What to Do About Stomach Acid

The holidays are a time that some people might associate with heartburn, gas, acid reflux, and other types of stomach upsets. You could stock up on Rolaids, Tums, or Alka-Seltzer for your family and guests, or you could read this article to learn why you need stomach acid, and how to make it work for you, instead of causing you pain.

Adequate stomach acid is necessary for proper digestion and assimilating nutrients. Acid also helps digest and absorb protein. The gastric (or stomach) acids also helps destroy bacteria and parasites that might be in the food. So you need the stomach acid. The question is how to keep it from keeping you up all night with heartburn.

First, some common sense tips:
Eat a balanced diet full of whole grains, protein, fiber, vegetables, fruits and essential fatty acids.
Chew your food thoroughly. This stimulates the salivary gland to make saliva, which helps kill bacteria.
Relax. Eating on the run is bad for you. Stress and anxiety diverts blood away from digestion into the muscles.
Don't drink so much with meals, and only drink alcohol after meals. Washing food down with too much fluid can compromise normal digestion.

Don't overeat. Eating smaller meals more often is healthier for your digestive system.

Stop the bedtime snack. Your body rests better when it isn't trying to digest that piece of pizza you ate on the way down the hallway.

The myths about stomach acid that you may have heard include drinking milk to help ease stomach acid before bed.

However, that milk will create a rebound reaction, and chances are good you will wake up a few hours later with acid reflux or heartburn. Some people think that avoiding coffee, citrus and spicy foods will ease their stomach acid woes, but there is no evidence of that helping. Go ahead and drink your coffee and orange juice and enjoy your spicy favorites. However, what you drink does make a difference. Soda and beer create excessive stomach acid. In fact, one beer can double your stomach acid production in an hour.

Interestingly enough, the very medications that people take to help with their stomach acid problem may be making it worse by blocking the production of necessary stomach acids.The lack of certain nutrients may also contribute to a lower stomach acid level. For instance, oral contraceptives can lead to a deficiency of folic acid, which is essential to acid production. Zinc deficiency can also lead to a slowdown in stomach acid secretion.

A lot of the problems commonly associated with an excess of stomach acid are in fact caused by dilution of the necessary stomach acids, some people believe. In other cultures bitter substances are used to improve digestion, nourishment, and optimal health. Americans are unaccustomed to most bitter tasting foods and herbs, but traditional Chinese medicine believes that they will strengthen digestion, improve the nervous system, and optimize the body's vital energies.

Some of these bitter formulas (called simply "bitters"), contain such things as angelica root, artichoke leaf, bitter orange peel. Thistle leaves, gentian root, goldenseal rhizome, wormwood leaves and yarrow flowers. These bitter herbs are often combined with gas-relieving counterparts like ginger root or fennel seed to both sweeten the taste and to take advantage of the gas-reduction benefits.

These bitters are typically found as fluid extracts or dry extracts used make a tea. They are meant to be taken in small doses, just enough to promote a strong bitter taste. ½ to 1 teaspoon of the fluid extract or 2 teaspoons of the tea is all that is needed, taken about a half hour before meals. These extracts can usually be found at your local health food store.

Tasting a bitter substance stimulates your stomach acid secretion, helps clear up such things as bloating and gas, and improves elimination. Another way to stimulate the bitter receptors in your taste buds is to eat bitter greens such as dandelion leaves, arugula, chicory or parsley before meals.