A Natural Alternative to Antacids

If you find that you are swallowing antacids after a meal, or even before one as a preventive, then it is probably a good idea to look at what natural alternatives are available to you – particularly if your diet is not always as healthy as it could be.Two ingredients long associated with helping both digestion and stomach upsets are peppermint and ginger and they are both found in Viridian’s High Potency Digestive Aid.

Prevention is always preferable to undergoing a cure, and a course of these vegan (and Kosher) capsules could well be the answer. They provide a combination of enzymes, betaine hydrochloride, peppermint and ginger to help promote a healthy and well-balanced environment for digestion to take place with optimum efficiency.

Stomach Acid
If you are suffering with stomach and intestinal problems such as heartburn, indigestion, gas, and reflux then it is a common misconception that these symptoms are caused by overproduction of stomach acid. Doctors reinforce this belief when they routinely prescribe stomach acid blocking medications but usually without first monitoring the stomach’s acid producing function or suggesting simple dietary changes.

In fact the above symptoms can equally be caused by under as well as over production of stomach acid (hydrochloric acid, HCL) and the aim of a digestive aid is to restore balance to the system in either case.

Hydrochloric acid serves three important functions:

1. to break down proteins, preparing them for assimilation.
2. to act as a protective barrier, killing many potentially harmful micro-organisms in our food.
3. to act as a venting mechanism when we eat acid forming foods and start the process of neutralizing them in the body.

When buying supplements of every kind I always suggest you look at the ingredients and in particular at whether they have a high level of active ingredients and a minimum – preferably zero – fillers or chemical additives. Viridian is the leading brand of ethical vitamins, which in this case means that they have a commitment to pure ingredients, environmental awareness and charity donations. In fact they give 50% of available profit to charity and on the 2nd of June had reached £120,000, mainly going to children’s and environmental charities.

On the purity front it is why their products are in capsule and powder form as these require no extras to be added during encapsulation or bottling where tablets do need various additives to bind them into tablet form. Environmentally, too they practice what they preach so their products are in glass bottles, not plastic, all of which can be recycled.

If you want to reduce the acidity in your body, then in addition to a supplement such as digestive aid then it makes sense to tackle the problem at source and eliminate, or seriously reduce, these items in your diet:

1. Sugar
2. Salt
3. Dairy Products
4. Wheat
5. Night Shade vegetables such as tomato, aubergine, peppers, potatoes
6. Cranberries/any unripened fruit
7. Meat
8. Diet foods as they are also full of both sugar, salt and chemical enhancers and sweeteners.

Digestive Aid from Viridian is available in health stores, or bymailorder from Viridian Nutrition

 

Article by AnnA