Reddit reviews Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure

Thanks for sharing it! My doctor recommended a cookbook called Dropping Acid, and the TLDR of the diet is to avoid any of the foods that bring me joy (coffee, chocolate, alcohol, spicy foods, citrus) and to ensure I don't eat within three hours of going to bed so that my body can digest before I lie down. It was really hard to adapt to that lifestyle change.

I'm following the diet in the book Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure (by Koufman et al). It's a phased diet, with an "induction" phase that is super cautious followed by a more flexible maintenance phase. This is because if you have damage to your esophageal sphincters (and other tissues) from reflux, they won't function as well at blocking reflux, and the downward spiral will continue. In addition to suppressing acid production in your stomach it's important to cut acid intake from your food, because any source of acid can activate pepsin, an enzyme that is deposited on your tissues during reflux.

Dr. Koufman's 2011 journal paper, with a summary of the diet, is available here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000348941112000501

I found this stuff after my diagnosis of LPR. I don't have heartburn or esophagitis but I have had a series of awful sinus infections for months and I think LPR is the major underlying cause, as my allergies are minor. There is some background on LPR and GERD in the Dropping Acid book, but I'd also recommend her book The Chronic Cough Enigma for a more thorough look at how reflux and airway disorders are connected.

I've really tried to limit snacking but the snacks I feel pretty good about are bananas, celery, and rice cakes. Rice cakes come in a lot of flavors. I really love food and cooking and it has been pretty depressing cutting back on all that, but if I can manage this issue (and ideally, not depend on meds for it long-term) then it will be well worth it.

I recommend the book, Dropping Acid

It really helped me. I followed the doctor's recommendations, and after about two weeks I started introducing foods ONE AT A TIME back into my diet. It made me figure out my trigger foods, because I'd have heartburn within two hours or so if one of those foods was a trigger food for me.

Oatmeal helps me counteract the acidity of coffee, which I can never give up. If it helps, my trigger foods are oranges (and other citrus fruits & juices) and tomatoes.

I'm late to this, but it sounds as though you are having a lot of anxiety issues which obviously contribute negatively to GERD symptoms. I thought of it when you talked about visualizing the tube going your throat, etc. That's hard core anxiety. Maybe you should talk to your doctor about this and see if there is some chill out meds you could take. I am never one to jump right to meds, but suffering from GERD and the sucky diet is very stressful. Unless you think you can learn meditation while also managing GERD, which I hear is the best route.

Also, to learn better about what to eat I highly recommend reading "Dropping Acid" by Jamie Koufman. I never get any help from my doctors about the right foods or loosing weight, and it wasn't until I read this book--which I learned about here on Reddit--that I feel like I had any kind of control over my situation.

Good Luck!
https://www.amazon.com/Dropping-Acid-Reflux-Diet-Cookbook/dp/0982708319

EDIT: As for coffee, try Folger's Simply Smooth, a special blend made just for people with nasty stomach's like ours.

https://www.amazon.com/Folgers-Simply-Smooth-Coffee-Ounce/dp/B009I36KBS

I've heard people have success with watermelon.

My other recommendation would be to buy an acid reflux cookbook because there are a lot of foods that hide their acid that might be triggering you unknowingly:

https://www.amazon.com/Dropping-Acid-Reflux-Diet-Cookbook/dp/0982708319