On Tuesday, December 30, 2003, at 12:14 PM, chevere wrote:
> I am looking for people's experiences in regards to
> Paleo eating and if it decreased/increased their
> problems with acid reflux.
Ha! I got a very serious bout of acid reflux after about two years on
paleo. Check out my story in the archives in August or September of
this year. Now, about 5 months after the main symptoms began (the early
symptoms began some 6 months earlier, but I hardly noticed at the time,
they were pretty minor) I have narrowed down the list of foods that
seem to contribute to reoccurring bouts, and they are mostly either not
paleo, or on the edges of what I consider paleo.
Milk, coffee, tea, chocolate, citrus fruits and nuts, especially
peanuts, are clearly the worst offenders, and aspirin isn't good
either. Frozen foods are bad too. When I got really sick (I actually
raced to the hospital in an ambulance late one night believing I was
having a heart attack) the weather was really hot and I was eating LOTS
of frozen berries smothered with cream, and drinking lots of iced
drinks, mainly raw (never heated) green tea. I was also drinking iced
coffee milk quite a lot, and eating the other foods I listed. It all
added up to too much stress on my stomach, I believe.
In the months since I have been periodically stressing my stomach with
different foods to see which ones seem to cause trouble, that is how I
came up with the list above. Nothing too surprising when thinking from
a paleo perspective. If you check out the medical web sites under acid
reflux, you can find a lot of good suggestions of things that help, and
a list of foods to be cautious with.
In my case, I took the meds my doc gave me, and they helped a lot.
After a month or so I stopped, and have been pretty good since then,
although I still get some pain, especially when I don't sleep long
enough or eat too much of the bad foods. Getting good sleep helps a
lot, but don't lie down soon after eating. The doc said three hours. I
do take antacids sometimes, but try not to very often, in the long run
they are not healthy, and disturb digestion.
The list of foods to be careful with included all I listed, plus
tomatoes and mint, which cause excess acid secretion. Some other
important points are, never overeat or overdrink. I am much more
careful now not to eat too much at one time, as that is the easiest way
to bring on a bad bout. I stopped drinking with meals too, as that
seems to just fill the stomach and causes the acid to rise into the
esophagus. One cause of acid reflux is said to be a weakened sphincter
not properly closing off the esophagus from stomach contents. If you
eat or drink too much it makes the liquid stomach contents rise too
high and seep into the esophagus. So now I find myself eating smaller
meals 4 or 5 times a day, instead of the large meals I used to eat. I
drink between meals usually.
I don't find that spicy or fatty foods make any difference. Some web
sites claim they do, others say it is a myth.
What is your situation? Have you any suggestions to add? Good luck!
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