What is really the cause of the heartburn?

My whole life, I am everyone around me, had it WRONG. I am writing this post because despite the correct solution being widely available, it is suppressed by the sheer amount of old ideas and pharmacological advertisements. This post is not medical advice, but an individual observation. 

What is the TRADITIONAL definition of "heartburn"?

Heartburn is also called acid reflux, or GERD.

If you look in the number of dictionaries you will find something similar to this:

"A burning sensation, usually in the middle of the chest, caused by the reflux of acidic stomach fluids that enter the esophagus."

This is both correct and EXTREMELY misleading at the same time.

If you look for remedies you can find the following WRONG ways to treat it:

1. Drink more water - which will dilute the acid
2. Drink a mixture of baking soda and water - which will neutralize the acid
3. Avoid lying down - this is equivalent to "don't stand on a broken leg"
4. Chew a chewing gum - sugar in the gum and saliva will make the stomach more alkaline
5. Eat bananas - same as above
6. Avoid wine, etc.
7. Tums - calcium carbonate - antiacid, the name says it all
8. Zantac - which I took for years - may cause CANCER
9. etc. the list can be LONG

What is the correct definition of "heartburn"?
If I was to write it, it would be:

A burning sensation in the chest that is caused by LOW acidity of the stomach (achlorhydria) that in turn is causing an inability to close the stomach entrance (Pyloric Sphincter) from the esophagus, causing acid reflux.

My remedy recommendation would be:

1. A diet DEVOID of any processed SUGAR, high in organic leafy vegetables, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar while occasional whole organic fruit is advised.
2. A glass of water with a teaspoon (2.5ml) of organic apple cider vinegar

It boils down to keeping a healthy microbiome (controlling yeast such as Candida albicans) and sufficiently high acid levels (1-3 PH) in your stomach.

My personal observation is that I do not have any old GERD/esophagus symptoms after changing my diet. 

You can learn more from Dr. Berg on YoutTube:

Almond milk, heavy whipping cream and coconut oil shake

Keto rule of the thumb is to stay below 40g of sugar per day.

I love whole milk, but since milk has about 11g of sugar per 240ml (~3 teaspoons of sugar) and for many people, milk is bad news anyway, I decided to explore alternatives.

Here is my recipe for a milk-like shake:

- 3/4 glass of organic almond milk
- 1/4 glass of heavy whipping cream
- a spoon of organic coconut oil
- a spoon of Maca powder (this changes the taste, I would say, for worse)
- few raspberries for flavor (a cup is 5g, so few is not a big deal)
- coffee if you need a boost

I warm up the shake so the coconut oil melts (76F+) and I blend it for a couple of seconds.

It is not bad, please send me your recipes.

Fortified Coffee and Tea in no-sugar, keto diet

I have a hard time drinking black coffee, I have tried Starbucks, Caribou, and other, smaller outlets and they all taste somewhere on the spectrum between acidic to burnt.

To maintain a no-sugar, limited calorie diet (I lost 8 pounds since my Chrismas weight) I drink fortified coffee or tea.

When out, in Starbucks I simply ask for "black coffee with heavy whipping cream".

To my surprise, a tablespoon of Organic Valley Heavy Whipping Cream has about 6g of fat and almost no sugar, or proteins. Tasty and perfect coffee, or tea addition.

Of course, the commercial outlets may not have organic grass-fed cream so your mileage will vary. last time I asked Starbucks had "Prairie Farms" brand, which is not organic as far as I know.

At home, I have an option of blending the cream, coconut oil (or pure MCT) and grass-fed butter for optimal whole day goodness. When I want to feel like a young God, I add a teaspoon of Maca powder which gives it a specific, however, not disagreeable taste.

The fortified coffee makes easier to skip meals. This is not true fasting, but better than no fasting at all.

The benefits of intermitted fasting, no-sugar diet are already well known and studied:

- prevents (and kills) cancer
- prevents hypertension (ADD kids) and food comma periods
- prevents degeneration of brain that is a primary concern in the aging population
- is one of the few ways to promote production Human Growth Hormone and creation on new brain cells for adults
- balanced fat calorie input diet prevents diabetes 2 and white fat deposits
- coffee, black tea and especially Japanese powdered green tea is full of healthy anti-oxidants

The above take care of the MOST of the reasons why adult people die, so if you do not smoke and look both ways when you cross the street (that should include no texting and driving) you increase your chances of healthy life by at least 30% percent.

No sugar diet is very pleasant as you do not feel hungry all the time and you feel your energy levels to be very constant. The switch to no sugar diet can be quite painful for the first few days, sugar is an addictive substance very similar to heroin. Limiting the refined sugars is a good first step, after a while, you can start cutting other sugar sources (in order):

- refined sugars including high fructose corn syrup
- rice
- grains (pasta)
- potatoes
- corn
- grains (bread)
- natural maple syrup (has many health benefits)
- honey (has many health benefits)

I have grown on bread, so cutting it was very hard for me, but it is worth it.

Feast Days

Some people call it "cheat days", but I do not like this terminology. Every week, usually on weekend I feast which means eating what I crave. In my case that would be a fresh Polish donut with raspberry filling. This is very natural to feast after fasting, people are adapted to that and it was a natural process over the last couple of million years of evolution.

People fasted when hunted, or migrated, then fasted. Note, the modern humans who managed to wipe out mammoths, and our meat loving cousins Neanderthals started to split at least 250,000 years ago. You are not supposed to marry your cousins, but we know our ancestors did, hence they were not truly different species. We have been the fat-eating, ketone-buring hunters for a long time!

Finally, it is very important to note that our ancestors would constantly snack on leafy vegetables, nuts, and roots as they were able to find them while on the prolonged hunt, or move to a new area. You should not skimp on vegetables in your diet.