How I cured my acid reflux
As mentioned here before, I used to suffer from some nasty night-time reflux. Neither of the doctors I saw (my own GP, plus my wife’s) had any questions about lifestyle or dietary habits. No, all they wanted to know was if I had drug coverage, which I assumed was so they could prescribe me expensive brand-name drugs rather than cheaper generics. Seems a lot of doctors these days are nothing more than shills for Big Pharma. As to the whys and hows I was having reflux, they didn’t seem too concerned.
So, apparently the reasoned and compassionate medical solution was to continue any bad habits and just take the purple pill. Which I did for a while.
But then I decided that curing the reflux was more to my benefit than just masking it with treatment. And certainly better than continuing to donate to Astra Zeneca’s colossal profits each quarter. So after a few months of experimenting with some simple dietary and lifestyle changes, I finally managed to cure my acid reflux.
The solution was simple: All I did was cut back on heavily refined and processed foods. No more potato chips, fast food burgers, and other foods laden with preservatives, additives, and overly processed flours, sugars, and grains. I started eating more whole foods, such as lean meats, vegetables, and healthy fats. I also added a few sessions of moderate exercise each week. This helped my gut to heal from the dietary abuse I had inflicted on it over the years and also had the side kicker of helping me lose a few unwanted pounds, a much better side-effect than those of proton-pump inhibitors.
Will this work for everyone? I don’t know. I’ll still get a bit of recurrence if I eat the wrong thing, but 99% of the time now I am completely reflux free. What I do know is that reflux is a common problem and that a lot of us are eating crap that might be better left on the store shelves or the fast-food heat rack. Maybe our bodies are trying to tell us something about refined and processed foods that manufacturers and retailers would rather we didn’t know. It already seems generally accepted that these foods have contributed to the obesity epidemic. Maybe it’s not a stretch to wonder if they are involved in many other ailments and diseases as well.