Lose The Heartburn While You’re Losing The Weight

Heartburn can be truly painful to live with, and no one is more acutely aware of that than overweight and obese people. Many of the same foods and eating habits that helped contribute to the extra weight are also major causes of Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, of which heartburn in a major symptom. GERD is a digestive disease that happens when stomach acid goes in the wrong direction — rather than staying in your stomach and being eliminated normally, the acid washes back up your esophagus. This ranges from uncomfortable to excruciating pain, but it can be controlled and often avoided with some preventive measures. Medication may be helpful for some patients, but in many cases some dietary and lifestyle changes can make a major impact and dramatically reduce the pain of living with heartburn. Try the following tips to help reduce and eliminate your heartburn problem:

• Eat your meals slowly, taking time to chew each bite.
• Rather than eating 3 big meals, try eating more often in smaller portions so that you are never overeating (a major cause of heartburn) at a meal and remain satiated at all times.
• After eating, don’t lay down or go to bed right away: “Standing or sitting after a meal can prevent heartburn,” says the U.S. National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine.
• Try to allow 3 to 4 hours after eating before you lay down so your acid levels can go down.
• Avoiding certain foods may make a big difference in your heartburn pain: According to the Mayo Clinic, certain foods and liquids such as alcohol, carbonated beverages, coffee, orange juice, vinegar, tomatoes, ketchup, onions, fried foods, high-fat foods and chocolate are all known to trigger heartburn.
• Since the avoidance of many of these types of foods will help you in your weight loss plan, this is a double benefit: Drop the pounds and the heartburn at the same time. As the National College of Gastroenterology states, excess weight is a major risk factor for GERD, so shedding those extra pounds will almost certainly give you some major heartburn relief.
• Sleeping on your left side may help, as can elevating your head while you’re sleeping (try 6 inch blocks under the legs at the head of the bed rather than using too many pillows for best results.)

Most people have a twofold reason for wanting to lose weight: They want to look better and they want to feel better. Heartburn is such a common problem for overweight and obese people that many have forgotten what it feels like to live pain-free. However, it truly is possible as long as you’re willing to work on your weight loss program and practice heartburn prevention with these simple tips.