Acidity or Acid reflux, also known as GERD (Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease) is very common among people with an unhealthy lifestyle, especially involving sporadic eating habits.

This condition is characterised by heartburn and gastric acids flowing back into the food pipe and sometimes up to the mouth, causing nausea and burning sensation in the stomach, throat, and heart

The gastric acids are produced by the stomach to help in digesting the food we have eaten. However, if we do not eat for a prolonged duration and if the stomach is empty, it produces gastric juices in anticipation of the food. Since we have not provided food into the stomach for digestion, these gastric acids cause acidity.

Acidity is also formed when we eat very spicy food, as the gastric glands may overproduce the gastric acids. Repeated acidity caused due to many years of sporadic eating can cause stomach ulcers, Irritable bowel syndrome etc.

Managing Acidity

The most important step to manage acidity is to make sure that one does not keep long gaps between two consecutive meals. This perhaps is a challenge for busy professionals that require traveling or has back to back meetings as part of their work. People often snack on oily and fried food such as cutlet and samosas from outside, if they are a bit late to have lunch. This can worsen the acidity and may even cause bad cholesterol because of the reheated oil that is most probably used in making these snacks.

This is where healthy snacking options such as almonds, cashew, etc come handy.

Nuts are rich in healthy fat and protein and are easy to carry and non-messy to eat! If you are unable to eat on time, make sure you munch on a few almonds and drink some water! This alone will help in managing acidity to a great extend

Avoid spicy food and make sure you stay hydrated. Smoking and Alcohol consumption can increase acidity. Reduce the protein and fat consumption and move to simple carbs to get immediate relief from acidity. Reduce caffeine intake and avoid citrus juices such as lemon juices, orange juice etc

Food such as curd, banana, almonds can help relieve the acidity