Tag: diet

The Lowdown on Stomach Acid!

Published on by Our Healthy Homestead4 Comments

 

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Yep!  That’s right!  All these years I thought I had too MUCH acid in the old tummy!

I’ve been doing some deeper research on this – while learning more about fermented foods – and it seems that our stomach NEEDS acid!  Who knew?

SYMPTOMS

Let’s start off with some of the symptoms of  low stomach acid or in clinical terms, “Hypochlorhydria” …

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I can check off at least HALF of these!  No wonder eating fermented (acidic) foods helps!

 

What CAUSES Low Stomach Acid? 

What are some of the causes of low stomach acid you ask? I was really surprised by some of these…

• Poor diet
• Stress
• Eating too fast
• Zinc/Magnesium deficiency
• Age
• High Sugar Intake
• Antacid medications and prescription drugs
• Food allergies or food sensitivities
• Infection or inflammation
• Chronic illness
• Smoking
• Obesity
• Excessive exercise 

And that’s not all of the possible causes!  I sure wish I had known all of this sooner!

Natural “fixes”

So, how can we increase our stomach acid naturally?   I drink brone broth and kombucha already, so I was tickled to see those two on this list from Dr. Axe – these are some foods that help boost stomach acid – making my shopping list from this graphic!

Foods that improve acid reflux symptoms - Dr. Axe

To help lower your stomach acid try to avoid these things….

  • Alcohol
  • Carbonated beverages, sugary drinks or energy drinks
  • Artificial Sweeteners
  • Fried foods
  • Spicy foods
  • Processed foods

 

Boosting your stomach acid naturally is easier than you might think!  Here are a few ways you can do that…

♦  Eat fermented foods – Kombucha, kimchi, ACV (apple cider vinegar), sauerkraut, pickles, yogurt, Kefir – anything that is fermented helps boost your gut flora and increase stomach acid.

♦  Take a good probiotic daily.  We take Life 9 Probiotic.  It’s a proprietary, high-potency probiotic that combines 17 billion live cultures from nine beneficial bacteria strains. It helps promote healthy digestion, supports gut health, and helps maintain normal intestinal function for the overall support of a healthy immune system*.   I’d be happy to chat more about our favorite probiotic!

♦  Eat Ginger!  Ginger has great anti-inflammatory properties.  Remember, inflammation is one of the causes of low stomach acid.

♦  Take smaller bites of food and chew slower! This will stimulate your digestive enzymes.

 

This quote from Tribali Foods Blog really made me think…

“Doctors prescribe acid-suppressants and because those medications “put out the fire” by neutralizing gastric acid and create a more alkaline environment, which relieves the pain. But as we know, heartburn, indigestion, and acid reflux result from too little stomach acid rather than too much.

Until you address the problem of low stomach acid, you might rely on acid-suppressing drugs that only mask your symptoms. Again, you experience reflux and indigestion not because of too much acid, but because of misplaced acid that has found its way past the lower esophageal sphincter.”

WOW !!!!!  That’s like putting a band-aid on the problem instead of focusing in on correcting it!  I took PPIs (proton pump inhibitors)  for years!  Little did I know that they can actually do more harm than good and may even contribute to digestive system cancers with long term use!

Personally, I will never take any type of antacids again!  Here’s a short list of side effects from Antacids – OTC and prescription from Dr. Axe …

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That’s just wayyyyyy too many side effects for me!!  I’ll stick to DiGize Essential Oil roll-on and using some of the suggestion above!

Stay healthy until next time !

 

 

 

Blessings ~

Heather

 

 

 

 

 

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Young Living products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Diets, oh my!!!!

Published on by Our Healthy HomesteadLeave a comment

I truly think that diets are the new craze!  There are TONS of diets floating around out there – which one do we choose?  Are any of them the “right” diet?

I don’t think that these “new” diets are really dieting…they are more of an eating habit than a diet, which in itself is a good thing!  We could all probably stand to change our eating habits to a healthier lifestyle!  Check out some of the “eating lifestyles” we have to choose from today…

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There is seriously a “Hay Diet”???  And what in the world would you eat on a Prison Loaf diet?  Or do I really want to know?

What do we do with all of this indecisive diet planning – do I eat meat or do I not eat meat?  Do I eat fat, or not eat fat?  Do I eat lots of protein, or just a little protein?  Do I…you get my drift.

So, I have come up with the Oily Homestead Diet!  Our meals “normally” consist of healthier foods – no fried food, minimal salt, good fats, veggies, tuna (hubby doesn’t like fish but I could eat fish daily!), organic/free range chicken, grassfed/organic beef on occasion, and fruits, especially the berry family fruits – although I have been “addicted” to oranges recently!

We have cut back on the amount of gluten and sugar we eat because I do believe that gut health determines your overall physical and emotional wellness!  Gluten and sugar are not “gut friendly” so therefore we (we in this case means more “I” than “we”) try to stay away from both as much as possible.  My dear hubby is diabetic so he already eats a {mostly} sugar free diet.

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Basically, we try to eat healthy foods.  Foods that are low in “bad” fats, low in sugar, minimal gluten, and mostly lean protein.  We don’t drink milk {we just don’t like it} but we do eat yogurt, cottage cheese, and a lot of “real” cheese, so we are obviously not “dairy free”! That’s pretty much our “diet”!  Personally, I honestly believe that we need to take care of the temple God gave us, but being obsessed about what goes IN to our body is, in my opinion, unhealthy.  We need “treats” sometimes, we need to be able to eat that piece of cake at a birthday party and not beat ourselves up about it for days, we should be able to splurge now and then by getting dessert on date night.  We need to actually enjoy life while we are here, while at the same time, eating healthy foods so we can hang out here a little longer than if we didn’t eat those healthy foods!  Does that make sense?

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For a little extra gut boost, we take a really good probiotic, I drink kombucha first thing in the morning before anything else goes in my gut (fermented foods are an excellent natural probiotic !), we stay away from taking any antibiotics unless it’s a life threatening necessity!  We do also eat prebotic foods like onions, garlic, and oatmeal, apples and  bananas.

I’d love to hear about YOUR eating plan!!!  I’m always up for new and better ideas!

Until next time…

~ Blessings

Heather