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There are multiple ways to beat heartburn and indigestion without poison pills. But what does your doctor recommend? Nexium? Prilosec? Or do you self-medicate with Tums? Is it possible that your antacid is sucking nutrients right out of your body? And is it possible that drug manufacturers know it?
Apparently they do Take a look at this article Drugs that Cause Nutritional Deficiency Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drugs can Cause Nutritional Deficiencies by Ross Pelton, R.Ph., Ph.D., CCN, In most cases, what really goes on in your stomach is not what you think. The burning sensation just below your ribs is caused by under-digested food waiting for too long to be released into your intestine. The trigger that opens the lower valve (a sphincter, actually) is the pH of the stomachs content.
If there is ENOUGH of digestive power, the digestive process is fast. The power comes from two main sources:
- the chloride ions that your body extracts from salts (Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium Chlorides)
- and from digestive enzymes present in raw foods.
Normal digestion includes ample chewing, mixing of food with saliva and enzymes, followed by mixing with acid and more enzymes in the stomach. About two hours later, the chyme (the partially digested food) is supposed to move on. Your liver-gallbladder are adding bile, bile salts and more enzymes, and your pancreas adds sodium bicarbonate and yet more enzymes. Here is an interesting point: salt (sodium chloride) is highly useful for your digestion to work. The sodium ion is used in your pancreas to make sodium bicarbonate that re-alkalizes the chyme, while the chloride ion is used in your stomach to acidify the chyme. If you dont have enough chloride, you get heartburn. IF you dont have enough sodium, you could get duodenal ulcers.
Hypochlorhydria is the underproduction of hydrochloric acid (HCL) by the stomach, and its responsible for three important functions:
- It begins the breakdown of protein
- In the presence of food, it activates an enzyme called pepsin, which further breaks down protein
- It is necessary for the breakdown and utilization of minerals, especially calcium.
Sales of antacids, acid blockers and ulcer medications consistently top the list of drug sales and yet, most of them are mis-applied. You dont need less acidity, you need more. Insufficient HCL production can cause burping, belching, bloating, heartburn, gas, sour stomach, undigested food in stool, a voracious appetite (due to cellular starvation), food sitting in stomach too long, slow digestion, inability to eat a large meal due to feeling full quickly, constipation, and diarrhea. Thus, many of those who have too little HCL production are treated as though they have too much.
The critical role of enzymes in the maintenance of health and well-being was dramatically demonstrated in an experiment now known as The Pottenger Cat Studies, which was performed by Francis Pottenger, M.D., in 1946, where one group of cats was fed exclusively cooked food; the other group was fed only raw food. Although the foods given the two groups were identical in kind and amount, the cooked food was devoid of enzymes (enzymes are destroyed by heat).
The cats fed enzyme deficient food had multiple problems: their coats lost their luster, their bone structures developed deformities, their behavior became hyperactive, aggressive and wild. And by the 7th generation, they had lost the capacity to reproduce. The vegetation growing in the raw food-fed cats pen was healthy and abundant, the cooked food-fed cats pen was sparse and weak. Apparently the enzyme-poor cats feces failed to fertilize the soil.
The Standard American Diet has become rich in processed and nutrient depleted, mostly cooked (pasteurized, canned, preserved), food that is deficient in enzymes. If you are eating like that, your body is forced to use and build its own enzymes to help digest the food instead of rebuilding or repairing your aging bodily tissues. Low energy, mental illness and metabolic complications arise. Premature aging, cancer, heart disease and obesity are essentially cause by deficient diets. It is difficult to overcome enzyme deficit from food sources, and for that reason Enzyme Supplementation is vital, as is a diet that includes abundance of uncooked, fresh foods.
Food Combining can make your life more comfortable separating proteins from carbohydrates (using only one of them at a meal) put lesser demand on your enzyme needs. Sleeping on your left side may also offer some relief, because it has your stomach in a position that puts less stress on the sphincter.
So here you have it: more whole salt, more fresh food, digestive enzymes and probably some probiotics to deal with the years of damage done by the under-digested food pushed prematurely into the small intestine. Most people do better with added iodine and zinc, too.