Natural Remedies for Acid Reflux

Acid reflux is an inflammation of the esophagus that is caused by the regurgitation of the stomach contents. Another name for it is reflux esophagitis or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The main symptom of acid reflux is heartburn, which affects one of every ten adults in the United States each day. Many sufferers hope for natural remedies for acid reflux.

The treatment of acid reflux is normally based on the suppression of acid in the stomach. This is what most prescription drugs will do for a person’s symptom. I am sure you have heard and seen these drugs promoted as the miracle cures for heartburn. They are huge moneymakers for the pharmaceutical companies. Prilosec or as it is more commonly known as the ‘Purple Pill’ was the number one selling prescription drug for seniors in the world! The manufacturer of this drug earned approximately six billion dollars a year. This mere fact alone causes people to think that there has to be natural remedies for acid reflux.

This huge drug maker came out with a supposed new and improved drug called Nexium. However, many drug experts believe that the new drug was hardly more effective than the original. However, the pharmaceutical company managed to convert forty-two percent of its Prilosec users over to Nexium. Many people believe the new drug was manufactured to simply increase the profits of the pharmaceutical giant. Many more health conscious people are strongly considering natural remedies for acid reflux and other stomach ailments.

Drugs are not always the best answer when dealing with stomach issues. Prescription drugs do work otherwise the pharmaceutical companies would not be making billions of dollars. The problem is that the drugs reduce the amount of hydrochloric acid in your stomach thus reducing the ability of the stomach to digest your food properly. They also reduce an important defense mechanism your stomach has against food borne infections and thus increases your chances of acquiring food poisoning. These are just a few more reasons why natural remedies for acid reflux and heartburn are needed.

What is a good natural remedy for acid reflux or heartburn? You should first start with a detoxification diet. This type of diet consists of water, vegetable juices, unrefined sea salt, healing fats such as fish oil and healing foods that consist of live enzymes. Most people have a body that has too much acid. This is caused by acid forming foods and stress. Stress can cause a person to deviate from a good diet. What detoxification does is it makes your body more alkaline.

After detoxification, drinking about a gallon of filtered water a day along with high doses of probiotics can go a long way to restore normal stomach function for most people. Probiotic supplements are available at health food stores. If you suffer from acid reflux then you may need to drink more water than normal to dilute the acid and to normalize the acidity level in your stomach. Natural remedies for acid reflux and heartburn are a much better alternative than relying on prescription drugs.

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