GERD Protocol 3: Ditch The Standard American Diet

The standard American diet is rife with foods that hinder the optimal functioning of the human intestinal system. The standard American diet is full of wheat,¹ GMO’s,² dairy,³ carrageenan,⁴ artificial sweeteners,⁵ and excessive fructose.⁶ All of these food items can wear down or even destroy the integrity of the intestinal system over a period of time in some people. To choose a proper diet for digestion and to help with GERD symptoms a diet change would be needed for most people with digestion problems to improve their digestion.

You can follow a high fat/medium animal protein/low carbohydrate diet like the Primal diet or Bulletpoof diet (you could do a vegetarian diet successfully using eggs and whey protein) to improve your digestion. You could also try a right fat/medium plant protein (no soy protein)/high carbohydrate diet that excludes wheat and whole grains and emphasizes carb intake from low fructose fruits, white rice, wild rice, cassava, taro, and sweet potatoes to improve your digestion. Sometimes short term specialty diets like the GAPS diet, low FODMAP diet, or elemental diet, might be need for certain people with certain digestive needs. Not every diet is perfect for everyone, the best thing for someone  to do that is looking for a diet tailored to their specific health needs is to try different diets until one finds a diet that they feel the healthiest.

GERD Protocol 4: Laboratory Produced GM Food Reduction/Elimination

There has been a lot of discussion lately about laboratory produced GM food in the alternative media, but what exactly are GMO’s? GMO means a genetically modified organism.⁷ A GMO is any organism that’s genes were modified artificially by humans. Some people believe that broccoli, seedless cucumbers, purple potatoes, and other common examples of modifications to plants are genetically engineered, but this is not the case. These are actually examples of natural mutations. Granted, even though some of these mutations were caused by man (as a form of selected breeding), those mutations are still natural and are not considered genetically modified through laboratory means.⁸

An laboratory produced GM food product is a product that has had a gene deleted, mutated, or inserted through artificial means. An example of a GM food product would be genetically modified BT Corn. GM BT corn has genes from a common bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis directly inserted into the corn so it can produce a natural insecticide called BT Toxin. Some early studies showed that BT Toxin was originally thought to be harmless in mammals. More recent studies however show that the rogue genetic material from the corn can imbed in your gut and actually start producing a large amount of BT Toxin in your colon which can destabilize your gut bacteria and health!^{9 10}

This is why you must try to buy as much organic food as you can or at the very least purchase anything that is labeled non-GMO by the NON-GMO PROJECT. Here are a list of food items that are GM in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Common Crops and Animal Products that Are GM:

• Corn
• Soybean
• Papaya
• Zucchini
• Canola
• Cotton
• Alfalfa
• Sugar beet
• RBGH dairy
• Animal Meat where the animal was fed GM Feed

Common Ingredients that are GM:

• Aspartame
• Maltodextrin
• Soy lecithin
• Corn or soy protein
• Corn, cottonseed, soy, or canola oil
• Sugar that is not listed as non-GMO or cane sugar
• High fructose corn syrup
• RBGH milk
• Citric acid
• Modified food starch
• Cornstarch
• Vegetable protein (that is not labeled non-GMO)¹¹

After eliminating GM food for one month one should follow my rebuild the gut protocol and continue limiting exposure if all possible.

GERD Protocol 5: Clothing

Wear loose-fitting clothing; do not tighten your belt to the last notch. Also, do not wear tight pants if possible. Tight clothing can put pressure on the stomach and LES, which will cause or worsen GERD symptoms.

GERD Protocol 6: Posture

Sit straight up as much as you can. See a chiropractor to get your spine aligned if needed. Excess curvature of the spine can cause pressure to develop on the stomach and LES. If you have GERD, consider elevating the top of your bed by putting cinder blocks under the bed’s support to raise it. This elevation change would put less pressure on the stomach but more pressure on the LES, keeping it closed.

Posture!