GERD is a disorder that has an extremely close relation to diet and hence needs to be taken in to consideration for patients with this disorder. As the basic issue with GERD is the reflux of the acidic contents of the stomach in to the esophagus, it’s quite natural for you to have an impression that a GERD diet essentially means a bland diet. Well, the good news is that the diet for acid reflux need not necessarily be bland and tasteless.
GERD Diet - List Of Foods To Eat And Avoid
Well, to begin with; you need to understand and accept the fact that you are suffering from a digestive system disorder. This denotes that you will have to make certain sacrifices and cannot indulge in all and any kinds of foods like normal folks.
The best way to chart out an appropriate GERD diet is to sit down with a pen and paper and list out all the foods that aggravate your symptoms. This list should essentially contain only those food stuffs that have been indulged in previously and confirmed to have aggravated your GERD symptoms.
What foods are safe and recommended?
While there may be a personalized list of foods that can be safely eaten for each GERD patient; yet some foods are universally acceptable to the majority of these folks.
- Fruits
It is better to go with the fruits with very less or no acid content in them. These include bananas, apples, berries, peaches and plums.
- Vegetables
It is safe to go with veggies like peas, carrots, green leafy vegetables, sweet bell peppers, eggplant and potatoes.
- Fish
Fish is something which agrees with GERD diet and almost all of the non-fat varieties can be tolerated well
- Meat
Use only low fat meat and it is almost safe to use chicken and lean meat. The only precaution is to cook the meat thoroughly and ensure that it is not fried or roasted or grilled. Baking or boiling meat is the safer option as it keeps the acid down.
What Foods need to be avoided in an acid reflux disease diet?
Now this list should definitely include all the foods from your personal list of high risk foods. In addition you may also consider the foods that are given in this list which are known to affect the majority of GERD patients.
- Fruits
All acidic fruits, citrus fruits; for instance oranges, lime, pineapples, grapes etc
- Vegetables
Turnips, Brussels sprouts, kale, tomatoes, etc
- Fish
Fish with high fat content
- Meat
Beef, pork, lamb; especially meat with lots of fat, marbled meat, meat that has been barbecued, deep fried etc.
Image via Wikipedia
