Have you ever felt bloated after eating, or experienced the dreaded heartburn? Do you find yourself burping more often? You would think that these symptoms are signs of too much acid in your stomach, and you could be right.
Or, you could be completely wrong.
You could be suffering from a lack of stomach acid officially known as Hypochlorhydria.
As we age, our ability to produce stomach acid declines, but some of us are simply not very good at producing stomach acid, due to inherited problems with our digestive system or a food intolerance.
The symptoms of low stomach acid are virtually the same as the symptoms of an overproduction of stomach acid. The treatment, however, is entirely different. In order to feel beer, your stomach needs to produce more acid, not less.
According to puristat.com, a website that focuses on digestive wellness, our entire digestive process depends upon food being doused with a healthy amount of hydrochloric acid (HCl) when it gets to the stomach. Without HCl, the digestion of protein, carbohydrates, and fat cannot be properly completed.
Without HCl, the digestion of protein, carbohydrates and fat cannot be properly completed. The stomach needs hydrochloric acid in order to protect the stomach from bacterial and fungal overgrowth (bacteria and fungus cannot thrive in an acidic environment). Hydrochloric acid also helps the body to properly absorb essential vitamins and minerals.
Food takes a long me to digest with low stomach acid, and we know that the longer bacteria sits inside us, the more rapidly they reproduce. Toxins are produced and then absorbed by the liver.
Regardless of how well you eat, poor digestion and malabsorption of nutrients is the end result of low stomach acid. Without adequate nourishment, you could be a target for infectious and degenerative diseases.
Tips from the fooddoctor.com to help improve stomach acid include:
• Take me away from your desk to eat
• Don’t eat on the move Relax for 5-10 minutes before you start to eat
• Smell your food before you tuck in and chew your food thoroughly
• Don’t get into the habit of being your food down
There are also supplements that you can take but such actions should first be discussed with your medical professional near you have been officially diagnosed with Hypochlorhydria. Remember the symptoms are the same as high acid levels in your stomach, for which entirely different treatments are required.
