Natural Remedies for Heartburn or Acid Reflux

Ouch! For some people, it's tomato-based anything. For others, it's Mexican or other spicy food. For still more, it's unpredictable. But heartburn -- also known as acid reflux -- hurts no matter what triggers it for you.

You walk into a restaurant and make an order -- or you spend some quality time working on a brand new recipe. You take those first bites, and a big smile spreads across your face. But smiles soon turn to grimaces when heartburn rears its ugly head.

After the pain starts, you might find yourself complaining and asking: "Isn't my body supposed just to take care of things after I eat my dinner? Why me? After all, I eat quality food! What can be done now?"

Complaining doesn't do any good, so don't be a whiner! But, to answer your anguished question -- yes, there are things you can do! And many of them are natural and don't involve expensive pharmaceuticals with undesirable side effects.

Read on to learn about these simple, natural remedies, but first, let's review what heartburn is.

Your esophagus is the tube inside your body that connects your mouth to your stomach. Typically, chewed food travels downward toward your stomach in rhythmic waves. The esophagus has some somewhat sensitive nerve endings to let your brain know if this process is progressing normally or if there's a problem like something stuck there.

In your stomach are some powerful acids needed to digest your food and make its nutrients available to your body. When you have heartburn, those powerful acids go up into the esophagus, sometimes reaching your throat, which can hurt quite badly.

How to Stop the Pain of Heartburn

Let's review some things that help stop that pain:

1. Aloe vera juice -- available in health food stores and better-stocked grocery stores, too -- can relieve heartburn irritation, just as pure aloe vera can do the same for sunburn. And you can be proactive with aloe vera juice, too: People with chronic heartburn report great results from drinking a half cup before every meal.

2. Making some new life choices can have an impact on heartburn, too. People who are overweight are more prone to heartburn (as well as many other ailments), so fixing that problem can have cascading sound effects, including reducing or eliminating your heartburn problem. Another thing you can do is keep notes on what you've eaten and use them to determine if you're one of those people whose heartburn is triggered by specific food categories. Spicy foods and foods with lots of fat (and, yes, oil of any kind is fat!) trigger heartburn in some people, and some moderation in these areas is called for if you're one of them. Chocolate and soft drinks can cause heartburn for some folks too.

3. According to nutritionist Sharon Palmer, we're on the subject of life choices that can help you to avoid heartburn; eating a plant-based diet (vegetarian or vegan) can also benefit you.

4. Chewing sugar-free gum can significantly increase your mouth's production of saliva, and that saliva will dilute the rogue stomach acid and start to make you feel better. Chew for half an hour, and you should notice a difference.

5. Stop smoking -- cigarette smoke has been shown to worsen the pain of acid reflux, so here's another reason you should quit.

6. Eat a banana -- what could be easier than that? And they taste good, too. Bananas contain compounds that counteract stomach acid and get you on your way to feeling better faster. Apples can help too, but bananas are your most potent "fruit weapon" in the battle against heartburn. Eat two!

7. Mix three or four teaspoons of apple cider vinegar into one cup of water, and drink. (It's a robust taste that not everyone likes, so be prepared!) Not only does this help after the fact, but people prone to heartburn often take a cup of this blessed relief before every meal and before going to sleep, with excellent results. You're welcome.

8. Get a (super cheap) package of baking soda (not baking powder: you are not a doughnut), mix one teaspoon in a cup of water, and drink. (Again, the taste is downright weird but tolerable.) Baking soda is natural and is one of the most potent acid-neutralizers around. (It contains sodium, so those who need to watch their sodium intake should consider it.) Like apple cider vinegar, it's not only an after-the-fact remedy -- many swear by the sound effects of a cup before every meal and upon arising every morning.

As I raise my glass of baking soda solution, here's to a pain-free future for you -- and many more great, enjoyable meals without the scourge of heartburn!

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