Are There Foods That Cause Heartburn?

There are certain foods that cause heartburn. If you lower or cut out these foods, your heartburn should, logically lessen. If you have had frequent heartburn for over two weeks, you should see your doctor, even if you are firm in cutting these foods that cause heartburn from your diet. Heartburn has a tendency to get worse, not better, if left alone. Heartburn is usually caused by digestive acids escaping from your stomach up into your esophagus. As you get older, the muscles of your stomach are not as tight as they used to be. They often stretch out and get loose, letting the stomach acids escape up your throat. That being said, it is possible to get heartburn at almost any age.

Alcoholic Beverages

Although everyone has room for Jell-O, your body stomach no longer has room for Jell-O shots or any other kind of alcoholic beverages. Alcohol actually stimulates your stomach into making a massive amount of stomach acid. If you are stubborn and have to have a nightcap, then water down your drink.

Raw Onion

You might like raw onion, but raw onion doesn't like you anymore. Raw onions are popular on fast food burgers, so either scrape them off or ask for a specially made burger without them. If you can't bear to part with onions (like me), then either switch to Vidalia sweet onions when they are in season and grill or boil your onions. This takes some of the acid out of them.

Citrus Fruits

One of the saddest days of my life was when I learned I couldn't drink orange juice on an empty stomach again. Orange juice cuts away that weird morning taste, but the pain afterwards was too much of a price for me to pay. Citrus fruits like orange, grapefruit and lemon have acids in them which make them one of the top foods that cause heartburn. Some heartburn sufferers still can have their fruit and eat it, too - but they eat the fruit in the middle or later in the day with other food to cushion the acid in the fruit or fruit juice. Some find relief by watering their fruit juice down.

Animal Fats

Although cooking with fatty meat and lard is on its way out, food cooked in lard or even bacon fat is still considered a delicacy to some people. Sadly, these fats stimulate the production of stomach acid. If you cannot cut these foods out from your diet entirely, really make an effort to cut down on them. You do not have to be a vegetarian to avoid foods that cause heartburn, but you do need to eat a balanced diet in order to enjoy all of the wonderful variety of foods available.