Reddit Reddit reviews Dr. Koufman's Acid Reflux Diet: With 111 All New Recipes Including Vegan & Gluten-Free: The Never-need-to-diet-again Diet

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2 Reddit comments about Dr. Koufman's Acid Reflux Diet: With 111 All New Recipes Including Vegan & Gluten-Free: The Never-need-to-diet-again Diet:

u/raoul-duke- · 7 pointsr/GERD

I'm copying and pasting much of this from a previous post because I have had some success treating LPR/GERD:

I had very severe symptoms, to the point where I had a 2-month long bout of laryngitis (I was completely unable to speak) brought on by my LRP. Now I suffer from almost no GERD or LPR symptoms save for very occasional phlegm. Last night I had a cocktail, wine, steak, and this afternoon I had a fried chicken sandwich with hot sauce. If I had done this 3 months ago, I would have experienced SEVERE symptoms. So this works!

First, check out "Dr. Koufman's Acid Reflux Diet" by Dr. Jamie Koufman. It worked very well for me. In the meantime, check out the Stanford LPR Protocol.

When you read Dropping Acid or the Acid Reflux diet, you're going to read about a 2-week "induction" diet. This is a very strict diet with only low acid foods. Until your copy arrives, here is a decent list of safe, low-acid foods to get you started: http://www.mediterraneanbook.com/wp-content/uploads/list_of_low_acid_foods_chart.png

The diet works great to get you back to 100%. If you're really suffering, you may need to run the diet for 3 weeks in order to heal yourself up. Think of it as you having a sprained ankle. While you're ankle in experiencing the acute effects of a sprain, you can't run, jump, or even walk well. But if you give your ankle time to heal, you can probably get back to doing the activities you like after a certain period of time. However, if you keep re-injuring your ankle before it has time to heal, you will continue to experience your ankle problems in perpetuity. This is what's going on with your LES (lower esophageal sphincter). It's damaged, and you need to give it a rest before you can start running (i.e. eating normal foods) again.

I want to make a couple of important notes about diet change. It sounds like it's terrible, but it's really not that bad. You don't have to be 100% compliant with your diet once you're healed, but you do have to be cognizant of what your triggers are, and avoid them when you notice your symptoms flare-up. You want to generally symptom-free, so when you symptoms kick in, get strict with your diet until they've subsided. That said, once you've got yourself up to snuff, and aren't experiencing reflux, you can be a little bit more cavalier with your diet.

After the 2 or 3 week induction period, keep a very detailed food journal for a couple of months and figure out what your trigger foods are. I keep mine in Google Sheets with 5 columns:

  1. Date,
  2. Meal (i.e. breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack 1, snack 2, etc.),
  3. Foods consumed,
  4. Current symptom level (1-5),
  5. Potential trigger food? (Yes or no)

    I think you'll be surprised that it's a fairly small list of serious offenders. If you cut them out you'll end up with 90% of the benefits of a more restrictive diet. For example, I can drink alcohol but had to switch from beer to tequila. I can eat tomatoes, spicy food, etc, but have a little bit of trouble with high vinegar content hot sauce. Coffee had to be mostly cut out (I have a cup or 2 each week), and I switched my whey protein flavor from chocolate to vanilla. I also cut back on marinara sauce, but am not cutting it out. When I'm on solid ground as far as my LPR, I can eat it. If I've had reflux events recently, I eat a little more restrictively. It may sound like a pain, but I promise it's not that bad.

    A couple of other small notes. You probably want to get a 2x daily dose of 20 mg of omeprazole while you start fighting your symptoms. I'm not a doctor, so consult your doctor before you do this. It will help you get your initial symptoms in check. Once you have them in check, you can drop your dose to once daily 20 mg, with ranitidine before bed. Then drop you omeprazole dose to every other day, with supplemental ranitidine, then drop the omeprazole all together. Ranitidine can be used in the meantime on an ad hoc basis to combat flare-ups as they occur.

    Now, I almost never have phlegm or have the need to clear my throat. Given how annoying the symptoms were, this seems like a pretty low price to pay.
u/emeryleaf · 3 pointsr/GERD

Sure - I struggled with post nasal drip and mucus in my throat for years, and my doctors all insisted it was allergies. I took about 5 allergy medicines at once: Singulair, Allegra, Flonase, Bepreze (eye drops) and some other nose spray I don't recall now, and felt no relief. I can't believe they STILL insisted it was allergies, but they did. Finally, I started having heartburn mid last year. Well, technically I had experienced heartburn plenty of times in the past, but I started having it very regularly. And stomach pains. Super long story, but got tested for h. pylori, was positive, treated it, eradicated it, did nothing to help my symptoms. Had an endoscopy, mild chronic gastritis, mild esophagitis, neither of which concerned the doctors as they said just about anyone going in is going to show this. Not sure I fully agree with that, but whatever.

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Started taking H2s more regularly to help with the burning in my throat. We kept having to up my dose as it would lose effectiveness after a few weeks. The throat symptoms got VERY bad. My throat was incredibly sore, terrible mucus after eating anything, cleared my throat constantly, lump in throat sensation and shortness of breath, all of which combined made me a very anxious person. GI doctor referred me to an ENT, who scoped down my nose/throat, confirmed vocal cord damage, put me on pretty strong PPI and H2 combo, and that was about 5 weeks ago. Felt AMAZING the first three weeks, totally abused it, ate whatever I wanted - and started having breakthrough symptoms around week 3.5. Started getting strict with myself about a week ago, and am feeling a lot better. I am not an expert, and many people here have struggled a lot longer than me, but I will say:

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  1. Read Dr. Koufman's book. It will spook you - don't let it spook you, let it inspire you to make healthier/smarter decisions for your reflux going forward. I'm learning that diet is absolutely key, and foods that I didn't think were THAT bad absolutely are. No more soda for me.
  2. One of her main recommendations: drink alkaline water. DO it, if you can. This soothes my symptoms more than anything, and makes me feel less guilty/panicked when I eat things I shouldn't (nobody's perfect, right?).
  3. I know a lot of people praise weight loss for reflux, and I've heard it can help tremendously, but unfortunately I'm a size 2 and still have moderate to severe symptoms, so I don't think it's a magical solution. I will say, if you're eating foods that are healthy for your reflux, they will also almost certainly help you lose weight.
  4. * I forgot to add Gaviscon! I saw on another one of your comments you mentioned it. Gaviscon Advance, aniseed, the UK kind, before bed - supposedly forms a little raft on your stomach that physically prevents reflux. I do feel like my throat is a bit less dry/tender when I use this, and it's highly recommended for LPR.
  5. * Another edit b/c why not, I live here now: chewing gum. I chew gum after lunch for a while and it really helps with the mucus/urge to clear my throat.

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    A couple of other thoughts; I have never had issues with protein specifically. I have read that before, but have not noticed it myself. I will say, PPIs/H2s feel like they slow my digestion somewhat, but not with a particular kind. In general, I would discourage the Betaine tablets. I've read it can be a bit dangerous for anyone with LPR or gastritis. Bit like playing with fire. Apple cider vinegar is also a hard no. I tried a LOT of supplements early on in this process (D-limonene, DGL, L-glutamine, melatonin) and the only one I feel comfortable recommending was mastic gum for my gastritis pains; it really seemed to soothe the pain. It did not help reflux. Ginger teas also help my digestion/bloating overall.

    ​

    Sorry, I've turned this into a bit of a novel, but I've had a LOT of time to think about my plans and long-term management going forward over the last few weeks, haha.