The article was checked by gastroenterologist and endoscopist Kondrashova E.A. , is for general informational purposes only and does not replace specialist advice. For recommendations on diagnosis and treatment, consultation with a doctor is necessary.
At the Clinical Hospital on Yauza, they will quickly and accurately identify the cause of heartburn and help you get rid of the unpleasant symptom. The qualifications of our gastroenterologists, modern technologies and expert equipment (endoscopy, endosonography, CT and MRI, all laboratory diagnostics, etc.), an individual and comprehensive approach to each patient ensure high efficiency of conservative and/or surgical treatment of the entire spectrum of diseases that cause heartburn.
Heartburn is a burning sensation in the chest area or in the pit of the stomach. Sometimes this sensation rises to the base of the tongue, accompanied by a bitter or sour taste in the mouth.
Heartburn usually occurs some time after eating; it can be triggered by bending over, physical exertion, or a certain type of food.
General information
The kefir fungus used to prepare the drink was discovered in 1867. Then kefir appeared among the Balkars and Karachais who lived at the foot of Elbrus. He got to Soviet factories thanks to Irina Sakharova, who was kidnapped as a bride in Karachay. In court, the girl demanded a kefir recipe as compensation, and in 1913, production was launched in the USSR.
Compound
Kefir contains:
Kefir contains vitamins, iodine, and fluorine.
- vitamins A, PP, C, H, group B;
- selenium;
- fluorine;
- iodine;
- copper;
- sodium;
- chlorine;
- sulfur;
- zinc;
- iron;
- cobalt;
- manganese;
- molybdenum;
- potassium;
- calcium;
- ethanol.
Beneficial features
Fermented milk product has a number of valuable properties:
Kefir restores microflora.
- restores beneficial microflora in the intestines;
- reduces blood glucose levels;
- strengthens the nervous system, increases resistance to stress;
- destroys pathogenic bacteria that cause intestinal infections and stool disorders;
- stimulates digestion processes;
- relaxes, improves sleep, prevents insomnia;
- strengthens the immune system, replenishes the deficiency of vitamins and microelements;
- removes toxins, toxic substances, improves well-being;
- improves the functioning of the gastric sphincter.
Nutrition for pregnant women
Rational nutrition is one of the main conditions for a favorable course and outcome of pregnancy and normal fetal development.
A pregnant woman's diet should be complete, that is, it should contain a sufficient amount of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and microelements. To replenish vitamin deficiency, berries, vegetables and fruits with pulp are very useful. You should not get carried away with citrus fruits, as they can provoke allergies in the mother and unborn child.
It is useful to eat black bread, bread with bran, etc. Cereals: buckwheat, rice, oatmeal, containing a lot of fiber, promote efficient intestinal function and prevent constipation, being the basis of proper nutrition for pregnant women.
Very often, during pregnancy, the mother experiences varying degrees of iron deficiency. Many even develop physiological anemia, which goes away after childbirth, but not all. To prevent anemia, it is useful to eat beef or veal liver, red meat, and bone marrow. Green apples are also useful, as in addition to iron they also contain vitamin C, in combination with which iron is absorbed much better.
Proper nutrition for pregnant women implies adequate compensation for the deficiency of proteins and other substances through high-quality food with an optimal ratio of the main components, frequent, divided meals, and the use of special vitamin complexes.
Body weight gain during pregnancy for women with normal weight should be 11.5 kg, for women with underweight 12.5 kg, for overweight women 10.5 kg.
Diet of a pregnant woman.
- hearty breakfast
- light second breakfast,
- hearty lunch
- less filling dinner
- 2 hours before bedtime, a glass of yogurt or kefir.
During the day, a pregnant woman needs to properly distribute the meals and products she eats. Meat, fish, eggs should be eaten in the first half of the day for breakfast and lunch, and dairy and vegetable products in the afternoon for afternoon snack and dinner.
Sample weekly menu for women in the second half of pregnancy
Monday:
First breakfast:
goulash with mashed potatoes, apple juice.
Second breakfast:
milk.
Lunch:
pea soup with minced meat, boiled fish with vegetable stew, compote.
Afternoon snack:
fruits or berries.
Dinner:
cottage cheese soufflé, cranberry mousse.
21h:
kefir.
Tuesday:
First breakfast:
curd soufflé, boiled egg, vinaigrette, rosehip infusion.
Second breakfast:
milk, bun.
Lunch:
borscht with minced meat and sour cream, boiled chicken with vermicelli, cranberry mousse.
Afternoon snack:
a glass of rosehip infusion, a bun.
Dinner:
low-fat cottage cheese.
21 hours:
kefir.
Wednesday:
First breakfast:
boiled fish with mashed potatoes, low-fat cottage cheese, milk.
Second breakfast:
protein omelet with sour cream, fruit juice.
Lunch:
pureed vegetable soup with sour cream, boiled tongue with oatmeal, fruits, berries.
Afternoon snack:
rosehip infusion, bun.
Dinner:
low-fat cottage cheese.
21 hours:
kefir.
Thursday:
First breakfast:
boiled fish with vegetable stew, low-fat cottage cheese, coffee with milk.
Second breakfast:
milk, bun.
Lunch:
rice soup with minced meat, boiled chicken with mashed potatoes, fruit.
Afternoon snack:
low-fat cottage cheese, cranberry mousse.
Dinner:
protein omelet with sour cream, tea.
21 hours:
kefir.
Friday:
First breakfast:
omelet with sour cream, fresh cabbage salad, coffee with milk.
Second breakfast:
milk, bun, low-fat cottage cheese.
Lunch:
potato fish soup, sausages with buckwheat porridge and salad, fruit jelly.
Afternoon snack:
fruits or berries, cookies.
Dinner:
low-fat cottage cheese, rosehip infusion.
21 hours:
kefir.
Saturday:
First breakfast:
boiled fish with mashed potatoes, milk.
Second breakfast:
herring with onions, vinaigrette, cranberry mousse.
Lunch:
pea soup with minced meat, boiled beef with carrot puree, compote.
Afternoon snack:
cookies, rosehip infusion.
Dinner:
protein omelet with sour cream, tea.
21 hours:
kefir.
Sunday:
Lunch:
wheat milk porridge.
Lunch:
fish soup, goulash with buckwheat porridge and salad, compote.
Afternoon snack:
cookies, cranberry mousse.
Dinner:
low-fat cottage cheese, tea.
21 hours:
kefir.
Remember!
- Sit down at the table, rested and in a good mood. It is necessary to chew food slowly and thoroughly.
- Prefer to eat fresh natural products that have undergone gentle culinary processing (boil and stew). Vitamins and microelements are preserved as much as possible in boiled and stewed food.
- Avoid foods that are too hot or too cold. The optimal food temperature is -37 degrees.
- Choose vegetables and fruits over high-calorie snacks. Limit your intake of sweets and salt.
- Avoid eating pickled, fried, smoked foods, rich desserts, strong meat broths, and products containing artificial preservatives, colors and flavors.
- Eliminate alcoholic drinks and carbonated drinks from your diet.
- Tea and coffee are drinks that are not recommended to drink during pregnancy. If a pregnant woman really wants tea or coffee, then you can drink either decaffeinated coffee or mild herbal and fruit teas.
Diet for edema and pathological weight gain.
Preeclampsia
is a late toxicosis of pregnant women, leading to serious consequences for the mother and child. Preeclampsia is manifested by a classic triad of symptoms: edema, proteinuria (protein in the urine), increased blood pressure.
Factors for the development of gestosis:
- Age (under 18 and over 30 years old);
- Pregnancy with more than one fetus;
- Heredity (women whose mothers suffered from gestosis);
- First pregnancy;
- Preeclampsia in previous pregnancies;
- The presence of extragenital pathology (obesity, arterial hypertension, renal and hepatic pathology, etc.).
Preeclampsia usually occurs after 34 weeks of pregnancy. If late toxicosis appears earlier than this period, starting from 20 weeks, it is more severe.
To prevent gestosis, the following measures are taken:
- organization of daily routine and proper nutrition;
- regular but moderate physical activity;
- frequent exposure to the open air;
- limiting salt intake;
- observation by an obstetrician-gynecologist throughout pregnancy;
- treatment, correction of chronic pathologies;
- rejection of bad habits.
When treating gestosis, measures are taken to normalize the activity of the nervous system, blood composition and circulation, improve metabolic processes, treat the walls of blood vessels, normalize blood pressure and water-salt balance.
It should be noted that it is impossible to relieve swelling with diuretics. This is due to the fact that essential mineral elements are removed along with urine.
For treatment to be effective, it is necessary to adhere to a regimen of rest, physical activity and nutrition.
Nutrition during gestosis plays a special role. The diet should be balanced with the obligatory presence of eggs, meat, and dairy products. You should not limit your water consumption, because... with its deficiency, the blood may be more viscous and thick. For normal water metabolism, you need to drink about 1.5 liters of fluid per day.
In the diet for gestosis, you should not greatly limit the consumption of salt, because this can also affect water-salt metabolism. You can consume approximately 5-8 grams of salt in foods during the day.
If there are certain indications, in the second trimester of pregnancy the doctor may advise the woman to have fasting days once a week.
Examples of fasting days during pregnancy.
Fruit day.
During the current day, you can eat about 1.5-2 kg of apples, as a salad or baked in the oven. You can add a couple of drops of olive oil and lemon juice to the apple salad. When baking, apples can be sprinkled with cinnamon.
Apples can be replaced with watermelon or any other fruit, depending on your taste preferences. Grapes, bananas and peaches are not suitable for these purposes.
Vegetable day.
During the day, you need to consume 1.5 kg of vegetables such as pumpkin or zucchini, dividing the entire amount of food into 5 equal meals. These vegetables enhance intestinal motility and help remove excess fluid from the body.
Protein day.
During the day, you need to consume 500 grams of lean meat (veal, chicken) or fish, boiled before use, without adding salt. Divide food into 5 meals. It is acceptable to consume 1 liter of low-fat kefir on this day.
Fermented milk day.
During the whole day, it is permissible to consume any fermented milk drink (kefir, fermented baked milk) in an amount of no more than 1.5 liters, as well as 600 grams of low-fat cottage cheese. Food must be divided into 6 meals.
Buckwheat day.
Boil 1 cup of buckwheat without adding salt and eat throughout the day with milk or kefir, up to 1.5 liters.
A fasting day during pregnancy gives good results, provided that all the rules for its implementation are followed.
But the same results can be achieved if you simply remove useless carbohydrates from your diet - baked goods and sweets, large quantities of pasta, carbonated drinks, sugar.
Obstetrician-gynecologist at antenatal clinic No. 14 Blinova A.F.
Tags: pregnancy
Does kefir help with heartburn?
The drink can have a positive effect on a person’s condition if the cause of heartburn is not a disease of the gastrointestinal tract.
With regular use, the risk of unpleasant symptoms is reduced. Gastroenterologists recommend drinking a glass of kefir if heartburn was caused by:
- overeating;
- pregnancy;
- obesity;
- nervous tension, stress;
- disturbances in the production of gastric juice;
- poor nutrition, snacking, eating too spicy foods.
It is recommended to drink a glass of kefir when overeating.
In situations where heartburn is caused by digestive pathologies, you should not consume dairy products.
The patient's condition may worsen. If reflux was caused, for example, by gastritis or pancreatitis, treatment should be selected by a doctor who knows the individual characteristics of the patient and an accurate diagnosis.
How to get rid of heartburn during pregnancy at home
If there are no pathological problems, then specific treatment for heartburn during pregnancy is not required. An obstetrician-gynecologist will recommend medications to relieve symptoms and adjust your lifestyle and diet.
Most often, antacids are prescribed (they contain magnesium, calcium, aluminum salts, neutralize hydrochloric acid, so the esophageal mucosa is not irritated) and alginates (when interacting with the contents of the stomach, they form a protective barrier that does not allow excess into the esophagus). Antisecretory drugs that suppress the formation of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and prokinetics that increase the tone of the esophageal sphincter and stimulate contraction of the esophagus are used during pregnancy only under strict indications and under the supervision of a physician due to the risk of side effects.
First trimester
Heartburn in the first trimester of pregnancy is usually associated with an increase in progesterone levels, so it is not very disturbing and goes away quickly on its own.
Second trimester
If heartburn during pregnancy did not bother you at the beginning, then there is a high probability of encountering it after the 20th week. During this period, the uterus begins to actively grow and put pressure on neighboring organs. The stomach has nowhere to stretch, so even the usual amount of food can lead to overflow and backflow into the esophagus.
Third trimester
As the fetus grows, heartburn will become more intense. But closer to childbirth it will become a little easier - the uterus will descend and “free up” the stomach, progesterone will no longer be produced so actively.
How to use it correctly
It is better to drink kefir on an empty stomach, but you can also consume it during meals, taking small sips.
If a fermented milk product is used as a prophylactic, its fat content is unimportant. If you are prone to heartburn, drink a glass of kefir after eating fatty, spicy, salty or sour foods. Taking it before bed (200 ml) will prevent the onset of symptoms at night. Allow 3 seconds between sips.
For gastrointestinal diseases
For pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract (gastritis, peptic ulcer, esophagitis, etc.), kefir is prohibited. The drink stimulates the production of hydrochloric acid, which in these cases is produced in excess. Eating a fermented milk product may relieve the condition for a short time, but after 1–2 hours, heartburn will reappear and become stronger.
For gastrointestinal diseases, kefir is prohibited.
During pregnancy
During pregnancy, it is recommended to drink 2 glasses of low-fat kefir daily before meals. The drink normalizes the functioning of the digestive system, relieves heartburn, flatulence, and alleviates toxicosis.
Meal schedule
The mode needs to be “honed”:
- Eat 5-6 times a day, but in small portions.
- Avoid feeling hungry; excess acidity causes heartburn.
- Develop a routine. Try to eat at the same time every day.
- Don't eat at night. Eat the bulk of your food before 19:00.
- Before going to bed, choose light food - yogurt, baked apple, boiled fish, a couple of nuts.
- Learn to drink water 30 minutes before and after meals. But be careful. Regulate the volume of fluid, because excess water causes excessive swelling in pregnant women.
A number of contraindications
You will have to give up fermented milk drink if:
- individual intolerance;
- peptic ulcer of the duodenum or stomach;
- exacerbation of gastritis;
- inflammation of the pancreas;
- under 1 year of age.
You should avoid kefir if you have an individual intolerance.
How can you replace kefir?
A number of other drinks and products have a similar effect:
- Goat milk. It is recommended to dilute 1 tsp in it. liquid flower honey.
- Carrot. Raw or boiled vegetables and carrot juice are suitable.
- Baking soda. Pour a small amount of the substance into clean water and then drink. This product should not be used frequently, since soda destroys the gastric mucosa.
- Alkaline mineral water.
- Lemon. To alleviate the condition, eat a slice of sour fruit without sugar or drink a glass of water into which the juice has been previously squeezed.
- Sunflower or pumpkin seeds. The effect will be only when consuming raw products.
- Activated carbon.
- Freshly squeezed juice from raw white cabbage. The product is not suitable for diarrhea, stomach pain, nausea.
Heartburn concept
Heartburn may be a symptom of a serious illness
The main component of gastric secretion is hydrochloric acid. It causes an acidic environment. The walls of this organ are isolated from its action by special mucus.
In the esophagus, the acidity level is much lower and there is no such film. In a normal situation, food that enters the stomach cannot move in the opposite direction. This is provided by the teres muscle. Its scientific name is sphincter.
For a number of reasons, the natural process is disrupted. The products, together with hydrochloric acid, fall back into the esophagus and corrode the mucous membrane. The result is a burn of the organ, which manifests itself in certain symptoms.
The disease in question is often not perceived as a serious problem, but this is not correct. It can be a symptom of serious illnesses. And we are talking about disorders not only of the digestive system.
Useful tips
Do not self-medicate.
If heartburn appears regularly, consult a doctor to determine the cause and select the appropriate treatment. Often reflux becomes the first symptom of dangerous pathologies. Timely initiation of therapy will help avoid complications and worsening of the condition. Follow a special diet. Temporarily avoiding foods that cause heartburn will help normalize the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. Exclude from the menu fatty, smoked, spicy, fried, chocolate, pastries, coffee, sweet carbonated water, pickles, marinades, onions, garlic, mint.
