Heartburn Friendly Recipes – GERD Cooking Tips
In this article, you will find a several powerful tips you can apply to your recipes and cooking so that you can eat delicious, healthy food and reduce your chances at getting reflux. The best heartburn remedies after all are avoiding heartburn in the first place!
GERD Recipe Tip #1 – Use Vinegar-Based Marinades
One of the best ways to reduce heartburn after eating is to use vinegar-based marinades. These are effective at preventing heartburn for two reasons:
- Acetic acid, found in vinegar, stimulates the production of saliva (1). Saliva promotes digestion and coats the esophagus and provides a slight buffer against stomach acid.
- Marinating meat in vinegar tenderizes the meat; tenderized meat is easier to chew completely. Inadequate chewing is associated with acid reflux (2).
The best part is that marinating your meat not only may be heartburn-friendly, but it also helps make your meal more delicious! Here is a sample marinade recipe that can be used for both steak and chicken:
- 2 parts balsalmic vinegar
- 1 part olive oil
- Garlic powder (or a fresh clove) and pepper;Â season to taste (less than a teaspoon of each is plenty – you can always sprinkle garlic powder or pepper on the finished product if it does not have enough flavor)
The amount of vinegar and oil you use depends of course on how much meat your are using. If you are just cooking a single breast, a third of a cup of vinegar and a sixth of a cup of oil may be plenty. If you are cooking for the whole family, you may need 1/2 a cup of vinegar and 1/4 a cup of oil. For a big event you may even need more; just be sure to use enough to coat the meat.
For best results, combined all the ingredients in a freezer bag, removing all air from the bag and sealing it. Then, put the bag in the refrigerator and allow the meat to marinade for several hours before cooking.
Heartburn Recipe Tip #2 – Add in a Raw, Crisp Vegetable Appetizer
A simple dish such as raw carrots and humus can be a delicious and healthy way to start your meal. A raw vegetable has two advantages over typical meal starters such as a salad: crisp raw vegetables require a lot more chewing and take much longer to eat.
As mentioned throughout this site, chewing produces saliva, and saliva is great at counteracting heartburn. Additionally, slowing down the rate at which we eat is associated with less instances of reflux (2). As a result, a simple dish such as carrots and humus can be a great prelude to the main course.
Heartburn Recipe Tip #3 – Used Mustard-Based Sauces
As mentioned in our article on mustard and heartburn, mustard is also a great source of vinegar, which produces large amounts of saliva. This may help reduce the occurrence rates of heartburn.
Try adding mustard as a topic on sandwiches and chicken; the extra saliva production may be enough to stop heartburn in its tracks.
Just remember that everyone’s body is different – while some of these recipe tips may reduce heartburn for most of the population, they may not be appropriate for your individual physiology. Try them out and see how they work for you.
References
1. Dutta SK, Agrawal K, Mahmoud MA. Modulation of salivation and heartburn in response to the site of acid infusion in the human oesophagus. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2010 Sep;32(6):795-800.
2. Luki M., et al. The role of the nutrition in the pathogenesis of gastroesophageal reflux disease, Barrett’ oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Coll Antropol. 2010 Sep;34(3):905-9.
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