Heartburn and acid reflux is a very common condition that affects millions of people. But have you ever wondered why people get heartburn?
Are people born with heartburn condition?
For you, the answer is probably 'no'.
There are some other questions that are much more difficult to answer.
Why do some people get affected by heartburn and others don't?
Why is it that one person only experience mild heartburn while another person's condition is more severe?
Fortunately, it is not that important to know the answers to these questions in order to treat your heartburn condition.
What is useful for you to know is that diet is one of the main trigger for a heartburn attack. Armed with this knowledge, you will know what to focus on.
Basically, you want to avoid foods that will trigger acid reflux and eat foods that will improve your condition.
In general, you want to avoid foods that will cause your stomach to become more acidic. For example, you will want to avoid hot and spicy foods such as curry, chili and pepper. This is because those hot and spicy foods are acidic in nature and will naturally increase the acidity of your stomach.
You should also avoid foods that contains unhealthy fats. These foods are harder to digest. In order to digest them, your stomach has to work much harder and produces more acids.
For heartburn sufferers, they should also take note of the fruits they eat. Citrus fruits such as oranges are acidic in nature and will also increase the acidity level of the stomach.
However, citrus fruits are also valuable sources of vitamin C. Therefore, it is probably not a good idea to eliminate them totally from your diet. What you can do is to limit your consumption of citrus fruits. You may want to consume more apples instead.