Take the Burn Out of Heartburn Naturally_Final

>> Welcome back. We're living in a time when acid reflux, heartburn, and GERD are occurring in large numbers. Occasional reflux is normal, but when it happens weekly, or monthly, or even every meal, the discomfort can be overwhelming. This is also a signal that something is wrong in the body. Western medicine has traditionally treated the symptoms by freely handing out acid blockers and suppressors. but now we're learning that too much stomach acid is not the root cause of reflux. These medications can have negative effects. For example, acid blockers have been shown to contribute to the development of SIBO. So how can you help your clients naturally prevent and find relief from heartburn? The answer lies somewhere in between Western and alternative approaches, and takes into account a person's bio-individuality. As with any medical condition, your clients should consult their medical doctor for treatment. As their Health Coach, you are there to support your clients to provide recommendations that naturally support their health. In this lecture, we'll take a look at different ways that you can do just that using a three-phase approach. You'll be able to share with your clients which foods to avoid, prevention strategies, and how they can use supplements and herbs for digestive support. We'll also take a look at common treatments and how they may be adding to the root problem rather than relieving it. You ready? Let's jump right in starting with our three-phase approach for calming heartburn. Phase one, help clients identify their triggers. One of the first things you'll want to do is advice your clients on how to identify and eliminate foods that may be triggering the issue. The best place to start is by encouraging them to temporarily remove the potential trigger foods and beverages they consume most often. And see if their symptoms clear up after a few weeks. Help them by asking high mileage questions to determine if certain foods aggravate their reflux. Do your clients consume foods that are known to irritate or weaken the lower esophageal sphincter, such as citrus, spicy foods, chocolate, coffee, peppermint, or onions? Did your client have any food intolerances? You'll also want to enquire if he or she smokes and how much alcohol they drink. It's also helpful to consider that there are certain risk factors that affect whether a person is more susceptible to acid reflux or GERD. These include age, weight, lifestyle, and diet. The older a person is, the higher the risk for acid reflux. You can't change your client's age, but you can help them improve their diet and lifestyle. Phase two, introduce lifestyle modifications. There are several simple recommendations you can make to your clients that may help them experience some relief. The first is to eat small meals to avoid pressure on the abdomen. This is a preventative measure against heartburn. Eating small meals limits the pressure on the abdomen, reducing portion size also helps with maintaining a healthy weight. This is very important for clients who are overweight and experiencing heartburn. Recall that obesity can put a person at risk for acid reflux and GERD. When excess weight in the abdomen pushes against the stomach, it lowers the pressure in the lower esophageal sphincter. While eating and digesting, advice your clients not to wear restrictive clothes that place pressure on the abdomen. Internal or external pressure can promote heartburn. but wearing stretchy pants to dinner doesn't mean it's a fair game to take a second helping of food, extra food adds pressure too. The angle of the body during digestion is also important. It's best to sit up after meals and avoid lying down for at least an hour or two. Clients with acid reflux should be advised not to eat within three hours of going to bed. If you already have a sphincter problem, then lying horizontally just makes it harder on your body to contend with gravity. Also recommend to your clients to try sleeping with their heads slightly elevated about six inches. Another helpful lifestyle modification is to minimize stress during mealtimes. Long-term stress causes a decrease in mucus production. And chronic stress can also weaken the lower esophageal sphincter and cause reflux regardless of a person's acid levels. This can contribute to functional heartburn. Also compounding the problem, stress can influence bad habits, like overeating, smoking, and drinking alcohol. These are all factors that may contribute to reflux. Help clients manage their stress during and after they eat to minimize its impact on the digestive process. We'll talk about strategies for doing this in another lecture, but a few helpful tips are encourage them to take the time to sit down for meals, eat without distractions, and drink a cup of warm tea 15 minutes before a meal. These lifestyle modifications can set the body up to be more relaxed during a meal. Phase three, explore supplements for digestive support. Practitioners may recommend to try adding in magnesium. Remember, magnesium helps the sphincter between the stomach and the small intestine relax, this means that food can pass through more easily. And when the exit door of the esophagus is blocked, the contents of the stomach have nowhere to go. It may try to make its way back up resulting in reflux. Another great supplement to consider is zinc. Zinc is a cofactor that's necessary for several different enzymes to perform different reactions including the production of hydrochloric acid or HCL. This activates the chief cells in the stomach telling them to get ready to secrete pepsin. You can think of pepsin as the enzyme that digests protein. If the stomach isn't acidic, meaning there isn't enough HCL then pepsin isn't released. As a result, a person can end up with a type of acid reflux that occurs from undigested food particles lingering in the stomach. If a client suspects that his or her stomach acid is low, you can suggest that they consult with a healthcare professional about taking a combined supplement of betaine's HCL with pepsin. This supplement must be taken with meals containing protein, otherwise it can irritate the stomach. Digestive bitters can also be helpful for reducing heartburn. Bitters have been part of many traditions around the world. And did you know that bitters used to be medicinal additives to cocktails? And bitters can help stimulate all of the digestive juices. Many practitioners recommend taking bitters before every meal. A common mistake is to quickly down the bitters in a tincture, but in order for it to be effective, the response should be activated in the mouth. The bitter taste isn't common anymore in our everyday culture, but it's necessary to taste the bitters in your mouth while sipping them. This revs up the digestive process. So to consume digestive bitters, it should be mixed into water and sipped slowly for about 15 minutes prior to every meal. For a list of bitter herbs, checkout the handout in this module called "Natural remedies to help with heartburn." All right, let's recap what we've covered so far. The three-phase protocol for helping clients manage their heartburn and reflux are help clients identify triggers, make lifestyle suggestions, and explore supplements that can aid digestion. If your client suspects that his or her reflux is related to an overgrowth of bacteria, they should visit their doctor to get tested for SIBO and candida. Bacterial overgrowth in the gut may signify low acid. When a person doesn't produce enough stomach acid, this sets the stage for poor digestion and creates easier entry for pathogens. This can lead to bacteria overgrowth which can produce excess gas and cause reflux. Identifying a bacterial overgrowth is an important step in figuring out the big picture. Now let's shift gears and talk a little about the problems inherent with conventional solutions over the counter and prescription medications. The market for antacids is over $10 billion worldwide. However, at least half the time, the amount of stomach acid isn't the problem. These remedies neutralize the acid, but imagine what it does to your digestion. The short-term relief these products bring come at a cost of the body. Antacids can be broken down into two categories, acid neutralizers and acid blockers. Acid neutralizers temporarily neutralize the stomach acid that's currently present in the GI tract. This is why they work when they're taken but have no lasting effect. Have you ever tried drinking baking soda and water? This is a similar approach to taking a Tums. The idea is to neutralize and acid with a base. And doing this can temporarily alleviate symptoms, but buffering stomach acid can cause other problems and doesn't address the root of the problem. Acid neutralizers include calcium, sodium, aluminum, and magnesium salts. And popular acid neutralizers on the market include Tums, Mylanta, Alka-Seltzer, and Milk of Magnesia. Taking these here and there won't cause much harm, but if taken continuously over time, they can cause an excess of calcium in the blood. And then there is the fact that some of these products contain aluminum. The aluminum in antacids can interfere with absorption of fluoride and calcium which is a concern for bone loss. Now let's talk about acid blockers. Acid blockers were first developed in the 1970s. These include histamine receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors. Histamine receptor antagonists commonly known as H2 blockers are a type of medication that prevents the action of histamine by blocking their receptor sites in the stomach. Did you know that histamine helps stimulate the production of stomach acid? So normally, gastrin stimulates these histamine producing cells in the stomach to produce hydrochloric acid. And then when the histamine is blocked, this process becomes halted. So you can see how histamine blockers are problematic for long-term digestion. In addition to being produced by the body, histamine can also be ingested by foods and produced by gut bacteria. Stress can also cause the body to release more histamine. If histamine builds up, the body becomes intolerant. And when a person is intolerant to histamine, stomach acid is low because cells can no longer respond to it. Now onto proton pump inhibitors. In 1990, proton pump inhibitors or PPIs were introduced as the new solution for heartburn related issues. Proton pumps are the parts of the cells that produce and secrete stomach acid. As the name suggests, proton pump inhibitors stop this process. PPIs are the most potent of the treatments. They can reduce stomach acid by 90% to 95%, but as you've learned, having such a low level of stomach acid can cause even more trouble long term. Even when these drugs were introduced to the market as treatment for ulcers, they were recommended with a warning. The FDA says you should not use proton pump inhibitors for more than 14 days. Long-term acid suppression may lead to osteoporosis, infections, depression, skin issues, and dry hair and nails. These issues occur primarily because absorption becomes impaired and therefore, the body suffers from nutrient deficiencies. The secondary problem is that undigested food left in the gut acts as an irritant, intolerances and inflammation can develop as a result. For a person who frequently experiences the pain of heartburn, these products can feel like a lifesaver and we don't want our clients to suffer. but the problem is that a quick fix can create many long-term problems in the gut. Remember, it's not your place as a Health Coach to encourage your clients to get off their medication. Empower them with education and support but be careful not to step into the role of doctor. Treatment is always outside your scope of practice. We're providing you with this knowledge to help you better understand common conditions and their current treatments, both Western and alternative approaches. This will provide you with a context from which to offer your support around diet and lifestyle. To recap, treating the symptoms of heartburn, acid reflux, and GERD provides temporary relief. but acid neutralizers and acid blockers can cause long-term damage to the body. There are preventative steps and natural remedies clients can safely implement to help provide relief by addressing the root cause of the issue. Have you ever worked with clients who struggle with heartburn, acid reflux, or GERD? What worked for them and what didn't? Share your experiences in the Facebook group. This is a great opportunity to learn from one another. Thanks for watching and bye for now.