It can be a challenge for those of us with frequent heartburn to find GERD-riendly recipes we can enjoy. If you’re a foodie like me, giving up key ingredients that are known to cause heartburn can be down right depressing. But, with a little creativity and planning, it’s possible to cook delicious meals the entire family can enjoy, and in many cases end up being healthier.
Let’s look at three steps to take when planning your next meal that will lead to a more GERD-friendly recipe.
Step 1: Identify Heartburn Triggers
Triggers are ingredients that are known to cause heartburn. Every person is different and so heartburn triggers will be different for each individual. Below is a list of 10 common ingredients and foods to avoid when cooking. You can also visit WebMD for a more detailed list of foods that cause heartburn.
10 Common Heartburn Triggers:
- Fatty meats like rib eye steak
- Fried food like fried chicken
- Citrus fruits like grapefruit, oranges and orange juice
- Tomatoes and tomato sauce
- Garlic and onion
- Spicy ingredients like peppers
- Chocolate
- Peppermint
- Cheese, nuts, and avocados
- Butter
Step 2: Substitute GERD-Friendly Ingredients
Just because a recipes has one or more trigger ingredients doesn’t mean you can’t use the recipe. In many cases you can substitute non-trigger ingredients and still end up with a delicious meal. One common method is to substitute the original ingredient, like garlic or onions, with dry powdered ingredients. Just be aware that if you are particularly sensitive to the original ingredient, the dry ingredient, even in small quantities, might also give you heartburn. Everyone is different and have varying degrees of tolerance.
Another method is to remove the ingredient all-together. If you feel the ingredient is in small enough quantity that removing it won’t greatly affect the overall quality of the recipe, then removing the ingredient is better than suffering from heartburn later.
Many of the recipes on this site originally had heartburn triggers and were substituted out for GERD-friendly ingredients. Browse our recipes and take a look at the ingredients we use.
Step 3: Choose a GERD-Friendly Cooking Method
After you have identified ingredients in your recipe that may cause heartburn and substituted them for GERD-friendly ingredients, the next step is to choose a cooking method that is GERD-friendly. In general, avoid fried foods. Instead, bake or grill your food. For example, instead of frying those chicken wings, marinade and grill them instead. Since most seafood is GERD-friendly, follow the original recipe only grill or bake the food instead of frying it.
Submit Your Own Recipe
It’s not difficult to create GERD-friendly recipes. Identify trigger ingredients in your recipes, substitute them for GERD-friendly ingredients, and select a cooking method that reduces acid reflux. Go ahead, give it a try! Come up with our own recipe and submit it here at gerFoodie and share it with the rest of us.
