Understanding what GERD is, its causes, its symptoms, the effects it has on your body and the way your body responds to specific treatments is necessary to help you devise a plan with your activities of daily living, including diet, to help manage the condition.  If you haven’t seen my Part 1 just click on it onto my webpage than read yesterday’s article part 1 than read this.   All you can do is apply your own GERD diet experimentation to the suggestions of others and try available treatments until you find what works for you.  Also, there are foods that have a reputation for being ‘safe’ (foods to avoid acid reflux) in most cases, as well as others that are known for being main contributors to acid reflux.

I recommend you go to http://www.gerd-diet.com which helps explain about foods and how they work with GERD.  They do state the following:                                       

Armoring Yourself with Patience and Willingness to Experiment (meaning this takes time in finding out what exacerbates your GERD and what helps it heal—Like an open wound, it takes time.)                                                                                                                                           Sorry,There Is No One-Size-To-Fit-All With-A-GERD Diet                                  (for relief or resolution)

Your Own Trigger Foods.
Given the complex nature of GERD, this one has to be added. I know it is repetitive, but everyone has certain foods that irritate their condition and causes severe symptoms. Make a list of these foods and avoid them in the future.  This means make a journal for the next 2 weeks or more and see what caused your GERD symptoms to remember them with not eating fast which can cause GERD also (habit change).

GERD Diet FoodsA List of Food Groups and What Is Safe and Best to Avoid                                The following lists are comprised of foods that are typically known to be ‘safe’ or to ‘trigger’ symptoms.

Again, just because something is on the “avoid” list does not mean that you cannot eat it. Similarly, something appearing on the “safe” list does not guarantee that it will not cause a problem for you. This is simply provided as a guideline to give you a place to start and to make it easier for you design your own personal GERD diet.

At this point, there is no alternative medicine therapies that have been accepted as proof for treatment(s) or 100% resolution for GERD.

However, like every other aspect of the disease, it really is an individual decision. Some people have reported natural remedies that have given amazing results with their GERD diet (healthier approach) while others find that prescription medications have little effect (meds can cause side effects temporary or permanently, depending on what it is).   

GERD can be due obesity, lifestyle (unhealthy habits) and diet.  **It is recommended to see an MD first before making any decision on your own in treatment with a combination of or just one of the following: meds, diet or even health habit changes, especially for those people with disease/illness (s) present (Ex. Diabetes, cardiac disease, etc…).**  If you need help with your GERD in prevention or treatment, that is primary or secondary care, than stay on this webpage which can help you out with your healthy GERD plan.        

**We can show you many healthy habits to use in your daily  life regarding what foods are healthy in eating (using all 4 food groups), how to properly eat your meals, how to lose weight effectively because of obesity, how to maintain an ideal weight, know what healthy activity/exercise is for you (non-strenuous to work out) and lastly knowing how you control or increase your metabolism with how it works with the different food groups, including the size of the meals you eat.  You make the choices of what foods you want in your body.  You will be able to treat yourself to foods high in fats, carbohydrates or sugars occasionally when you reach your therapeutic ratio of your body mass index=BMI (ideal weight).  I hope you join me like so many others that were so happy with our results and how it financially keeps you within your budget (not unreachable).                                                                                                                **You take a look for yourself and I think you may just like what you see.  No gimmick, No hacking, No contract, No fee, and No donations it’s just a look at the website healthyusa.tsfl.com.**                                                                                                                                                       **I have been a RN a quarter of a century, have seen disease from oncology units to cardiac units (telemetry, ICU, Pulmonary care units), to all types of med surg., to rehab facilities, to spinal cord injuries and amputee units & could go on with my experience.  I have worked from sea to shining sea, NY to California.  I saw what unhealthy habits have done to many people regarding their bodies, of all ages, in the U.S.  I will try every attempt not to end up like that but be healthier in living my life with staying out of facilities within my ability.  I’m not just a sales person with a pitch.  I even have GERD due to eating too fast over the years as a RN and did learn and practice healthier habits.  Join me and so many others where you can make yourself healthier and then even possibly others with just passing on what you have learned.  You may even get this urge to pass this knowledge on to others, like I did.  Spreading this kind of lifestyle all over can only help our country with decreasing many numbers of diseases that we have inflicted on ourselves regarding certain diseases (Ex. Obesity, Diabetes II, Cardiac, Lung Cancer, GERD etc…) due to living unhealthy lifestyles with poor diets.   Let us make a healthier USA for us now and in the future generations to come.   I hope you have found this article educational and useful in learning about understanding how the disease GERD works with knowing the symptoms that can arise when it’s active with some of the treatments.      

Before anything else, preparation is the key to success. Alexander Graham Bell___________________

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“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” – Helen Keller

The foods we eat that has starches, carbohydrates, calories are made up of sugar. When food reaches our stomach in time digestion starts to take place where these foods are broken down in the stomach into individual or complex molecules. It turns out glucose is the most common and important one. The glucose then passes into our bloodstream then to the liver where 60 to 80 % of the glucose gets stored=inactive glucose that’s converted to glycogen in this organ (which will pass later from the liver back into the bloodstream if we need it for energy and have nothing in our stomach at that time). The remainder of glucose=active sugar for energy of our cells and tissues to sustain is ready to be utilized by the body where it is needed by many organs. Think of a car for one moment, and what makes it run? That would be gas/fuel for it to function. The same principle with glucose in your bloodstream=fuel for the human body so we can function for without it we wouldn’t survive. That is the problem with a person that has diabetes. They eat, they break the food down, the glucose gets in the blood but the glucose fuel can’t be used due to lack or NO insulin at all. Insulin allows glucose to pass into our cells and tissues to be used as energy/fuel for the body parts to work. Glucose is used as the principle source of energy (brain for energy, the muscles for both energy and some storage, liver for more glucose storage=that’s converted to glycogen, and even fat tissue using it for triglyceride production). Glucose does get sent to other organs for more storage. Insulin plays that vital role in allowing glucose to be distributed throughout the body. Without insulin the glucose has nowhere to go. So lets review this, when digestion occurs a process happens = Breakdown of the sugars that release into the circulatory system gives you free floating active glucose in the blood, than the pancreas senses that and releases insulin, the insulin allows sugar to pass into the blood cells & to be stored somewhere or utilized by the body (without this process hyperglycemia would occur,like in a diabetic=high sugar levels). When the glucose in the blood reaches the liver a cell sensor picks it up and allows the glucose to go into this organ where glucose is stored as glycogen=inactive glucose. Insulin plays a key role in multiple parts of your metabolism. Insulin allows the building up of many sources in the body that is called SYNTHESIS. Insulin allows protein synthesis, fat synthesis and cell growth to occur in the body. Now understanding how the body works with insulin and glucose lets understand how this has anything to do with controlling obesity.
When you eat a meal let’s say breakfast (fasting from the night before) your sugar level in a normal person is about 80 that time of the day. After the meal in 1hr the sugar level starts peaking as soon as the pancreas senses glucose it starts releasing insulin that does its storage in the different ways previously discussed and by 2 hrs after the meal the glucose level is down again but in people eating 3 large hyperglycemic meals a day you cause these spikes in your glucose levels and are turning on insulin to be released in the bloodstream, by the pancreas organ, which stimulates up your FAT STORAGE system. You need to make a change in that diet by eating 6 small low glycemic meals a day (have one meal every 3 hours). This shuts down your fat storage. When eating low glycemic foods like lentils they raise sugar in the body 28% (slightly) as opposed to high glycemic (sugar) foods like pizza, soda, bread, cornflakes. Your body can handle high glycemic foods occasionally but not daily since it will allow constant high levels of glucose with the pancreas stimulated to frequently releasing insulin into the bloodstream and this turns on fat storage and converts all extra energy=glucose to FAT. This extra energy=glucose is because the meal was high glucose and what the body needed was used but the excess glucose from the high glycemic meals goes to FAT storage. So what’s the key resolution to weight loss eat 6 low glycemic meals a day= low fat, low carbohydrates, low sugar keeping your baseline glucose at a steady and low sugar level on a regular basis with still treating yourself to occasional high glycemic meals. Follow this plan and in the first week eating like this I lost 5lbs or more and in the second week another 5lbs and since 1 to 2 lbs. per week . Remember don’t start occasional high glycemic meals till you reach your ideal weight that you want to be at. If you don’t, you put your diet 3 days back. To learn more about healthy habits in your life with diet, some exercise, and how to reach your ideal weight like I am doing at come to my website. I lost 22lbs already and I’m not obese by the body mass index. Join me and go to healthyusa.tsfl.com. No charge, fee, gimmick, donations and no hacker. It’s just obtaining information about how to live your life healthier, even your family or friends (if interested) get involved in being healthier with possibly spreading this great news to make a healthier USA for ALL age groups. Thank you for your time and I hope I have spread some light on someone. When I made this a routine in my life it got so EASY since I put health before my taste buds desires. It took time for not cheating but it worked.

The  age of a woman doesn’t mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest  fiddles.
Ralph  Waldo Emerson

Today our topic is future generations using healthier habits in their lifestyles with eating foods healthier overall for their bodies but still being able to treat yourself to foods that are not necessarily the best to be eating on a regular basis (Ex. Fast Foods, milk chocolate candy bar, etc…). Even though their trying to be healthier in fast food restaurants their still not foods to be eaten daily). I’m a female who is middle aged, within my body mass index (BMI) and still with a little muscle tone which ending line is doing fair for my age but if you think I have natural high metabolism you’re dreaming. If you live on eating not 3 but 6 small meals a day that’s low in calories, carbohydrates, and fat you will allow your metabolism to stay at a steady level. The key is it’s not for a few days, weeks or months but your eating like this in your normal way of living (everyday) with still treating yourself to foods now & then that aren’t so healthy compared to your regular healthy eating habits. Know when you do treat yourself to these kinds of foods occasionally with high calories, high carbohydrates or high fat foods that you  put your metabolism in a setback 3-4 days, which slows down the metabolism.  If you’re in your regular body mass index when treating yourself to unhealthy foods that’s great but keep watching what you eat the next few days when getting back on your regular healthy foods.  If not in the therapeutic BMI and you want to lose weight than no treats until you reach within the BMI range.  We’ll get to the proper reference to go to for researching what healthy and unhealthy foods to eat in one second. Eating healthy foods in your regular life will help you not only with keeping your weight at a nice number but as you grow older it will decrease a lot of diseases that are caused by eating foods high in calories, fat, carbohydrates and cholesterol which allows in time blockages in the arteries causing cardiac problems. Eating foods high in carbohydrates, calories, fats and sugars daily will just put high probability that you will become overweight especially if you’re not doing any work-out or activity other than work and your regular daily activities.  Becoming overweight or just eating foods that are unhealthy or doing both can cause many problems as getting older (Obesity, Diabetes II, high B/P, blockages in the arteries=Coronary Artery Disease and more). The younger you are the easier it is to change usually but even being older you can change for both age groups it just takes being a strong person, having discipline, and knowing this is what you want.  Remember when you slack off in your diet and/or activity/exercise you don’t persecute yourself but get right back on the healthy track and keep striving for a healthier body, longer life and possibly a change for the better with our health care system overall in society, in time.  A healthier country will in time show less disease, a healthier population in America making overall a better place for everyone of all ages. Most important you will be healthier. It is all up to you and if you want to know more about better eating habits (having a reference on types of healthy foods to eat in all food groups not just being salads, with knowing how to divide the portions of food groups up and at the same time allowing foods you love in the diet) and knowing what activity or exercise to do (which doesn’t mean you have to do a heavy work out ) than you need to look no further. No, I’m not a hacker, this is not asking for donations, it is all in your control in what you want to do and learn. You are the boss in making your decisions, no one else. Join me by clicking onto healthierusa.tsfl.com to learn about what we provide regarding healthy foods, how to eat them, when to eat, with how the body works with our metabolism when we eat and do activity (walk) to exercise (work out) and so much more information.  There is no subscription fee to click on us just to check us out. Give us a glance and you just may like what you see. =====================.

We can decrease diseases in our country overtime, like in a decade or less?  Well, at least all the diseases I covered in part 1.   After seeing yesterday in part 1 the disease census 2011 in our country now the next question is there any way we can impact on what healthy habits we practice over a long period of time which would better control these diseases in decreasing them in America.  Wouldn’t you want to see less disease and more people both young and old healthier?  I know I sure would after being a RN over a quarter of a century seeing so many diseases and ones that could have been prevented by a society that is more health oriented than based on their food cravings at fast food eatery.  We have all heard we need to make sacrifices for certain things in life.  Would you think sacrificing fast foods being eaten always or low glycemic meals in large sizes for all your meals over numerous years prone you to putting weight on putting you at risk for disease is worth sacrificing?   I finally do in my 40’s and it’s not that hard of a sacrifice since it allowed me to remove all toxins from my body from unhealthy foods with looking and feeling better.   I ate like that and it took me about 6mths to finally get the routine down of eating small 6 low glycemic meals a day with having occasional high glycemic foods (Ex. Occasional fast foods like ice cream and more) with doing routine exercise 2-3x a week and practicing these healthy habits on a regular basis not just 2wks or 2mths which so far has allowed me to lose 20 lbs.  I hope to lose 20 more to make my goal to 138lbs at 5’7”.  If the majority of America lived healthier like this there would be less disease in our country which would put a positive impact on our health care system for all but it would take a decade or so.  We do need to start somewhere and today is the best day to start for both us and future generations to come.  Eating healthier, losing weight down to the ideal body mass index ratio based on your height,  with exercise routinely (not necessarily meaning an aerobic workout), and practicing healthy habits can make a great change in health for me, you, and all in America.  Join me and become healthier with spreading the healthyusa.tsfl.com news to make America a healthier country and most importantly yourself.  It’s like how we were taught by mom and dad at a young age the better you take care of your car the longer it will last.  The better we treat ourselves regarding health the higher the odds we will live a long and prosperous life like Mr. Spock.  There is not just one food to eat or one type of exercise to do or one healthy habit to keep you healthy, there are choices.  Click onto my website which is no fee, no charge, no hacking, just letting you check us out to look further in understanding how Dr. Anderson with myself as your health coach could change your health for the better.  It allows you to make all the decisions in what you want to do regarding exercise, in what to eat, and what healthy habits you want to practice.  We just provide the information of how the body works, food groups, with so much more that includes foods if you decide you want it.  I hope to hear from you soon.  Again, thank you for lending me your ear in listening how we can make a better and healthier USA.

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading”. Lao Tzu