The real cause of heartburn may not be what you think it is. We are constantly being bombarded with endless commercials claiming that too much stomach acid is the culprit. The acid is squirting up out of the stomach. Let’s explore.
What if too little stomach acid is the real cause of acid reflux? Is it possible that you’ve been led down the garden path once again? Is this another medical mistake?
The medical community will suggest to use the anti-acids or PPI’s to put out the flame. Yet, they do not tell you that longterm these medications may be harmful to you. Yes, they may be harmful to you in the long run.
Dare I say it again. A natural approach to health may apply once again. Are there natural remedies that might benefit the overall being? We must be magnanimous toward the one’s that misguide us.
I once read an article where a patient told how he cured himself just by losing weight. There must be some validity to his story. Being overweight must put pressure on this vital area. Losing weight will become a good start to getting rid of the burn.
This alludes to changing to a better diet. Instead of all the processed foods, we begin to eat healthy raw foods, i.e. vegetables and fruits. Our grandparents got this one right.
Essentially, some of us need MORE stomach acid instead of reducing it, especially as we get older. How to increase stomach acid?
There are several ways to do this. First of all, our water drinking habits need to change. One should drink small amounts of water before, during, and after the meal, or perhaps none at all around mealtime. This is to insure that we do not dilute the gastric acid in the stomach, which is needed for digestion
A typical adult human stomach will secrete about 1.5 liters of gastric acid daily.
Gastric juice is a variable mixture of water, hydrochloric acid, electrolytes (sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphate, sulfate, and bicarbonate), and organic substances (mucus, pepsins, and protein). So guess what. Gastric juice is our friend and we must help nature instead of fighting it.
Another solution is lemon and honey in the morning. Cut a lemon in half, squeeze the juice into a cup of room temperature water and enjoy. A teaspoon of honey can be added or do what I do, just take the honey straight from the spoon. Honey is a good healer and immunity builder.
This remedy will help many things, including weight loss. It’s actually a good liver cleanse. Remember, no food for 30 minutes after the lemon drink.
A factor many do not understand is one of the ingredients mentioned above—hydrochloric acid—which includes a type of salt—not the commercial grade table salt—-but what is called Pink Himalayan Salt.
Pink Himalayan Salt will help increase the gastric juices our bodies require, and will provide us with more of the trace minerals that we need to remain healthy. I put 1/8 teaspoon in a cup of water and drink up.
After applying these methods and still no results, it is imperative to lower the coffee intake, or completely cut it out for a brief period. Coffee can wreak havoc on the body if overused for long periods of time. In the past when I had severe heartburn issues, coffee was definitely a big factor.
In conclusion, a better diet and exercise will improve the health dramatically. However, there may be another point to make here. What some may refer to as acid reflux, might actually be a condition called a Hiatal hernia, and if this is the case, it can be treated: How to Fix a Hiatal Hernia.
