Heartburn triggers to avoid

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Leery of being visited by that old flame, heartburn? Meet the fiery five – lifestyle and diet factors to avoid if you don’t want to get burned.

• Super-sized meals
  We’re not just talking about the mega-meals from fast food restaurants (though those don’t help heartburn either). When you gobble down too much food at one sitting, you overwork your lower esophageal sphincter (LES), the gate between your gullet and your gut. An overworked LES is like a gate with broken hinges, and it has a tough time keeping out what shouldn’t come back up into your esophagus – namely, stomach acid.
• Post-meal naps
  Sprawling out in a post-meal food coma does your digestive system no favours. But gravity does. Gravity is your friend. It keeps food moving down in the direction of your stomach and your intestines. Sit up for a while after chowing down. To keep the burn from getting into bed with you, elevate the head of your bed about 10 cm.
• Trigger foods and drinks
  Among the foods most likely to set the heartburn fires a-burning are the terrible ten: high-fat foods, spicy foods, garlic, French fries, onions, mint, coffee, tea, tomato sauce, and chocolate. Some of the most fun food around, right? If you can’t completely cut out the triggers, at least aim for moderation.}
• Cigarette smoking
  As if you needed another reason to quit smoking! Just like when you eat too quickly or too much at once, cigarette smoking damages the LES. Also, smoking can cause dry mouth, depriving you of a powerful acid fighter – saliva.
• Alcohol
  Alcohol wreaks all sorts of havoc on the LES and on the rest of the digestive system. Relaxing the LES, churning up stomach acids, disrupting the normal rhythm of swallowing, alcohol is a literal cocktail of heartburn triggers.

Ask Your Pharmasave Pharmacist

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Q: How can I manage heartburn during the holiday season?   

A: Heartburn is never welcome, but over the holidays, it can certainly put a damper on enjoying the festivities. Alcohol and caffeine combined with fatty food is a recipe for indigestion. Foods high in fat like eggnog take longer to digest, which can lead  to a back-up of acid in your esophagus (the tube from your mouth to your stomach). Consider sharing desserts and decreasing the sauces and oils you place on your food. Choose drinks that are caffeine-free to help keep the acid levels down in your stomach. Remember that cocoa and tea also contain caffeine!

Speak to your Live Well Pharmacist about over-the-counter medications that can help with your heartburn.  

Health Tip

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Alcohol seems to be everywhere during the holiday season, making it difficult to track just how much we’ve consumed. Try to pace your drinks at parties — wait an hour after your last drink before having another one. Make sure to have some food in your stomach as  this will slow down the effects of the alcohol. It’s a good idea to limit alcohol to 2 drinks per day for women (maximum 9 per week), and up to 3 drinks per day for men (maximum 14 per week). If you are taking medications, ask your Live Well Pharmasave Pharmacist how alcohol may affect them.

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