Bloating and heartburn are big problems … so big that drugs to control acid reflux and indigestion are huge moneymakers for Big Pharma. In fact just one of these, Nexium, the best-selling indigestion drug, pulls in more than $16 million a day.
Fortunately, you don’t really need to waste money on these drugs because you can take some simple and natural precautions.
As Dr. Michael Cutler notes, perhaps the most important, basic key to less heartburn is to simply chew your food better. That’s right, something as simple as inadequate chewing can mess with your digestive tract and send uncomfortable waves of acid upstream into your esophagus and mouth. Chunks of food that enter your intestines unchewed and too large result in the creation of extra gas (set off by the bacteria in the GI tract), putting excess pressure on all aspects of the digestive process.
For extra help with digestion, you can turn to L-glutamate, an amino acid (a protein building block) that stimulates the action of pepsin, a digestive enzyme that is released in your stomach. Pepsin helps the digestive tract absorb and assimilate the protein in your meals. You should take L-glutamate with betaine hydrochloride (betaine HCL) to help retain the proper acidity in your stomach and intestines.
As a matter of fact, if you are plagued with heartburn, take betaine HCL at every meal – it will help your stomach dismantle proteins and reduce your chances of reacting to allergens in your food. It’s very inexpensive, especially compared to drugs, and there are no side effects.
Digestive enzyme supplements are also helpful. These enzymes insure that food is broken down into their component parts that can be absorbed through the intestinal walls.
When choosing an enzyme supplement, look for one that includes proteases to help with protein digestion, and lipase to help with fats. Amylase can also be included to aid in starch digestion.
Another easy way to prevent acid is to eat fewer processed snacks. Processed food contains an overload of starches, sugar and damaged fats that complicate digestion – they contain few of the nutrients like fiber and enzymes that can help digestion.
