I spend a lot of time researching my symptoms and their causes, successfully managing my IBS, insulin resistance, diverticulosis and a host of other problems through natural health - but I never thought I’d be looking up home remedies for heartburn.
Graeme, like many modern Western men, was a drinker, smoker and junk food connoisseur when we first started dating and spent most of his evenings in the pub.
Not my usual type, but having worked with him for over a year I had gotten to know Graeme well enough to see that his pub-heavy lifestyle was just a byproduct of being single and that he wasn’t really into that kind of scene (no offence to anyone who is).
So because I don’t go to pubs, the evenings Graeme spent with me were at home or out at nice restaurants, with him drinking a couple of beers maybe while I sipped on my water, and because I don’t smoke, Graeme would just naturally not smoke around me.
Quitting smoking was probably the hardest part for Graeme. I got really frustrated listening to him saying how much he wanted to quit only to light up at work the next day, so a few months of tough love and him weaning himself off helped him kick the habit for good.
Around this time it was Graeme who discovered that I might be intolerant to high-FODMAP foods, setting me onto the path of nutritional enlightenment 😉
So we were already eating food mostly made from scratch because of my IBS, but where I was able to take prepared lunches with me to work every day, as a freelancer Graeme would often work in offices without kitchen facilities and would buy pre-made, processed foods for lunch most days instead.
Feel the burn
Eventually, Graeme started getting acid reflux every single day, and was getting through tubs of Andrew’s Salts like no one’s business.
This continued for a good few months before one night I snapped.
Instead of looking up home remedies for heartburn, I started going through our food cupboards.
I’m not sure why exactly I thought the heartburn was caused by the food he was eating, but I was becoming more and more aware that all the “normal”, processed foods in everyday life seemed to be making me sick so it just made sense to me that they were making Graeme sick, too.
So, bit by bit I found ‘better’ alternatives to the foods Graeme was eating at home, until bit by bit we reached the diet he now eats.
A very small snapshot of my alternative “home remedies” for heartburn
I am not a doctor, and all of the following is based on my experience and own research and experimentation - everyone has different needs and your health is your responsibility and yours alone, whether you choose to speak to your doctor about diet and all that jazz is none of my business, this is purely to share what has worked for us.
- Bottled condiments became freshly-made sauces and snacks became mixed nuts and seeds.
- Squash and fruit juices got more and more diluted until Graeme finally retuned his taste buds to stomach water.
- The morning coffee with three sugars and the wheaty cereal with pasteurised milk slowly became rooibos tea without milk or sugar, with boiled eggs and porridge with homemade oat milk.
- The lunchtime sandwich, crisps and chocolate bars became a small but varied salad with around seven different vegetables and feta or mozzarella, olive oil, hemp seeds, along with some leftovers from the night before.
- The white pasta/rice/potatoes became sweet potato and steamed red cabbage.
And you know what happened?
The best home remedies for heartburn aren’t found in a pill bottle
Not only did Graeme’s heartburn disappear within a week - he dropped a stone and a half and nearly two jean sizes with hardly any exercise at all, and the acne he gets on his sides significantly calmed down.
If you came here looking for quick-fix home remedies for heartburn that would allow you to continue eating crappy foods like pizza, coffee and sarnies I’m sorry to disappoint you.
Unfortunately, it takes a bit of elbow grease to turn around years of bad habits - and believe me when I say Graeme has not always been a willing participant in me “taking away” the addictive, sugary crap he loves to eat.
The research it takes to figure out what foods are safe, and then dealing with the withdrawal symptoms when you make the switch, is a long and painful process.
But we’ve both witnessed for ourselves that most ailments can be alleviated, if not completely eradicated, through diet, so Graeme grumbles a lot less these days.
Our diet has continued to evolve and we’ve both settled on Animal-Kingdom Only - while it’s curing my IBS and other lifelong chronic illnesses, Graeme’s exercise performance seems to be improving more rapidly than before and he’s down another few notches on his belt, which is great.
It ain’t easy being the only witchdoctor in the village
I’ve been criticised for daring to tell a man what to eat and drink, and a lot of our now ex-friends seemed to believe that our diets deprive us of any joy in life.
They really do misunderstand.
Our health being the best it’s ever been is allowing us both to enjoy food in a way we never did before, without all the cocaine-like reactions our brains were having to refined foods and the sugar crashes and hollow hunger we felt on a daily basis.
I just believe that through a diet of real, whole foods, you shouldn’t need to spend money on hype products that mask your symptoms to enjoy great health.
Here’s a quote I love to get you thinking: “If you think eating healthy is expensive, just wait until you see the medical bill from eating cheap, crappy food.”
Look after each other and be well.
Disclaimer
• Your life and health are your own responsibility.
• Your decisions to act (or not act) based on information or advice anyone provides you—including me—are your own responsibility.
