Acidity

You would feel a burn or fire in your chest

You could also feel some bitter taste in your mouth


Only the center of your chest is affected and no pain radiates to the shoulders or hands

Take plenty of water
No medication necessary
Take care of what you eat
Heart Attack

There is pain, pressure and squeezing in the chest

There could be nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sweating and breathlessness

Pain would radiate into shoulders, neck, arms, upper back, etc.


Lie down and keep an aspirin tablet or sorbitrate immediately under
the tongue. Seek medical attention immediately


It occurs due to dietetic indiscretions. There isi need to understand these:

Indiscretion in eating


More people suffer from eating when the stomach is already full and is already engaged in digesting the meal already in it. When the stomach is already full and engaged, any additional input stagnates and remains in the esophagus [the food pipe leading to the stomach] and cause irritation to it. This is one of the reasons which causes the feeling of heart burn.

Gulping food without chewing is another reason. Acids flow into our stomach when we eat some food. The food arrives with saliva which is anti septic, into the stomach and this salival chemical protects our stomach lining from acids. But when we gulp our food without proper chewing, food arrives into the stomach without saliva and we lose its protective value. We develop ulcer as a result.

Habitual over eating eating badly combined foods , eating improperly cooked foods, excessive intake of strong tea, coffee or alcohol, habitual use of condiments, sauces, etc. also cause acidity.


Acids also start flooding our stomach when we are tense. Now when the acids come into our stomach without there being food to digest, they affect the walls of the stomach and duodenum and we get the burning sensation. Thus we generate acidity and due to worry, anxiety, grief, tension etc. which have profound effect on our stomach.

When acid gets generated in our stomach, if there is food, the digestion process takes care of the acid. But when the acid gets produced due to our emotions, there is no food for digestion and then the acid spills into our esophagus. A lining of mucus normally protects the stomach from its own digestive acid. But the esophagus has no such protection. Therefore when the acid backs up into the esophagus, you feel the heart burn.

People affected by acidity take to antacids, which counteract the acid in the stomach. What is the function of this antacid? It does not get you the relief but inhibits the production of the acid itself in the stomach. Now the next time your food goes inside the stomach, the acid is not produced and you develop further indigestion.

The cure lies in eating less and less bland food so that the nature itself produces less acid. When more acid producing food is consumed, as above said, it belches up above the stomach and spills over to the esophagus breaking the intermediary safety value. The esophagus unfortunately does not have the protective lining that the stomach has been provided with. Thus with the excess acid entering the esophagus, you get the burning sensation. The problem is, once the safety valve is broken as above, subsequently you suffer acidity quite easily because there is no stopping the acid entering the esophagus subsequently. Thus, once acidity starts, every little violation you make, you immediately start suffering from the acidity. That is the price you pay for violating the nature’s law, even once.

In one way, acidity is your friend. Once you suffer from acidity, you start being careful from then on in your eating habits. It is the nature’s way of controlling you and your food habits. And therefore be thankful to your acidity.

The following could be the line of treatment:

1 Very often people prone to acidity know that they are likely to be attacked by acidity. Right at that time, they should take one tsp of jeera straight from their kitchen bottle and put the same into their mouth and chew and swallow. This is highly effective.

2 In fact this can be taken whenever you feel you have committed any violation in eating habit, such as over eating or wrongful eating. Many times, this small jeera saves you of the trouble.

3 Drink lots of water and undertake fasts and end with fruit juice
Mix 300 ml carrot juice + 200 ml Spinach juice + coconut water very good
After fast, to the best possible extent, adopt all fruit diet
Then move over to well balanced diet
Upon rising, take luke warm water with lemon juice and honey
Take fruits in break fast [fruits only, the best]
Whenever you feel like taking snacks, take banana
Take more of vegetables, i.e. salads in lunch and less of cooked items
Avoid having too many different foods at a given meal
Dinner should be on lines with lunch
Avoid alcohol, spices, non-vegetarian
Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water every day, but not with meals
Avoid caffeine and chocolates as they weaken the lower oesophageal portions

4 Take dry ginger and jaggery and powder them together
[You also get ginger powder in the market, mix it with jaggery powder]
Mix with little ghee
Take tbsp when acidity strikes
Otherwise twice a day

5 Take a glass of tomato juice
Mix a tsp of honey and juice of one lemon
Take twice a day

6 Take the following 20 grams of fresh ginger and 10 grams each of following

Kanda thippili / Peepal more
Chittarattai
Vasambu
Dry dhaniya
Cinnamon
Khuskhus / Poppyseed
Dry ginger

Add little of cardamom, clove, Nutmerg and Jathipatri
Mix them all and soak them in water for 5 hours
Remove from water and grind them to paste by using adequate quantity of same water
Heat 200 gms of jaggery and when it is liquid, add the above paste + little turmeric powder
Heat in slow fire, keep stirring until it leaves the sides
Add 2 tsp of gingelly oil and 4 tbsp of ghee
Mix well and remove and cool and store
Take in empty stomach 1 tsp every morning

7 Buy fresh amla and shade dry
Make powder from it and store
Every night, just before you go for sleep, take one tsp, add to some hot water and drink
Follow it by one glass of warm water – it prevents acidity on a long term basis

In case your sleep is disturbed by acidity, try sleeping on your left side or have your upper body elevated to six inches.

In case your heart burn is chronic affecting your eating and sleep, it is most serious. It can cause cancer called adenocarcinoma in the esophagus. So be careful.