Hello, all! Happy Wednesday!
(WIAW is hosted by Jenn over at Peas and Crayons!)
For today’s WIAW, I wanted to share with you all a new diet change. This diet isn’t by choice, really. It doesn’t have anything to do with weight or my allergies – at least not directly. I’m beginning to transition into a low-acid diet.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you might know that I have acid reflux/GERD. I’ve had it for about eight years now, and have had more than one endoscopy done, allergy tests, and many doctor visits. The only solution we/I have come to has been to treat the symptoms, not the cause, because really, we can’t find an exact cause. Probably some part to do with allergies, definitely some part genetic, but other than that, it’s a mystery.
For the past seven years or so, I’ve been dealing quite well with my GERD by taking Prevacid. That absolutely did the trick up until a few months ago, when I noticed that my morning workouts (especially running and being on the elliptical) were disrupted by my acid reflux. For a while, taking my Prevacid and a few Tums before working out did the trick, but a few weeks ago, even that trick stopped working. I went to my doctor and asked for a new medication. (I’m the kind of person that can “grow out” of/become immune to a medicine after a certain amount of time.) She prescribed Protonix, which is what my aunt, who has the same exact problem, takes. I figured it would be all fine and dandy, but the two days that I tried the new med were hell. Actually, it kind of was like hell’s fires had taken to hanging out in my chest/throat. Not cool.
They were so bad those days that I even took Tums and Prevacid in addition to the new med. After that, I went back to Prevacid but it really isn’t working too well. I have no idea why it has gotten so bad in the last week. Maybe because I’m stressing over it? Maybe because the environmental allergies are getting worse? I have no clue. All I know is that it’s bad, and it’s concerning.
So, over the past week or so, I’ve been researching low-acid diets. Handy-dandy Google has lots of information on these diets, but it’s been frustrating, as I’ve found loads of conflicting information. Plus, a whole lot of my favorites foods are basically out now. Chocolate, wine, pizza, tomato products, ice cream, peppers, onions, garlic, berries, etc. = no good for acid reflux. Beef and pork are no good either.
Combine that with my allergies (nuts, eggs, and turkey), and needless to say, I’m not a happy camper.
However, I absolutely cannot live with this acid anymore. It’s affecting my mood (as in, I’m grumpy, frustrated, on the verge of a breakdown, stressed, and concerned), my exercises (last week, I took almost all of it off. Even yoga was hard because some of the poses would cause the acid to back up into my throat.), and my sleep.
Annnnyway, what I wanted to share with you all for WIAW is what my diet will be consisting of, more or less, until I can find a solution. My list is a compromise between the information I found online and what I know does/does not work for me. Hopefully, once I adhere to this a bit more, I’ll find some relief!
Breakfasts
Instead of my usual Greek yogurt with berries, I am now going to try Greek yogurt with raisins. Greek yogurt is on the “naughty” list for acid, but nothing keeps me as full or satisfied for breakfast, and since eggs are out for me, I don’t really have another protein-y breakfast option. Hopefully this will work! I tried it yesterday and so far, so good.
This also means that flavored yogurts, like my beloved Chobani, are out. I could cry.
The sources I’ve been looking at say that oats are one of the best foods to eat if acid is bothersome. The problem there is that I have a slight intolerance to oats. I might be able to handle oatmeal one morning per week, but nothing more than that.
Lunches and Dinners
As far as proteins go, chicken, fish, and tofu are supposedly ok for people on a low-acid diet. Brown rice isn’t the best, but quinoa seems to get the thumbs up, as do other grains like bulgur and couscous. Almost all veggies except peppers, onions, and garlic (i.e., my favorites) are great, too. This means that my lunches and dinners can have a bit of variety…thank goodness!
For now, I’m going to stay away from spicy foods, beef and pork, pizza, pasta, and anything too crazy.
Snacks
I have a bit of room here. Again, almost any veggie is ok, and it seems like the general consensus is that melons are a perfectly fine fruit to eat. Apples, berries, pineapple, and citrus, however, are not. They also said that, like oats, bananas are one of the best fruits for relieving acid…but bananas literally make me gag. So there’s that.
I have yet to experiment with my usual snacks, like sunbutter (but no jelly – jelly is bad now) on toast or a rice cake, hummus, and popcorn, so we’ll see how those go. I know that I should stay away from processed foods like crackers, chips, and that sort of thing.
Desserts
I don’t know how successful I’ll be at staying away from chocolate. If store-bought chocolates give me issues, I’ll have to make my own, which isn’t so bad. The fact that I shouldn’t have ice cream is going to be tough. For now, I’m going to stick to homemade goodies and see how that goes.
In general, I am eliminating certain things from my diet, but keeping others. It’s going to be rough, especially because I love so many of those things, but again, if this helps relieve my symptoms, it will probably be worth it. I don’t want to overload my system until I know what works for me, so this is just how it’s going to go.
The reason I’m writing this is because I just wanted to update you all on everything (again, part of the reason I started this blog was to talk about allergies, and this is just something that goes along with them for me) and also give a reason as to why my WIAWs might not be so frequent/exciting for a while.
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Workouts August 18-24
Sunday: off
Monday: weight lifting
Tuesday: elliptical + bike
Wednesday: weight lifting
Thursday: Turbokick
Friday: off
Saturday: treadmill
In other news, the end of summer is very apparent. This week and almost all of next week, I have student teaching meetings and babysitting, which means I’m pretty busy! I’m going to try and keep blogging like I usually do, but please forgive me if I don’t. 😉
Anyway, I’m off! I hope you all have a great day!
Questions for the day:
Have you ever had to drastically change your diet?
What is one food that you just couldn’t give up?
Favorite eat over this past week?
Liv Lives Life 
I think it’s wonderful that you’re taking matters in your own hands to figure out what works and doesn’t work for you. So many doctors will just throw medication on you, but forget that food can be medication & all that someone may need to reverse uncomfortable symptoms or “diseases”.
At this point, I’d be happy for a medicine that would make me feel better (!!), but I know that’s not good for the long run. Thanks so much for your support. 🙂
Nice to know that I am not alone with having the same probs! Meds don’t work for me either with the acid/bile reflux. Best foods I have found for me personally are; oats, white rice, organic pears/ grapes, chicken, baby greens (not regular) and flax crackers from TJ’s. Worst are any other fruits or veggies, red meat, too much fat (whether good or bad), tomato based products (which I’ve been free of for about 5 years) and dairy (which im intolerant too anyway). Good luck with figuring it out!!! I know its a hassel 😦
Nope, you’re definitely not alone! Thanks for the helpful suggestions. It’s definitely going to be a rough road, I think, but I appreciate your support!
Anytime my lady! 🙂
I’m sorry to hear that the acid reflux thing is bothering you so much! But way to go taking charge and figuring out something that will work! I’m not sure I could do the no chocolate or ice cream thing though… well if it helped me feel better, I guess I would make it work like you are! I hope you start feel better soon! 🙂
Yeahhh I’ve kind of failed at the no chocolate thing so far. Hah. It’s just so difficult. And thanks, Alex. 🙂
So sorry to hear that the acid reflux has become such a terrible issue. Good for you taking things into your own hands and starting to test/eliminate and find foods that work for you. Sorry to hear about the choclate/ice cream though
maybe coconut milk ice cream would work? That stuff’s still delicious 🙂
Thanks for the support. 🙂 I keep forgetting about coconut milk ice cream! I’m definitely going to check that out; the research that I came up with didn’t say anything against coconut, so that would be great. Thanks for reminding me!
Wow, sorry you’ve been dealing with such uncomfortable acid reflux. It must be so tough embarking on a new diet when you’re already so careful about what you eat!
I think it would be pretty hard for me to give up ice cream- sure, there are homemade, simpler varieties (frozen banana & cocoa powder pulsed in food processor), but it’s just not the same as real ice cream 🙂
It really is. While I can’t stand bananas, I’ve heard they’re better frozen, so I’m going to try that “ice cream.” Thanks for the suggestion. 🙂
I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through all this 😦 It sounds very painful and frustrating! Props to you for being proactive about it, though…all the best! 🙂
Thanks, Courtney. 🙂
Sorry you have to change your diet at all! Bummer!
Meee too. I appreciate your sympathy! Haha.
Gosh it sounds very difficult! I’m sorry to hear you’re struggling a bit with different foods 😦 I guess all you can do is just keep experimenting to see what works. All your meals look delicious though!
Thanks. Yep, exactly – experimenting will be my life for the next couple of weeks, I think!
Sorry to hear about your flare up. I’ve had acid reflux before (years ago) and I know from experience just how painful that can be. I’ll be rooting for you.
Despite your new diet, I think your breakfast and lunch look great, especially all those bright colors in your lunch. I’m a big fan of the Honey flavored Greek Gods greek yogurt. That one might be ok for you. I’m also shocked about the ice cream since dairy is usually good at calming acid reflux. I used to drink a glass of milk when it was really bad. Anyway, I hope you find some relief with this new diet plan.
Hi Liv, I’m so sad to hear about your troubles with your diet. I had leaky gut a while ago for 3 years and got lots of intolerance as a result. Luckily for me I managed to heal my stomach and can handle most of those things in small amounts. It was really hard when I first found out and I cried for days. I still can’t eat dairy but it was a blessing in disguise for me. It took a while to be able to feel normal and find things I could eat, so I know what it feels like to see everything as something you can’t eat. One food I can’t give up is pasta. I am not meant to eat gluten, but after living in Italy for 6 months my gluten free lifestyle ended on my first night I arrived. I just try to eat more variety now so its not for every meal. My favorite thing I ate last week was fried okra tacos from a cafe.
If you are looking at foods with low acid perhaps research macrobiotic diet. I have a book at home that explains high and low alkaline and acid foods. It may be a good reference to compare different vegetables and proteins.
[…] I was feeling really down probably in part because of stress, but mostly because of this awful acid reflux/EoE stuff. I can’t thank you all enough for your positivity and encouragement, but still, this disease […]