Nutrition Videos

Hi! I'm Stelios Pantazis. I'm a doctor and I specialize in medical nutrition and metabolic disorders. Our subject today is the ideal diet for gastroesophageal reflux disease. Gastroesophageal reflux disease is really common and, according to a study published in 2016, 52% of Greek adults suffer from it. Fortunately, in most cases, the severity is mild or moderate, but 1 in 3 patients have severe symptoms. Today, our subject concerns 52% of Greek adults that suffer from symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease and the way they can change their diet to reduce these symptoms. As a doctor specialized in medical nutrition, I see many cases of gastroesophageal reflux disease in my office every day. In most cases, I observe that healthy diet and healthy lifestyle can help cure it or at least reduce the medication or cease it in many cases. According to all experts in this subject, the first line of treatment is the change of diet and lifestyle. Let's see more details. Fried foods. Fried foods are really tasty, but they cause a lot of problems. First of all, frying adds much fry oil to the food, which obstructs digestion, therefore the food stays in the stomach for a long time, increasing the risk of discomfort. Therefore, fried foods should not be included in a healthy diet for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Pizza. Everybody's favourite, but unfortunately very troublesome pizza should not be included in the diet of someone that wants to treat the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Overprocessed snacks. Whatever is produced by a factory and a production line, such as chips, biscuits, chocolate etc., has no place in a healthy diet, especially for people suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease. Spicy foods. Gastroesophageal reflux disease is often accompanied by abrasions, namely scrapes in the stomach and esophagus. When these abrasions come into contact with spicy foods, symptoms become worse. Fortunately, Greeks don't eat much spicy food. But if you have symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease, your food shouldn't even contain pepper. Of course, cayenne pepper is out of question. This is something I would really miss, if I had to follow such a diet. Fats and processed meat. This seems like a large group of foods, but it's not that large after all. Processed meat concerns sausages, bacon and other charcuterie, which, as I've said before, are considered cancerogenic by the WHO. Who wants to eat something confirmed to be cancerogenic? I certainly don't. Fatty meat is meat with much visible fat. On the other hand, lean meat or fatty meat from which we've removed the visible fat are acceptable. Cheese. One of the most addictive and tasty foods that unfortunately should not be included in the diet of people that want to treat the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Sour foods. As I've said before, this condition is often accompanied by wounds or scrapes in the stomach or esophagus. Therefore, sour foods cause discomfort. If you pour lemon juice on a wound, won't it hurt? It surely will. The same happens with internal wounds. Sour foods are citrus fruit, vinegar and tomato juice, and by extension any sauce made from it. Of course, we're not talking about a light sauce with grated tomato and a little oil for green beans, peas or okra. You should think rationally. I haven't heard of anyone having symptoms with green beans or other vegetables with tomato sauce, when the tomato sauce is light and contains just a little oil. Mint. Although very few people eat mint in Greece, it seems to affect digestion too and it may cause symptoms. However, I haven't heard such a case in my office yet. Fizzy drinks. Fizzy drinks expand in the stomach and the gas released in the stomach causes discomfort. These are the foods you should avoid. You don't have to give them up. You can avoid them in the evening, before sleep, when the symptoms of reflux are often more severe. You can consume them in the afternoon, if you see that they don't cause symptoms. You can also eat small amounts of them, if you see that they don't affect you much. In most cases, you don't have to do something drastic to improve symptoms. But because many of you complain that I focus on what is forbidden and I see many comments like "What should we eat now? There's nothing left!" I decided to include a list with foods that help and you should eat or eat more of. Fiber-rich foods. Fiber-rich foods help us feel full with less amount of food. This makes overeating less likely. Such foods are unground cereals, such as oat, groats and non-processed rice, root vegetables, such as sweet potato, carrots and beets, and some vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and green beans. Alkaline foods. In contrast to acidic foods, alkaline foods reduce acids in the stomach and often help reduce the symptoms of reflux. Such foods are bananas, watermelon, nuts and fennel. Foods containing much water. Water in foods dilutes stomach acids and alleviates reflux symptoms. Such foods are celery, cucumber, lettuce, watermelon, light soups and infusions. In general, all vegetables are rich in water, therefore they can be alleviating. These foods are the main foods that improve or worsen the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Of course, every case may differ. Some food that worsens the symptoms in general may cause no problems to someone. But if you still have symptoms, what can you do to alleviate them? Milk. The traditional treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease is milk. Milk has alkaline pH and alleviates stomach acids. Obviously, this solution is not suitable if you are lactose or dairy intolerant. Yoghurt may offer the same relief too. Ginger. Ginger is also very useful in the alleviation of reflux. It is recommended even for pregnant women. You can add it to your food or find it in various forms. Ginger tea is the simplest and easiest solution. Apple cider vinegar. Another miraculous quality of apple cider vinegar is the alleviation of reflux symptoms. Of course, you shouldn't drink it as it is, but you should dilute it in water or just add it to your salad. One tablespoon usually helps. If you thought this was interesting, please give us a thumbs up. Share it with people who you think might find it interesting and subscribe to our channel in order to get notified when we upload a video. You can also suggest subjects in the comment section. Thank you very much!