Studies have indicated that having acid reflux will not shorten your life expectancy, but it sure can make your life miserable.

Heartburn sufferers typically purchase over the counter products such as Tums or Rolaids or Gaviscon. Those products are basically calcium tablets and the relief that they provide is temporary, but any relief is welcome when an attack takes place. If the number or intensity of occurrences of heartburn increases, people typically end up at their doctor’s office to find a better solution. Doctors typically prescribe drugs such as Pantoloc, which is a calcium blocker which inhibits the amount of acid production in the stomach. This type of drug is expensive (about $2.50 per pill which is prescribed to be taken everyday). The acid reflux drugs manage the symptoms but they never fix the problem.

The most simple and cost effective way to deal with many diseases including acid reflux is to eat properly. Humans are primarily herbivores (plant eaters) that have the ability to also consume meats. Humans should consume a diet that consists of 80% alkaline foods and liquids, but the diet for most Americans and Canadians consists of only 3% alkaline foods and beverages.

What is an alkaline food or beverage? An alkaline substance is one that has a pH greater than 7.0, or the level of distilled water. pH is the power or availability of hydrogen. See a chart of the pH levels of common household products at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PH_scale.png

So, what are alkaline foods and beverages? The foods are made up of primarily vegetables and fruits.

Veggies include cauliflower, turnips, and carrots, but mostly they consist of the “greens” such as: celery, spinach, green beans, broccoli, kale, various grasses, and cucumber.

Alkaline fruits consist of: lemons, tomatoes, limes, grapefruit, rhubarb, and watermelon. Avocados are noted to be an excellent source of alkaline.

Alkaline drinks include: alkaline ionized water, fresh vegetable juice, lemon water, herbal tea, and vegetable broth.

While every Mom has told her kids to “eat your greens” and we know that we should eat well, it is easier said than done. Personally, I don’t mind fruits, but I can’t stand veggies. As a result, I ended up with high levels of LDL (low high density lipoproteins) which is associated with the cholesterol. My physician suggested that I could change my diet or he could prescribe Lipitor, which is a cholesterol lowering drug. Not being a big fan of drugs (my father was one of the old school doctors who believed that prescription drugs were only to be used as a last resort), I chose to work on my diet. Or should I say my wife chose to work on my diet.

I would like to be able to tell you that changing over to a healthier diet was easy. In fact, I would like to be able to tell you that despite the enormous struggle, I was able to persevere and become healthy through an alkaline diet. The truth is I just couldn’t do it. I hate greens, and I like junk food. So how did “we” get me converted over to having a healthy lifestyle so that I could get rid of acid reflux once and for all?

My wife Mary came home one day last year and told me that she had learned the secret to good health. OK! She indicated that the secret was ionized water. I didn’t believe her for a second, but I do know that a happy wife makes for a happy life, so I agreed to start drinking alkaline ionized water that she brought home with her one day. How bad could drinking water be? You should understand that my wife has been working on me for years to eat better and work less. Neither of which has ever worked. So we started drinking alkaline ionized water and my acid reflux disappeared in a few days and has never returned. I should make note of the fact that when my sons and I were away for 8 days golfing without the alkaline ionized water, that my old acid reflux started to rear its ugly head near the end of the trip. The good news is that as soon as we returned home and got back on the water, the acid reflux when away immediately.

It gets better. Based upon my experience with the water, I actually started to pay attention to what I was putting in my body. As a result, I started eating more fruits, but I just wasn’t getting anywhere with the veggies. Mary came to the rescue again after reading about fruit smoothies and “green glop” on the internet. Fruit smoothies are basically made up of putting a bunch of fruits and plain yogurt in a blender and voila. Not too bad. I don’t think that there is anything actually called “green glop”, as I made up the word to describe what comes out of a juicer when Mary has been at it again. Mary cuts up different kinds of raw veggies and feeds them into a juicer. What comes out the other end is “green glop”. It didn’t taste very good, but Mary experimented by including a green apple in the mix, which seemed to make the concoction palatable for me. In a perfect world for me, there would be no “green glop”, but it is a thousand times better for me than eating a plate of vegetables, and it is better for me because the veggies are raw instead of cooked.

I’m in no position to preach about diet, but it has worked for me. If you are what you eat, then I was a Big Mac for most of my life. Now, I have more energy, my acid reflux and arthritis are gone, and I get along with my wife a little better. My secret is not a secret. My strategy is alkaline ionized water, fruit smoothies, and green glop.

© This Alkaline Ionized Water article was posted on Waterfy