Lots of people suffer from acid reflux and have tried to over the counter antacids and medications with little or no relief. Doctors are just going to give us prescriptions for expensive medications, which might work but they are costly and some people just can’t afford them, so they continue to suffer. The good news is that the cure could be as close as making some simple changes to your diet. There are foods that cause acid reflux, and if you are eating these foods on a regular basis, then avoiding them may be all that’s needed to take care of your acid reflux.

Below you could find a list of usual foods that cause acid reflux symptoms in some people. Take a look at this list and see if there are foods on it that you eat on a regular basis and try some alternatives to see if these help reduce your acid reflux symptoms.

High Fat Foods
Dairy foods that are high in fat such as whole milks, cottage cheeses, and many other high fat cheeses can be an almost instant trigger for acid reflux. Try using non fat milk and low fat cottage cheese. Some processed cheese foods are low in fat and taste almost as good as their real cheese counterparts. Check the labels.

High fat meats like marbled steaks and other cuts of beef, ground beef, dark chicken and turkey meat and their skins can all be foods that cause acid reflux in you. Alternatively, you can find cuts of beef that are less marbled and closely trimmed, ground sirloin is typically lower in fat, and boneless, skinless chicken and turkey breasts are a wonderful and healthy alternative.

Fried foods, especially those found at any fast food restaurant, are also foods that cause acid reflux in most people. Try finding foods that are fried in lower fat oils like peanut oil. They still may cause some discomfort, but it is possible that they won’t cause as much discomfort as the others.

Fruits and Veggies
Citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, and grapefruits and their juices can irritate the esophagus and cause symptoms of acid reflux. Try fruits like apples and apple juice, which have been known to actually relieve heartburn.

Onions have been known to cause acid reflux, especially when eaten raw. If you love the taste of onion but they cause you pain, try using onion powder as an alternative.

Tomatoes are full of acid and should be avoided. This also includes products made from tomatoes like sauces, salsa, and condiments. There really is no alternative for tomatoes, but some other condiments and vegetables could replace them and still be satisfying.

Beverages
Coffee, both caffeinated and decaffeinated, can trigger acid reflux in many people and should be avoided. Try a cold glass of apple cider and 20 minutes on the treadmill for a morning pick-me-up.
Sodas and other carbonated drinks can cause symptoms of acid reflux. Water is the best alternative to soda, especially on hot summer days.

Alcohol, especially beer, can be damaging to the esophagus and cause acid reflux. This is where a lifestyle change may be necessary. When you go out volunteer to be the designated driver and have fun watching everybody else act like drunken idiots. You’re likely to win at darts more often this way, too.

There are other foods that cause acid reflux symptoms, too. The best way to figure out what is causing your acid reflux is to keep a journal and then avoid the foods that you find are your triggers. If this doesn’t help, then a trip to the doctor to discuss your acid reflux is recommended.

For decades, the media has been preaching how fats are associated with obesity, cancer, arteriosclerosis, and heart disease. Back in the late 1980’s, the U.S. Surgeon General recommended that Americans decrease their consumption of dietary fats. Marketing savvy food manufacturers immediately started coming out with everything from fat free ice cream to fat free cheese. In place of fat, more carbohydrates were added.

With all of the “fat free” marketing, the general public believed that since something was “fat free”, they could eat larger portions. Over the next ten years, Americans became fatter than ever! Obesity skyrocketed from 12% of the population to over 20% of the population in just 10 years. Today, research has found that 50% of Americans are overweight and approximately 23% are obese. With the help of the food industry, the public has developed a “fat phobia” and the importance of including healthy fats in our diets has been neglected.

If your goal is to build a stronger, leaner, more muscular body, dietary fats are necessary to maintain and improve your health, and play an essential role in reaching your fitness goals.

There are two types of fats, saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are considered healthy fats, they are usually liquid at room temperature. Although there are many sources of unsaturated fat, two great sources of healthy unsaturated fat can be found in cold water fish like salmon, trout and halibut, and flax seed oil.

Saturated fats are the unhealthy fats that are associated with a myriad of health problems. They contain virtually nothing nutritious or good for your body, it’s only role is it can be burned as energy. The fact is, you don’t need saturated fats at all, but the typical diet is jam-packed with them. For health reasons, you want to consume as little saturated fats as possible. Saturated fats are generally solid at room temperature and can be found in butter, margarine, dairy, cheese, and meats. I am not recommending you become a vegetarian and eliminate meat from your diet, but make sure when you are at the meat counter you select lean cuts. You do not have to eat meat every day. There are many other good non-animal sources of protein including beans, soy, and tofu.

The truth is, some fats are health promoting and essential to life itself. I recently read a great book by Dr. Udos Erasmus, one of the world’s foremost experts on dietary fats. I highly recommend you read his best selling book “Fats That Heal, Fat’s That Kill.” Dr. Erasmus believes that eating enough healthy fats is just as important to maintaining health as eliminating unhealthy fats.

For an example you eat a simple carbohydrate, such as a piece of fruit or a candy bar. Eaten alone, it would enter your bloodstream in the form of glucose and raise your insulin level almost instantly. Proteins, such as lean cuts of meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, and low-fat dairy products, take much longer to digest and are broken down into their smallest components, amino acids. Amino acids, for the most part, do not stimulate insulin secretion. Protein also requires the body to put forth a greater amount of effort for a longer period of time to digest it, which once again slows down the digestive process.

When a carbohydrate is eaten in together with a protein, it becomes a new source of energy on a molecular level. So when a simple carbohydrate is eaten in combination with a lean protein source, such as a piece of cheese or a slice of turkey, that combination of foods goes through a very different digestive process than if either is eaten alone. If you combine carbohydrates with proteins, less glucose enters the bloodstream, and it is released over a longer duration of time. This lowers your insulin level so your body can burn the carbohydrates as fuel as opposed to storing them as fit.

Another important factor to consider is those endless cravings for sugar or carbohydrates. Eating a little protein with each meal will reduce your cravings for such foods. Let me give you a brief explanation. When you eat sugar or a carbohydrate alone, it raises(spikes) your insulin levels, but what goes up must come down. So when your insulin level drops, it creates a craving for more sugar or carbohydrates for immediate energy and to get “high” again, because now you are feeling tired and lethargic. Sounds like an addiction, right? It’s something to think about. However, when you eat a little protein with each meal, which forces the secretion of glucagon(the hormone that stimulates insulin secretion), your insulin level balances out so your body doesn’t go through the insulin roller-coaster ride. The result is that you have a sustained, well-balanced energy level throughout the day instead of that tired, lethargic feeling you may usually experience around midafternoon.

The premise behind a higher-protein diet is that it’s not the protein or fat in our daily diet that is causing the obesity epidemic, it is the excess of high glycemic carbohydrates and carbohydrates eaten alone and in excess that create and store fat. In other words, lean sources of protein and good fats will not make your weight raise they are eaten in the right proportion. Fat does not induce a secretion of insulin. Do you remember the low-fat craze that swept through our country not so long ago? Every major food manufacturer jumped on the bandwagon and made low-fat versions of almost every food product. What happened? We got fatter, not thinner! We ended up eating more of those low fat foods because they didn’t fill us up due to the reduced fat content and the fact that they were high in sugar and carbohydrates. Consider this: an entire chicken breast has approximately 300 calories; a small Snickers bar has approximate 275 calories. The chicken breast does not require the secretion of insulin, but the Snickers bar does. As a consequence, when eating the Snickers bar there is a greater chance your body will store these calories in your fat cells; eating the chicken breast will not. So start to eat more protein to keep your weight down and of course it will make you healthier.

Whether you are planning a day at the beach, a weekend in the mountains or a road trip, it is common to forget snacks and drinks. Dining out everyday for all meals of the day can be a real problem if one is not accustomed to eating out daily. It’s wrong to stop the intake of practically every food available on the road, but one can make adjustments to eat healthy food.

Typical junk food like burgers, bags of chips and sodas are loaded with bad fats, many calories and less of nutrients. Eating junk food for couple of days can give you a bad stomachache.

Breakfast:

If you are breakfasting either at a small restaurant or hotel breakfast bar or at the gas station, avoid foods that have excess sugar and high Carbohydrates. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s face it – men and women have many differences! Because they are physically different, their fitness and nutritional needs also differ. Both men and women would benefit from regular exercise and a healthy diet. Yet, the male body responds more favorably to certain types of exercises and foods.

Nutrition for Men

The male body has a higher percentage of muscle tissue than the female body. Read the rest of this entry »