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Disease & Conditions

Acid Reflux

How to Stop Acid Reflux or Heartburn

Acid Reflux:

If you want to stop acid reflux or heartburn, then you can, using natural remedies to eliminate it. Most people that have this condition head out to the drugstore and buy over-the-counter medication. The problem with this is these medications either neutralize or suppress the excretion of your stomach acid, HCl. When this happens, you unbalance your stomach's pH and create a condition that will lead to new and different illnesses. So it is not a good idea to use medications that neutralize or suppress the formation of your HCl.

Eating at Night

Many people suffer from acid reflux at night. To avoid this, eat your dinner at least three hours before you go to bed. It takes at least this long to digest some of your food. If you eat a lot of meat it may take longer, a salad or soup will take less time. If you lie down with a full stomach, your food will put pressure on the lower esophageal valve that prevents your stomach contents from moving back up into your esophagus causing that heartburn sensation.

Here is a list of natural remedies that you can use to stop acid reflux or heartburn. No need to use antacids, which have unwanted side effects and contain aluminum, which has been associated with senility and Alzheimer's disease.

An herbal tea of peppermint, Anise, and lavender

Here's a tea that you can make to help stop reflux or heartburn. It will help you reduce the amount of acid you have in your stomach. Buy equal amounts of aniseed, peppermint and lavender leaves and mix them together. Make a tea as follows:

" boiling 3 cup distilled water
" pour this water over a tablespoon of the herbal mixture
" let this tea sit for 3- 5 minutes, the longer it sits the stronger it gets
" strain tea, you can add some honey if you like.
" place this tea in a thermos

Drink up to 8 oz in the morning and 8 oz in the evening to get relief of acid reflux.

Aniseed or anise - is a powerful herb that helps digestive conditions. Use only the ash-colored anise called green anise, European anise or sweet anise. Do not use the two other types of anise, star anise and caraway.

Peppermint - is another strong herb for stomach conditions or heartburn. It helps in digestion, stomach distension, cramps, ulcers, and gas.

Lavender - It also is an excellent stomach aid and is useful in reducing acid in the stomach.

Here are some foods that you need to avoid to stop acid reflux or heartburn. It is best not to eat these foods for dinner. If you want you can test to see if you can handle these foods for lunch. Avoid spicy foods and citrus fruits and their juices. For sure, don't drink coffee or alcohol. You can always keep a list of food that you eat that cause you acid reflux, since each person is different in what causes acid reflux for them.

Digestive enzymes
To stop heartburn, it will be absolutely necessary for you to take digestive enzymes. Digestive enzymes will help you digest your food better and quicker. This way your food will move out of your stomach into your small intestine quicker. If you eat a lot of processed foods then using digestive enzymes is even more important.

As you get older, your stomach weakens in its ability to produce hydrochloric acid to digest protein. It is undigested protein that leads to acid reflux or heartburn. You can use digestive enzymes that contain Betaine, pepsin, or HCl with each meal to make sure you digest all of your protein.

Papaya digestive enzymes, which contain papain, are also excellent for protein digestion and you can use them with each meal. Use 500mg or more of papaya enzymes per meal.

Rudy Silva is a Natural Nutritionist and researcher. For more free tips on how to stop acid reflux go to: http://www.acidreflux-relief.info He writes a newsletter called http://www.natural-remedies-thatwork.com