GERD Triggers that Should Be Avoided at All Costs

This article will help you learn all about the triggers and how they affect a person.

Essentially, GERD trigger is an idiom that recognizes any food or beverage that tends to aggravate or exacerbate heartburn symptoms. And so, if you can identify the trigger, you will know avoiding what can cause you to get rid of this disease. The identification of a trigger helps people modify their food habits or lifestyle to suit their unique needs.

Though citrus fruits, fried and fatty foods, spicy food items, tomato products (sauces, ketchups, etc), carbonated beverages and alcohol are generally labeled as triggers of GERD, the apparently innocent chocolate may also be bad news for many. What exactly works as the trigger can vary greatly from one person to another?

Identifying the trigger

Apart from medications that are prescribed for people suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease, the patients would do well if they can identify their own trigger food or drink and keep away from such items. However, to do so it requires some amount of research since the trigger food may vary, as mentioned above.

For instance, guiltless grapes that may prove sour for many, but they are greatly enjoyed by kids and adults alike for their sweet-sour taste. But they may turn out to be a trigger for someone whose system would not tolerate them.

GERD trigger and cooking

So leave aside the food items that are sorted out as trigger. Even the method of cooking may act as one and cause heartburn. Though a freshly fried pork chop may provide an excellent meal for someone, the same delicacy may cause another to wake up in the middle of the night with a severe heartburn. But a slight alteration in the cooking method would make a difference. Discarding the visible fat layer from the meat and roasting it in a slow fire will render it acceptable to a GERD patient.

Getting back to identifying the items of food, the best method perhaps would be to follow the old and proven course of trial and error. The initial course of action may start with the process of elimination to see if it works well. For example, one may eliminate eggs from breakfast for a few days and see if it reduces heartburn. The exclusion would be final if the results are good, whereas eggs might again reappear at the breakfast table if they are not.

Similar is the case for onions, apricots, cabbage, broccoli and other meats and vegetables. No doubt, it is a long drawn project to identify the trigger, but the end justifies the process as it is of value to GERD patients. There are books that help people know about these triggers with titles such as “Eating for Acid reflux” or “Know your GERD Triggers” and others.

Lifestyle triggers

What we do every day and the lifestyle affects our health naturally, and this is also true in GERD. Habits such as smoking, drinking alcohol and overeating can work as a trigger of GERD. So these habits are best avoided.

Avoiding the triggers – can holistic treatments help?

GERD treatment is best attained from holistic remedies. Though there are conventional medicines available, but they just try to cure the symptoms, whereas the contributing factors remain. So go for alternative medicines to cure the condition.