I'm NEW, any suggestions for me starting raw with acid reflux/GERD

[Vaclare79]

Hello! I've been reading this forum for a couple weeks. I've decided that I need to go raw in order to get my health issues straight instead of taking pills. I've got a really bad case of heartburn/GERD which is making my life hard right now because I don't know what to eat or how to eat anymore since I cut out the cooked foods. I've been a vegetarian for a while, BUT I wasn't eating healthy vegetarian foods. I was eating whenever whatever junk mostly and whenever I felt like it I would have a salad or fruit. I've considered taking prilosec, BUT I've done so much reading about taking it and I know people who have taken it and haven't gotten better and are still on it... I hate taking pills anyways. I'm just wondering how do I start off with raw with heartburn so bad? I just don't know what exactly to make or eat anymore since so many conflicting information and opinions about things such as the tomato being an acidic fruit among others and that I should avoid it having trouble with heartburn. Well, I bought Victoria B.'s book on living raw with all the smoothies and Ani Phyo's recipe book. I haven't really made much with those yet. I've tried several bites of a smoothie I made with spinach, romaine, garlic, celery, tomato. It tasted ok, but I wasn't able to eat much. I've been eating fruits like apples and green grapes along with some cucumbers but this isn't helping me much because am getting tired of eating same food everyday. I just need some information if anyone else has suffered from this too because it can make eating difficult when eating is hard enough as it is. I want to make a salad and chop it up really good but I don't know what kind of dressing to put on it because don't vinegar cause heartburn or the regular ranch dressing has milk ingredients I want to avoid too.. Should I make a salsa and just mix up my salad with it? I guess I should try it because I won't be getting any better without trying something. I'm ashamed to admit I do need help and scared because of this happening to me because up til now I've never had any problems health wise or anything like this except depression and anxiety. My anxiety has been hard thing to deal with too because of this problem I have.
Also, I couldn't do the lemonade diet because of the fact that the lemon would burn my tongue. What is that ? Allergy or just the acid? I couldn't take my tongue burning.
I read about the kangenwater and decided to look for a ph balanced water and I found eVamor which is sold in health food stores near me so I bought some today which I haven't tried yet, but soon will. Anyone else tried any ph bottled water like this ?

[Aleesha Sattva]

never had that problem myself so i have no advice.

glad to see you posted a thread on it... it's so much better to share your questions on the forum rather than emailing it someone. :D this way you get everyone's info/sharing instead of just one person!

[Vaclare79]

never had that problem myself so i have no advice.

glad to see you posted a thread on it... it's so much better to share your questions on the forum rather than emailing it someone. :D this way you get everyone's info/sharing instead of just one person!

Ok. I finally figured out how to post a thread lol..

[smoothiegirl]

Vaclare,

I know the Kangen water is supposed to be about 9.5. Most of bottled water runs about 5-6.0 on the pH scale. I don't know if bottled water is pH balanced. I've heard the Fiji water is 6.0 but you would probably have to test it. Bottled water is not regulated by the EPA so contaminants can be present. They are regulated by the FDA. I know the Dasani brand produced by Coke is nothing more than tap water.
I had some similiar symptoms-heartburn, acid reflux. The lining of my stomach was inflamed. I used stomach enymes that I got from my doc and the Kangen water. I also do raw. It has healed up nicely. Although, there are raw foods that I have to stay away from. (Spicey, some nuts) I 've been doing lots of green smoothies and juicing. My stomach has calmed down alot. Spinach and bananas work well for me. I tried all of the different leafy greens and they just didn't go down well. So, I use superfoods and spinach right now. It works well. Just laying off all the SAD food(greasy, fried. heavy) will help alot!:)

[beckx]

mine cleared up just by switching to raw... wasn't very severe to begin with and mine seemed to be most triggered by wheat and canola oil so obviously that's not an issue anymore.

something i learned from david rainoshek, who had the same problem you have, is that drinking celery juice and eating other foods rich in organic sodium can help with reflux. i guess when our diet is too acidic the body moves organic sodium from the stomach lining to food entering the small intestine to neutralize the acidity... meanwhile the stomach lining stops producing as much acid due to the missing sodium in the stomach lining that's not being replaced and it kicks food back up because there isn't enough acid to break the food down... causing reflux. just get a highly mineralized diet, lots of greens and seaweed and if foods are triggering reflux for you, just avoid them for a while.

i've also heard of people finding relief from acid reflux by using chia seeds... they have a high mineral content and make a nice soothing gel when you soak them.

good luck! i think you'll start to see huge improvements in your health in no time at all.

[Vaclare79]

Smoothiegirl and Beckx, thank you so much for your advices. I thought for sure that I wouldn't get any responses!! I didn't know about the sodium part in the play of stomach acids wow that's interesting!! no wonder they say to eat/drink celery! ok.. I will try something else today to see if it'll work. If not today, then tomorrow. It's sad our water quality is bad though. I just read about that guy and the sodium in the celery, cucumbers, carrots, and spinach that if juiced would replace the hcl in the stomach which helps reflux go away. Wow.. That's amazing what food can do. I'm going to see if I can find a juicer or get one now.