Heartburn is usually caused by excess acid in the stomach. There are several remedies to try and alleviate the discomfort, and one way some people try and lessen their heartburn is by drinking milk. Heartburn and milk, however, do not really go together.

Milk Can Make it Worse

Initially, drinking milk for your heartburn may seem to help. Heartburn and milk may seem to go together, but after the milk washes excess acid from the esophagus back down into the stomach, the problem may just become worse. Heartburn and milk are a bad combination because milk can actually cause the stomach to produce even more acid than it initially was producing. Milk contains calcium and protein as well as fat which can all help to produce stomach acid.

If you just can’t give up the milk, you can try drinking less or switching over to soy milk. This may or may not work, but the combination of heartburn and milk can be bad for those who suffer from heartburn. Over the counter antacids may be able to help with heartburn and milk may still be a possibility if you are willing to put up with a little heartburn and antacids. Other over-the-counter medications prevent your stomach from producing as much acid on a daily basis. These types of medications may alleviate your heartburn, and milk may still be an option for you.

The first thing to try when suffering from heartburn is to adjust your diet. If you are willing to give up milk for a period of time to see if that is indeed what is causing your heartburn, you may even be able to keep milk in your diet. Other types of foods may be the main trigger for your heartburn, and milk may not be the major reason you are having problems. Tomatoes and citrus fruits including juices can be one of the biggest contributors to heartburn, so avoiding these foods may also be a good adjustment to your diet.

With the help of over the counter or prescription medications, you may still be able to enjoy your daily bowl of cereal or a glass of milk or two. If you heartburn is serious enough and does not lessen with dietary changes or over the counter medications, you should visit your doctor and determine if you need prescription medication for your condition.

For some people, every meal seems to lead to painful heartburn and for others, only certain foods bring the agony. Still others only suffer when they fail to abide by reasonable portion sizes.

There are some foods that are safe for almost everyone and it’s a good idea to start with these foods. If you are heartburn-free for a time, you can begin to add foods that are more likely to spark a heartburn attack one at a time. Those that do not cause a problem can stay on your heartburn diet. Those that cause pain will have to go. Combined with good eating habits and careful food preparation, this can help anyone start a successful heartburn diet.

Safe and Not So Safe Foods

Foods that are fatty, spicy, salty or too dry can kick up a bit of heartburn. Of course, foods that are high in acid can problems for some people, too. Apples and bananas are safe fruits. Some vegetables can be hard to digest; the safest being baked potatoes, cabbage, green beans, peas, broccoli and carrots. Remember to avoid adding fat – just low-fat salad dressing should be okay.

Fat is a problem in the meat category too – lean beef like London broil is good. White meat chicken and fish are also lean. Egg yolks are fatty so stick to egg whites and egg substitutes. Low-fat and fat-free dairy products are a better choice. High fiber grains are the best alternatives for your carbs – multi-grain bread, graham crackers, pretzels, bran cereals, rice and oatmeal should work out well for most people.

Your heartburn diet has to exclude caffeine. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate and colas are out except in decaffeinated forms. Water will help in digestion and should be included in every heartburn diet. Snacks can include low-fat cookies, red licorice, baked potato chips and jelly beans.

The Preparation

Never, never, never fry your food. Until you can determine that fried foods don’t trigger your heartburn, avoid them. Even if you are sure that fat isn’t bad for your own heartburn, limit it on your heartburn diet. While simple pasta dishes are rarely a heartburn problem, acidic tomato sauce can be. Low-fat cream sauces are safer choices.

Often, cooking takes some of the acid from the tomatoes, but add tomato sauce cautiously back to your diet and eliminate it if it causes a problem. Boiled foods add water to your meal and that’s a good thing and to add flavor, use fresh herbs.

The Habits

A heartburn diet doesn’t only restrict what you eat but can specify how you eat. A full stomach will push out air to make room. That will open the sphincter between the stomach and esophagus which can lead to acid reflux. Eat slowly and stop eating before you feel full. If your doctor has diagnosed a condition that causes your stomach to empty slowly, eat smaller meals more often during the day. A good heartburn diet can give you back your life.

Heartburn affects many people everyday. For some, it is a daily occurrence, but for others it only flares up every once in a while. If you have a tendency to have heartburn, there are steps you can take for heartburn prevention.

Steps to Take

Probably the first thing you should do for heartburn prevention is to avoid certain foods or drinks that can begin or aggravate heartburn. Anything made from tomatoes will have a tendency to trigger heartburn since there are naturally occurring acids in tomatoes. Spicy foods can often exacerbate heartburn as well. Other foods to avoid for heartburn prevention include alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, citrus juice and fruit, and mints.

Another step to take for heartburn prevention is to change your eating habits. Eating smaller meals can help by limiting the pressure that is put on the base of the esophagus. If your stomach is too full, the esophagus will often have extra pressure applied, which can lead to heartburn and reflux.

If you want to get any sleep at night, it’s usually a good idea to not eat anything for about two or three hours before bed time. If you’ve tried just about everything to amend your eating habits but are still suffering from some heartburn, over the counter medications won’t provide heartburn prevention, but they can help once you are suffering from the heartburn.

If you are at a loss as to what exactly is triggering your heartburn, keeping a record of what and when you eat or drink may be able to help you identify the specific triggers that can cause you heartburn. This is probably one of the better ways to identify what exactly you will need to do for your personal heartburn prevention. Once you have identified your specific triggers, you can work towards eliminating them and eventually find your way to your own specific heartburn prevention.

Heartburn prevention is difficult only in the sense that you will need to identify what triggers your heartburn before you can work towards heartburn prevention. Once you have identified the things that cause your heartburn, you can work towards a heartburn-free existence. Even if you have identified the triggers and have taken all the measures you can, you may still have to take heartburn or acid reducing medication every now and then.

There are quite a few effective over the counter medications and some are very good at heartburn prevention. If your heartburn does not improve with dietary changes or over the counter medications, you probably will want to make an appointment with your doctor. They can prescribe other types of medication that may work better for your situation.

Heartburn is rarely serious, but it can be extremely uncomfortable and even painful at times. If you suffer from chronic heartburn, the ongoing discomfort can be very difficult to cope with. That is why heartburn remedies are so actively sought by heartburn sufferers. The good news is that there is a long list of potential remedies you can try if you suffer from this problem, and chances are that you will eventually find a therapy that will work on your heartburn.

It is important to be methodical when going through your various heartburn remedy possibilities. You can start with various lifestyle changes, and work your way through potential dietary modifications. Finally, there are over the counter heartburn remedies that you can take if diet and lifestyle changes do not suffice.

To Find a Heartburn Remedy, You Must Pinpoint the Cause

There are a number of factors that can contribute to heartburn issues. Some of the lifestyle possibilities to consider include eating large meals or eating too close to bedtime. The obvious remedy for these heartburn contributors is to switch to smaller, frequent meals and make sure your last meal is more than three hours before bedtime. If you are a smoker suffering from chronic heartburn, quitting smoking might be an effective heartburn remedy. Avoid tight-fitting clothing, and raise the head of your bed at least six inches so that you are not sleeping in a flat position at night.

Diet changes can also be a significant heartburn remedy. For example, avoiding caffeine, alcohol, fatty foods, citrus fruits and tomato products can all alleviate your heartburn problem. If none of these dietary changes seem effective, you can keep a food journal for a few days to see if you can discover precisely which foods are contributing to your problem.

Other Heartburn Remedies to Try

If lifestyle and dietary changes are not enough to remedy your heartburn ailment, you may need to move on to medication. Over the counter antacids are effective for many people, and can safely be taken fairly regularly once you have consulted with a doctor. If the antacids are not even sufficient, your doctor can give you a prescription for a heartburn remedy that should alleviate even the most stubborn of heartburn symptoms.

Heartburn can be a tough and uncomfortable problem to overcome. Fortunately there is a long list of potential heartburn remedies to help you find relief.

Heartburn is a terribly painful affliction. Almost everyone knows the discomfort of occasional heartburn. If it happens more than occasionally for you, you might want to learn how to stop heartburn. While the cause of heartburn, acid in the esophagus, is the same for everyone, the way the acid gets there varies from person to person.

The esophagus is the tube that carries your food from your mouth to your stomach where it is digested with the help of gastric acid. The doorway between the stomach and the esophagus is a sphincter that opens to allow food in and closes to keep acid in. There is a flap to assist in confining the acid. The possible reasons that your sphincter is having a problem containing the acid are many. Until you pin down the reasons, you won’t know how to stop heartburn.

Sphincter Muscles

When the muscles of the sphincter close, pressure builds in the esophagus. There is less pressure in the stomach which makes it quite difficult for the acid to splash up through the sphincter. The time when it is easier is when the sphincter is either open or when the muscles relax. Obviously, the sphincter is open when you are swallowing food. If you have the habit of literally eating on the run, you may have a persistent problem with heartburn. Another way to learn how to stop heartburn is by sitting still and carefully chewing and swallowing.

The sphincter also opens when pressure builds up in the stomach. This happens when the stomach can’t empty fast enough to keep up with food intake. In other words, you may be eating too much. When that happens, the sphincter opens to let out extra air and make more space. The polite word for this is “belching.” When the air comes out, a little acid rides along. Some air is no problem, but a lot of air means enough acid to cause at least mild heartburn. Eat slowly, don’t swallow a lot of air and don’t eat too much at one time is how to stop heartburn if this is your problem.

Some problems with the sphincter muscle might be beyond your control. A too full stomach isn’t always due to overeating. Some stomachs take longer than average to empty. This situation is common for those with diabetes. Asthma sufferers may take medicine to relax the muscles of the esophagus to allow better air flow. This type of medication can also relax the muscles of the esophageal sphincter allowing better acid flow.

Even if the muscles don’t relax enough to open the sphincter wide, the pressure can equalize making a tight waistband enough to cause acid reflux. For anyone with frequent heartburn seeing a doctor is the best way to learn how to stop heartburn.