestion or you could
have too much or too little acid in the stomach or most likely a combination of these
things. As we age the acid levels in the stomach tend to drop off. By age 40 as many as
40% of people have low levels of acid in the stomach and this increases the
older you get. By age 30 to 35 many people are becoming deficient in
producing enzymes. Poor habits, like eating at night before bed when the
stomach wants to rest and rejuvenate and eating poisons like processed sugar,
white flour and hydrolyzed oils, are a big part of the problem. Most likely
your problem is from a combination of these causes.
When food stays in the stomach too long and doesn’t get broken down
properly it causes many of your symptoms. It is the symptoms you are
experiencing, not the actual problem! You must start thinking of it like this. Food that
normally should move on lingers and ferments in the stomach producing more poisons.
The stomach has acid in it for too long, is making too much or too little acid and this
makes bloating and pressure which causes food and stomach juices to reflux up into the
esophagus and above. Low levels of stomach acid produce many of the same
symptoms as too much acid!
Acid Reflux
Here is how it works; the stomach has two main parts, the upper and lower. Food
remains in the upper part for about 20 to 60 minutes after eating; no acid is produced by
the stomach here. Immediately after eating, food begins breaking down in the upper part
using enzymes contained in the food, your saliva and the upper stomach. If not many
enzymes are present, food begins to ferment causing gas. Much of the initial digestion is
meant to be done by enzymes, not acid!
As this mixture moves on to the lower stomach, HCL (hydrochloric acid) and other
strong digestive juices, are introduced in proper amounts. Most of the enzymes that were
working on the food are now neutralized or destroyed by the acid. Other enzymes such as
Pepsin, an enzyme that breaks proteins down, are introduced here and can withstand the
acidic environment. These, combined with the churning of the stomach, break down
proteins and other, tougher food stuffs.
This mixture then moves on into the small intestine where the acid is neutralized and still
more enzymes are added by the pancreas and small intestine. Eventually the well broken
down, nutrient rich mix gets assimilated through the intestinal wall and into the
bloodstream where it is used by your body. What was a foreign substance from the
outside world now becomes part of your body!
If food began fermenting because enzymes didn’t do their thing, and too much or too
little acid is created, pressure combined with the churning, forces acidic digestive juices
or fumes past the LES (go back to the website if you don’t know what the LES is.) Here
is the link to the page: Digestive System 101 - http://www.natural-refluxcure.com/digestive-system.html
That is Classic Acid Reflux, Indigestion and Heartburn.
If the LES also becomes weakened, which is usually the case, it is even easier for the acid
to get refluxed into places it shouldn’t be. Even just the acidic fumes, which are pushed
past the LES because of pressure, can cause severe problems without you even having the
actual reflux feelings.
That is Silent Reflux or LPR.
Food may or may not be digesting fairly well in your stomach but due to a lack of some
enzyme normally secreted further along in the process, like in the small intestine,
bloating and gas occur. The pressure can move up into the stomach or put pressure on the
stomach. Generally, acid reflux is thought of as an upper digestive problem but really
your whole system is affected.
Too much acid production
The lower stomach attempts to make up for the lack of enzyme pre-digestion by
producing more acid. The manmade, altered, sprayed and radiated food we are eating
today is not really “food” that the body can digest but the stomach will try harder by
making more acid. White processed sugar, beer and probably white flour, can cause acid
production to more than double. You experience the symptoms of this as reflux.
If you try to counter this with antacids or stop it with a purple pill you compound the
problem. The stomach will try even harder to create acid or you can ruin the pancreas as
it tries to make more and more enzymes to break the food down. You are also making
doubly sure that nutrients cannot be absorbed because food is not broken down properly.
This leads to food allergies as the body rejects some nutrients as being too foreign.
Do you see how stopping the acid suppressing pills will lead to the “rebound effect”, the
acid pumps in the stomach have been working overtime to make more acid but you kept
shutting them down with the pills. With no pills to stop them, suddenly they are still
running full tilt with nothing to control them, this creates all kinds of extra acid and you
immediately go back on the pills and never get off. So quit slowly, wean yourself off over
a few weeks if you’ve been on them for a while.
Too little acid production
You already know that the body produces less acid as we age. As the cells in your
stomach keep secreting more and more acid as above, they will burn out even quicker
than just by aging alone.
Whether you have too little acid from not producing it or from taking acid reducing
reflux drugs there is another problem created. The enzyme pepsin that is released to break
down proteins needs a very acidic environment to work. Pepsin cannot break proteins
down without acid production.
The symptoms from too little acid are pretty much the same as for too much, as
discussed on the low stomach acid page of the website. Here is the link http://www.natural-reflux-cure.com/low-stomach-acid.html
Not just reflux but IBS, Crohns, bacterial infections and a host of other problems can
result from low acid levels. Vitamins and minerals also cannot be absorbed without acid
in the stomach. As I say on the website, most people suffering from acid reflux actually
have too little acid in the stomach. How do you know you have too much? Were you ever
checked?
Enzymes are Destroyed by Heat
Both plant foods and animal foods have enzymes in them, the specific enzymes that help
to digest that particular food plus others. Heating food to above 118 degrees destroys the
enzymes. This means we aren’t going to be trying to get animal product enzymes from
food because I’m not going to tell you to eat raw meat! Also this is another reason milk is
no good for you (which I go into later), pasteurization destroys the enzymes making it
even more indigestible.
This means cooked food has no enzymes! Fresh fruits and vegetables are your sources for
healthy amounts, especially pineapples and papaya. Some other good sources are raw
nuts and seeds and sprouts. Vegetable and fruit juice is an easy way to get big amounts.
How many fresh foods containing enzymes do you typically eat with each meal? A
burger, fries and a soda contain zero. Is this a typical meal for you?
If you stop damaging your digestive system and begin providing your body with good
foods, the body has an amazing ability to heal itself. How much damage you have done,
for how long and your individual body itself will determine how close you can get back
to normal, maybe all the way. You should definitely be able to throw the reflux pills
away. Your goal is to take no acid reducing pills at all.
So, raw, natural, unaltered foods are easier to digest and they contain digestive enzymes
that we tend to lose as we age.
You want to be kind to your digestive system. You want stop doing things that harm your
system. You want to stop eating things that are hard or impossible to digest and don’t
contain the things the body needs. You want to eat things that are easier to digest,
especially in the beginning. You want the foods that you eat to be loaded with nutrients
that your body is starving for to get it back to health and rebuild stronger than ever. You
want to do things that are good for your system.
You Take Control
Once you accept responsibility for your reflux problem, this is the first step in the
recovery process. If you did this to yourself then you can fix it. If you refuse to accept
any responsibility for your problem then you are admitting that you have no control. You
are surrendering control of your own health to doctors and drug companies. What is the
end game here? Will you magically not have to take the pills one day? Ask your doctor
when you can stop taking them.
Your Body Heals or Cures Itself
Fact; no medication, drug or pill ever healed or cured any health problem. Only your
body can heal itself, not a doctor or a pill. You can do things to help your body do its job
of healing and maintaining health, but only the body does the healing, not the things you
did to help it. Modern western medicine treats symptoms, not the causes. You want to
address the causes of the problem and correct them. This is how you “cure” something;
you allow your body to heal itself.
I’m going to repeat some points made above in a little different way because I want to
drive this home to you. I want you to understand digestion and its importance to your
overall health for the rest of your life.
It all begins with digestion
Let me try to clearly explain what digestion is. Digestion is the act of taking matter from
the outside world (food), taking it into the body and breaking it down so that the nutrients
are allowed into the body to use as fuel. In order for the body to let it in, to assimilate and
absorb it, it must lose its foreignness. If it is not sufficiently broken down several things
may occur;
1) The body only gets a small part of the nutrients out of the food that you consume and
the rest is expelled as waste. In other words, even though you may be eating enough food,
you may still be deficient in vital nutrients, minerals, vitamins and other good things you
need for a strong body.
2) The body may begin to recognize certain elements that are not fully broken down but
still make it through intestinal wall and into the bloodstream as foreign invaders. The
body will attack and repel these resulting in food allergies.
3) Food is meant to travel the length of the digestive system in a reasonable amount of
time. If food is not being broken down efficiently, it stays in the stomach and intestines
too long and begins to ferment and turn toxic, poisoning the body instead of nourishing it.
What happens next?
If one or more of the above is occurring over a period of time the body begins to develop
symptoms. These include food allergies, acid reflux, heartburn, indigestion
and a whole list of ailments that seem to have nothing to do with digestion
like arthritis, asthma, allergies, depression, osteoporosis and the list goes on
and on.
Almost all ailments begin with digestion; this has been known for a very
long time. Your body is made up of what you put into it and only of what you
put into it! All of the cells in your body are continually replacing themselves and the
material the body uses to accomplish this feat is the food you consume; junk in, junk out.
I want to drive this point home with you; good nutrition is essential for a healthy body.
You cannot expect to have good health if your body is running on junk. Much of the
energy you get from your food intake is used to power your digestive system; it is the
biggest user of energy of all the body’s systems. If most of your diet is made up of
foods that are stressing your digestive system there is not enough energy left to do the
things you want to do.
All health and all disease begin at the cellular level. The number one thing you can do to
remain healthy or regain your health is to nourish your body well with good foods and
stop ingesting the things that are poisoning your body. What foods are good and what
foods are bad is what you will learn next. If you begin incorporating wholesome, natural
foods into your diet you will notice some side effects from this. Unlike side effects from
modern medicine, which are all bad, these side effects will be nothing but good. Things
like more energy than you’ve ever had, aches, pains and ailments that you’ve had for
years slowly disappearing, increased sex drive and being more relaxed and able to enjoy
life.
Let’s Review
Let us review the major points we just covered.
1) Acid Reflux Disease didn’t just “mysteriously happen” to you. Although there
may have been some contributing factors that are beyond your control, the major
problem is your diet and lifestyle. Major life changes or medications are also a
possibility.
2) Humans are a product of nature and our bodies need food in its natural form to
thrive and remain healthy.
3) Our food supply has been contaminated and fruits and vegetables today have
much less nutrition than 60 years ago.
4) The cells of your body are constantly renewing themselves. Your new cells are
made up of the food you eat.
5) Our bodies tend to produce less digestive acid and enzymes as we age. There is
only a very small chance that your stomach is creating too much acid.
6) Less acid and enzymes + indigestible or very hard to digest, nutritionally devoid,
manmade foods = acid reflux and digestive problems.
7) Acid getting to where it doesn’t belong is doing major damage and making things
worse. Whether you have too much or too little, there is still acid present in the
stomach and if it gets to where it’s not supposed to be it causes your problems.
8) Only your body can heal itself.
9) If you stop putting damaging things into your body and instead give it what it
wants, good whole food, that healing process will begin.
Fixing the Problem
Acid reflux is easy to fix. Making the necessary changes is the hard part; it’s all about
your willingness to change.
The fix for your problem is two parts; the first thing you must do is
get the refluxing under control and begin healing, the second part is
getting yourself on a diet and lifestyle that will keep it under control
or eliminate it completely. Don’t be scared, it’s not as bad as it
sounds.
The words “lifestyle change” scare the heck out of most people. You won’t have to give
up all of your old ways and make a complete change but you will have to make changes.
Your old ways gave you this problem and only getting smarter and making changes will
help you get rid of it. You cannot just get over it and then go right back to the ways that
gave it to you in the first place, you have to be smarter than that. You are in control over
how far you want to go with these changes, if you just make some changes and your
reflux goes away and you don’t want to go any farther, that’s fine.
Also, if you force yourself to make too many drastic changes all at once, you will
probably give up. Take your time, take baby steps. Get it under control and begin
healing, then keep changing and refining your diet as you feel like it. It’s not a race, as
long as you’re making progress allow the changes to come naturally when you’re ready
to go further.
Step One: Getting Control
As we age many peoples digestive systems are not as efficient as when we were younger.
Less stomach acid is produced and other digestive enzymes may not be present in the
quantities they once were. In very, very few cases are problems because of too much
acid. Whether your problem is too much or too little acid or lack of enzymes, improving
your diet can only help and never harm you.
If you have systematically tried to figure out what causes your reflux but are frustrated
because just when you think a food doesn’t bother you, the next time it does, it is because
you must first heal some of the damage and allow your system to begin to return to
normal before you can actually determine what is really bad for you. You must first gain
some control over it.
As stated above, what you want to do is completely cut out the bad foods, stop the bad
habits, begin some good ones and begin to learn what good things to eat while allowing
different parts of your digestive system to heal. If you’ve been refluxing, your LES (the
valve at the top of the stomach), has been weakened. It is important to allow the LES to
heal and strengthen.
While reflux is occurring and acid is making it into the esophagus, the LES and the lower
part of the esophagus become inflamed and sore. As the LES gets sore and swollen it
doesn’t do its job of sealing off the esophagus from the stomach juices as well as it
should. Since it can’t do its job it allows more acid to get past and it becomes a vicious
cycle.
Take care of the LES, it will strengthen and heal
While the LES is sore, if you eat things like hard pretzels, chips, hard nuts, popcorn and
other hard crunchy foods you are scratching the already sore LES and making matters
worse. Stop eating these things for now and make sure you chew them well if you begin
eating them later on. Also, when you feel yourself reflux, immediately take a sip of water
to wash the acid off of the LES. If you have no drink nearby, work up some saliva and
swallow it.
When you feel a reflux, think about what just happened. Acidic stomach juices just got
washed up into your esophagus where it is now doing damage. If it came so far up that
you tasted it, then it made it all the way to your mouth or the back of your throat, very
bad. Wash it back down where it belongs right away.
The actual burning feeling is acid doing damage to already swollen tissues in the
esophagus and beyond. I want you to think about this when you feel that old heartburn,
damage is being done right now.
While the LES is sore and inflamed, acidic foods like citrus fruits and tomato sauces can
burn as the pass over the inflamed tissues. It is good to avoid these things in the
beginning until you have healed a little; there is no use in further aggravating the sore
membranes. These foods can be returned to your diet once you heal from the damage.
There are also foods that supposedly weaken the LES; you should cut these out of your
diet while trying to heal up. These foods are listed in a little bit.
Let’s start with the number one thing that will fix you up!
Juicing
Fresh vegetable juice is your best friend in the battle against acid
reflux, specifically fresh carrot juice. I cannot stress this enough.
This stuff will fix you up quicker than any other thing I’ve found. It
is very potent and the juice from most carrots is sweet, delicious, and
alkaline and is loaded with natural enzymes. A glass of carrot juice is
the closest thing to a magic purple pill, only with no bad side effects.
You will have to buy a juicer. Look for one with good power and that’s easy to clean.
The Juiceman™ juicer you see advertised on TV is a good one and is not that expensive.
There are other good ones out there besides that one so look around. To make this easy, I
now have a page I keep updated with info on juicers and links to a few good juicers at
reasonable prices. http://www.natural-reflux-cure.com/juicers.html
You must get a juicer; it’s an investment in your health. You’ll get your money back in
like 6 months once you throw the prescription pills in the trash.
You must juice fresh veggies, getting juice from a can is no good, and it’s dead. Follow
the directions that come with your juicer. There will also be all kinds of recipes. Take it
as far as you want but really the carrot juice is the base for all juices. Sometimes I’ll put a
couple of stalks of celery in with the carrots or a little apple is good but I don’t get too
fancy. Also, don’t peel the vegetables; many of the best nutrients are in the skin.
Different vegetables contain different enzymes so it is a good idea to try a variety.
3 Quick Juice Recipes
Carrots & Apple (my favorite)
4 or 5 medium carrots
1 medium apple
Carrot Plus
3 medium carrots
1 medium apple
2 stalks of celery
Cabbage & Carrots
1/8 head red or green cabbage
4 or 5 carrots
Rinse the juicer immediately when you’re done and it’s easy. If you let carrot juices sit
on any surface for a bit it stains and can be hard to clean off.
Carrot juice used to be prescribed by doctors for many ailments. Because of our modern
lifestyle and poor foods, your body is probably in an acidic condition. This does not mean
there is too much acid in your stomach, they are two different things. The body is
supposed to be slightly alkaline. A body with a slightly alkaline system almost cannot get
sick or diseased. Almost all diseases can be traced to an acid body condition.
Fresh carrot juice is one of the best ways to cleanse and regulate the system. Juices from
fresh fruits and vegetables are the fastest and easiest way to do this. To get the same
nutrition as is in one glass of carrot juice, you would have to eat 6 or 7 big carrots. You
cannot realistically eat that many vegetables and fruits and even if you could eat that
many carrots (or any vegetable), the body must use energy to digest them. In their juiced
condition they are easy to assimilate. This is the power of juicing.
Fresh tomato juice is good but only if made from fresh, vine ripened tomatoes. You
cannot salt it nor have preservatives in it, so any canned juice is out. Once tomatoes are
heated they turn acidic and this is no good for you. The only good tomato juice is made
from home grown tomatoes.
Another reason I recommend carrot juice is because they are cheap. It is expensive to buy
the quantities needed to juice of fresh ripe tomatoes, celery, asparagus, parsley and the
like. Cabbage is cheap but you will probably get tired of the taste before too long. Use
carrots for the bulk of your juicing, but try to mix in different veggies.
Take Note of the Following
Lots of beta-carotene, the orange stuff in carrots, will tend to make your skin turn a
little yellow or orange. If you juice a glass a day it won’t be too noticeable, but a real
big glass or 2 or more glasses and you will see this after a while. It does no harm but
people may notice it. If you stop juicing for 3 or 4 weeks it will go away as new skin
cells replace the old ones.
Juice and Insulin Levels
Fruit juice raises insulin levels when taken, vegetable juice does not except carrot
and beet juice. If you are watching insulin levels, there are plenty of other veggies to
juice.
If carrot juice bothers you or you don’t like it, use your imagination or the book that
comes with the juicer. As long as you juice raw fruits and veggies you are getting
enzymes and alkalizing the body. Pineapples and papayas are loaded with good enzymes
for digestion, be sure to include these. In the beginning, if you are sore from refluxing
don’t juice citrus fruits like oranges and such that may irritate the inflamed tissues as you
swallow. Once you are healed they are fine for you to juice.
When you begin juicing and stop eating the foods that are bad for you, your body
immediately begins a cleansing process. You may even feel like you’re getting sick or
you may feel aches or pains. Don’t worry about this; it is your body healing itself. Fresh
juices from good fruits and vegetables will not harm you. I went through that process
myself, even though you get aches or pains just keep focused on the fact that your
digestion is already better than it has been in how long. Every few days think back on
where your digestion was 2 days ago or 4 days ago or a week ago.
Juicing is the most powerful way to heal your body and stay healthy.
Once you are healed and eating good foods you can go for long
periods with no need to juice. You should do it anyway but if you
don’t have time you won’t have to. If you let yourself slip and start
eating too much junk again, you can always get yourself back into
shape by juicing.
You will notice immediate results from your first or second glass. It will put out the fire.
In the beginning, make this the first thing you do in the morning. Make a glass of carrot
juice and slowly drink it. Make it the first thing in your gut in the morning. Shower and
brush your teeth, then make breakfast. This gives the juice time to settle in your stomach.
Try to drink another glass later on in the day. Try not to drink the juice with a meal, drink
it before or in between. Juice that you just made is the best; it is alive. I don’t recommend
making a big batch and keeping it in the fridge. Some enzymes are gone in as little as 30
minutes; drink it when it’s alive, right away.
I’ll say it one last time, you must juice: it is your best friend. You will be getting lots of
enzymes and alkalizing the body.
Foods to Eliminate
For the time being completely eliminate the following things or reduce them to next to
nothing. These are the worst of the worst but if you notice a food that you know is
terrible for you that isn’t on the list, eliminate it.
Once you have reflux under control and have healed the damage you can eat some of
these foods every now and then as a treat. As time goes on and you understand what it is
like to eat real food, you won’t want to eat many of these things, not because you can’t
but because you realize how worthless they really are.
Sodas – Any and all sodas, regular, decaffeinated and sugar free. It is all
complete garbage, contains not a thing of nutritional value and only damages
the body. If you drink 1 or more sodas a day, this may be half of your
problem right here. Completely quitting can be tough if you are a soda
junkie like I was, just do it. You must stop drinking sodas!
Hydrogenated Oils – Most oils, solid or liquids, ones that claim to be better for you or
not. Heated oils become hydrogenated and are completely indigestible, the body cannot
break this stuff down but it will try, putting a tax on the system. There are other very bad
things that these oils do to your body that I go into in greater detail in their own section;
it’s too big a subject to put here.
This means all fried foods (ouch, I know). Fried in a pan or deep fried or even baked
with oil it’s all the same. As if that isn’t tough enough it gets worse. Hydrogenated oils
are in so many things that they are virtually impossible to completely avoid. Crackers,
cookies, salad dressings, many dried or powdered things that come in boxes and many,
many more things we buy at the grocery store have this stuff listed in the ingredients. Not
only are you ingesting this stuff from the fried foods you eat but all these other things that
you don’t even know about.
You won’t be able to completely eliminate this stuff but you must do your
best to cut way down on it. Cook stuff on the grill, broil or do more baking
of things. Pure extra virgin olive oil is supposed to be good for you until you heat it to a
certain point. Buy the good stuff, it’s expensive. Extra virgin is what you want; it is made
from the first pressing of the olives. Pure olive oil, virgin olive oil and there are others,
are not the good stuff.
Butter is not nearly as bad for you as it has been made out to be. Too much of anything
is bad, though. Look around at the amounts of butter that people put on things, a little
butter is ok, a lot is no good.
Frying in butter is not “good” for you but is far less harmful than frying in vegetable oils.
Use the smallest amount needed if you must fry something. Margarine and butter
substitutes are garbage; most are made with hydrogenated oil or other manmade crap,
they are no good for you.
Do some research; these things that were supposed to be manmade
substitutes that were better, are now coming under fire as being
worse for us. Margarine is made from 100% hydrogenated oil! Butter
is a more natural product. Don’t fall for all the low fat and fat free
bull; they are just pocketing your money.
Always base your choices according to the concept of manmade vs. natural. Manmade
is always inferior to natural, this is the choice you will be making the rest of your life. It
is only common sense, for you are a product of nature. The next time you walk into the
grocery store stop and look around, the produce section, which is usually a small section,
is natures section, this is your section. The rest of the store is what you want to avoid as
much as possible. It is basically that simple to understand but habits have to change to
implement it in your life, more on this later.
Chocolate – Sorry, you can eat some once you are healed, but for now completely avoid
it. This includes cocoa and chocolate milk. It is not good for the stomach is hard to digest
and weakens the LES.
Ice Cream – It’s practically all sugar and dairy. Eliminate this from your diet; there is
nothing good to say about this food.
Milk – Cow’s milk, contrary to what we all have been brainwashed into thinking, is not
made for human consumption. It is made to fatten up baby cows and does a great job of
that because it’s loaded with fat and sugars. Forget the vitamin D bull, you get more from
green leafy vegetables than milk, that’s why they “fortify it with vitamin D”, it’s a selling
point.
Many people are allergic or intolerant of cows’ milk. Not only that but all milk today is
pasteurized. Pasteurization heats the milk and kills off most of the good things in the milk
and makes it even harder to digest. On top of all of that, milk is loaded with pesticides
and antibiotics that the cows ingested. Today’s milk is bad for people and it is hard to
digest, definitely not good if you’re having digestive troubles.
White Refined Sugar – I could write a whole chapter on the dangers of sugar that have
nothing to do with reflux but we’ll stick to the topic. Refined sugar is nothing but a slow
poison for the body. Sugar turns to pure acid in the stomach and is terrible for reflux.
Refined sugar sends the whole body into overtime to process it. Keep eating lots of
refined sugar and reflux will be the least of your problems. Refined sugar is in so many
foods we eat that it is very hard to completely cut it out of your diet, but you must begin
to see this poison for what it is.
Processed and Smoked Meat Products – Bologna, ham, salami, pepperoni, dry beef,
beef jerky, bacon, hot dogs and the like. These things are very, very hard to digest,
contain nothing worthwhile for the body and contain lots of chemicals that are terrible for
you, like nitrates.
Stop the above things as much as you possibly can, below are things to avoid, they are
not good for you but I put the above in their own place because in my opinion they are
the worst of the worst.
Coffee – If you can stop for a while, do it. Coffee is supposed to weaken the LES plus we
all know too much coffee rots your gut out, so it’s not good for your problem.
If you can’t completely stop, here are the tricks to learn; first, coffee is not nearly as bad
as soda, but it is in no way good for your digestion. One cup in the morning is ok, that’s
it, just be glad you can drink it. Not a 16 oz. either, just a regular cup or mug.
Now listen, don’t drink it first thing. Eat breakfast and get some good
nutrition in your gut. Wait at least a half hour or so until you have
your coffee, allow your body time to move the food you just ate to
the lower part of the stomach before you put coffee into your
stomach.
Also there is coffee that is absolutely terrible for your gut and other coffee that isn’t bad
at all. You have to find what works for you. Oh yeah, some of you will hate me for this;
don’t ever put cream, milk or sugar in your coffee. You take a drink, that although it isn’t
good for your digestive system can be tolerated, and make it into a completely horrible
concoction of poisons for your digestion. Don’t put a diaper on your coffee.
Tobacco – I’m not going to get on a soap box about smoking. It’s supposed to irritate the
stomach lining and weaken the LES. You know smoking is bad for you, you should quit.
Rich foods, creamed foods like creamed soup – Rich foods like gravy and creamed
soups are not good; I really don’t know why except most contain milk or cream, but
avoid them.
Fruit Drinks – Store bought fruit drinks are usually thought of as “healthy”, the game
here is that most are made “with fruit flavorings” and then loaded with sugar. These are
junk and to be avoided. Start reading labels; get yourself out from the spell they have you
under. It is possible to find 100% juice but it usually includes some kind of preservatives,
still much better than the sugar crap.
Alcohol – A little beer or wine probably does no real harm but any more than just a little
is no good, quit. If you are drinking a lot and eating with alcohol in your gut, this is no
good. No one should even have to tell you this.
Stress – We all know that when we’re stressed out or tense and eat a meal that the food
kind of just lays in your gut and heartburn or reflux is much worse. We have all
experienced this and know it’s true, this tells us there is definitely some kind of link to
digestion and your mindset. Don’t even bother trying to figure out how it works, just
accept it. Relax and enjoy your meals. Don’t rush through your meals. This is tough at
work. Stress is real and it can kill or make you sick, don’t underestimate it. Get the things
in your life taken care of that are stressing you out.
Salt – It is not good for you in many ways. Try using herbs to season foods; you’ll be
surprised how many flavors there are besides just boring old salt. That being said, some
things are pretty bland without a little salt. I use a little on some things and only sea salt;
you can get it at most supermarkets. It isn’t as bad for you as the regular
iodized salt you’re used to. Don’t worry about getting enough iodine; you
can’t completely avoid eating things that contain salt so you’ll get plenty.
It is better to lightly salt foods while cooking than salting after, like when
on your plate. Salt is very acidic and acidifies good foods. Try to not add
any extra salt to your meals, there are so many herbs and spices that you’ve
never even tasted, don’t be afraid to try new things. There is more information about salt
at the end of this book.
White flour – This is another manmade, nutritionally devoid and indigestible food
product. White flour is made by processing out every single good thing for the sake of
giving pastries and breads shelf life. Later it was realized that people weren’t getting the
vitamins and nutrients that they used to so they began “fortifying” the processed flour
with artificial vitamins and nutrients. This is the sad state of our foods today. Generations
have now been raised that have never eaten real bread. There is more about white flour at
the end of this book.
Black pepper – Fresh ground pepper or ground pepper from a shaker can irritate the
digestion. If you’ve been using a lot of pepper try cutting it out for a while. Try using
herbs and spices instead. For some people, black pepper can be a real source of irritation
for the stomach. I recommend completely cutting it out in the beginning.
Cheeses – It is probably a good idea to cut down on cheese consumption while healing.
Stay away from white American and cheddar; they are loaded with salt and other bad
things. Aged cheeses are pretty much lactose free. Good parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano
is the best), is easy to digest and tastes great.
If you buy strong, aged cheeses and grate them yourself, a little goes a long way. In this
way you are not eating the quantity of cheese that you may have been.
Hot and Spicy Foods – The tolerance to these foods depend on the individual. Hot and
spicy foods do not make reflux worse but can be uncomfortable until you are healed. Hot
peppers contain some things that are good for you and you should include some in your
diet. Spices are the way to jazz up you meals without sugar and salt.
So what are you thinking? Does the majority of your diet consist of the foods listed
above? Not a single one of those things is a natural food product except maybe black
pepper. The question isn’t how you got these digestive problems but how in the world did
you stay as healthy as you did for as long as you did! It is a testament to the toughness of
the human body.
A couple of other foods to cut out while healing are most cheeses and pickles. There is
more detailed info about these at the end of this book.
You must stop eating manmade stuff and instead eat as many natural foods as
possible. Don’t worry that there isn’t anything left to eat, we’ll get to that later, instead
realize that you are going to learn how to eat well, maybe for the first time in your life.
Habits
We are being good to our digestive system to allow it to heal, that is the goal here. I want
you to think about this as you eat and prepare food.
Chew all food thoroughly (very important) – Once upon a time children were taught
this by their parents and for good reason. Good digestion begins by chewing food
thoroughly, breaking it down to small pieces. The smaller the pieces, the less work the
stomach must do. Swish food and drink around while you chew to mix saliva in with it.
Saliva contains digestive enzymes and begins to break foodstuffs down. Do this
consciously at first, keep reminding yourself of this until it becomes natural. Are you
gulping your food down in a hurry? I did this for many years. Chew your food and you
are being good to your system.
Drink plenty of water – But not with your meals! This is probably the first time you
heard this advice. We all know to drink plenty of water throughout the day. As far as how
much to drink I don’t think anyone can tell you this but your own body – drink plenty and
then a little more is my advice. If you are like many people, you may drink no water at all
and get your hydration from sodas and ice teas. Drink good quality water, the best thing
is to get a water filter for your home if your water has chlorine in it. You don’t have to
spend a fortune. I have an under sink one, it does a good job, gets rid of chlorine but the
filters are a little expensive.
The reason to not drink with meals is because it dilutes the enzyme/food mix and
acid your stomach releases to digest your food. By drinking a lot of water while
you eat you are working against your digestive system. If you must drink a little
to help wash food down just sip enough water to do this, definitely not more than
half a glass at a meal. Also, don’t drink really cold liquids; it’s not good for the
stomach.
Between chewing food well and not drinking a lot of liquids with meals you may notice
right away that foods are being digested better. Many people I know drink nothing but
liquids that tend to dehydrate them, like coffee, tea and sodas. Drink a lot of water, keep
your body hydrated, it’s made up of like 90% water.
Never eat within 2 or 3 hours of bedtime – This is an absolute must. Your digestive
system wants to rest and rebuild in the evening and overnight. If you overwork your
digestive system all day with indigestible foods and then eat before bed, you are putting a
tremendous strain on your system.
Food in the stomach at night does not digest properly, your digestion works best when
you move around a little after meals. This is why you shouldn’t sit or lay right after
eating. Go for a short walk, a custom in some European countries, you don’t want to do
something strenuous on a full stomach but you do want to move.
Besides the inactivity thing slowing down digestion, the simple fact is that while you sit
or stand all day, gravity helps to hold reflux down. At night you are laying down and the
refluxed digestive juices get much farther up into the esophagus and in some cases into
the air passages and the lungs. This is a big cause of LPR or silent reflux.
There has been much advice about raising the head of your bed 4 to 6 inches with
wooden blocks or propping yourself up with pillows (there are even special pillows you
can buy for this). This is completely ridiculous. It might help a little but if you look at a
diagram of the upper digestive system you will see that the esophagus enters the stomach
from the right side. The best way to get it up as high as possible is to lie on your left side.
I cannot stress this enough, you must not eat before bedtime. If you can’t sleep when
hungry, change how you eat so you get stuff in your gut as late as allowable. If you have
to eat late, fresh fruits are the most easily digestible foods. Most can be completely
digested in about an hour.
Food Combining
This is one thing most modern nutritionists all seem to agree on. It is good digestive
science. If you are entering middle age and you are starting to have problems, then these
simple rules should be followed.
Don’t eat simple carbohydrates with highly saturated fats – Simple carbs are foods
like refined sugar containing foods, white flour containing foods and potatoes. Saturated
fat foods are red meat, processed meat products and dairy products.
The body digests simple carbs and fats differently. When you put them into the stomach
together they kind of work against each other and put extra strain on your system. Don’t
eat sandwiches on white bread or rolls until you get the refluxing under control (this
includes hamburgers). White bread is made for shelf life in the store; it is a really terrible
food for your body. You can eat sandwiches later, but while trying to get your reflux
under control, realize that they put extra strain on your system at a time you’re trying to
let your system heal. You may be surprised at the variety of breads available when you
start looking.
Instead of trying to remember what a simple carb is, just avoid refined sugar and white
flour products. Instead of eating potatoes with meals try substituting a different veggie.
The standard meat and potatoes meal is not a good one.
Carbohydrates that aren’t digesting well can create a lot of pressure, gas and burping.
This is why, in the beginning especially, you want to try to cut out pasta, breads, rolls and
potatoes as much as possible. If you eat carbs, try to eat fresh foods with enzymes along
with them, salads are good for this.
So a baked potato with a salad is good, potatoes and steak is no good. Instead of potatoes
with a meal, have another vegetable portion.
Take Note; According to Ann Gittleman, "Proteins do combine well with other friendly
carbs such as a baked potato, a sweet potato, corn or peas – providing a green leafy salad
is included in the meal."
Do you think it’s because the salad provides the enzymes needed?
Don’t eat fruits with a meal or right after – Eat fruit by itself between meals, as a meal
or 20 or 30 minutes before a meal. Eating fruit after a complex meal may allow fruit to
remain in the stomach long enough to start to ferment which will make your problem
worse. Fresh fruits digest quickly, meat digests more slowly.
Eat smaller meat portions and more vegetables – Meats are harder to digest than
veggies and are more acidic. For the time being cut down on red meat and try to eat no
pork, it is very difficult to digest. Eat more fish. Make the biggest portion of your meals
the vegetables.
Milk and meat should not be eaten together - Milk and meat are simply not designed
to be digested together. Sipping a hot tea with meals helps digestion.
Only one protein per meal - This means no steak and lobster or steak and shrimp. No
steak and chicken either. No shrimp and scallops either. However, EGGS are the
exception. Consider them neutral; they are good with meats, dairy, and beans.
Do not combine beans with meat, poultry, or fish - They combine well with dairy and
veggies.
Don’t eat a lot at one sitting – Overeating is a big problem. When your food is not
digesting properly, eating big meals can do nothing but make matters worse. The more
you eat, the longer it takes to digest and the longer the acidic juices remain in your
stomach. The longer the acid mixture is in your stomach, the greater the chances become
of having some reflux problems. The more food you stuff into your stomach, the more
pressure there is in there. Once again you are setting up favorable conditions for acid
reflux to occur.
Always have fresh fruit handy – Keep it in handy reach of everyone, like on the kitchen
table. When you are hungry for a snack, grab an orange, apple or banana instead of a
candy bar or some junk in a box. If you eat at work do the same, take plenty of fruit along
so you won’t hit the vending machines.
Digestive Enzymes – I strongly recommend taking these daily in the beginning. You
want to stop the refluxing as quickly as possible and begin healing. Once you’re feeling
better, then you can stop taking them and see if it makes a difference. I now take them all
them everyday, I think I feel better when taking them.
Other things that may help – you may try these things;
1. Deglycerized Licorice – supposed to be good for the stomach and sucking on
candy or gum works up saliva to keep acid off the LES. Ask for it at the health
food store.
2. Vinegar and Honey before eating – a spoonful each of organic vinegar and honey
mixed in a cup of warm water. A very healthy drink that contains lots of enzymes
and other trace elements. There is a section later that deals with apple cider
vinegar.
3. Ginger – ginger has been used in the East for thousands of years for digestive
problems.
Once you really understand what goes on inside of you when you eat, it’s not that
complicated, is it? How many things have you been doing in combination with each
other that are all setting up favorable conditions for acid reflux to occur? In addition
to the bad eating habits, the things we have been putting into our bodies for decades are
harming our cell structures. By eating these unnatural substances we are degrading all of
our body’s life support systems on the cellular level. You have been putting your body at
dis-ease, and disease is what lies in the future for many people today.
Although it is probably impossible for anyone to avoid all these bad things today, by
having the knowledge about what is bad for your body, you can avoid a great deal of
them. How much will your health increase this year if you stop eating foods that you
were under the impression were good for you (like cereal with milk), and replace it with
meals that are really nutritious?
Give your body the good stuff it wants and it will heal and rebuild stronger than ever.
Meds and Pills
Now we must think about any medication you may be on. If you need meds for some
ailment and must take them, realize that this may be a big part of your problem. If you
can’t switch to another or get off of them, you will just have to do what you can to get
your digestion into shape.
The main culprits that can really mess you up are pain relievers, especially NSAIDS.
Here is a link to that page on my website for more info - http://www.natural-refluxcure.com/nsaids.html
You must try to stop relying on these pain relievers. One pill every once in a while is
okay, but taken regularly they will really mess up your digestion and can even give you
stomach ulcers.
You want to try to take care of the physical body naturally and take zero pills for
anything.
Foods to Eat
Now I want to give you some examples of good food and then some
examples of good meals vs. bad meals. When fruits and vegetables
are in season locally you want to eat up. This is when you get the
freshest stuff and the cheapest prices. This also gives you an everchanging variety of foods throughout the year.
If you don’t live in an urban center, it’s easy to get local grown fruits and vegetables from
local growers. Don’t be afraid to eat stuff that looks less than perfect. The more perfect a
fruit looks, like an apple for instance, the more it was sprayed with chemicals. A perfect
apple is what you have been trained to want and that is what the big growers are going to
give you.
Fresh Vegetables – Fresh is the key word here, not frozen or canned. Get the freshest
veggies you can find. Right out of the garden is best, next is fresh cut and right to market
(like small vendors at farmer’s markets or roadside stands), last choice of fresh would be
the stuff at the supermarket. The reason I rank the supermarket last is because of
irradiation. Food irradiation is the process of exposing food to radiation to extend shelf
life. When this is done to Produce, it kills some of the enzymes and who knows what else
it does (sickening what is done to our food). I’m not saying all supermarkets do this, but I
just figure there is a much greater chance from a supermarket than a small vendor.
Immediately after vegetables are cut they begin losing vitamins,
nutrients and enzymes. The longer they lay around the more they
lose. Even fresh veggies that were cut days ago are better than
frozen. Frozen would be the next choice if you can’t get fresh.
Before freezing veggies are blanched (put in boiling water for a
minute or two) to kill bacteria. That and the freezing take a lot of
good stuff out of the vegetables. The worst choice is canned
vegetables; they are almost worthless and may contain lots of salt
and preservatives.
Here is the key to preparing veggies. If you want to eat some raw veggies, that is great,
just don’t dip them in stuff full of hydrolyzed oil like store bought dips. Most people boil
vegetables, this is a no-no. When you boil a veggie you kill many of the good living
things that it contains, many of which are a help for digestion, plus lots of nutrients are
leached into the water, which you pour down the drain. Also vegetables are alkaline by
nature but turn acidic when boiled.
Lightly steam all your veggies. This doesn’t have to be any more complex than boiling.
You can use a strainer over a pot with a little water in it or there are different kinds of
vegetable steamers available. Leave them a little crunchy; the less heat you give them,
the better they are for you. Light steaming leaves veggies alkaline and still containing
enzymes, which is what you want. Experiment in seasoning them with different herbs and
spices. Oregano, basil and a little cayenne pepper are good. Vary your seasonings so you
don’t get tired of one, use different herbs, treat yourself every now and then by sprinkling
a little sea salt on them while they steam or a little butter. Just remember a treat is okay,
but not all the time.
Tomatoes are a little different. Many people will tell you to avoid tomatoes if you have
reflux. Fresh tomatoes are delicious and very good for you. However, as soon as you
cook them they turn highly acidic and can irritate your digestion if you aren’t in the best
shape. Fresh tomatoes are very alkaline and are good for you. If you have never eaten a
homegrown tomato you have no idea how good they can taste, you cannot buy them at
the supermarket. I never cook or fry tomatoes anymore. I also avoid sauces with cooked
tomatoes in them (very difficult).
Fresh fruits – Once again fresh is the key. Avoid canned fruit; they are loaded with
sugary syrup and preservatives. The same things apply to fruits as vegetables, the fresher
the better. Get in the habit of eating fruit instead of junk food snacks.
Citrus fruits get a bad rap when it comes to reflux. While your
esophagus is inflamed, the acid in the citrus juice can burn and cause
irritation. After you have healed they are good to eat. Citrus fruits
actually turn alkaline in the stomach. Try to get some fresh
pineapple, its very good for digestion.
Yogurt with live cultures – This isn’t the regular stuff you get in the dairy case. Some
markets have the good stuff but you will probably have to go to the health food store.
What you are looking for is that it “contains live cultures”, not “made with live cultures”.
These companies play games with how they word it. Yogurt could be made with live
cultures but then heated while being pasteurized and kill them all. You want the living
cultures in there; they do wonders for your digestion.
Ask the person at the health food store. A way to tell if you have the good stuff is while
it’s in the container the cultures are working. After it sits for a few hours there are like
bubbles and lumps in it, a sign that the cultures are working.
Plain yogurt is not very tasty but you can get flavored yogurt that is
delicious. My personal favorite is maple flavor. You can add a little maple
syrup to plain yogurt if you can’t find it. If eating yogurt bothers you, stop.
It is a dairy product and may cause you problems if you’re lactose
intolerant. Also, like everything else too much of it is not good. Pour it over
fresh fruit and add some granola. Yogurt and fruit is a great between meal
snack and something to eat after supper instead of junk food. It is also very
quick and easy. Buy it by the quart and it is fairly cheap.
Note; yogurt is still a dairy product and if you have trouble digesting dairy, yogurt may
not be for you. If it bothers you, stop eating it.
Fresh Meats – Eat more fish and chicken, less red meat and virtually no pork. If you can
afford it, buy only meats raised with no hormones and chemicals. How you prepare it
also can take it from good to bad. Don’t eat the skin from poultry; it’s very bad for you.
Fatty cuts of meat are to be avoided, buy very lean ground beef. Fatty meats seem to
irritate the digestion in many people.
Meat isn’t the enemy, it’s the hormones, chemicals and pesticides that were pumped into
the animals to keep them healthy and fatten them up quicker. All meat and poultry you
buy today that doesn’t say it is organic or hormone free, isn’t.
Salads and Greens – Eat a lot of salads. Leafy green vegetables are loaded with things
that are good for you like enzymes. Try adding sprouts; they are one of the few foods that
actually contain the life force as you eat them. Salads are easy to digest so eat a lot of
them while trying to heal your system. Stop using store bought salad dressings whenever
possible, they contain hydrolyzed oil which makes the salad bad for your digestion.
Dressings are easy to make and there are some recipes included later
on. Mix up your salads and ingredients for variety or you’ll get tired
of eating them. Sometimes you just have to take a break from them
for a while.
Also, iceberg lettuce should be avoided; this is the only lettuce many
people have ever eaten. It is a lettuce that has been engineered for
disease resistance, insect resistance, resistance to browning, etc. It
has no taste and very little nutritional value; this is the pattern of what has been
happening to our food supply over the past 60 years or so. Some vegetables and fruits
today have only a tenth or less as much nutritional value as 50 or 60 years ago.
Eat as many locally grown foods as possible – Foods grown in your local soil are better
for you, they will be fresher and contain more nutrients and are usually cheaper when in
season. When foods are in season, eat up. Your food will be tastier and you’ll get variety
in your diet as different foods come into season.
The Healing Diet
I am going to provide you with a diet for healing the damage. This will get you started off
on the right foot and show you how to get a variety with your meals so you don’t get
bored and fall off the wagon.
Keep in mind that this is a diet to use in the beginning to get your
digestion back into shape; it will be strict about not including bad
foods. You can cheat a little as you get better, just don’t overdo it.
Start each morning with a glass of fresh carrot juice, do it first thing.
Breakfast
Fruit – a bowl of fresh, delicious mixed fruit like apples, oranges, tangerines, bananas,
grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, peaches and pears. Change the
fruit you buy each week to mix it up a little.
Oatmeal – buy oatmeal that is organic, boil water and pour it into a bowl with a pack of
oatmeal. Put enough water in to make it runny, it will thicken a lot over the next few
minutes. Oatmeal is lousy if you make it too thick. Even though it may come with dried
fruit, eat some fresh fruit with it to get enzymes.
Eggs, poached, soft or hard boiled – maybe a slice of rye bread toast with a
little butter and some of your favorite steamed vegetables or some fresh
salsa.
Yogurt – good, real, living yogurt found at the health food store. You can add fruit or
berries, granola or eat it plain. You can get cereals like kamut and other natural grains
(check the health food store) and eat it like a bowl of cereal except instead of milk use
yogurt. There is another product that is more of a liquid than yogurt called kefir. I find it
to be a little on the sour side. Try not to eat too much yogurt, it is still a dairy product and
dairy is the number one food that most people have trouble with.
Meats – if you want to eat meat for breakfast, go ahead. The problem is that the
traditional breakfast meats should be avoided. Bacon, ham and sausages are out; this
doesn’t leave a whole lot left unless you want to try turkey sausage or something like
that. Even then don’t fry it. You can grill or broil a steak or the sausage if you have to.
When eating meats make sure you take enzymes with the meal.
Juice – Do eat a breakfast, even if it is just a glass of fresh juice. If you can go without
much in the morning, just make sure you don’t snack on junk later on.
Absolutely none of the following
Sugary cereals (this is almost all of them), milk, fried foods, processed or smoked meats,
donuts, toaster pastries, bagels or any kind of cake or cookies, soda or anything else you
know to be bad for you. Don’t put any kind of sugar in your gut.
Only if you must – better to avoid
Coffee and Tea – stop completely if you can. If you can’t, try only drinking
a half of a small cup of coffee, like a half an hour or later after you have
eaten. Even a little coffee is a pleasure, and if it keeps you on track, it’s
okay. Try drinking only herbal teas and add no sugar, use honey from now on to sweeten
things. Try drinking herbal tea instead of coffee for a few weeks, it’s not the same but it
is a warm drink.
Lunch
Sandwiches – sandwiches can be good and bad. Avoid white bread and rolls whenever
possible. Think about what is in and on your sandwich. If it has lots of fresh veggies in it,
that’s good. If it is full of fried meats and processed meat products, very bad.
What are you putting on it, mayonnaise, ketchup, salt and the like? White bread = hard to
digest white flour, hydrolyzed oil and devoid of nutrients. Mayo and ketchup = oils, salt,
sugar and preservatives. If you need mayonnaise or ketchup, cut down on it as much as
you can. You can buy healthier mayonnaise at the health food store.
Try to eat sandwiches on whole wheat, rye or some type of
unleavened bread, flat bread or wrap, there is more about bread later.
Try to eat sandwiches full of fresh veggies. Try to find delis that serve healthy
sandwiches, they are out there.
Sandwiches are an endless subject, if you just cut out the processed meats and stop eating
a lot of white bread, you’re doing alright. Try to eat “lighter” sandwiches, I mean not so
much mostly meats and little fresh stuff, but the other way around, more fresh stuff and
less meats.
Like these;
Tuna on rye – make sure to include lots of fresh stuff, like lettuce, onions and sweet
peppers.
Fish sandwiches – not deep fried fish like the fast food joints give you, grill or broil some
fish and make a sandwich with fresh toppings.
Beef and chicken – same as above, grill your meats and make sandwiches with them.
Make the meat ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator, then just slice it up and make
sandwiches.
You are only limited by your imagination, keep experimenting.
More lunch;
Soups – another endless subject, soups can be nutritious or loaded with junk. I’ve
included a few soup recipes, but this is something you will have to investigate for
yourself. It’s the same old thing, what is in the soup and is that stuff good or bad for you.
Soup is obviously not “alive”, so it can’t be loaded with enzymes but soup can be
nutritious. Try to always get your enzymes, eat a salad or something alive with your soup.
So soup and a sandwich is good depending what it is. Soup and a
salad, better still.
Salads – very good for lunch. The variety of salads you can make is
endless, don’t get stuck in a rut for too long or you’ll get sick of
salads. Make salads a meal by themselves sometimes. Add grilled
chicken to get some protein in them. You should try to make two or
three meals in your week just a big salad.
Fruit – just mixed fresh fruit, especially if you didn’t have it for breakfast. This is a very
good lunch, every now and then. You want to get your fresh fruits and veggies every day
and you want them to be the majority of your diet.
A baked potato – with a salad or veggies is very good. Fresh salsa on the potato is
delicious.
This first week or two is where you will do a lot of healing. You won’t have to eat only
these foods after you have things under control, but for now be very, very good to your
body. You must stop refluxing to begin the healing, you will notice instant relief and then
you may hit a period where it seems it’s not getting better as quickly. Don’t worry about
it, look how long you’ve been doing the damage. It takes a while for cells to regenerate
and there was probably more damage than you suspected.
Any of the following dinner recipes can be substituted for lunch and the other way
around.
Dinner
Grilled or broiled fish – served with lightly steamed veggies and brown rice or a salad.
Baked fish – smothered with fresh, homemade salsa and some veggies.
Grilled chicken – with wild rice and some lightly steamed veggies is good.
Just a salad – if you think it will hold you so you don’t eat before bed.
Steak or roast – this is okay as long as you don’t fry it. Eat a smaller portion of meat and
more vegetables.
Use your imagination and mix it up, don’t get stuck in the rut of eating the same thing too
often. Do you get the idea? I want to give you a good foundation to build on, not a bunch
of specific recipes. You must never stop refining your diet for the rest of your life.
Snacks
Snacks are a key part of your diet. You want to only eat good snacks, like fresh fruit, and
you want to eat a lot. Make your snacks more like little meals, this way you won’t be
nearly as hungry at your regular mealtimes. This accomplishes a
couple of things; it is better to just eat fruit by itself and this is an
easy way to do that. If you are not starving when mealtime comes,
you won’t really stuff yourself and overeat and it will be easier to eat
the smaller meat portions and “lighter” meals.
Like I said, start to view between meal snacks as little meals all by
themselves. Any fresh fruit is a good snack. Yogurt with fresh fruit is
delicious, or cottage cheese and fruit. Try to eat more than just one little apple or banana,
eat both. Eat a little more than just enough to tide you over until the next meal time.
The Quick Reference List
Here is a quick summary of most of the points I just made for your reference.
Always base your choices on “manmade” or “natural”. Always get your enzymes in
some food at that meal. Begin to see that can of soda or that pre-made dinner for
what it really is; a poison not a food.
Foods to stop eating altogether
Sodas (all)
Hydrogenated oils (all oils and products containing them)
Chocolate
Milk
Refined white sugar and all foods containing it like, most cereals, pancakes, waffles,
cupcakes, pies, cakes, ice cream, snack cakes, donuts, toaster pastries, bagels, etc.
Processed and smoked meats (bologna, ham, salami, pepperoni, dry beef, jerky, bacon,
hotdogs, etc.)
All fried foods (pan fried or deep fried)
Frozen dinners, prepared, processed or boxed foods and anything not “natural”
Anything that seems to bother you
Foods to limit or cut out
Coffee
Tobacco
Gravies and creamed foods like soups
Salt, if you cut out the packed foods you will eliminate the majority of it. A little salt for
flavor is okay if you do that.
White flour (white bread, white rolls, cakes, pies, cookies, etc.)
Black pepper
Pickled foods and some cheeses
Foods to eat
Fresh vegetables (all, raw or steamed not boiled, must be fresh and alive, not frozen or
canned)
Fresh fruits (all including citrus unless you’re still sore and they burn, fresh tomatoes
okay, no canned fruits)
Salads and leafy greens (very good for you but not with store bought dressings)
Fresh meats (especially poultry - don’t eat the skin, fish, some red meat, no pork, try to
get hormone free or organically raised if possible, grilled or broiled)
Real yogurt with live cultures
Breads okay (whole grain or wheat or non-leaved, avoid white bread and rolls)
Juicing
Get a juicer and begin juicing fresh vegetables and fruits, at least twice a day in the
beginning, you can back off when you get control. Fresh carrot juice is the quickest way
to heal your problem.
Habits
1) Chew food thoroughly and mix with saliva in your mouth.
2) Drink plenty of good water but not with meals.
3) No eating within 2 or 3 hours of bedtime.
4) No fruits with meals.
5) Eat smaller portions of meat and more vegetables.
6) No real big meals; eat more often but smaller meals.
7) Try to eat something that contains enzymes at every meal.
8) Lightly steam, don’t boil your vegetables. Leave them crunchy.
9) Try to be happy and calm when eating, no stress.
10) Move around a little after eating, no laying down right after.
11) Exercise at least once or twice a week, stay in shape.
12) Take digestive enzymes.
Link to Healthy Eating
Here is some very good information about how to eat healthy.
Whole Foods Health Starts Here! -- http://wholefoodsmarket.com/healthstartshere/
Step 2: Staying on Course
Getting the refluxing under control, understanding the things that you’ve been eating and
doing that are harming you and changing your eating habits, that is the hardest part. But
your will to make those changes is the strongest in the beginning because of the terrible
condition you are in, you are highly motivated.
As soon as you begin to get better, the first thing most people do is to
try to see if they can go back to their old diet, it’s only natural. You
won’t be able to do that.
How long must you watch what you eat? That’s an easy one --- for
the rest of your life! Sorry!
Your body has changed, if you listen to your body and learn and adapt to the changes –
no big deal. What happened as your body changed and you didn’t make corresponding
changes to your lifestyle? This is how you got the acid reflux problem in the first place.
If you’ve come this far and gotten it under control, you’ve already done the
hardest part and you’ve already done most of the learning. Now you have
to stay on course. You can begin to “cheat” a little once it’s under control,
just don’t overdo it.
The following are things to help you in the “real world” and to give you some more
information to help you make decisions.
Some Best/Worst Examples
Some of the following meals listed as “best” are not what I would say are the best foods
to eat for reflux but I’m trying to give you examples of real life situations. These types of
choices are what you face all the time.
When you have control of what you are eating, like at home, eat only the foods that are
good for you as much as possible. When eating out or somewhere else, you will be faced
with choices, kind of like choosing the lesser of two evils. This is what I’m trying to get
you to understand with the following examples.
Breakfast
Eggs for breakfast; Eggs are loaded with protein and other good stuff; they are a great
food until you fry them.
Best – Hard boiled eggs w/vinegar and spices. Some fresh tomatoes or steamed asparagus
on the side.
Worst – Eggs fried in butter or oil, fried potatoes, sausage or bacon and some white toast.
Best – A vegetable omelet with your favorite veggies, fried with the bare minimum of
olive oil or butter, maybe a slice of whole wheat bread.
Worst – Egg omelet fried with lots of butter substitute, like margarine, with ham, sausage
or bacon and fried potatoes.
Best – Soft boiled or poached eggs seasoned with herbs, fresh steamed veggies.
Worst – Egg sandwich, fried eggs on white bread with bacon or sausage patty.
More breakfast:
Best – A bowl of fresh sliced fruit.
Worst – A sugar covered donut and a big cup of coffee.
Best – A bowl of strawberries or raspberries w/yogurt and granola.
Worst – Skip breakfast, grab a giant coffee on the way to work, get some pastry or
cookies out of the vending machine at work, more coffee later. Then wonder why your
heartburn is so bad today.
Worst – Toaster pastries and milk or sugary cereal in milk.
Worst – Pancakes, syrup and sausage or bacon washed down with coffee.
What you put in your gut in the morning is important; make sure it’s good stuff!
Breakfast sets the stage for the day; if you fire your reflux up with bad food in the
morning it will probably be with you all day.
Lunch
Best – A tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat or rye bread w/some steamed veggies.
Worst – A bologna sandwich on white bread w/potato chips and a soda.
Best – 2 slices of pizza w/mushrooms or sweet peppers.
Worst – 2 slices of pizza w/pepperoni or sausage.
Best – A hamburger cooked on the grill w/fresh onions, tomato, lettuce and sweet
peppers on a whole wheat bun with a baked potato on the side and some water to sip.
Worst – A hamburger fried w/bacon on top, on a white bun and french fries and soda to
drink.
Best – A large salad w/chicken pieces and homemade dressing and maybe a cup of soup.
Worst – A cheese steak w/hot peppers, hard pretzels and a couple of beers.
Dinner
Best – Grilled chicken, steamed broccoli, brown rice and whole wheat roll.
Worst – Meatloaf w/gravy, mashed potatoes and boiled vegetables from a can and a
white roll. In the past would you have considered this one of your better meals?
Best – Broiled salmon steak covered w/fresh salsa, steamed asparagus and a small salad.
Worst – Baked fish sticks, pan fried potatoes, boiled veggie and a big piece of pie for
dessert.
Best – Roast turkey, baked sweet potato, steamed green beans and no dessert.
Worst – Roast smoked turkey, sweet potatoes made w/brown sugar, boiled green beans
and pie or fruit from a can for dessert.
Stay away from frozen store-bought dinners, they are terrible for you. The meat is
inferior, vegetables are cooked then baked or microwaved and look at the salt content.
Best – Grilled chicken you froze heated in the microwave, fresh steamed veggies.
Worst – A frozen dinner heated up in the microwave and washed down with sweetened
ice tea or soda.
A quick quiz
So you find yourself out for lunch or dinner with friends or family. Everyone else has
ordered their usual of burgers, fries and sodas and now it’s your turn. So what is your
choice of the following?
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
A burger, fries and soda
Baked fish, rice, veggies and water
A burger, baked potato and water
A salad, cup of chili and water
Fried fish sandwich, fries and water
My choices from best to worst would be: b, d, c, e then a.
You are leaving early on a trip with others and you all agree to grab breakfast on the way.
You find yourself at a diner that has no really healthy food and mostly fried stuff.
Everyone orders stuff like fried eggs, bacon, fried potatoes and coffee or pancakes. Here
are your choices:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
An egg sandwich on whole wheat or rye toast, no potatoes and water to sip.
Fried eggs, fried potatoes and coffee.
A vegetable omelet and water. Make them stop for coffee later.
Soft boiled or poached eggs and some rye toast with water.
Pancakes and coffee.
A donut or bagel and coffee.
Skip breakfast and just have a cup of coffee.
This is a little tougher but these are the kind of decisions you are faced with. It’s easy
when you are in control, like at home, once you understand what food is good. By eating
well when you are in control you will be okay when in these other situations but you still
should make good choices as opposed to caving in to what others are eating. My choices
would be: c, d, a, e, g, b and lastly f.
Your choices may very well be different than mine depending on how certain foods affect
your body. Listen to your body over time and it will tell you what is or isn’t good for you.
A sugary donut and coffee would probably be the worst for your digestion followed by a
lot of fried, greasy stuff.
Do you get it? The last two sections might seem like a waste of time to some, but people
are coming from all different levels. I had no clue that those worst choices from above
were bad for me, in fact I would have argued that they were good!
Any choice from above can be dealt with better by your body if you take digestive
enzyme supplements with the first mouthful of food. There is a section later where I
explain more about them and recommend a product.
If we would live in a perfect world where we could always have control of what we eat
and always have a good supply of fresh foods and the time to prepare them it would be
easy. This is why you must eat well as much of the time as you can, because we all have
to live in the real world of today. Treat your body well, as long as you remain on the
Earth you have to live with your body and your ability to enjoy life is directly related to
the health of your body.
Stop Eating Desserts
Stop eating them in the beginning until you get things under control. I know many people
that will never do this, they will watch their health deteriorate as the years go by but will
never give up the dessert treats.
When you dump a sugary dessert on top of a healthy meal, you ruin
the healthy meal. You lose most of the benefits, as far as reflux is
concerned, of the healthy meal. Why do this?
Fruit, as stated earlier, is better eaten by itself than with a complex
meal.
Look, if you have to eat a treat, and I’m not recommending it, you’re much better off
eating it between meals by itself. Keep the sugary crap by itself; don’t dump it on top of a
good meal. Read the section on sugar.
Moment of Zen
When a person realizes that their body has a medical problem or disease (dis-ease) that
won't go away, the default reaction is usually one of two, or a mixture of both. One is to
deny that the problem exists or is really a problem at all and the other is to get rid of it,
which really becomes a fight to destroy it. It (the disease) is trying to destroy your body
or make you change your ways, which most people don't want to do, so you are really in
a battle with the disease. You want to kill this disease as easily as possible and get back
to your same old comfortable ways.
Either one of these reactions will not help you overcome the problem; in fact they will
only reinforce it. What you need to do is to come into oneness with the disease or
condition, move closer to it so you can understand it and then move beyond it.
You should be able to easily see that denying the problem won't make it go away. When
you deny that the problem exists, you are obviously not taking ownership or
responsibility for the problem and that is a big part of the reason you deny it. Most people
don't want to look at themselves or change their ways, they want to stay in their little
comfort zone.
You may not be able to see why fighting the disease is wrong, but let’s look at this
because it is important. When most people realize they have reflux or heartburn, the first
thing they do is start eating antacids. When that doesn't work they can now get over the
counter acid blocking drugs and when that doesn't solve their problems they go to a
doctor who will give them even stronger acid reducing pills. You have probably been
programmed to do these very same things. However, if you have been willing to read this
far and are open to the spirit of this website you are probably in the process of
deprogramming yourself and taking responsibility for your own problems.
Remember I told you earlier that in a way you were lucky to
have gotten reflux? What I want you to think about is instead
of running away from or fighting the disease of acid reflux,
you see it as a message. During the course of the day, as you
experience the effects of heartburn and reflux, think about it,
move closer to the problem and try to understand it more each
week.
You are experiencing the symptoms but what is causing
them? What is the burning, discomfort, belching or pressure
telling you? Do you really think it’s telling you to take more pills? Do you really think
this is going to cure the underlying problem? What illusions have you come to believe
about diet, food, exercise, health, drugs, medicine, etc.? It's sending you a message; will
you listen, learn and move on? Or will you try to ignore it or fight it?
As you grow older, if you pay attention you will notice that everything changes, nothing
is allowed to standstill, this includes your body. You can try to avoid change; many
people are stuck in this mindset. The more you try to remain the same, the more you will
struggle through life because the river of life keeps flowing around you; you are
struggling against the flow of life. There is no standstill, only transcendence. Go with the
flow.
As this relates to our discussion, you want to eat the same foods, do the same things as
you did before, but that will get you the same result or worse. It's just so tempting to go
get some pills and try to remain as before, but I'm telling you that moment has passed.
You cannot step into the same river twice. You must constantly transcend yourself, grow
and change, at the level of your diet and body and also at the level of your being.
Standstill is the death consciousness, moving with the flow is life!
Acid/Alkaline Balance
The body is supposed to be slightly alkaline by nature. Our modern diet leaves us all very
acidic; this is one of the big causes of all of our modern diseases and disorders. The body
almost cannot get sick if you are alkaline.
Your body being in an acid condition is not the same as too much acid in your stomach.
Just stop thinking that you have too much acid in your stomach, there is only like a 5%
chance that this is the case, maybe less.
Our body automatically assumes its alkaline nature when eating a good diet of unaltered,
natural foods like nature intended it. The modern diet consists almost entirely of acid
causing foods.
Most charts that I’ve found show foods that are either acid or alkaline in their chemical
composition. The right way to do this is to classify them based on the effect they have on
the body. Some foods that are on the acidic side actually are very good at alkalizing the
body.
Your diet should consist of 60% alkaline forming foods, 40% acid forming foods. To
restore your balance, you should try to eat more like 80% alkaline forming foods and
20% acid forming.
These charts are only intended as general guidelines for acid and alkaline forming foods.
Don’t get hung up on them!
...ALKALINE FOODS...
ALKALIZING VEGETABLES
Alfalfa
Barley Grass
Beet Greens
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrot
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard Greens
Chlorella
Collard Greens
Cucumber
Dandelions
Dulce
Edible Flowers
Eggplant
Fermented Veggies
Garlic
Green Beans
...ACIDIC FOODS...
ACIDIFYING VEGETABLES
Corn
Lentils
Olives
Winter Squash
ACIDIFYING FRUITS
Blueberries
Canned or Glazed Fruits
Cranberries
Currants
Plums**
Prunes**
ACIDIFYING GRAINS, GRAIN
PRODUCTS
Amaranth
Barley
Bran, oat
Bran, wheat
Bread
Green Peas
Kale
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Mustard Greens
Nightshade Veggies
Onions
Parsnips (high glycemic)
Peas
Peppers
Pumpkin
Radishes
Rutabaga
Sea Veggies
Spinach, green
Spirulina
Sprouts
Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes
Watercress
Wheat Grass
Wild Greens
ALKALIZING ORIENTAL
VEGETABLES
Daikon
Dandelion Root
Kombu
Maitake
Nori
Reishi
Shitake
Umeboshi
Wakame
ALKALIZING FRUITS
Apple
Apricot
Avocado
Banana (high glycemic)
Berries
Blackberries
Cantaloupe
Cherries, sour
Coconut, fresh
Corn
Cornstarch
Crackers, soda
Flour, wheat
Flour, white
Hemp Seed Flour
Kamut
Macaroni
Noodles
Oatmeal
Oats (rolled)
Quinoa
Rice (all)
Rice Cakes
Rye
Spaghetti
Spelt
Wheat Germ
Wheat
ACIDIFYING BEANS & LEGUMES
Almond Milk
Black Beans
Chick Peas
Green Peas
Kidney Beans
Lentils
Pinto Beans
Red Beans
Rice Milk
Soy Beans
Soy Milk
White Beans
ACIDIFYING DAIRY
Butter
Cheese
Cheese, Processed
Ice Cream
Ice Milk
ACIDIFYING NUTS & BUTTERS
Cashews
Legumes
Peanut Butter
Peanuts
Currants
Dates, dried
Figs, dried
Grapes
Grapefruit
Honeydew Melon
Lemon
Lime
Muskmelons
Nectarine
Orange
Peach
Pear
Pineapple
Raisins
Raspberries
Rhubarb
Strawberries
Tangerine
Tomato
Tropical Fruits
Umeboshi Plums
Watermelon
ALKALIZING PROTEIN
Almonds
Chestnuts
Millet
Tempeh (fermented)
Tofu (fermented)
Whey Protein Powder
ALKALIZING SWEETENERS
Stevia
ALKALIZING SPICES &
SEASONINGS
Chili Pepper
Cinnamon
Curry
Ginger
Herbs (all)
Miso
Mustard
Sea Salt
Tamari
Pecans
Tahini
Walnuts
ACIDIFYING ANIMAL PROTEIN
Bacon
Beef
Carp
Clams
Cod
Corned Beef
Fish
Haddock
Lamb
Lobster
Mussels
Organ Meats
Oyster
Pike
Pork
Rabbit
Salmon
Sardines
Sausage
Scallops
Shellfish
Shrimp
Tuna
Turkey
Veal
Venison
ACIDIFYING FATS & OILS
Avacado Oil
Butter
Canola Oil
Corn Oil
Flax Oil
Hemp Seed Oil
Lard
Olive Oil
Safflower Oil
Sesame Oil
Sunflower Oil
ACIDIFYING SWEETENERS
ALKALIZING OTHER
Alkaline Antioxidant Water
Apple Cider Vinegar
Bee Pollen
Fresh Fruit Juice
Green Juices
Lecithin Granules
Mineral Water
Molasses, blackstrap
Probiotic Cultures
Soured Dairy Products
Veggie Juices
ALKALIZING MINERALS
Calcium: pH 12
Cesium: pH 14
Magnesium: pH 9
Potassium: pH 14
Sodium: pH 14
Although it might seem that citrus fruits
would have an acidifying effect on the
body, the citric acid they contain
actually has an alkalinizing effect in
the system.
Note that a food's acid or alkaline
forming tendency in the body has
nothing to do with the actual pH of the
food itself. For example, lemons are
very acidic, however the end products
they produce after digestion and
assimilation are very alkaline so,
lemons are alkaline forming in the
body. Likewise, meat will test alkaline
before digestion, but it leaves very
acidic residue in the body so, like
nearly all animal products, meat is
very acid forming.
Carob
Corn Syrup
Sugar
ACIDIFYING ALCOHOL
Beer
Hard Liquor
Spirits
Wine
ACIDIFYING OTHER FOODS
Catsup
Cocoa
Coffee
Mustard
Pepper
Soft Drinks
Vinegar
ACIDIFYING DRUGS & CHEMICALS
Aspirin
Chemicals
Drugs, Medicinal
Drugs, Psychedelic
Herbicides
Pesticides
Tobacco
ACIDIFYING JUNK FOOD
Beer: pH 2.5
Coca-Cola: pH 2
Coffee: pH 4
** These foods leave an alkaline ash
but have an acidifying effect on the
body.
UNKNOWN:
There are several versions of the Acidic and Alkaline Food chart to be found in
different books and on the Internet. The following foods are sometimes attributed
to the Acidic side of the chart and sometimes to the Alkaline side. Remember,
you don't need to adhere strictly to the Alkaline side of the chart, just make sure a
good percentage of the foods you eat come from that side.
Brazil Nuts
Brussel Sprouts
Buckwheat
Cashews
Chicken
Corn
Cottage Cheese
Eggs
Flax Seeds
Green Tea
Herbal Tea
Honey
Kombucha
Lima Beans
Maple Syrup
Milk
Nuts
Organic Milk (unpasteurized)
Potatoes, white
Pumpkin Seeds
Quinoa
Sauerkraut
Soy Products
Sprouted Seeds
Squashes
Sunflower Seeds
Tomatoes
Yogurt
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not
intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease; research is ongoing.
Here's a chart that ranks foods from most alkaline to most acidic.
Ranked Foods: Alkaline to Acidic
Extremely Alkaline
Lemons, watermelon.
Alkaline Forming
Cantaloupe, cayenne celery, dates, figs, kelp, limes, mango, melons, papaya,
parsley, seaweeds, seedless grapes (sweet), watercress.
Asparagus, fruit juices, grapes (sweet), kiwifruit, passionfruit, pears (sweet),
pineapple, raisins, umeboshi plums, and vegetable juices.
Moderately Alkaline
Apples (sweet), alfalfa sprouts, apricots, avocados, bananas (ripe), currants,
dates, figs (fresh), garlic, grapefruit, grapes (less sweet), guavas, herbs (leafy
green), lettuce (leafy green), nectarine, peaches (sweet), pears (less sweet),
peas (fresh, sweet), pumpkin (sweet), sea salt (vegetable).
Apples (sour), beans (fresh, green), beets, bell peppers, broccoli, cabbage,
carob, cauliflower, ginger (fresh), grapes (sour), lettuce (pale green), oranges,
peaches (less sweet), peas (less sweet), potatoes (with skin), pumpkin (less
sweet), raspberries, strawberries, squash, sweet Corn (fresh), turnip, vinegar
(apple cider).
Slightly Alkaline
Almonds, artichokes (jerusalem), brussel sprouts, cherries, coconut (fresh),
cucumbers, eggplant, honey (raw), leeks, mushrooms, okra, olives (ripe), onions,
pickles (homemade), radishes, sea salt, spices, tomatoes (sweet), vinegar
(sweet brown rice).
Chestnuts (dry, roasted), egg yolks (soft cooked), essene bread, goat's milk and
whey (raw), mayonnaise (homemade), olive oil, sesame seeds (whole), soy
beans (dry), soy cheese, soy milk, sprouted grains, tofu, tomatoes (less sweet),
and yeast (nutritional flakes).
Neutral
Butter (fresh, unsalted), cream (fresh, raw), cow's milk and whey (raw), margine,
oils (except olive), and yogurt (plain).
Moderately Acidic
Bananas (green), barley (rye), blueberries, bran, butter, cereals (unrefined),
cheeses, crackers (unrefined rye, rice and wheat), cranberries, dried beans
(mung, adzuki, pinto, kidney, garbanzo), dry coconut, egg whites, eggs whole
(cooked hard), fructose, goat's milk (homogenized), honey (pasteurized),
ketchup, maple syrup (unprocessed), milk (homogenized).
Molasses (unsulfured and organic), most nuts, mustard, oats (rye, organic),
olives (pickled), pasta (whole grain), pastry (whole grain and honey), plums,
popcorn (with salt and/or butter), potatoes, prunes, rice (basmati and brown),
seeds (pumpkin, sunflower), soy sauce, and wheat bread (sprouted organic).
Extremely Acidic
Artificial sweeteners, beef, beer, breads, brown sugar, carbonated soft drinks,
cereals (refined), chocolate, cigarettes and tobacco, coffee, cream of wheat
(unrefined), custard (with white sugar), deer, drugs, fish, flour (white, wheat), fruit
juices with sugar, jams, jellies, lamb.
Liquor, maple syrup (processed), molasses (sulphured), pasta (white), pastries
and cakes from white flour, pickles (commercial), pork, poultry, seafood, sugar
(white), table salt (refined and iodized), tea (black), white bread, white vinegar
(processed), whole wheat foods, wine, and yogurt (sweetened).
More Ranked Foods: Alkaline to Acidic
Highly Alkaline Forming Foods
Baking soda, sea salt, mineral water, pumpkin seed, lentils, seaweed, onion, taro
root, sea vegetables, lotus root, sweet potato, lime, lemons, nectarine,
persimmon, raspberry, watermelon, tangerine, and pineapple.
Moderately Alkaline Forming Foods
Apricots, spices, kambucha, unsulfured molasses, soy sauce, cashews,
chestnuts, pepper, kohlrabi, parsnip, garlic, asparagus, kale, parsley, endive,
arugula, mustard green, ginger root, broccoli, grapefruit, cantaloupe, honeydew,
citrus, olive, dewberry, carrots, loganberry, and mango.
Low Alkaline Forming Foods
Most herbs, green tea, mu tea, rice syrup, apple cider vinegar, sake, quail eggs,
primrose oil, sesame seed, cod liver oil, almonds, sprouts, potato, bell pepper,
mushrooms, cauliflower, cabbage, rutabaga, ginseng, eggplant, pumpkin, collard
green, pear, avocado, apples (sour), blackberry, cherry, peach, and papaya.
Very Low Alkaline Forming Foods
Ginger tea, umeboshi vinegar, ghee, duck eggs, oats, grain coffee, quinoa,
japonica rice, wild rice, avocado oil, most seeds, coconut oil, olive oil, flax oil,
brussel sprout, beet, chive, cilantro, celery, okra, cucumber, turnip greens,
squashes, lettuces, orange, banana, blueberry, raisin, currant, grape, and
strawberry.
Very Low Acid Forming Foods
Curry, koma coffee, honey, maple syrup, vinegar, cream, butter, goat/sheep
cheese, chicken, gelatin, organs, venison, fish, wild duck, triticale, millet, kasha,
amaranth, brown rice, pumpkin seed oil, grape seed oil, sunflower oil, pine nuts,
canola oil, spinach, fava beans, black-eyed peas, string beans, wax beans,
zucchini, chutney, rhubarb, coconut, guava, dry fruit, figs, and dates.
Low Acid Forming Foods
Vanilla, alcohol, black tea, balsamic vinegar, cow milk, aged cheese, soy cheese,
goat milk, game meat, lamb, mutton, boar, elk, shell fish, mollusks, goose,
turkey, buckwheat, wheat, spelt, teff, kamut, farina, semolina, white rice, almond
oil, sesame oil, safflower oil, tapioca, seitan, tofu, pinto beans, white beans, navy
beans, red beans, aduki beans, lima beans, chard, plum, prune and tomatoes.
Moderately Acid Forming Foods
Nutmeg, coffee, casein, milk protein, cottage cheese, soy milk, pork, veal, bear,
mussels, squid, chicken, maize, barley groats, corn, rye, oat bran, pistachio
seeds, chestnut oil, lard, pecans, palm kernel oil, green peas, peanuts, snow
peas, other legumes, garbanzo beans, cranberry, and pomegranate.
Highly Acid Forming Foods
Tabletop sweeteners like (NutraSweet, Spoonful, Sweet 'N Low, Equal or
Aspartame), pudding, jam, jelly, table salt (NaCl), beer, yeast, hops, malt, sugar,
cocoa, white (acetic acid) vinegar, processed cheese, ice cream, beef, lobster,
pheasant, barley, cottonseed oil, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, fried foods,
soybean, and soft drinks, especially the cola type. To neutralize a glass of cola
with a pH of 2.5, it would take 32 glasses of alkaline water with a pH of 10.
A list of Acid / Alkaline Forming Foods
Alkaline Forming Foods
VEGETABLES
Garlic
Asparagus
Fermented
Veggies
Watercress
Beets
Broccoli
Brussel sprouts
Cabbage
Carrot
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard
Chlorella
Collard Greens
Cucumber
Eggplant
Kale
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Mustard Greens
Dulce
FRUITS
Apple
Apricot
Avocado
Banana (high
glycemic)
Cantaloupe
Cherries
Currants
Dates/Figs
Grapes
Grapefruit
Lime
Honeydew
Melon
Nectarine
Orange
Lemon
Peach
Pear
Pineapple
All Berries
Tangerine
Tomato
OTHER
Apple Cider Vinegar
Bee Pollen
Lecithin Granules
Probiotic Cultures
Green Juices
Veggies Juices
Fresh Fruit Juice
Organic Milk
(unpasteurized)
Mineral Water
Alkaline Antioxidant
Water
Green Tea
Herbal Tea
Dandelion Tea
Ginseng Tea
Banchi Tea
Kombucha
SWEETENERS
Stevia
Ki Sweet
Acid Forming Foods
FATS & OILS
Avocado Oil
Canola Oil
Corn Oil
Hemp Seed
Oil
Flax Oil
Lard
Olive Oil
Safflower Oil
Sesame Oil
Sunflower Oil
FRUITS
Cranberries
GRAINS
Rice Cakes
Wheat Cakes
Amaranth
Barley
Buckwheat
Corn
Oats (rolled)
NUTS &
BUTTERS
Cashews
Brazil Nuts
Peanuts
Peanut
Butter
Pecans
Tahini
Walnuts
DRUGS &
CHEMICALS
Aspartame
Chemicals
Drugs,
Medicinal
Drugs,
Psychedelic
Pesticides
Herbicides
ANIMAL
PROTEIN
Beef
Carp
Clams
Fish
Lamb
Lobster
Mussels
Oyster
Pork
Rabbit
Salmon
ALCOHOL
Beer
Spirits
Hard Liquor
Wine
BEANS &
LEGUMES
Black Beans
Chick Peas
Green Peas
Kidney Beans
Lentils
Dandelions
Edible Flowers
Onions
Parsnips (high
glycemic)
Peas
Peppers
Pumpkin
Rutabaga
Sea Veggies
Spirulina
Sprouts
Squashes
Alfalfa
Barley Grass
Wheat Grass
Wild Greens
Nightshade
Veggies
Tropical Fruits
Watermelon
PROTEIN
Eggs (poached)
Whey Protein
Powder
Cottage Cheese
Chicken Breast
Yogurt
Almonds
Chestnuts
Tofu
(fermented)
Flax Seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
Tempeh
(fermented)
Squash Seeds
Sunflower
Seeds
Millet
Sprouted Seeds
Nuts
SPICES/SEASONINGS
Cinnamon
Curry
Ginger
Mustard
Chili Pepper
Sea Salt
Miso
Tamari
All Herbs
ORIENTAL
VEGETABLES
Maitake
Daikon
Dandelion Root
Shitake
Kombu
Reishi
Nori
Umeboshi
Wakame
Sea Veggies
Quinoa
Rice (all)
Rye
Spelt
Kamut
Wheat
Hemp Seed
Flour
DAIRY
Cheese, Cow
Cheese, Goat
Cheese,
Processed
Cheese,
Sheep
Milk
Butter
Shrimp
Scallops
Tuna
Turkey
Venison
PASTA
(WHITE)
Noodles
Macaroni
Spaghetti
Lima Beans
Pinto Beans
Red Beans
Soy Beans
Soy Milk
White Beans
Rice Milk
Almond Milk
OTHER
Distilled
Vinegar
Wheat
Germ
Potatoes
Don’t get too hung up on these charts and remember that eating an over abundance of
highly alkaline forming foods isn’t the way to get rid of your reflux quick.
The only reason I included them at all is to give you a better idea of how natural food is
what you should be eating the most of and how bad processed food is for you. How much
of your diet is acid forming, 80% or maybe 90%? This is how processed foods are killing
us! It is only in the last 150 years that this even stuff exists.
Just remember this to keep it simple:
Foods that acidify the body – coffee, tea, table salt, sugar, meat, eggs, pasteurized milk,
cheese and all junk and processed foods.
Foods that alkalize the body – vegetables (especially green vegetables, the darker green,
the better), some raw dairy foods, most fruits, peas, beans, lentils, most herbs and spices,
seeds and nuts. Very alkalizing are avocados, cucumbers and almonds. Lemons and
tomatoes are acidic, but have an alkalizing effect on the body.
Wow, you’re more than halfway through this book
There is a lot of information and a lot of commonsense in what you’ve read so far, huh?
If you haven’t done so already, please go to my website and make a donation. If this
info has helped you at all, please help me keep the site up. www.natural-reflux-cure.com
Freely ye have received, freely give!
Enzymes Again
Remember, cooking kills enzymes so try to eat raw or lightly steamed veggies. Your
body wants a constant new supply of enzymes from your diet. Most of the initial
digestion depends on having proper amounts of enzymes. The more enzymes you get
with your food the easier this initial digestion becomes.
Raw foods are more easily digested than cooked foods. Raw foods
can be digested in ½ to 1/3 the time it takes for cooked foods.
Digestion of cooked foods uses much more energy than raw foods.
Because cooked foods are enzyme deficient, the body must use some
of the enzymes it wants to use for other important bodily functions
for digestion.
Eating too much processed and cooked (enzyme dead) foods causes the pancreas to be
overworked and burn out.
Here are some food sources that are loaded with enzymes;
Pineapples
Raw pineapples contain bromelain which helps in the digestion of proteins.
Papaya
Papayas contain papain in large amounts. Papain helps break proteins down into amino
acids.
Raw Fruits and Vegetables
These contain many different enzymes but most are good at digesting carbohydrates.
Raw Seeds and Nuts
Roasting destroys the enzymes. Nuts and seeds can be hard to digest so don’t eat large
amounts of these. The exception is almonds which are easier to digest. Nuts and seeds
contain lipase which breaks down fats. The pancreas makes lipase also but the less you
get in foods, the harder it must work.
Sprouts
Sprouts are probably the best source of all to get enzymes. They are one of the few foods
you’ll ever eat that are actually alive as you eat them, thus containing all the life force.
Sprouts have as much as 100 times as many enzymes as fruits and vegetables plus other
nutrients. You can grow your own sprouts; check your health food store or follow this
link. http://www.natural-reflux-cure.com/sprouts.html
Be sure to get your enzymes
You can also take enzyme supplements; we’ll get into that in a minute. Try to get as
much as possible from your food. Man still doesn’t know all the trace elements that are
contained in natural food and its effects in the body. Juicing fresh vegetable and fruits is a
great way to get lots of enzymes. This is why you want to make your own fresh juice and
drink it right away instead of making a large batch and putting it in the fridge. The
enzymes begin dying off or losing strength soon after juicing.
If you make sure to get your enzymes, here are some of the affects you may see; reflux,
heartburn, indigestion, gas, bloating, and belching may disappear. Digestion of dairy may
improve. People that are lactose intolerant are deficient in the enzyme that digests dairy.
You may have more energy since food is digesting easier and even food allergies may
disappear.
Try to get enzymes with every meal and try to get them from your food. Eat veggies or a
salad with your meals. This is how you can eat a food that is not really good for your
reflux and contains no enzymes, say like a couple of slices of pizza, and get away with it.
Instead of potato chips, eat a small salad with that pizza. Be good to yourself.
Still More about Enzymes
Digestive enzymes are secreted by different glands in the body. The main ones are; the
salivary glands in the mouth, glands in the stomach, the pancreas and glands in the small
intestine.
The salivary glands secrete ptyalin. This enzyme digests starch into multiple sugars or
individual soluble sugars.
The stomach secretes a bunch of different enzymes, of these; pepsin is the main gastric
enzyme. Pepsin breaks proteins down into smaller peptides.
As food moves from the upper stomach (where the enzymes do the digestion) to the
lower stomach, acid is introduced and the enzymes are killed off. After the acid breaks
the food mixture down further still, it moves on to the small intestine where the acid is
neutralized.
Now the pancreas, the main digestive gland in the body, introduces more enzymes to
continue the process. The pancreas secretes many different enzymes, a few of which are;
trypsin - an enzyme like pepsin in the stomach, steapsin – used to digest carbohydrates
and bile from the liver which emulsifies fats. Lipase is also secreted to break fats down.
The small intestine secretes enzymes that break down sugars, fatty acids and proteins.
As you can see, if you don’t have enough of the proper enzymes, food will not be
digested properly.
Once you get control of your reflux, play detective and try to see if one type of food in
particular causes you distress. Does it seem that starches, sugars, proteins, dairy or fats
cause you problems? You may just be lacking in an enzyme that digests that type of food.
What I mean by distress is not necessarily reflux. As you heal, foods that used to cause
you reflux will now just cause you a little distress, like pressure or a full feeling like food
is taking longer than it should to digest. Don’t just ignore this, use this feeling to fine tune
what foods cause you the most trouble. You may just have to limit certain types of foods.
Enzyme supplements
I strongly recommend taking enzyme supplements, in the beginning especially.
Try taking enzyme supplements with your first mouthful at a meal. If you search the
internet for enzymes, you will be quickly overwhelmed. There are just so many out there
all claiming to be the best. You can spend a reasonable amount or a small fortune. There
are also programs and systems. Have a look for yourself.
Talk to an informed person at the health food store to see what they recommend. There
are vegetable based enzymes that are very good. There are many different enzymes; some
help digest protein, some starches, carbohydrates or dairy. Some formulas contain all of
these.
I’ve tried several different ones but what I’ve been taking for years is a product called
Ultra-Zyme by a company called Nature’s Plus. It has Pancreatin 4x – different
pancreas enzymes coated to be released in the small intestine. Other enzymes coated to
be released 50% in the stomach and 50% in the intestine. No artificial stuff, no yeast,
wheat, corn, soy or milk allergens. Instructions say take 1 or 2 tablets daily. Many others
have you taking them at every meal. They are also reasonably priced. They come in 2
sizes, 90 tabs and 180 tabs. I can’t find any good deals online in the 90 tab size, but in the
180 tab size I’ve found some excellent prices. If you follow this link it will take you to a
page on my site for the best deal I can find. http://www.natural-refluxcure.com/products.html
So it’s always easy to find, this link is always on the last page of this book.
Probiotics
There is a battle being fought inside your body every day. Your intestinal tract is
populated by trillions of beneficial bacteria. These beneficial bacteria take over your
intestinal tract and don’t allow harmful microbes and bacteria to get a foothold. They also
aid in the digestion of food.
With every breath of air you breathe in and everything you eat or drink harmful bacteria
are ingested into your body. If your body is in a healthy state the good guys win. This is
why it is so important to maintain a healthy digestive tract and stop doing the things that
kill off these beneficial bacteria.
As we age the amount of beneficial bacteria decline, adversely affecting digestion and
allowing harmful bacteria to get a foothold.
Here are some of the reasons for this decline:
1) Antibiotics – The word itself says it all; anti means against and biotic means life. So
antibiotics are just that, against life. When you take antibiotics they do what they’re
supposed to, kill bacteria. The problem is that they kill both good and bad bacteria.
By killing off a lot of the good bacteria it lets the bad bacteria get a foothold to make
you ill. Ever get diarrhea when taking antibiotics?
2) Meat, chicken and dairy – Unless it is organically raised it is full of antibiotics
which are given to the animals to keep them healthy in their crowded conditions
long enough to get them to butcher.
3) Chlorine – Chlorine is added to water supplies of all cities to kill harmful bacteria.
It also kills bacteria in you. Forget about studies that tell you it is only present in
“safe” levels, if it is present in enough quantity to kill bacteria in massive water
supplies it will do its job inside of you.
4) NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) – These are the common headache
and pain relief drugs that most everyone uses. They are harmful to the stomach and
kill the good bacteria in your digestive tract. For more information on nsaids follow
this link to their page on my website. http://www.natural-refluxcure.com/nsaids.html
5) Poor Diet and Bad Foods – Once again the poor quality of our foods and our
lifestyle come back to haunt us.
Note – Chlorine, antibiotics and headache pills serve a useful purpose. I’m just stating
the facts as I believe them to be. If you know what to avoid, you can make informed
choices in your daily life.
Eating a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables is a good way to get enzymes. Real yogurt
that contains living enzymes as discussed earlier is another good source.
You can also try supplementing your intake with probiotics and see if this makes a
difference to you. There are different formulas out there so I recommend talking to
someone at your local health food store.
Here are some of the things to look for:
1) Most good probiotics are kept refrigerated; however, there are advancements all the
time. Heat will kill the living stuff in the refrigerated ones.
2) There are many different strains of good bacteria but two seem to be more
beneficial than others. These are; L. acidophilus and bifidobacteria.
3) Capsules are the preferred way to take them because they provide better protection
from contamination, oxygen and moisture. The trick is to find one that can make it
through the digestion in the stomach and still have some bacteria left for the lower
digestive system.
Experiment with different ones to see what works for you. This is the only true test since
we are all a little different. Ask the expert where probiotics are sold, like a health food
store.
Probiotics are not enzymes, they are beneficial bacteria to supplement the damage being
done to your natural supply by our modern lifestyle.
Benefits of Staying in Shape
Every machine on this planet wears out and gets weaker with use. Your amazing body,
on the other hand, gets stronger with harder use (notice I said “use”, not “abuse”). Man
has not even come close to achieving anything like the living body.
The more we use our muscles, the stronger they become. When we
get more aerobic exercise, our lung capacity increases, our heart gets
stronger, our bones get stronger and life expectancy increases. Our
bodies are so incredible that we don’t even need a whole lot of
exercise to remain healthy, just once or twice a week is good enough.
More is better but not really necessary.
For good digestion you should try to get in decent shape. Firm
stomach muscles help with digestion. The overall benefits of exercising just once or twice
a week are so great and will make you feel so great that there is no need for me to dwell
on this subject.
If you are really out of shape, go slow and easy at first, don’t overdo it. I’m not going to
tell you what kind of exercise to do; there is more than enough information available on
the subject. There is no need to spend a lot of money on exercise equipment, either. A
jump rope or a few small dumb bells are enough. Start walking more and maybe work
your way up to a little jogging.
Once you start and as long as you don’t overdo it, you won’t want to quit. Your total
health will instantly improve and you will be more relaxed.
A Yoga Exercise
Yoga is physical stretching and breath control and has been practiced in India for
centuries. There are physical reasons why they work, it’s not some hokey-pokey mystical
stuff like many people think. Yoga is a great way to heal the mind and body. Here is an
exercise to help your digestion, try it.
The Stomach Lift
From a standing position, lean forward and place your hands on your knees. As you bend
forward, exhale all the air from your lungs and stomach. Try to get every last bit of air
out of your lungs. When you think there is no more left, try humming or making an
“ahhhhh” sound as you continue to exhale and you will find there is still some in there.
Get rid of it all.
After getting all the air out, tighten the muscles of your stomach and rectum, and pull
your abdomen in toward your spine, raising your diaphragm as you do so. Now push your
stomach out, pull it in again, back and forth, in and out. Do as many as you can until you
run out of breath. Relax and breathe deeply, rest for a minute or so and then do it again,
four times in a row.
Caution; with this and all other exercises, don’t push yourself to the point of pain or
passing out. When you feel you must inhale, do so. No good will come from pushing
yourself too hard.
If you are having a day when food seems like it is laying in your gut too long, that can
help. Don’t do it soon after eating though, you don’t want to do any exercising with food
in your stomach.
Apple Cider Vinegar
There has been much written about the benefits of apple cider vinegar to help acid reflux.
Some people swear by it and some claim it doesn’t help at all. I am not recommending it
or coming out against it. I include it here because it seems to be so popular, maybe it will
help some people.
You want to use organic, natural, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar. This is not the stuff
you get at the grocery store that is pasteurized and dead. Real vinegar is made from apple
juice or cider. If you leave a jug of cider sit for months it will turn to vinegar and get a
“mother” on top. You don’t need to know all the details, just get the stuff at the health
food store; it’s not expensive, like 4 or 5 dollars.
Real vinegar is cloudy and has sediments floating around in it. This is the good stuff that
is filtered out and killed with heat in the supermarket brands. Real fruits and vegetables
are not perfect and drinks are not crystal clear, it is by killing off the living things that
your body needs that you get a “perfect” apple or crystal clear bottle of vinegar.
Vinegar and Honey (The Elixir of Life)
Julius Caesar and George Washington gave it to their troops before battle. Hippocrates
gave it to all his patients. In the Pharaohs tombs, they sealed it in large vases to take this
into the next world. It helps to oxygenate the cells, improve circulation, balance your pH,
normalize thyroid function and metabolism, and rid the body of lactic acid and calcium
deposits, increase circulation, absorption, and assimilation of vitamins and minerals.
All that from a simple mixture of vinegar and honey. But the vinegar must be raw, nonpasteurized, apple cider vinegar. All other vinegars are catabolic (acid forming).
Some people like to mix them full strength in the morning and drink it down: a shot of
vinegar and a shot of honey together. However, here is the ancient formula:
Mix 1 cup of the apple cider vinegar with ½ cup of honey (can use less or more honey,
depending on your taste. You will take three tablespoons daily.
One way to drink this is by mixing 3 tablespoons with 2 to 36 oz. (the more fluid will not
lessen the potency, as long as you drink it all in the same day) of water, juice or tea and
sip on it throughout the day.
Or just try this;
Put 1 tablespoon of ACV and 1 tablespoon of honey in a glass of warm water and stir it
well, 3 times a day. Make it stronger or weaker to suit you, or follow recipes on the
bottle. If it makes things worse, stop using it. I read somewhere years ago that one of the
best things you can do for your health is to drink a little vinegar and honey in water every
day.
The Cost of Eating a Healthy Diet
There are two prices to be paid when you start eating a healthy diet. The first cost is
money, the actual dollars spent on your food bill. The second cost is measured in time.
Buying stuff at health food stores costs big bucks. It seems like they
are really ripping you off, at least that was my first impression. Here
is what I learned, shop around and compare prices. Although most
stuff tends to be more expensive, it has to be because this stuff isn’t
being mass produced and quality isn’t supposed to be sacrificed for
quantity.
That being said, there are stores that charge a lot more for the exact same products found
in other stores. I know a store that sells the yogurt I buy but for almost twice the price! If
you are the type of person that has to jump on the latest bandwagon of what is popular
right now, you’ll always be wasting money on the latest fad type products. I have also
found identical products at some supermarkets but much cheaper than the health store.
When you see how much certain products are selling for and then find them much
cheaper in one store, I’ll stay with that store. Some stores try to gouge you and some just
want to make less of a profit and serve the community.
You can spend a lot of money on vitamins. Since most refined foods are nutritionally
devoid, it is recommended by most experts to take good vitamins. I personally don’t take
any vitamins since I’m eating better; I figure I’m getting them from my food. I also never
noticed any difference in how I felt whether I took them or not. The decision is yours.
If you want to eat organic meats, fruits and veggies, you will spend much more than
shopping at the supermarket, especially for meats. Another cost in both time and money
is if you can’t do all you’re shopping at one place, like the supermarket, but have to run
to several different places, it costs more in both ways.
As far as the time thing is concerned, this is a hard one to overcome. We are all so busy
and it’s just so easy to pop those frozen dinners in the microwave or grab those
sandwiches on the way home.
This is one of the reasons I say to take baby steps and only make changes at your own
pace. You have to get this in your head, time spent preparing good food is time well
spent. What were you going to do with that time, anyway? Take a long hard look at
where you are wasting time on useless pastimes, like watching TV. Preparing meals can
also be a family thing and you will be passing good health habits on to the next
generation.
On the other hand, I think you will be amazed at how much money you will save when
you stop buying the junk food. Junk and convenience foods, like frozen dinners, cookies,
candies, crackers, ice cream and the like, are what most people spend the majority of their
food money on.
You won’t be eating as much either, when you eat nutritionally rich foods. The main
thing is the cost to your health and happiness. This dwarfs all other cost negatives. Look
how miserable you are with this reflux problem. You simply cannot put a price on your
and your family’s well-being. How much is an extra year of life worth? How about 10
extra years?
Set your goal and write it down
Do this right now. Get a piece of paper and something to write with. Think about what
you really want to accomplish. Use your own words, be specific. “I want to get better” is
no good, be specific like “I will continue to work on my diet and lifestyle to completely
rid myself of reflux in 6 months” or “I will heal myself of heartburn and reflux within the
next year” or “My health and digestion will improve every day, major healing will take
place and I will feel better than I ever have by the end of July (or whenever)”. Be specific
and set a timeline. When you reach this goal set another like, “I will forever keep my
body healthy; every day will make me stronger”.
Don’t think this is a bunch of bull. When you write a goal down and think about it every
day, it will become reality. You give it power; I don’t know how it works. Put your goal
in a safe place and look at it from time to time until it becomes reality.
Acid suppressing drugs and the “rebound” effect
I will not tell you when to stop taking the pills or even to do that, I am not dispensing
medical advice, it is your body and your decision. I do know that many people who have
been on them for a while experience what is called a “rebound effect”. While the pills
have been suppressing acid production in the stomach, the body has been trying to
produce more and more acid because it knows there isn’t enough in the stomach to digest
the food.
When the medication is stopped, the body is still trying hard to create
acid and without the pills to suppress it, there may temporarily be too
much acid produced. It may be something worth thinking about to just
cut down a little, and then a little more, instead of going cold turkey.
Take your time
Go at your own pace; don’t push yourself to make all these changes at once. You know a
lot more about what must be done to stay healthy, now. You must use this knowledge for
the rest of your life and make it a part of you. As you start incorporating most of these
things into your lifestyle, it will be okay when you fall back into some of your old ways
occasionally. You can eat that hotdog and pepperoni pizza with the gang and it will be
alright.
For me, this is what it is all about; not taking the dangerous and expensive drugs, eating
better and feeling better than I ever have and still being able to let go and indulge in
things that make living fun. You just can’t abuse yourself all the time like you once did.
These are the things I couldn’t do when I had the horrible reflux problems, just daily
living was sort of depressing there for a while. This is what I want to give back to as
many people as possible. Good health will be yours for the rest of your life if you make
that majority of your diet natural foods.
If you just begin to make the changes I’m recommending, your diet will be better this
year than last year. Next year, you’ll eat better than this year, and so on. As long as
you’re making progress, go at your own pace. If you can make drastic changes and stick
with it, go ahead.
Write down your diet
This is a good exercise to do if you can be completely honest with yourself. Make a list
of your typical diet now before you change and come back to it in a year. You may be
appalled at what you were eating.
Here is mine;
Breakfast – Fried eggs over light, bacon or sausage, home fried potatoes w/onions, white
toast and 2 or 3 cups of coffee or cereal in milk, then coffee.
Mid-morning Snack – Nothing at all or something with sugar.
Lunch – Fast food burger combo, fries, large soda and coffee.
Snack – A candy bar, cookies or snack cake and soda.
Dinner - Hoagie, cheese steak, spaghetti, pizza, stromboli or a frozen dinner with coffee
or soda.
Late night snack –Peanut butter crackers, frozen pizza, or cookies.
In between these meals it was more coffee or soda. For decades I drank at least 2 sodas a
day and usually 3 cups of coffee. This is a lot less than many people I know drink now.
When I began to understand the manmade vs. natural thing, I had to face the truth that I
got fresh fruits or vegetables in my diet maybe a few times in a whole year! I had never
drunk fresh vegetable or fruit juice in my whole life.
I know some of you will be eating better than I did, but I also know many of you are
eating much worse. I see it every day.
As you get better
You will get immediate relief if you follow what I’m telling you and begin juicing. As
you get better you will be tempted to eat things you are pretty sure are not good for you.
Go ahead and treat yourself but don’t overdo it. You may find you can eat something
once a week with no noticeable effect, then maybe you can eat it twice a week, then all of
a sudden you are going backwards and having some problems again.
You will never get as bad as you were when you sent for this report and you can easily
get yourself back into shape, now. This is the internal battle you will face forever, by
eating good stuff most of the times, you can eat junk sometimes.
The longer you allow your body to heal, the less effect a little junk will have on you. If
you feel really good in a week or two, that really isn’t much healing time when it took
you decades to do the damage. Try to be really, really good for a whole year with only
occasional treats in there. In a few months you’ll be in excellent shape, it took me 9
months when I threw the pills away because I didn’t know what I was doing. I was still
eating too much bad stuff and not enough good stuff.
Keep It Simple!
I realize I’m throwing a lot of information at you, don’t be overwhelmed by it. I tried to
make sure that you will have more than enough information to fix yourself up.
Print the whole thing out and reread different sections as you have time. As you get
better, after a while you’ll just “get it”. It’s really about just using your common sense to
eat more “natural” than “manmade”. Cut out the junk; replace it with “good”.
About Fats and Oils
Essential Fatty Acids
The main thing to know about fats is that certain fatty acids that they contain are
necessary for our survival and are the most important nutrients that there are. These are
called the “essential fatty acids”. We cannot live without them, they are essential for life
to occur. Fats also are the principal form in which the body stores energy.
Most of the essential fatty acids are found in polyunsaturated oils. The only difference
between fats and oils is fats are solid at room temperature and oils are not.
Different Types of Fats
A “fat” is a substance that contains one or more fatty acids. All fats contain a mix of
different types of fatty acids, some saturated and some unsaturated.
As a example;
Butter contains about 50% saturated, 34% mono and 3% poly
Lard contains about 39% saturated, 45% mono and 11% poly
Blended cooking oil is 13% saturated, 25% mono and 58% poly
Polyunsaturated – All polyunsaturated fatty acids are liquid at room temperature. They
are unstable and will turn rancid when exposed to heat, air or light. Oils that are
predominantly polyunsaturated include grape seed, corn, fish and soy. They should be
stored in the refrigerator in dark bottles. They are not recommended for cooking because
they are easily damaged by heat.
Monounsaturated – Monounsaturated fats are generally thought to be the healthiest
overall, but all types also have bad points. Oils that are predominantly monounsaturated
include olive, avocado, sesame, peanut and lard. At room temperature these oils are
usually liquid but may turn solid if put in the refrigerator.
Saturated – Saturated fats don’t spoil when exposed to air because of their chemical
makeup, therefore they can be stored at room temperature. Most saturated fats come from
animal products like meats, butter and lard. Some of the most saturated oils are coconut
and palm kernel oil which comes from vegetables. A good tip to remember is saturated
fats are usually solid at room temperature.
Unsaturated – Unsaturated fats contain the essential fatty acids needed for life. They
include polyunsaturated oils and monounsaturated fats. Unsaturated fatty acids are not
stable and will gradually turn rancid when exposed to oxygen. Unsaturated fats are found
in vegetable oils, nuts and fish.
Trans-fatty acids – Trans-fats are the very worst kind. When oils and fats are
superheated; this transforms the fats to trans-fats. Any fat or oil that’s been heated or
exposed to light or air contains some trans-fats. Trans-fats are chemically altered, manmade fats found in partially hydrogenated oils.
Hydrogenated Oils
What is hydrogenation?
Hydrogenation is the process of heating an oil and passing hydrogen bubbles through it.
The fatty acids in the oil then acquire some of the hydrogen, which makes it denser. If
you fully hydrogenate oil, you will create a solid out of it. If you stop part way through,
you get a semi-solid, partially hydrogenated oil that has the consistency of butter, only
cheaper.
This makes it a big favorite of “food” processors, it is put into all kinds of products to add
flavor and give a buttery texture, only much cheaper than real butter. Your health has
been traded for profit.
Food processors used to use coconut oil to get the buttery flavor, but in the 1970’s they
switched to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, mainly from soybeans, because it was
the cheapest.
Hydrogenation of oils is used for the sole purposes of extending the shelf-life of
processed foods and the cost factor.
A Little History
Up to the 19th century, fat was relatively expensive and butter was a luxury. The poor
could afford very little of these, so cheaper substitutes for butter were invented in the last
part of that century and called margarine.
Originally margarines were made from suet (beef fat), milk and water and colored yellow
to look like butter. In the early part of the 20th century recipes started to include whale
and olive oil, coconut, cottonseed and lard. By the middle of the 20th century, soya bean
emulsion and water replaced the milk and now butter substitutes could be made entirely
from cheap vegetable sources.
Why Hydrogenated Oils are so Bad
When oils are hydrogenated, trans-fats are created. A trans-fat is an otherwise normal
fatty acid that has been “transmogrified” by high-heat processing of an oil. To fully
explain this involves a pretty detailed explanation of the chemical structures of different
oils which I won’t go in to. Let’s just say that the chemical structure gets “messed up” in
the process.
A trans-fat is a completely unnatural, man-made thing; our bodies have never seen this in
all of our evolution and have no defense against them!
These rebel trans-fats take up a position in our cells but don’t do their job of keeping the
bad things out of the cell. Not only do they let the bad invaders into the cell, but they stop
the good supplies from getting in!
Trans-fats are poisons in the truest sense of the word. They interfere with
the metabolic processes of life by taking the place of the natural substance
that is supposed to do this essential job in the cells. I repeat, the body
cannot defend itself against them. You must try to eliminate trans-fats from
your diet!
Studies are now showing links to consumption of trans-fatty acids and diabetes, cancer
and heart disease. At the time of this writing, some states are now passing laws making it
illegal for some restaurants and fast food places to use these oils. As this issue becomes
more public, restaurant chains are voluntarily switching to safer oils and making this
public.
Some Foods That Usually Contain Partially Hydrogenated Oil
Cake mixes, pancake and cornbread mixes, cakes, cookies, crackers, candy, muffins,
pies, donuts, peanut butter, frozen dinners, frozen bakery products, frozen pizza, toaster
pastries, waffles, pancakes, most prepared frozen meats like, fish sticks, chicken tenders,
etc., French fries, whipped toppings, margarines, shortenings, instant potatoes, potato
chips, taco shells, cocoa mix, microwave popcorn, cereals, most snack foods, low-fat
products including ice cream, breads, pasta mixes and sauce mixes.
This is by no means a complete list!
Hydrogenated Oils Make You Fat
Your body knows it needs a supply of the essential fatty acids to survive; they are needed
for every vital metabolic function in your body. Your body will do what it can to make
sure you get enough of these or you will die. What this means is that you will not stop
being hungry until you get your supply.
Remember, the essential fats are found mainly in the polyunsaturated fats. Saturated fats
contain only small amounts of polyunsaturated fats, (all “fats” usually contain more than
one type of fat). If you eat a lot of meat and dairy (saturated fats), you will remain hungry
and eat more and more to try to get enough essential fatty acids. This is how you get fat.
If you eat more foods containing polyunsaturated oils, like eggs, olives, nuts and of
course, fish, you will tend to not be as hungry.
Partially hydrogenated oils make you fat the same way saturated fats do, by making you
eat more to get your essential fatty acids.
But this is not the end of it. Because these trans-fats have now taken over the role of the
essential fatty acids in the cells, when the essential fatty acids get there, because your
body made sure you ate enough of them, the trans-fats are there and won’t let them into
the cells to do their job.
Your cells begin to degenerate and the extra fat is stored in new fat cells, around your
waist and butt.
The Deal with Frying
Here’s the deal with frying. A saturated fat can’t be “hurt” much by heat because it’s
inert. So frying in a saturated fat, like lard or butter, is not “good” for you, they
supposedly raise your cholesterol, but is not “terrible” for you like frying in partially
hydrogenated oil. So frying, in general, is not good for you and you should stop eating
fried foods, but if you must fry, you’re much better off frying in butter, lard or coconut
oil, saturated oils, than partially hydrogenated oils.
Frying in partially hydrogenated oils is hands down one of the worst things we do to our
bodies. Saturated oils are more expensive, so most restaurants use hydrogenated oils.
Alternatives
Organic, unrefined oils are available at health food stores.
Olive Oil
Olive oil has been anointed as the “perfect” oil by many. It does have many good points
or less bad points in some cases, but it is not the be-all and end-all of oils. It depends how
you are using it and the quality of the oil you buy.
Extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil is supposed to be okay because
the impression is that since it is “cold pressed”, it hasn’t been
exposed to high heat. In reality, the way some processors make it,
olives are heated to 120 degrees for a few hours and then pressed in
huge presses that generate a lot of heat, pumped full of chemicals
and heated again. More heat and steam distilling are done to finish
off the process.
So is olive oil good for you? Here is what I came up with after some research. Olive oil
has been part of the human diet for more than 5000 years. This experience plus modern
research indicates that olive oil is beneficial to health. Olive oil is almost unique among
oils because it can be consumed in its raw form without refining. This means the oil
retains all the vitamins, nutrients and essential fatty acids.
Good olive oil also reduces cholesterol, lowers blood pressure and lowers the incidence
of breast cancer. Real olive oil is rich in antioxidants.
Olive oil made in the old fashioned way is the good stuff. Like everything else, as olive
oil became more popular, ways were found to produce it cheaper and quicker. Just
because it says “extra virgin” is no guarantee you’re getting the good oil. There are no
guidelines for labeling olive oils.
So how can you be sure you’re getting the good stuff? Find one that is cold-pressed or
first-pressed, unfiltered or unrefined and looks a little cloudy. Some of the better oils
have a greenish tint, it depends on the olives. It should come in a dark bottle or a can to
protect it from light. Real olive oil is still made the old way from smaller estates. Good
olive oil can be stored away from heat and light for up to 3 years. Mass produced oil will
only have a shelf life of a few months.
Olive oil doesn’t hydrogenate and oxidize as much as other vegetable oil, so I figure that
makes it a better choice. Refining an oil increases its smoke point, the temperature at
which visible gaseous vapor becomes evident. This is the point at which the oil begins to
decompose and chemical changes occur that are not good.
Unrefined oil, like extra virgin olive oil, probably has a smoke point as low as 200 to 250
degrees. It would be okay to use in a sauce, for instance, but would probably not be good
to use when baking a cake at 350 degrees.
Good olive oil is great to use in salad dressings and low temperature cooking. I use it in
marinades because I figure it’s better than the alternatives and most of it runs off when
grilling or broiling. If I’m going to fry, I’ll use butter, lard, coconut oil or ghee.
Butter
Butter contains short-chain saturated fats that are easily burned by the body. I’m not
telling you it’s good for you, but it is much less bad for you than partially hydrogenated
poisons.
Organic butter is the way to go here. It contains no pesticides,
antibiotics and growth hormone like most of the supermarket brands.
Butter is a more natural food that has been around for a long time.
Ghee
This is all I use to cook with.
Ghee is a clarified, lactose-free butter that may be the best thing for frying. Ghee is butter
that has been rendered to separate the milk solids and water from the butter fat. It has a
great nutty, buttery taste.
Ghee has a higher smoke point than regular butter, and therefore is preferred in some
cooking applications, such as sautéing.
Ghee can sometimes be found in the ethnic section of a big grocery store or in Indian or
south Asian stores. Make sure the ghee is made from an animal, usually cow. Artificial
ghee contains hydrogenated oils.
Here is how to make your own ghee if you can’t find it. It’s also the cheapest way to go;
To My Ghee Making Webpage! -- http://www.natural-reflux-cure.com/ghee.html
Coconut Oil
Virgin coconut oil is what you want. Virgin means it hasn’t been refined, bleached or
deodorized. If any of this has been done, trans-fats are once again present.
Coconut oil is good for cooking because it is like 92% saturated fat.
Coconut oil consists primarily of short-chain fatty acids, which are burned
quickly for energy instead of being stored in the body. Coconut oil was
used in food products for centuries.
Coconut oil is a solid but becomes liquid at 76 degrees, so sometimes it’s solid and
sometimes a liquid.
Refined Sugar
Refined white sugar is the number one food additive that we consume. The average
person in the U. S. consumes between 120 to 150 pounds a year! That’s like a half a
pound a day! A lot of that is in the form of corn sugar and syrup in products that you
don’t even know contain it.
Refined sugar is a drug and people are addicted to it. If it is removed from
the diet, people have withdrawal symptoms. Similar types of chemical
processes that take place in the brains of heroin addicts, take place with
sugar junkies.
Sugar is a major source of acid reflux problems; it is absolutely terrible for
your digestion. Sugar acidifies the body.
In Nature, a plant contains all the vitamins, minerals and trace elements needed to
metabolize its carbohydrates. When sugar is refined by Man, all of these are removed and
what is left is pure, refined carbohydrates. The body cannot metabolize this without the
elements that were removed.
This is why sugar is called “empty calories”; it is energy in carbohydrate form that
contains not a thing that is needed by the body as far as nutrition is concerned. Not only
that, it drains the body of vitamins and minerals as the body tries to digest and then get
rid of this poison.
Studies have been done that show that a diet of plain water can keep you alive for quite
some time, but a diet of water and sugar will kill you! Think about that, if that doesn’t tell
you that refined sugar is a poison, then maybe you are under its spell.
Sugar is poison and taken every day will acidify the body. The body is
supposed to have a slightly alkaline nature. You almost cannot get sick or
diseased when the body maintains its slightly alkaline nature. The diet in
all industrialized countries acidifies our bodies because of the consumption
of refined foods and lack of natural foods.
Sugar is a major cause of dental decay, sugar causes you to become overweight and sugar
causes diabetes. The removal of sugar from the diet has cured the symptoms of diabetes,
cancer and heart disease!
Two thirds of the sugar refined in the U.S. is added to manufactured foods. It’s in so
many products that you don’t know about that even if you think you’re not eating much
sugar, you probably are.
Besides the obvious foods that are loaded with sugar like cakes, cookies, candies, ice
cream, donuts and soda, here are some less obvious foods; canned fruits and vegetables,
salad dressings, spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, frozen pizza, pickles, mayonnaise,
crackers, breads, cereal, soups, hotdogs, lunch meats and fruit juices. A tablespoon of
ketchup contains a teaspoon of sugar!
Label reading doesn’t help much either when you see ingredients like sucrose, fructose,
glucose and maltose. The following is a very brief description of these terms;
Sucrose – is refined table sugar.
Fructose – is found naturally in fruits and honey but is also refined. The most popular
refined form of this is corn syrup, see how many times you find this on labels, it’s seems
to be in everything. It is about 70 times sweeter than sucrose!
Maltose – is a form of sugar created by malting certain grains and enzymes. Maltose is
about 1/3 as sweet as sucrose.
Glucose – also known as dextrose, occurs naturally in fruit, honey, and corn. It is also
found in refined form. Glucose is about 2/3 as sweet as sucrose.
Please take this seriously, refined sugar is poison. Don’t give it to your kids and think
you’re being good to them.
Artificial Sweeteners
As the health dangers and weight gain aspects of refined sugar became better known,
alternatives to sugar were sought. One of the most popular of these is aspartame.
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that is well known to people trying to lose weight. It
is found in nearly all “diet” drinks, yogurts, low calorie puddings, etc... In fact, almost
any sweet food or drink that claims to be “sugar free” or “low calorie” probably contains
aspartame.
The market for these types of food products is huge; soda is okay if you drink diet soda,
right?
Aspartame was discovered by accident in 1965, it was approved as a sweetener by the
FDA in 1974 and later that year its approval was revoked (it gave lab rats brain tumors).
In 1981 it was once again approved for use in dry foods and in 1983 it was approved to
use in beverages.
To keep this short and sweet (no pun intended), aspartame is seen by many as a
dangerous and unstable compound. Aspartame has been linked to symptoms like
headaches, rashes, seizures, fatigue, memory loss, joint pain, hearing loss, vision
problems, weight gain, asthma, dizziness and muscle spasms.
Remember; keep it simple, it is just another manmade chemical to replace manmade
refined sugar. What are we doing to ourselves? Avoid this and all other artificial
sweeteners.
Natural Alternatives
Stevia is a natural, sweet tasting plant that has no bad side effects and actually some good
ones. It has been used in Japan as a sugar alternative since the 1970’s and around the
world; stevia has been used for at least 1500 years. The FDA won’t approve it for use in
the U. S. because they don’t have enough data. You figure out what is going on here.
Stevia can be found at health food stores, usually in liquid form. Since it is an herb, the
FDA hasn’t been able to stop its sale, although it has tried. You have to do your own
research.
If the majority of your diet is fresh fruits and vegetables, you will be getting plenty of
naturally occurring sugars to satisfy you.
Saccharin is a natural product. Honey is natural and has been used for thousands of years.
Sucanat is whole cane sugar with water removed; there are also other whole cane sugars
at health food stores.
Milk
Why do you drink milk at all? Is there some real reason people need to drink cow’s milk
or is it the National Dairy Council and the propaganda they put out telling you to drink
milk?
Ever since you were old enough to go to school you were told to drink your milk if you
want to stay healthy. Think about this; in nature, no animal drinks the milk of another
species and no animal continues to drink milk after the age of weaning. Cow’s milk is
designed to fatten up baby cows and it is perfectly suited to do that job.
You were told you need to drink it to get enough calcium, right? Many foods contain
more calcium than milk. Here are some good calcium sources; green leafy vegetables,
cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, figs, sesame seeds and prunes. Due to the high protein
content of milk (it has been called “liquid meat”); there is a net loss of calcium when
milk is consumed. The excessive protein in milk lowers blood calcium levels, causing the
body to draw on calcium from the bones. Milk actually causes osteoporosis!
All milk you buy is pasteurized. Pasteurization is the heating of milk
to 160 degrees or more. This changes the calcium to an inorganic
form that cannot be assimilated by the body. Then they “fortify” it
with manmade vitamin D. Pasteurization also kills most of the good
nutrients that the milk contained.
Here is a list of some of the disorders caused by the unnatural consumption of milk;
Digestion – stomach cramps, colitis, loss of appetite, diarrhea and constipation, irritations
of the mouth, vomiting, abdominal distension and mal-absorption of nutrients.
Respiratory – sinusitis, runny nose, asthma, nasal congestion and inner ear troubles.
Other – abnormal blood clotting, irritability, hyperactivity, headache, fatigue, depression,
skin rashes, eczema, allergies, sudden infant death syndrome, heart disease, juvenile
diabetes and muscle pain.
Many people have allergies to milk, as many as 50% of all children in the U.S. are
allergic to milk and most don’t even know it. Dairy products are the leading cause of
food allergies. Don’t think of it as sneezing or hives, more like constipation, diarrhea and
fatigue. Many cases of asthma, ear infections and sinus problems disappear when milk is
removed from the diet.
On top of all the above reasons to cut this drink out of your diet, here is another; milk is
loaded with hormones, chemicals and pesticides. Milk cows are inoculated, fed and shot
full of all types of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides that carry over into the milk.
Pasteurization does not get rid of these.
If you must drink milk, buy organic or try goat’s milk. It is best to stop drinking all
pasteurized milk, low fat milk, skim milk, powdered milk or imitation milk. You don’t
need this stuff in your diet.
White Flour
Bread has been a part of Man’s diet for thousands of years. All cultures eat bread in one
form or another. The wheat germ and bran contain a lot of vitamins, minerals and other
nutrients that the body needs to remain healthy.
White flour has had the bran and wheat germ removed, leaving the
wheat’s endosperm, which is milled into flour. Real whole wheat
flour milled the old way will spoil over time because of the oils in the
wheat germ.
In the late 1800’s, the process of removing the outer layers of the
wheat berries was being used in Europe and by the 1920’s, flour made
from the new milling process was available to the masses. The wheat germ and bran were
sold as cattle feed and the white flour was cheap and had an indefinite shelf life.
To speed up the whitening process, it was found that certain chemicals could be used.
This was the beginning of bleached flour. Benzoyl peroxide and chloride dioxide are used
to whiten flour. Two other chemicals, potassium bromate and ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
are commonly used to oxidize and strengthen the flour. Potassium bromate has been
banned from food in Europe, Canada and Japan because it is a suspected carcinogen.
Refined white flour has most of the good things removed during processing and
manmade chemicals added to it. It was found that people were suffering from vitamin
deficiencies after white flour bread became the standard, so manmade forms of the
vitamins that were lost in the refining process were added to the flour to counter this.
This is why bread labels claim that the product is “fortified” or “enriched” with vitamins,
like this is supposed to be another reason to buy this product.
Whole-wheat flour does contain more nutrients than white flour, but our bodies can’t
absorb some of them because whole-wheat flour works its way through our bodies too
quickly. Most of the vitamins from white flour, on the other hand, do get absorbed. This
is the ongoing argument between whole-wheat advocates and white flour advocates.
To me, it goes back to commonsense and natural vs. manmade, once again. Because
whole-wheat moves through our system so fast, tells me that it is easy on the digestive
system. The vitamins in the white flour that get absorbed are mainly synthetic vitamins
added during the enrichment process. Which nutrients do you want your body to be made
up of, natural or synthetic? The choice is yours.
During WWII Denmark stopped refining flour. Later it was found that the death rate had
dropped and a marked decline in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and
kidney problems was noticed. Interesting, isn’t it?
98% of all bread, pastries, pancakes and spaghetti are made from refined white flour.
Most of the vitamin E, vitamin B6, magnesium, fiber, folic acid, zinc, chromium and the
phytochemicals are missing due to the refining process.
As far as reflux and digestion are concerned, the problem with white bread is that it takes
a relatively large amount of energy to digest, assimilate and expel it, and since it is
basically devoid of useful, natural nutrients, the net result is a very low gain for the body.
If you put a spread of something else hard to digest on the bread, like something
containing hydrolyzed oil, the result can actually be a net loss of energy for the body.
Can you see how a sandwich on white bread, full of lunch meat, with ketchup or
mayonnaise, is about a break even, or maybe even a loss as far as energy is concerned?
Why eat hard to digest, nutritionally devoid foods? The more refined, nutritionally devoid
foods you eat, the hungrier you remain because your body isn’t getting the nutrition it
needs. The more you eat natural, unrefined foods, the less you need to eat because your
body is getting a good amount of nutrients from them.
Even breads sold as wheat are usually made with half refined white flour or the flour was
ground on high speed mills, this heats the flour and is not good. Look on the label of
packaged bread for words like “made with 100% stone-ground flour”, if it doesn’t say
this, assume it’s not. Real bread is brown in color, firmer than white bread if you squeeze
it and should have a minimum of chemicals listed on the label. You may very well find
that no bread in the supermarket meets these standards. Small specialty bakeries or health
food stores usually carry better breads. Try to cut down on your bread consumption; you
don’t have to eat bread with each meal. Try to acquire a taste for rye, whole wheat and
other types of heavier breads. You can also freeze bread to keep it fresh.
I find that it is impossible for me to completely avoid white flour products. Sometimes
you have to grab a sandwich or a pasta meal. If I have a choice of bread or roll, I’ll
always choose wheat or rye. You really have no idea what you’re getting, is it really
made with all whole-wheat flour or only partially? I figure it’s got to be the best decision
at the time.
A Few Recipes
Green Salads
Salads are as interesting or as boring as you make them. You must have variety or you
will get tired of them. Use a variety of different lettuce; romaine, red, green, head lettuce
and loose-leaf, and more. Buy fresh lettuce and tear it up yourself, don’t buy that stuff
already cut up in bags.
There are lots of other greens to make salads from besides lettuce. Try spinach, kale,
turnip greens, collard greens, cabbage, dandelion, endive and mustard greens.
Fresh sprouts, celery, sweet peppers (red, yellow and green), onions
(green, chop tops and all up, sweet, red and yellow), shallots, garlic,
carrots, snap peas, radishes, asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers and
broccoli are just some of the endless things to add to your salads.
Fresh herbs add exotic flavors to salads. Try basil, parsley, cilantro,
rosemary, sage and chives.
Sprinkle spices on your salads to vary the taste. Spices like oregano, cayenne pepper,
tarragon, thyme, paprika, black pepper and dill weed.
Cheeses like fresh grated Parmesan and Romano make a salad delicious. Try other
cheeses like Feta or Mozzarella, whatever you like.
Ripe olives, nuts and seeds like sesame, raisins, beans, chickpeas, hard boiled eggs and
mushrooms can be sprinkled on top of salads.
Meats can be added, making a salad into a complete meal. Chicken cubes, shrimp and
crab are common ingredients.
Salad Dressings
You want to stop using store bought dressings; most of them use ingredients like
hydrolyzed oils and preservatives. This stuff wipes out the health benefits you’re getting
by eating the salad in the first place.
Use good extra virgin olive oil in your salad dressings. Most dressings need
some acidity like wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar, don’t use white vinegar;
it’s bad for your stomach.
A dressing can be as simple as Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce or oil and
vinegar. Paul Newman has some okay dressings and so do most health food
stores.
Most dressings are based on a vinaigrette or mayonnaise, try to use homemade or healthy
mayonnaise.
Simple Vinaigrette and Dijon Mustard
½ cup olive oil
2 Tbl. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
Sea salt, optional
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
All-Purpose Dressing
½ cup olive oil
2 Tbl. Wine Vinegar
1Tbl. Dijon Mustard
¼ tsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp. dried parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
Balsamic Dressing
¾ cup olive oil
¼ cup Balsamic vinegar
1 shallot, finely chopped
salt & pepper to taste
Blender Mayonnaise
1 lg. egg
1 tbl. wine Vinegar
salt, optional
¼ tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. paprika
1 dash of cayenne pepper
1 cup olive oil
1 Tbl. lemon juice
Blend well all ingredients except the oil and lemon. With blender running SLOWLY,
gradually pour half the oil in. Add the lemon juice and slowly add the rest of the oil.
Greek Salad Dressing
2 oz. Feta cheese crumbled
1tsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbl. chopped parsley
1 green onion
1 Tbl. lemon juice
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbl. olive oil
Puree all ingredients in the blender.
Herb Dressing
1 cup yogurt
1 Tbl. lemon juice
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. honey
salt, optional
pinch of dill
Salsa Dressing
¼ cup fresh salsa
2 tsp. sesame seeds
1 tsp. wine vinegar
a little basil
Blend just a little.
Cashew Dill Dressing
In a blender;
½ cup cashews
1 cup water
2 Tbl. lemon juice
2 tsp. each of parsley and onion powder
½ tsp. each of garlic powder and dill weed
You should be able to find packs of salad dressing mixes, look for organic ones. You just
add the contents to oil and vinegar and shake it up. This is the easy way to do it.
Meats and More
I’m including the following recipes to show you how you can make food without frying
everything. You can’t just eat steamed or fresh veggies, fresh fruits and yogurt all the
time. You have to mix it up. Use your imagination to come up with your own ideas.
You need to get all kinds of quick and easy recipes to give a variety to your diet. Once
you make things a few times it is easy to eat healthy. Getting a variety of good recipes
that work for you and your family is your goal.
Grilled or Broiled Chicken
Marinade chicken pieces in the marinade of your choice or use a rub. Grill or broil until
done. Always make more than you’ll need for this meal and put it in the fridge. Steam
some veggies or cut the pieces up and put in a salad for quick and easy meals. Always
look for ways to make things easier on yourself.
Baked Chicken
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3 cups Italian bread crumbs
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon or a little less of curry powder
Salt – just a little sea salt
Dip the chicken in water or eggs and roll in bread crumb mixture, put in a baking pan
and bake for 40 minutes. Chicken will be moist and delicious.
Grilled Fish
Not all fish is good on the grill, generally thicker fillets work better.
Salmon, tuna and haddock work well. Marinade the fillets in your
choice of marinade or use a rub. You need a flat grilling rack for the
grill. The trick is to grill it on the first side until you think it’s done
about halfway through then flip it over. You only want to flip it one
time or it will fall apart.
Tilapia with Crabmeat filling
Sometimes you can buy them already with the crabmeat filling or buy the fillets and crab
cakes separately. Get crab cakes made with 100% crab meat, many are half fillers like
bread crumbs. Just tear the crab cakes apart and use as filling.
Take one fillet and cut it in half, length-wise, I like to leave it attached a little at one end.
Put some crabmeat filling on top of one half and try to fold the other half of the fish on
top so it stays. Shake some seasoning on top, like blackened seasoning or Creole
seasoning. If it slides off a little it’s no big deal. Put them on a broiler pan and broil in the
oven or grill them. If you broil them you should stay 4 to 6 inches away from the broiler
element at the top of your oven. It’s real easy to burn stuff when broiling, so watch it
carefully. I like when broiled stuff gets a little black, I think it gives it a good flavor. Now
here’s the tricky part, when you feel they are about halfway done, pull out the broiled tray
and flip each one over to finish then. Sprinkle a little more seasoning on top. Don’t
overcook fish, they should flake apart with a fork but still be a little juicy. If they are
really dry, you over cooked them. If the one end is really thin, it will get over cooked
before the rest is done, so fold the thin ends under a little if you can get them to stay.
You can eat them like they come out of the broiler, the filling gives them flavor. Or you
can dump some fresh salsa or cocktail sauce or whatever you like as long as it’s not
something that is bad for your digestion. Don’t ruin something good by dumping
something bad on it. Catsup is not a real good thing for your reflux.
Serve with a fresh steamed veggie and some wild rice.
Grilled Salmon Dijon
4 salmon fillets, 1 ½ to 2 lbs total
¼ cup Dijon mustard
Dill weed to taste
Spread the mustard all over the fillets. Coat the grill with a little olive oil or nonstick
cooking spray. Grill the fillets until you think they are about done halfway through. Turn
over once, grill until done.
Burgers
Grilled Burgers #1
1 ½ lb. ground beef
½ cup chopped onions
1 Tbl. dried oregano
½ tsp. paprika
Grilled Burgers #2
1 ½ lb. ground beef
1 Tbl. dried tarragon
½ tsp. ground pepper
½ tsp. granulated garlic
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
salt (optional)
Carnival Burgers
1 ½ lb. ground beef
1/3 cup chopped onions
½ tsp. black pepper
Rubs
Steak Rub
1 ½ tsp. chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp. powdered garlic
½ tsp. paprika
½ tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
some ground pepper
sea salt (optional)
Steak Seasoning
Rub celery seed into steaks before grilling
Marinades
Marinades can make a tough piece of meat tender and add flavor to foods. The problem
for us is most marinades call for the use of oil. You can just use water instead but
sometimes you need that oil to prevent sticking. I always use extra virgin olive oil when I
use oil, but try to use a little less than the marinade calls for.
In addition to the mixes I will give you, there are many prepackaged, powdered mixes
that you can buy and just add oil and water. Read the ingredients, most have a lot of salt
and preservatives. There are organic ones available that are quite good and they are
inexpensive.
Here are my simple rules for marinades; start with a ratio of 1;3, acidity to oil. This is the
same as for salad dressings. The acidity tenderizes the food and the oil mellows the
sharpness of the acid and provides moistness. The rest is just adding good flavors to the
mixture.
Marinade small foods (fish fillets, vegetables and cubed meat) for 10 to 15 minutes. Thin
meats like chicken breasts or steaks from 1 to 3 hours. Big or tough meats you can
marinade for 6 hours or longer. Don’t reuse marinades after they have been in contact
with meat, discard it.
Mediterranean Marinade
2 Tbl. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. each of powdered coriander, cumin, granulated garlic
2 tsp. paprika
a little salt
a little black pepper
Mix together; add a little water to stretch it if you must.
Spicy Marinade
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbl. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. each of paprika and oregano
1 tsp. each of granulated garlic, celery seed and cayenne pepper
¾ tsp. kosher or sea salt
Island Marinade
½ cup fresh lemonade
½ cup fresh orange juice (use your juicer)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup finely chopped onion
2 Tbl. each of oregano, minced garlic and fresh lime juice
All-Purpose Marinade
1 cup orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice
½ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup finely chopped green onions
¼ cup olive oil
black pepper
1 ½ Tbls. Garlic powder
1 Tbl. chopped fresh thyme
hot pepper sauce to taste
Grilling Vegetables
Grilled veggies are delicious. Get a rack or tray for the grill, like a tray with holes in it, so
the vegetables don’t fall through the grates.
You have to coat vegetables with a little oil or they will stick to the grill. Put a very small
amount of olive oil on a plate, like just a tablespoon or so, and a little salt and any other
spice you like. Coat the veggies by rolling them around in the oil. Grill over low heat till
a little blackened on one side then turn over. Don’t overcook them.
Grill ½ inch slices of sweet onions
Sliced sweet peppers
Asparagus (delicious)
Eggplant
Fresh Salsa
Play around with these ingredients to get a taste you like.
Chopped fresh ripe tomatoes
Fresh chopped parsley
Fresh chopped basil
Chopped onions
Chopped garlic
Jalapenos – just a few
Oregano
Cilantro
Fresh salsa is delicious and very good for you. It’s great on everything; put it on grilled or
baked chicken or fish, by itself on the side or dip fresh vegetables in it.
Saving Time
As stated earlier, whenever you are going to the trouble of making something like
chicken, beef or fish, make extra and refrigerate it. Making extra takes almost no more
time but when you get another meal or two out of it, it saves you big time.
Eggs
Hard Boiled Eggs
Don’t put cold eggs right out of the refrigerator into boiling water, they will crack. Put
them in a bowl of warm water from the faucet for a few minutes or let them stand at room
temperature for a while.
Put eggs in a single layer of a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. As soon as
it boils, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Don’t boil the eggs at a rolling boil
or you will make them tough and overcooked. If your egg yolks get sort of green, you
overcooked them.
Pull the eggs out of the water and put them directly into really cold water for a few
minutes, this will make them peel easy.
Adjust your time for the consistency you like.
Soft Boiled Eggs
The same as for hard boiled but shorten the time to 6 or 7 minutes. Adjust for how you
like them.
Poached Eggs
Poached eggs are actually quite easy to make. Poaching is cooking an egg in simmering,
not boiling, water without its shell.
Unfortunately, if not cooked properly, poached eggs will resemble stringy globs rather
than the desired neat, firm forms. To poach eggs, consider the following tips:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Add a splash of vinegar to the water to help the eggs keep their shape when
cooking. If desired, the vinegar can be rinsed away when finished, or it can be left
for a slight tangy flavor. Experiment with different types of vinegar for different
flavors.
Use the freshest eggs possible since they will hold their shape more easily. If
fresh eggs are not available, simmer an older egg in its shell for a few seconds to
help the white congeal and hold its shape.
Crack each egg into a small cup or large serving spoon rather than directly into
the pan. Transfer it to the water carefully.
Be sure each egg has sufficient space in the pan so that it does not contact its
neighbors.
Three minutes is the desired time for medium-firm eggs; adjust timing up or down
to reach desired firmness.
Finished eggs may be refrigerated (covered in water) for up to three days. To
reheat, simmer them in hot water long enough to warm through, but do not boil.
Poached eggs are a little more trouble than boiled eggs but are something different and
healthy.
Always be on the lookout for quick, easy and healthy recipes. Local newspapers usually
have a recipe section and the internet has so many that you can’t possibly check them all
out.
End
You are well on your way to regaining your health as soon as you make the decision to
help yourself instead of depending solely on others! Doctors have their place in all of our
lives. I’m not saying be anti-modern medicine, just use the sense God gave you. Don’t
allow yourself to be programmed by the world, think things through for yourself first,
then make a decision.
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