Disease, Health, Weight Loss
How Do You Lose Weight When You Have Hyperacidity?
Sep
If any chronic medical condition singularly impacts your quality of life adversely, it is hyperacidity, acid reflux or heartburn. Heartburn is a misnomer, as it has nothing to do with the heart.
Table Of Contents
- Meaning of hyperacidity
- Cause of stomach acid
- Weight loss due to acidity
- Causes of hyperacidity
- Symptoms of acidity
- Shed weight to shed acidity
- The Dietary route to weight loss
- Balance your body pH to lose weight
- Effects of acid on weight loss
- Neutralization of Acids
Meaning of hyperacidity:
If any chronic medical condition singularly impacts your quality of life adversely, it is hyperacidity, acid reflux or heartburn. Heartburn is a misnomer, as it has nothing to do with the heart. But it is all about a disorder in your gastrointestinal tract.
Cause of stomach acid:
Acid reflux or hyperacidity is a metabolic deficiency.
Gastric juices including acids are produced to digest the food you take to nourish your body and the residue discarded as waste. The abundance of gastric acids beyond the requirement of your system causes hyperacidity.
Weight loss due to acidity:
Since metabolism is impaired, many times a question lurks in your mind about how acidity is related to your body weight.
A rampant doubt in your mind is can hyperacidity cause weight loss. The answer to this is no. On the contrary, you may gain weight aggravating acidity.
Causes of hyperacidity:
It is important to understand the factors that give rise to acidity. Some of the major causes of stomach acid are:
- Eating unhealthy, oily and spicy food.
- Erratic food habits.
- Smoking and alcoholism.
- Excessive caffeine intake tea or coffee.
- Anxiety and stress.
- Sleeping immediately after meals.
- Drinking carbonated drinks.
- Sedentary lifestyle.
- Obesity.
Symptoms of acidity:
The symptoms associated with acidity are unpleasant. The most common are:
- Acid Reflux.
- Burning sensation in your Chest, Stomach or Throat.
- Sour Belching.
- Flatulence.
- Uneasiness.
- Vomiting.
- Constipation.
- Indigestion.
- Loss of appetite.
- Abdominal pain.
- Distended stomach
- Lethargy.
Prevention:
It is said that prevention is better than cure. It is never late to realize that acidity is a risk causing agent affecting your health.
You have to assess your diet, lifestyle and alter it to eliminate the contributory factors that are stimulating the condition.
Most importantly, you have to come to terms with the premise that losing weight will help you to counter the condition, rather than pondering over a suspicion – can hyperacidity cause weight loss?
Approach and remedy:
Medication provides short-term relief, whereas you have to adopt the long-term strategy to counter the recurrence of acidity.
A rational approach to a long-term solution to the problem is the maintenance of pH balance in the body and losing weight.
Shed weight to shed acidity:
The overall benefits of losing weight are manifold. It is a positive boost to your quality of life, apart from reducing acidity.
Can excess stomach acid cause weight loss? No, it rather impedes weight loss. Excessive weight exerts pressure on the valve that checks the gastric acids from refluxing into the esophagus causing acidity or heartburn.
Studies have shown that overweight or obese individuals are more prone to suffer from acidity than people in the normal weight range. Therefore, it is established that losing weight is a viable option in the fight against acidity.
The dietary route to weight loss:
Diet control is a good means to combat acidity. With judicious ingestion of food items, you can achieve weight loss. However, some foods that are good for weight loss may worsen your symptoms of acidity. The trick is that you must avoid foods that aggravate your acidity. An indicative list could be:
- Citrus fruits.
- Tomatoes.
- Raw onions.
- Garlic.
- Black pepper.
- Vinegar based salad dressing.
- Chocolates.
- Alcohol, especially red wine.
- Dairy products.
- Peppermint.
Balance your body pH to lose weight:
Experts believe that maintenance of pH or hydrogen ion concentration in your body is essential and central to your health.
The scale of pH in your body is in the range of 1 to 14. A pH of 1 to less than 7 is acidic, 7 is neutral and greater than that is basic or alkaline.
Your ideal pH is 7.30 to 7.45, which in other words makes your body alkaline. If you are acidic, it impacts your ability to lose weight. Thus, removing acid imbalance in your body is crucial to weight loss in your battle against acidity.
Effects of acid on weight loss:
You have to constantly offset the lingering question “Does acidity affect weight loss?” to effectively achieve a normal body weight. Acidity impedes your ability to lose weight in the following ways:
- Digestive System: Excess acids in your stomach are not neutralized due to the insufficiency of alkaline minerals in the intestinal tract, which in turn causes metabolic dysfunction.
- Circulatory system: Prevailing internal acidic environment, lines your vessels with a fatty plaque to counter the acids. The thickening of vessels makes your heart overwork that may sometimes result in failure.
- Immune system: The acidic environment in your body acts as the breeding ground for germs. It impairs the natural ability of your body to heal itself.
- Respiratory system: When your body is acidic, the transport of oxygen is choked. This may lead to cold, asthma, bronchitis etc.
- Skeletal system: Accumulation of acids in joints causes arthritis.
- Integumentary system: The skin of your body loses its ability to act as a barrier for diseases when acids build-up.
- Nervous system: Your nervous system is weakened by deprivation of energy by the acids.
- Excretory system: The urinary system of your body fails to filter fluids adequately in an acidic environment causing several renal problems.
- Muscular system: Your muscles fare poorly as increased acids disrupt the breakdown of glucose and oxygen to energy.
- Reproductive system: Several sexual disorders are linked to the acidic condition in your body.
Neutralization of acids:
It is now clear that the acidic environment in your body due to the excess gastric acids can have a very broad impact on your health.
The intake of diet, rich in alkaline minerals can neutralize the acids to restore pH balance in your body and aid metabolism. Thus, the impediment to losing weight with improved metabolic functions is of prime importance to your well being.
One of the best ways to neutralize the impact of highly acidic stomach juices is to drink water. Drinking plenty of water, which has a neutral pH value of 7, balances out the acid formation in your stomach.
It provides hydration and soothes the esophageal passage. Cold milk is another natural healing option for dealing with hyperacidity.
Conclusion:
The abdominal zone is the physical nucleus of your body, bridging the upper and lower zones. Similarly, the digestive system is the hub of your physiology.
The question arises, can excess stomach acid cause weight loss? It is now settled that excess acids do not cause weight loss, on the contrary, obstructs it.
The solution, therefore, is the other way round. By restoring the alkaline environment in your body, you achieve an enhanced metabolic rate that can accelerate weight loss.
The key is a subtle adjustment in your lifestyle coupled with dietary adaption.
Once you succeed in achieving your goal of eliminating acidity, you are certain to lose weight to your desired level and live a healthy life.
