I have a question... has anyone had experience, or seen other articles or testimonials with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and Atkins/Low Carb.? My wife, only 26, is diagnosed with this... and she's went on a loose vegeterian diet b/c her doc recommended it.... the problem is still there, she still has to take meds to keep her food "down." She wants to lose weight and has seen me lose on the Atkins, but she's afraid Atkins may make her Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease worse?

Any stories or links out there? Thanks!

My personal experience was that acid reflux was completely eliminated by following the low carb way of eating. If I want another attack then all I have to do is eat a high carb meal in the evening, the usual suspects will bring it on, bread, desert, pasta, potatoes etc.

So contrary to poplar belief, the "benign" foods bring on acid reflux, and the protein/fat foods do not.

Just my experience, and I do sympathise with anyone suffering from acid reflux, it is horrible to wake up in the night with acid flowing into your lungs....

When I started LC'ing in February, I was taking 30mg a day of ranitidine (Zantac) and sometimes more, to keep my acid under control.

I now keep some of the OTC-strength (75mg) tablets with me and take them only as needed. I've had all of three in the last month.

I'd have to say that LC has made a huge difference here.

Thank you both very much. Interesting. I guess the reasoning behind a vegetarian diet is that meat and protein can cause a more acidic stomach... but they're obviously more to it.

I have that problem, and I have noticed that it is a little bit worse on atkins.

Hi,
My husband is on Nexium, for acid reflux, I had read some posts about LC helping with this and he said he would try going without bread at lunch and no sides with dinner (potatoes,rice,pasta) well no more getting up at night for tums or gaviscon. Plus he lost a few pounds too.
HTH........Sheryl

My husband had terrible problems with GIRD; sometimes he would have to sit up half the night because the pain was worse if he lay down. It all ended the first day we started eating LC, three years ago. The only time since then that the GIRD has raised its ugly head was on a vacation in France, where we had to eat bread and croissants for breakfast for two weeks because that's all you can get, except sometimes in big hotels.

Karla

My DH also had terrible problems with GERD. Zantac and Maalox were his two best buddies. He always thought that is was foods like coffee and greasy foods that were triggering his attacks, but since he started low carbing he hasn't had a problem with it at all and he can drink an entire pot of coffee and eat all kinds of greasy foods without a problem.
If he goes off low carb and has a high carb meal or two...wham! The symptoms come right back. Instead of the grease in the french fries causing the problem, it turns out that it was the potato!

I used to take Prilosec daily for my GRD - now, I have had a roll of Tums lying around forever, "just in case"!

Ditto everyone here, low carb has all but eliminated acid reflux. Not having GRD now is such a great incentive for staying on this WOL!!!