Photo Credit: Beth Phillips
Do you get heartburn? It’s likely a sign of low stomach acid.
Click on the following links to read the other posts in this series:
Healing Digestion: Part 1 – Restoring the Mucous Layer
The Dangers of Acid Blockers: How to Heal Heartburn Naturally {Healing Digestion: Part 3}
3 Essential Facts about Probiotics [Healing Digestion: Part 4]
Digestive Enzymes [Healing Digestion Part 5]
When you eat, the stomach goes to work mashing up the food you eat into a kind of soup called chyme before it moves to the small intestine. If your stomach doesn’t produce enough hydrochloric acid (low stomach acid or hypochlorhydria), the food you ate will start to putrefy and ferment causing it to swell and push back up into the esophagus.
Do this often enough over a long period, and the lower esophageal sphincter can weaken and ‘hiccup’ or weaken enough to no longer seal the opening from the esophagus to the stomach. This allows the acidic chyme to splash up into the esophagus and make any amount of acid in the stomach feel like too much acid.
Low stomach acid doesn’t mean no stomach acid.
Though the acidity level of the stomach isn’t enough to fully digest the food, it is definitely enough to burn the delicate lining of the esophagus.
The vast majority of doctors are convinced that stomach acid creeps back up because of hyperacidity – too much stomach acid – without even testing for it. Ironically, they often suffer from the same problem.
Be sure to read Healing Digestion: Part 1 – Healing the Mucous Layer if you are looking to get out of the antacid/acid blocker cycle and begin healing your digestion. We will discuss medications that reduce hydrochloric acid and their dangers in Part 3 on hydrochloric acid (HCl).
Before starting supplemental HCl therapy, it’s a good idea to encourage the production of your own digestive aids first.
Photo Credit: visualpanic
The following digestive tonics should normally be taken 30 minutes before you eat, unless noted otherwise, to allow the stomach time to “ramp up” and for the excess liquid to be absorbed so it doesn’t dilute stomach acid production once you eat.
They should be used before meals and substantial size snacks. A cookie, piece of fruit, or a few crackers would not normally qualify unless they cause heartburn. Continuous snacking throughout the day is not recommended and also contributes to low stomach acid. We’ll discuss that further in Part 3 too.
Our purpose in discussing these tonics is for increasing low stomach acid and digestive enzyme production, so we will focus on using them before eating. There will be a separate post to discuss indigestion tonics that relieve gas and bloating.
Digestive Tonics
I included recipes and links to buy some of the items for those of you not comfortable making your own. I would encourage you to make your own when possible for ingredient control, increased nutrient content, and potency.
This is not an exhaustive list.
[Note: I earn a small commission to help maintain this website if you make a purchase through the links provided – learn more here. All of the products linked to are those I use myself.]
Bitters
Dandelion root tea –
2 teaspoons of dried herb or 4 teaspoons of fresh herb steeped in 8 oz. of hot water for 20-30 minutes. Keep covered while steeping and squeeze liquid from pulp into infusion before discarding.
Nettle tea, stinging nettle leaf –
2 teaspoons of dried herb or 4 teaspoons of fresh herb steeped in 8 oz. of hot water for 20-30 minutes. Keep covered while steeping and squeeze liquid from pulp into infusion before discarding.
Swedish Bitters (make your own)
Genziana (genetian root) – recipe to come. I’m very excited about this one. It’s a recipe that comes from the mountains of northern Italy, brought over by my Italian father-in-law.
Miscellaneous
Meat Stock/Broth (recipe) – 4-8 oz. 15-30 minutes before eating
Lemon – squeeze juice from 1/2 of a fresh lemon into 4-8 oz of warm (not hot) or room temperature water
Master Tonic (Plague Tonic) – 1-2 tablespoons straight 15 minutes before eating
Ferments
Raw apple cider vinegar (ACV) (buy it) – 1-2 tablespoons straight 15 minutes before eating or in 4 oz. of water 30 minutes before eating
Raw, fermented sauerkraut juice (recipe) – 1-2 tablespoons straight 15 minutes before eating
Kombucha (recipe) (buy a SCOBY)- I take up to 4 oz 30 minutes before and/or during a meal to help with digestion; if given a 9 day fermentation, the pH of kombucha is around 2.5 and perfect for food digestion (source).
Beet kvass (recipe)
Spices
Cayenne – small or large pinch, depending on tolerance, of high-quality cayenne powder in 4-8 oz of warm water
Ginger (ginger tea) – 4-8 oz of fresh ginger tea
These are general recommendations and not meant to diagnose or treat a condition. Because of our bioindividuality and individual circumstances, full healing protocols will vary.
If you are not comfortable treating your own condition, please see a holistic practitioner who practices nutritional therapy. If you would like to work with me as a distance client, please contact me here.
Sources
Staying Healthy with Nutrition: The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine by Elson M. Haas, MD with Buck Levin, PhD, RD
Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by Paul Pitchford
Introduction to the Human Body: the Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology Tortora/Derrickson
Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride
Wise Woman Herbal: Healing Wise by Susun S. Weed
The Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook by James Green, herbalist
DETOXIFICATION
IMMUNE SUPPORT
IMMUNE SUPPORT
THYROID SUPPORT
ADRENAL SUPPORT
HEALING RESPONSES
28 Responses
I found this one really helpful, and I am looking forward to the post about indigestion tonics!
Hopefully, you won’t even need them by the time we get there! Many of these will also work as indigestion tonics too, but there is a whole other range of remedies that specifically deal with gas and bloating.
I love this post! So many wonderful ideas.
Thank you Eileen. 🙂
I have NEVER had heartburn – like ever and all of a sudden with this third pregnancy of mine I get it about 2-3 times per week – it is so crazy. It isn’t horrible but it is definitely there. The ACV takes it right away. Curious your thoughts on this related to pregnancy? With my first 2 pregnancies I never had it at all.
Did you ever get the swedish bitters recipe? I have a basic DIY Bitters recipe I got from Mountain Rose Herbs (blog) but would love to try yours. Thanks! 🙂
That’s on my long term to do list, but I really should move it to my short one! I’ll try to have it ready within the next couple of months because my daughter would really benefit and I can’t find one without citrus to buy commercially.
Wonderful blog. So so happy to have found you. I did so through Empowered Sustenance. I have a question for you. If I have had troubles with ulcers since I was a young girl, and am now 50, am I possibly the rare exception that it could be too much acid. I have a rare disorder called mast cell disease and my stomach seems to be sensitive with allergic reactions to every thing even though I may not actually be allergic to the food. I notice in the pollen seasons, my acid reflux is so severe that I actually have trouble with swallowing due to acid reflux, even though I don’t have the burning feeling in my throat like most say.
It is definitely possible. I would have an acid test done to be sure. There’s a very simple test called The Heidelberg Stomach Acid Test that your doctor can perform to give you a definitive answer. Normally, I suggest increasing your stomach acid with an HCl supplement as a test, but not if you have ulcers. I am working with mast cell disease right now with good results. There’s always hope from ‘incurable’ diseases with holistic healing. 🙂 Best of luck!
Thank you so so so much! I’ve been only eating broth and few steamed veggies for almost a month now to avoid the awful bloating and indigestion.
So I’ve found I definitely feel less full/bloating when I do the acv before the meal, but I want to incorporate enzymes as well. From what I’ve read, it sounds like the stomach acid will basically cancel out the enzymes I’ll be taking before the meal?
Would taking the ACV 15 minutes prior to eating, then the enzyme with the beginning of a meal be beneficial?
Thank you for your help.
I would try adding it at the very end of your meal, since you are taking the ACV at a different time than your stomach ‘juices’ normally kick in. Enzymes should be taken either at the beginning or end of a meal. You may need to adjust your dose also based on your body’s needs before you notice a benefit.
Dear Jennifer! Such an awesome article. After weeks of burning pain it turned out that due to low stomach acid I now have irritated esophagus and inflammation in the duodenum with open cardiac sphincter. I now try to help my irritated mucus lining with your suggestions since no medicine helps me so far in weeks. I even tried L-glutamine but dont feel better at all. My other question is that if stomach-acid gets back to normal, can the cardiac sphicter normalize again or it stays open now forever? Doctors say that now I need stomach-acid tablet all my life due to its being open but herbalists say it can be fixed, I shouldnt worry. I am so confused. Thank you so much!
The damage can be reversed in many cases. Unless there is erosion that the body can’t heal from, it can often regrow and learn to function properly like any other tissue. Doctors aren’t in the game of healing. They only know disease maintenance, but an herbalist learns a holistic method of healing. Their answers will often very greatly.