Heartburn. Acid reflux. Gas. Bloating. Whether you’re experiencing any of these symptoms after a celebratory over-indulgence or on a daily basis, it suggests your digestion could use some support!
The Forces Working Against You
Modern life makes good digestion a challenging goal. We eat out more, in restaurants serving us super-sized meals that demand more digestive effort. Modern food production methods have created a food supply that contains fewer of the vitamins and minerals that serve as the building blocks for proper digestive chemistry. Bad habits like eating while watching TV, using tablets or phones, texting, driving, or working also cost us good digestion.
Why Popular Antacids are Not the Answer to Your GERD
If you suffer from heartburn, conventional antidotes can actually make matters worse. Many antacid formulas contain the toxic minerals bismuth and aluminum. Meanwhile, those consisting of calcium carbonate can have unfavourable side effects like intestinal bloating, gas or constipation. That’s because they neutralize the acids needed for digestion.
Use of prescription acid-reducers known as proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) have been shown to compromise the synthesis of new tissues like nails, hair and bones, while reducing mineral absorption. In addition, PPIs can make bacterial infection of the GI tract a risk because the stomach isn’t acidic enough to kill microbes that don’t belong.
Prevent Over-acidity, Without Dangerous Side Effects
Stomach acid is absolutely essential for proper digestion to occur. However, the rest of your body tissues get injured by the acids formed when we eat processed foods. Alkaline minerals stored in the bones must be dumped into the blood to buffer the excess acids that would otherwise poison us. Sugar, fried foods and refined flour products are just some of the foods that use up the body’s vital acid-neutralizers, leaving no protection for your stomach. The result is heartburn or acid reflux.
The preventative use of alkaline salts can help when taken on a daily basis. The goal is to rebalance your pH so proper digestion can occur, while protecting the rest of the body from hyper-acidity. With medical supervision, alkaline salts can even be used to reduce dependence upon PPI drugs. By the way: ‘salts’ don’t refer only to sodium chloride; they include certain magnesium, potassium and calcium compounds as well!
Small Lifestyle Changes Make a Big Difference
For optimal digestion, habits need to be modified. Take at least 5 to 10 minutes before and after eating to relax can improve your digestive comfort. Slowing down to chew your food until it is a paste before swallowing. This lightens the work load for your digestive system and gives you a focus while you are eating. Remove those distractions. Your food will taste better! Add some freshly squeezed lemon juice to un-chilled or hot water and sip this with meals, and avoid carbonated beverages.
Following these tips can be challenging when you’re away from home, eating food you didn’t prepare yourself. Make sure you’ve got alkaline salts on hand for extra digestive support.
Happy eating!