Health Clutter

Carrying too much fat around your middle and GERD ( gastroesophageal reflux disease - think chronic heartburn) go together like walnuts and port. About half obese people have this miserable condition, called GERD. Extra fat hanging off the stomach pulls it down, straightening the angle where the esophagus ( the tube that carries swallowed food to your stomach) joins it. When there’s no angle at that juncture, stomach acid spills upward and burns the esophagus. Pressure on the stomach from deep-belly fat increases the backwash.

Losing even a little weight,since that allow the angle to return, may cure GERD.

That’s what happened for 66 percent of people with GERD in a recent study. For obese women, the magic number for improving heartburn and other GI symptoms was losing just 5 percent of their body weight and taking 2-4 inches off their waists. Men got relief when they lost 10 percent of their weight and 4 inches from their waists.

Another reason why so many losers got better could be that they used to spend on alcohol, chocolate, fat and other GERD triggers with fruits and vegetables. They also exercised up to an hour, five days a week. And presumably they did what we tell anyone with heartburn to do: Avoid eating within three hours of bedtime. Put blocks under the head posts of your bed so you sleep at a slight downward tilt. And skip other trigger foods, too, like coffee, black pepper, spicy food, tomatoes and orange juice.

source: THE YOU DOCS/ LIVING/ TORONTO STAR