A busy lifestyle with little time to care about proper eating habits and rest can lead to poor health conditions. Most people suffer from a common ailment called ‘heartburn’ from time to time. In this condition, the acidic contents of the stomach are pushed back up into the esophagus. The acid is not meant to be in the esophagus and leads to severe discomfort when it affects the delicate lining of the oesophagus.
Some natural heartburn remedies advice you to compromise your lifestyle. For example, Smoking obviously isn’t good for the esophagus and sometimes is the main cause of heartburn. Try not to smoke right before and after a meal. You should think about quitting but if you don’t then try to digest your food before lighting up.
Unfortunately, most of us start our days with coffee which is not a good idea. In fact, coffee is highly acidic and complicates your heartburn problem. Additionally, many of us love to start the day with fresh orange juice. Again you are adding more acid to your system.
Choice of drinks is another consideration. You can drink wine or plain water with meals. But only in small quantities. Drinking water while eating dilutes the gastric acid and enzymes thus reducing the efficiency of digestion. You should avoid carbonated drinks as they cause a build-up of pressure in the stomach.
Ginger works too. Keep some ginger root around and when you get a flare up, you can add some ginger to a meal, eat it raw or even drink it in a tea. It has also been said that ginger candy works as well. If your local supermarket doesn’t carry ginger candy, try a health food store.
Slippery Elm – Another of the many heartburn remedies out there that you may want to try is slippery elm. Traditionally, this herb has been used by people to treat sore throats. But now, people are discovering that it’s also a great remedy for heartburn. It is easy to find and you can simply suck on a lozenge for the best results.
Infuse the oil of fennel seed, anise seeds or dill seeds in water. Drink this mixture while it is still warm. The extracts can coat your esophagus and can reduce the damage done to it by the acid.
The truth is, you can control heartburn and acid reflux with a sensible diet. However, for many of us, there will be occasions when we feel compelled to satisfy an ill-advised craving. In fact, we even know what breaking the diet leads to but we go ahead and do it anyway. And then we pay the painful price. The good news is that there are home heartburn remedies that really work.