Five Ways to Cure Heartburn

Your stomach is churning. Your chest is burning. You feel like your insides are on fire. No, it's not due to the internal flip flops of seeing a new love. You've got indigestion!

So what do you do? Instead of picking up the pack of Rolaids that you saw in the market hours earlier, you opted for day old salami. It tasted delicious and felt good on its way down, but now that it's trying to come back up, you feel ill. So how do you overcome your earlier choice and race towards relief?

Well, you don't need to make a midnight run to the store. What you probably need is already in your home. Just look below and read five sure fire heartburn cures that are commonly kept in the kitchen.

1) Canada Dry Ginger Ale. If you drink Canada Dry Ginger Ale, you'll relieve an upset stomach. The ginger absorbs the gastric acid and, as a result, settles a sour stomach.

2) French's Mustard. Besides being a delicious sandwich spread, this condiment aids digestion. It can help prevent an imbalance of acids which is the origin of indigestion and heartburn.

3) Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar. Combine two teaspoons of Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar into one cup of water. Then, sip it slowly as you eat your meal. The acetic acid in the vinegar will stabilize your stomach acid and prevent heartburn.

4) Uncle Bens Converted Brand Rice. Eat Uncle Ben's Converted Brand Rice in order to cure heartburn. The complex carbohydrates in it will absorb your stomach acid which in turn will bring you relief.

5) Wrigley's Spearmint Gum. Chew on a stick of Wrigley's Spearmint Gum to eliminate heartburn. Saliva is produced through the act of chewing which neutralizes stomach acid and stabilizes the flow of digestion. Also, Spearmint aids digestion of food.

Heartburn Trivia

* The word 'heartburn' is derived from the Greek root 'pyr' meaning fire and heat. The medical term for it is pyrosis.

* Heartburn is not medically related to the heart. It is a burning sensation behind the breastbone caused when the lower esophageal sphincter malfunctions letting gastric acid flow up from the stomach into the esophagus.

* Battery acid is almost equal in strength to stomach, gastric acid.

* Approximately 1 out of 10 Americans get heartburn every day. That's roughly 25 million people.

* The Italians call heartburn 'bruciore di stomaco' which means 'stomach burn.'

* Nora Ephron wrote the script for the 1986 movie Heartburn, a movie directed by Mike Nichols. It was based on her novel with the same name and starred Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. It was largely autobiographical and depicted the sad antics of a pregnant woman and her philandering husband. It opened to mixed reviews at the box office.

* For most people, heartburn is mild and occasional. However, if you encounter it daily and often or have symptoms like trouble swallowing, seek professional help. Make an appointment with your doctor. It may be a symptom of a more serious medical condition.