If you can understand what causes acid reflux then it becomes easy to stop it.
Your food passes through the esophagus to your stomach through a valve that opens to allow food to go down and closes to prevent the food from getting back into the esophagus. The valve is called lower esophageal sphincter (LES).
This valve can open due to intestinal pressure, cell damage or relaxing of LES. As a result acids from the stomach can get back to esophagus causing heartburn and other symptoms of acid reflux.
Certain foods can help or worsen acid reflux and avocado can do both. So be careful of its use.
Is Avocado Good or Bad for Acid Reflux?
Fatty foods generally promote acid reflux. They slow down the natural emptying process of the stomach.
Avocado is a fatty food so why is there any debate on whether it is good or bad for your Acid Reflux?
The answer is not straightforward. Certain properties of avocado are helpful in reducing heartburn. But overindulgence can cause symptoms of acid reflux such as dry cough, sore throat, bloating, burping, hiccups and difficulty in swallowing.
So the question is now about how much avocado is good for you as excess can cause acid reflux.
Eating avocado in small quantities such as in salads, dips, smoothies and sandwiches should be generally ok.
You have to keep a diary of food items and their combinations that cause heartburn in your specific case.
All kinds of saturated and trans fats cause acid reflux. These fats cause the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) to relax. This allows more stomach acids to get back up into the esophagus.
This means french fries, fried onion rings, fatty friend beef, bacon, pork, lamb full fat dairy, fried snacks and other oily and greasy foods will all have to be given up. the
But, a healthy fat. It contains monounsaturated fatty acids ( MUFAs). These fats are good for your health. It also contains a miniscule amount of saturated fat that is insignificant from acid reflux point of view.
Avocado also is rich in fiber that helps in digestion. Various studies have also found that avocado reduces metabolic syndrome.
How to Use Avocados for Acid Reflux
First of all make sure that the quantity you consume is less than 50 grams of avocado pulp at any single serving.
Avocado Smoothie
Try this smoothie out. It should reduce your heartburn and other symptoms in most cases.
What you need :
- ⅓ of ripe medium size avocado
- ½ size ripe banana
- 200 grams organic yogurt
How to make it:
- Scoop out the pulp from avocado and toss into a blender mixer
- Add banana
- Pour ½ of the organic yogurt
- Blend
- Add the remaining yogurt and blend
Your avocado smoothie is ready for consumption.
Other Tips and Precautions
Acid Reflux can generally be controlled by the foods you eat and avoid. Take following precautions
- Avoid all kinds of fatty and fried foods
- Don't consume full cream dairy
- Give up citrus and other acidic foods
- Eat small portions of foods at a time
- Keep a diary of foods to avoid those that cause acid reflux
- Drink lots of water
- Exercise