Heartburn: Time To Change Eating Habits

By Jody Smith HERWriter

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Got heartburn? Well, Dr. Andrew Weil isn't going to suggest that you reach for a pharmaceutical drug to block the production of stomach acid. Instead, he would recommend a few natural remedies to bring gastric relief.

Dr. Weil points out that having heartburn is a sign that something isn't right. Too much food, or the wrong foods, or eating at the wrong time, all can contribute to heartburn woes. Stress can also cause stomach upsets.

(Transcribed from video interview)

Dr. Weil:
Well I think if you are having heartburn the first thing to ask yourself is why because that’s not normal.

And you know what, your stomach is telling you it’s unhappy and you want to figure out why it’s unhappy.

Either you are eating the wrong foods, you are eating too much, you are eating at the wrong time, you are eating wrong combinations of foods, you are putting things into the stomach that are irritating, other aspects of lifestyle, particularly stress for example, are interfering with digestion.

So I think you want to do a thorough analysis of that, and often heartburn can be eliminated simply by making appropriate adjustments in diet and other aspects of lifestyle.

There are some natural remedies that are effective, things like chamomile tea for example, which can be very soothing to the stomach.

There is a natural remedy called DGL which is a licorice extract that you can get in any health food store that increases the mucus coating in the stomach; it makes it more resistant to stomach acid.

And I recommend doing these things, the lifestyle adjustments and the natural remedies, before you take one of the strong pharmaceutical drugs that block stomach acid production.

There’s a lot of dangers associated with those that many people don’t think about and they are suppressive drugs; it’s easy to become dependent on them, that’s really not the solution.

If you are eating right, if you are living right you shouldn’t be having heartburn.

About Dr. Weil, M.D.:
Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., was born in Philadelphia in 1942, received an A.B. degree in biology (botany) from Harvard in 1964 and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1968. After completing a medical internship at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco, he worked a year with the National Institute of Mental Health before writing his first book, The Natural Mind. From 1971-75, as a Fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs, Dr. Weil traveled widely in North and South America and Africa collecting information on drug use in other cultures, medicinal plants, and alternative methods of treating disease. From 1971-84 he was on the research staff of the Harvard Botanical Museum and conducted investigations of medicinal and psychoactive plants.

Visit Dr. Weil at http://www.drweil.com

Video:
https://www.empowher.com/media/video/organic-food-why-should-i-eat-dr-weil

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.