Severe reflux. Have you tried the Acid Watcher diet?

[SandwichMakerHater]

I've had reflux for the past 3 weeks (but reading up about it, I can see that I've probably had symptoms I've not noticed for a long time).

It's at the point now where I'm looking at trying the first 28 days of the Acid Watcher diet - I have to work from home as I'm coughing and gagging at any time, it even happened while I was driving and I had to drive with tears streaming and one hand over my mouth to stop anything coming up until I could pull over.....as you can tell, I'm desparate so happy to try the strict anti-acid diet.

Just wanted to hear from others who tried it and have even carried on with the maintenance phase long term, to see how you got on with it.

By the way, I do have a GP appointment but the soonest they have as face to face is in two weeks.☹️

This sounds interesting. I’ve just been diagnosed with a hiatus hernia but didn’t really get any advice on how to deal with it, so I’m at a bit of a loss. They spoke to me just after I came round from sedation, so I can’t really remember much. I think they said just to take omeprozole and sleep raised up at night (I haven’t worked out how to do this). Any advice would be brilliant.

The sticky toffee pudding is from Bosh and I've made it lots of times. It freezes well too so I make 2 batches then freeze small portions.

I don't usually do the sauce (and probably wouldn't now as the oat cream is sunflower oil based) so will have it hot with some natural yoghurt.
https://www.bosh.tv/recipes/classic-sticky-toffee-pudding

The date slices I haven't tried yet but I've made similar with mincemeat so I think will work well!
traybakesandmore.com/date-slices/

@NigellaAwesome I don't know anything about your diagnosis but my treatment was similar, I was never even asked what my diet was like, just given a prescription that I ended up not taking because I was already feeling the benefits of the change in diet.

I'm not advocating not taking medication at all, I just knew that the radical diet made me feel better AND the scan and biopsies showed chronic inflammation but no cell changes/damage so I made the decision to stick to the diet.

Re sleeping, I sat sideways on the sofa, with my head leaning against the back cushion, and pillows/cushions everywhere, for about 6 weeks!
I can sleep in bed now with just two pillows.

I've started doing 'proper' exercise again after a gap of two months, which is so motivating too. I follow the guidelines in the book: no all-out cardio, nothing that's going to put my head lower than my stomach (made the mistake of doing a downward dog and could taste the acid afterwards, even though I hadn't eaten for 12 hours), but concentrating on weights, resistence and cycling.

Thank you for the recipes- I’m going to start branching out a bit. Really grateful- I’ve struggled mentally with the adjustment and reading your story has helped. I realise I was eating so badly for so long: coffee, booze, pastries. I’ve managed to cut that all out.

Do you use sugar or replace with honey? And for the butter- would you use regular or a substitute?. Like you, I’ve got inflammation too and am keen to get this under control. Once I’ve done the month of clean eating, I’ll try some of these… thanks again 🙏

Hello!! I have been doing acid watchers for over 3 years. It has helped somewhat but I definitely have lower gut issues that impact the reflux but no official diagnosis/cure. You can search on my name.

i love the banana loaf in the AWD recipe book. There are a couple of FB groups devoted to the diet if you want to check them out. They are great for recipes but very ‘strict’ so you can’t talk about ‘falling off the wagon’ in any way.

@Coatsey221- I use maple syrup or date sugar. Also occasionally maple sugar, but it’s £££.

I’m just about to eat tray baked salmon w potatoes, asparagus and carrot!

@Coatsey221 I'm glad the thread has helped. I was so desperate when I started it! That's great that you've managed to cut all those out.

Re recipes, I need to branch out a bit too. I haven't expanded my fruit variety much from the healing phase: I'm a bit time poor at the moment so haven't had a chance to really learn about the maintenance diet and being able to eat slightly more acidic food with alkaline to neutralise it. So then I get scared that I'll get it wrong and end up sticking with bloody melon and banana.🤣

I've got a nice recipe for lasagne/bolognaise sauce: I was already making similar to this as DS hates rich tomato sauce, so it didn't take too much adapting:

This is for a big batch for freezer portions:
1 sweet potato
1 leek if it's fat or 2 if they are skinny
3-4 celery sticks
Half a butternut squash
4 carrots
1 courgette
1 beetroot

Peel and chop into pieces.
Cook, covered, on the hob for an hour or slow cooker for 4 hours, with a heaped tablespoon of oregano, basil and parsley.
Blend until smooth and add some water if needed.

Either add it to browned mince and heat for another 15 mins before using straight away or freezing OR freeze the sauce without meat and use in place of tomato-based sauce for any recipe.
It does lack the 'bite' of tomato acidity but I prefer it now, it's a softer flavour.

I do use sugar in recipes, but that's mainly due to the cost of maple syrup and raw honey. I've only ever used 3/4 the amount of sugar stated anyway since I started baking decades ago and now that the rest of my diet is anti-acid, I feel like a small cake or pudding once a week that's homemade is ok to tolerate.
I only really use maple syrup on porridge.

Butter I still use. I did cut out yoghurt in the healing phase but not all milk and butter: I felt like having natural dairy was no worse for me than processed alternatives that are based on sunflower or palm oil.

I've been following this thread. How is everyone doing? ❤️

Interested in this too.

Hi🙂.

I am still largely following the changes to my diet. Funnily enough, I noticed at work yesterday that I was clearing my throat and coughing a lot: I've been challenging the diet over the past two weeks by having the odd hot chocolate and have eaten out 4 times with work so dinners have contained (probably) onions, garlic and other acidic foods.

So I will reign that back in.

Generally I feel much better sticking to the diet and yesterday made me realise that if I want to make any challenges, then actually I'd like it to be about expanding my fruit and veg rather than having hot chocolate!

I’m still on it - have been really strict for past 4 weeks as I was getting a bit lax (had other issues going on which were more pressing). I went back in omeprazole in Oct - had gastritis so was advised by Gastro, but have come off now - was making no discernible difference and Gastro said was fine.
For me it does help somewhat but I find it difficult to stick to entirely - as soon as I’m sociable again it’s hard. I confess I had a small coffee on Weds at a work event as I was trying to stay awake!
@SandwichMakerHater- do you do the other lifestyle changes? Mine is worse in waking w stuffy nose, sometimes sore throat and acid taste in mouth.

I’ve been diagnosed with Barrett’s Oesophagus and was given omeprazole, told to take gaviscon and avoid citrus, tomatoes, alcohol and chocolate and that was that. My acid reflux is very very poorly managed by me mainly.

I have looked into things like Acid Watchers and various diet books but it seems very restrictive and I already don’t eat meat so it doesn’t leave me with many recipes to try. Can anybody recommend any resources for acid reflux friendly recipes that are meat free or fish only? Are there any guides or books that aren’t quite so restrictive but will still help? I do need to make a change but I don’t know where to start!

@BertSymptom- I don’t each much meat, you aren’t supposed to have red meat on it anyway but i do use chicken.
There are a couple of acid watcher recipe groups on Facebook. Tbh I prob would’ve given up ages ago if it wasn’t for them as there are some great recipes posted (some not so but I’d say 90% decent) .
You can sub things for meat like lentil, mushrooms and tofu or use fish. Eating fish makes a big difference to me. Not sure I could do it totally veggie as you’d need to prep a lot more.
Another plan/person to look at is Molly Pelletier. She’s a lot more holistic in her outlook and posts frequently on Instagram and YouTube. I bought her app but you don’t have to. A lot of the info is online. She seems a lovely lady - she’s a dietician and had severe reflux herself.
managing reflux is a tough job - my son also has it quite badly at 21 - he’s on lanzaprozole but again, his diet isn’t great.

@Boredofmyguts I have to confess, my brain fog is pretty bad at the moment so I can't remember what else was in the book! Maintaining the diet, as well as allergies in the family, has been quite time- (and brainpower-) consuming.

I already don't drink or smoke.

The weights-based exercise programme that I started in December has been brilliant. I have had to adapt some exercises to make it work for me: no full cardio, no burpees or moves that put my head below my stomach and I don't really do anything that strains the core too much (I will do planks and push ups but nothing like crunches or twists). I was worried that it would mean I wouldn't tone up, but having lost weight from all over, my abs are definitely looking more toned.

I should probably refresh my memory of the book every now and then to make sure I stay on the right track!

@SandwichMakerHater- that exercise programme sounds interesting- is there a link you can share? I’m also deep in middle-aged brain fog so I get you! Plus I have epilepsy and on meds for that so it’s a triple whammy 🤦‍♀️

Oh god, that sounds tough. I hope you are ok, it's a lot to manage.

I've been doing Caroline Girvan's Epic 1 programme. There's a beginner's week you can do first to make sure your form is correct: I did that week 3 times as I wasn't very fit after not exercising much for a couple of months!

It is tough but very motivating. I had to stop after week 6 as I hurt my knee so after a 3 week break I'm starting it again this weekend, but I'll only do it 4x week rather than the 5 scheduled. I think having 3 rest days will help me avoid injury.

Thanks @SandwichMakerHater- I’m ok - just getting on with things but my life has shrunk a bit as you can imagine!
I will look at the first exercise programme but will take it slowly. I’m quite unfit even though I walk a lot cis I can’t drive atm!