[Mazzy]

I am ambivalent about eastern medicine (as well as western medicine), but in my quest to figure out why I get stomach acid and hunger confused, I found this website, which I think is very interesting and makes a whole lot of sense in my case.

http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpac...e.php?id=32780

When I "fell off the wagon" with intuitive eating, it started when I was sick and was unable to walk to reduce stress, even though I kept losing weight. Also, I started hanging out with some friends who liked to drink a lot of wine and eat a lot of cheese, something that was "new" for me, and I was compelled to participate....I'm guessing that somewhere along the lines, this changed how my stomach felt and confused my signals. Then I had a NYE party with a lot of food and drink, and ever since then, I've had a hard time allowing my stomach to get empty. Each time it starts to get empty, I experience a lot of acid reflux, and my first reaction is to put more food in, to relieve the pressure and push the acid back down. This is like a neverending cycle, as the excess food creates more reflux.

[Michelle Friday]

Maybe it's the type of food? might be an allergic reaction to certain
foods, your body rejecting them? so it causes the acid? I like to
refer to our bodies as our own laboratory, doing our own experiments
and finding our own results. There is comfort for me to realize the
uniqueness of my own body, what it likes and dislikes by it's reaction
physically and/or mentally.

[Palestrina]

After reading this article I'm not entirely convinced that it's on the right track. I've had some recent bouts with heart burn and even a little gastritis and it's a very uncomfortable feeling. These if left untreated and chronic can develop into some very serious issues including ulcers and even cancer.

I find it helps me to avoid acid causing foods like coffee, dairy, spicy foods, ground meats, high fat foods, fried foods. I also try to eat very small meals and allow my body to digest them before eating again. Basically I eat very light salads for a couple of days and only a few sips of coffee (to avoid a caffeine headache). I've had good success with things calming down.

Also, very important not to take Advil if you're having stomach problems. If its really bad I will take some pepcid. I also immediately do some chi gong to try to move my chi.

[HolliPsalms91]

I've had acid reflux for over 15 years and i can identify with alot of what you said. Some advise to drink water before meals to quell hunger but i have to put food on my tummy first - otherwise the water just increases the acid in my tummy (if that makes sense) and I end up feeling nauseous. So to this point, I've been eating some of my meal, and then drinking the water, to hold things down.

I've been on meds for acid reflux of course, Nexium being my drug of choice. But I'm curious if upping my fiber will help keep things in my tummy more often. I plan to pick up some glucommanan at the store tonight, and start taking some with my meals to see if that helps. I'd really like to not have to take meds for the reflux if possible. All the meds do, really, is neutralize your stomach acid so it doesn't burn - but the refluxing action still happens, right. So my goal is to weigh down what I eat with extra fiber, so the reflux itself is minimized.

FYI I already eat a lot of whole foods in my diet so I do eat healthy. But the natural fiber in all that produce is not helping with the burn I get from the reflux. So this is one of the two reasons I am going to try the glucommanan in addition to what I eat.

I'd be happy to make a post about it if anyone would be interested in my little experiment of supplementing with fiber and going without acid reflux meds.