Do You Have GERD? Take The Test

More than 60 million Americans experience heartburn
at least once a month and some studies suggest more
than 15 million Americans experience heartburn symptoms
each day.

Are you one of them?

How severe is your heartburn?

What are the chances that it is something more
serious?

Here's a simple self-test developed by a panel of
experts from the American College of Gastroenterology.
Test yourself to see if you're a GERD sufferer and
are taking the right steps to treat it.

1. Do you frequently have one or more of the following:

a) An uncomfortable feeling behind the breastbone
that seems to be moving upward from the stomach?

b) An acid burning sensation in the back of
your throat?

c) A bitter acid taste in your mouth?

d) A saliva pH below 7.2.

2. Do you often experience these problems after meals?

3. Do you experience heartburn or acid indigestion
two or more times per week?

4. Do you find that antacids provide temporary relief
from your symptoms?

5. Are you taking prescription medication to treat
heartburn, but still having symptoms?

6. Do you eat dairy and/or meat every day?

7. Do drink coffee, tea, alcohol or soda pops?

If you said yes to two or more of the above questions,
you may be at risk for GERD. To know for sure, test your
morning urine pH. If your morning urine pH is below
5.5 pH you may be at risk for GERD.

According to Dr. Robert O. Young, the cause of GERD
is a result of an over-acidic lifestyle and diet.

The body is alkaline by design and acidic by function.

To maintain the alkaline design of the body the stomach
produces sodium bicarbonate to alkalize the food that we
eat and drink.

When we over-indulge in an acidic lifestyle and diet
this causes the stomach to work overtime to produce
the needed sodium bicarbonate for buffering the
increase in dietary acid.

The stomach will produce in the lining of the
stomach an equal amount of hydrochloric acid to
each molecule of sodium bicarbonate produced.

The sodium bicarbonate rises to meet the ingested
food and drink as the hydrochloric acid - a waste
product of sodium bicarbonate production falls into
the gastric pits of the stomach away from the food.

It is important to understand that in the ideal
situation the hydrochloric acid should never come in
contact with the food or drink. The ideal pH of the food
when it leaves the stomach into the small intestine
is 8.4 pH.

If the food and/or drink ingested is highly acidic
and/or comes in contact with the hydrochloric acid
and/or there is not enough sodium bicarbonate to
buffer the acids of the food and/or drink this can
create an over-acidic state in the stomach. When this
happens the stomach becomes too acidic or sour resulting
in the symptoms of acid reflux and/or heart burn.

If this over-acidic state is not corrected it can
lead to more serious symtomologies such as
ulcerations and degenerations of the stomach.

Dr. Young has stated, "the process of digestion
is not well understood by current medical savants.
The true purpose of the alimentary canal is to alkalize
the food and/or liquids that we ingest in preparation
for biological transformation into new blood in the
small intestine. The main organ for alkalizing the
food and liquids that we ingest is the stomach. The
stomach is an organ of contribution not digestion!"

To help in the process of sodium bicarbonate, Dr.
Young has created the pHlavor mineral salts and
the pHour mineral salts.

To learn more about these very important mineral
salts in supporting the alimentary canal go to:

http://www.phmiracleliving.com/pHourSalts.htm
http://www.phmiracleliving.com/phlavor.htm

To become part of our alkaline community go to:

http://www.phmiracleliving.com/world-clock.htm

To learn more about pH Miracle Living go to:

http://articlesofhealth.blogspot.com/