Eating habit changes for hiatal hernia or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
Changing your eating habits may reduce your chances of having heartburn. Suggestions include the following:
- Avoid alcohol, chocolate, and peppermint- and spearmint-flavored foods. These can make your heartburn worse by relaxing the valve between your esophagus and stomach (lower esophageal sphincter, or LES), allowing stomach juices to back up into your esophagus.
- Avoid foods that make your symptoms worse. These may include coffee, acidic foods (such as orange juice and tomatoes), carbonated drinks, and possibly spicy, fatty, or fried foods. If you notice that your symptoms are worse after eating a specific food, you may want to stop eating it and see if your symptoms get better.
- Eat smaller, more frequent meals. Having a very full stomach increases the likelihood that the pressure in your stomach will push on the LES and allow stomach juices to back up (reflux) into your esophagus.
- Do not eat for 2 to 3 hours before bedtime.
- Use chewing gum or hard candies to increase the amount of saliva that your mouth produces. Saliva washes stomach juices out of the esophagus into the stomach and can neutralize stomach acid.
| Author: | Monica Rhodes | Last Updated: March 24, 2008 |
| Medical Review: | Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine Jerome B. Simon, MD, FRCPC, FACP - Gastroenterology | |
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