Happy Dining Without Heartburn Acid Reflux Problem
One of the pitfall for most heartburn acid reflux sufferers is eating out. If you are dinning at home, you can make sure that you do not eat or drink that would trigger your heartburn. However, dinning out is not easy for you as you cannot control over what you eat and how the food it cooked.
Despite that there is wide range of items on the menu, you should choose food that will lower your chance to trigger your heartburn problem. However, there are things you can do, and you’ll find that most restaurants will be reasonably accommodating with your request. The obvious one is to choose a meal that does not contain any of your personal heartburn trigger foods.
Here are 5 keys toward heartburn-free dining.
1. Select The Right Restaurant
Make sure you go to the restaurant that offers some heartburn-free entrees or is at least willing to prepare the entree as you request. E.g. if you have particular trouble with spices, a Thai restaurant may not be best place for you. Of, if tomato, garlic and onions easily trigger your acid symptoms happen, an Italian restaurant could be quite a challenge for you.
2. Select The Right Menu Items
This sounds simple doesn’t it? It’s not. Here are just a few questions to ask your waiter. Remember it never hurts to ask. The only thing you stand to lose is some fat and calories.
- Is this dish deep-fried?
- How is this dish prepared?
- Is there any butter or oil added?
- Is this made with cream?
- Can this be steamed, grilled, or broiled instead of fried?
- Can I have the sauce/dressing on the side?
- Can this be cooked in wine or broth instead of butter or oil?
- Can this dish be broiled or baked instead of fried?
- Can you remove the skin from my chicken before it’s prepared?
- Can I substitute a salad, baked potato, or steamed vegetables for the french fries?
- Can you make this dish without_____________? (Insert whatever ingredient tend to aggravate your heartburn, such as onions, garlic or tomato?
3. Select The right Amount of Food
Remember sometimes it isn’t as much “what” you eat, as much as “how much” you eat that can send you into heartburn overdrive. Granted, eating a smaller sized meal is a real challenge when you are eating out — especially if you are in a “celebration mode.” Because what do we do when we eat out? We eat foods we don’t normally eat. We eat several side dishes or courses (soup, salad and appetizers) before we even get to the entree we’ve ordered. And we enjoy our food, usually not stopping until we are filled to the brim (marked only by needing to unfasten the top button on our pants.) this will probably be the toughest key to follow. But the payoff is big.
4. Eat Early In The Evening
For so many people with heartburn, eating late in the evening is their biggest trigger with nighttime heartburn. Say your reservation is at 7pm, by the time you sit down, get a round of drinks, order your dinner, and finish up the meal, it could be 9 at night by the time you pay the check! Give yourself the requisite 3-4 hours before you lie down and you won’t be sleeping until one in the morning. So count back from when you want to go to bed and you may need to make that a 5:30pm or 6 pm dinner reservation. Look on the bright side — you’ll be able to get all those early bird prices on your favorite menu items.
5. Chew On It For A While
A little bit of gum chewing after a meal can go a long way with heartburn prevention. Keep a pack of gm in your purse or briefcase (or car) and you might want to top off those restaurant meals with a big stick of gum — instead of a big cup of coffee or a plate of dessert.
These are the 5 important keys to have a good dinner outside without compromise your heartburn diet.
If you are interested to learn more about heartburn habits, get this book – Heartburn No More.
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