Acidity Management Plan

• Heartburn : a burning pain or discomfort that may move from your stomach to your abdomen or chest, or even up into your throat
• Regurgitation: a sour or bitter-tasting acid backing up into your throat

Other symptoms of acid reflux disease include:

• Bloating
• Bloody or black stools or bloody vomiting
• Burping
• Dysphagia – the sensation of food being stuck in your throat
• Hiccups that don’t let up
• Nausea
• Weight loss for no known reason
• Wheezing, dry cough, hoarseness, or chronic sore throat.

Modifying your diet is the easiest and most effective way to avoid reflux. Eating less acidic and more alkaline food helps reduce the backflow of acid into your oesophagus. Alkaline foods that neutralise the acidic contents of your stomach also numb the effect of a reflux. These foods include:

• Most vegetables (green or otherwise), including spinach, fenugreek, okra, cucumber, beetroot, carrot, broccoli, cabbage, coriander, cauliflower, sweet potato, eggplant, onion, peas, pumpkin and radish
• Most fruits, especially bananas, apples, watermelon, figs and pomegranate
• Unsweetened yogurt
• Beans, including green beans, navy beans, broad beans, moong bean sprouts, lima beans, pinto beans and lentils
• Nuts and seeds, such as almonds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds

To incorporate more acid-reducing foods into your diet, bring colourful, nutritious green salads to work as a meal accompaniment or a stand-alone snack, and keep a small jar of seeds at your desk to eat in small doses. Swap your greasy dessert dish for a healthy cup of yogurt with fruit, especially in the summers. Add a pulse or legume dish, such as the conventional daal or contemporary sprouts salad, to your meal.