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If you are a patient of Gastrointestinal Reflux Disease (GERD), then a Gerd diet will be most beneficial for your overall well-being. You might be having symptoms like heartburn, bitter taste in your mouth, as well as chest discomfort due to excessive levels of acid in the stomach. This can be alleviated with the GERD diet.
General guidelines for GERD diet:
- Cease smoking as well as chewing tobacco
- Try and lose weight especially if you are overweight
- Eat small portions at meals
- Do not wear tight fitting belts and avoid lying down for 15-20 minutes after eating
- Avoid chewing gum and hard candy as they make you prone to reflux and belching.
- Raise the head of your bed by 6-8 inches with wooden blocks
- Avoid tomato sauces, chocolate, pineapple, oranges, mint, grapefruit, alcohol, coffee, black pepper and carbonated beverages.
- Stick to a low fat diet, because fatty foods cause the stomach to produce more acid.
GERD diet recommendations
- Fruits and juices: Go for fruit juices like grape, apple, bananas, cranberry and pear. Do not consume citrus fruits like oranges and pineapples.
- Soups: You should stick to low fat as well as fat-free soups like the clear broth based soups. Do not eat regular soups that have a fair amount of cream in them. Avoid soups with high fat content.
- Beverages: Stick to decaffeinated tea, try herbal tea excluding mint tea, Kool- aid, juices of fruits excluding orange juice and pineapple juice, and good amounts of water. Avoid both regular as well as decaf coffee, alcohol as well as carbonated beverages.
- Sweets/Dessert: You can have fruit ices, ice milks, popsicles and gelatin, as well as cakes and cookies that are low in fat (> 3 g fat in each serving). Do not consume chocolate as well as high fat desserts.
- Vegetables: You can have all types of roasted, steamed or stir fried veggies. Avoid vegetables that are fried and creamed.
- Milk/Dairy products: Go for skimmed (1%) milk, yogurts with low fat, and cheeses that have less than 3g of fat in a serving. Do not consume whole milk or 2% milk, cheeses and whole milk yogurts. Hot milk and chocolate milk are also to be avoided.
- Meat/Fish/chicken/meat substitutes: Have meat that is low in fat and has its skin trimmed before roasting or cooking, The meat should be either broiled, baked, roasted or poached without additional fat. Strictly avoid bacon, sausages, chicken, salami, fried meats, bologna and other meats that have more than 3 g of fat per ounce. If you spot chicken skin and other meat with visible fat, avoid them.
- Butter/oils/margarine: Try to avoid all of these, or if you cannot, have small amounts. Do not consume vegetable or animal fats.
Even if you are diagnosed with Gastrointestinal Acid Reflux (GERD) it does not in any way mean that your ability to enjoy and live life is lessened. By sticking to the above GERD diet, you will be able to control your acid reflux issue to the point that it becomes unnoticeable.
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