If you sometimes find yourself dealing with a burning sense of discomfort in your chest after meals, you might be dealing with heartburn-a common symptom of acid reflux. While it’s a highly uncomfortable feeling, the good news is that there are ways for you to manage it at home without the need for hospitals. Small changes to your lifestyle will go a long way to resolving the issue and so will turmeric.

Why Turmeric?

Used for thousands of years in Asia, both in food and medicines, turmeric is a superfood that has recently seen a resurgence in popular culture, especially in the West. It has typically been used to add a bright yellow stain to curries, as well as imparting a slightly bitter mustard flavor, but has been touted of late in mainstream media for its variety of health benefits-not least of which is its ability to help deal with acid reflux.

Turmeric contains several compounds that are said to possess medicinal properties, but the most important of these is called curcumin. The health benefits of curcumin are many and varied; because of curcumin, turmeric can be used as a natural solution to fighting inflammation in the body, which in turn makes it an excellent compound for those dealing with joint pains and arthritis. In fact, curcumin makes turmeric such a powerful anti-inflammatory that, in certain studies, it has been shown to be more effective than anti-inflammatory drugs.

Turmeric is also thought to be able to boost brain function, fight degenerative brain diseases, improve overall heart health, and prevent the growth of cancerous cells. It is also being studied as a potential antidepressant, with some evidence showing that curcumin boosts dopamine levels in the brain. With its anti-inflammatory properties, turmeric is also recognized as a potential treatment for gastrointestinal problems.

Turmeric Tea for Acid Reflux

An easy and delicious way to add turmeric to your daily routine is to consume it as a tea. This will also stop you from simply trying to increase your intake of other turmeric-heavy dishes such as curries, the spices of which could potentially make your acid reflux problems worse.

The Hot Turmeric Brew available from Nature’s Rare uses organic turmeric sourced straight from the beautiful island of Sri Lanka, and is harvested in a highly ethical and sustainable environment. The teabags come packed with both organic turmeric and organic black pepper; the piperine in pepper increases your body’s ability to absorb curcumin. The compound becomes even easier to absorb if, instead of water, you steep your teabag in a full-fat milk like cow’s milk or coconut milk. This will give you a drink popularly called Golden Milk, and it the fat in the milk increases the absorption of curcumin into our systems even further. The turmeric tea from Nature’s Rare is also caffeine-free, which is a must if you want to avoid worsening problems with acid-reflux.

Other Ways to Eliminate Risk Factors for Acid Reflux

Of course, acid reflux can be caused by any variety of reasons, and so in addition to including turmeric in your diet, other risk factors in your lifestyle should be assessed and eliminated. Common lifestyle choices that could induce acid reflux include:

• Eating meals that are too large in one sitting, or eating too much of a certain type of food (such as spicy or fatty foods). Smaller meals throughout the day should provide some relief, but monitoring your diet for specific triggers will also be of use.
• Lying down right after eating. You should wait for at least two to three hours after you finish your meals before you lie down. This both gives your body better time to digest your food, and lowers the chances of your food working its way back up.
• Smoking cigarettes. If this is what’s triggering your acid reflux, your best bet is cutting back, or to quit smoking altogether.
• Taking certain medications. If your heartburn began after you got started on new medication (which could be something as benign as an aspirin), consult with your doctor to check if it could be triggering your symptoms.