As a busy mom, I try to lead a non-toxic lifestyle. After reading the Salt, Sugar, Fat book by Michael Moss, I realized that I needed to be more proactive about what products I use or consume. I can’t just accept all the things a doctor prescribes as the ideal solution or load up the cart with “sugar-free” or “low-calorie” snack options without checking the labels.
Eventually, I applied this same theory to the things that go into my mind as well. I needed to be more mindful about my self-care routine, my choices, my habits, and my health.
With three growing boys, being able to focus on natural treatments for my symptoms has made life much easier. Now I have a handful of things I use together to treat my reflux.
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Why Choose Natural Reflux Treatments?
We might have been told growing up that doctors know everything, and as soon as they give you a prescription, you follow those rules blindly. However, we now know a lot more about the impact that lifestyle changes in natural treatments can have on those same processes, which is why I prefer natural reflux treatments as a busy mom.
Many studies indicate that natural remedies can be just as effective, even if they do take a bit of time. Now, this isn’t to say that some cases of reflux won’t be severe enough that they warrant professional treatment, but for most people, symptoms can be managed very effectively with natural treatments.
In fact, several studies have found that natural treatments have the same efficacy as prescription medications like omeprazole. When I realized that, I realized I would much rather focus on lifestyle changes, home remedies, and natural, scientifically backed treatments.
Here are the natural treatments/changes I have used (and you can too!):
#1: Smaller Portions–Stop the anxiety eating
I started with smaller portions. I realized that as a busy mom, one of the things I was doing was focusing entirely on making sure all three kids got their meals, one right after the other and by the time the last in line was at the table with their plate, the first in line was basically done eating so I would try to scarf things down as quickly as possible.
But this made my reflux so much worse.
I realized that I was always stressed and a little bit on edge around meal time, falling back on the old anxiety eating routine where I ate so fast I made myself sick. This was a weird combination of things, but mostly deprioritizing myself in exchange for my family.
So when I started dealing with reflux issues, I put a stop to that.
As much as I didn’t want to, I started spending Sunday afternoons doing meal prep. Now we do it as a family. The meal prep routine has not only made it easier to eat healthier foods that don’t trigger my reflux, but I have smaller meals that are ready to go at an instant. I can grab one of them during the day, and even if I don’t finish it, it’s easy to put the lid right back on and come back to it a few hours later.
#2: Meditation–Get rid of stress
Guided meditation has been a lifesaver for so many reasons, but one of them is as a natural reflux treatment. I didn’t realize how much of my reflux was related to stress.
Busy moms are always stressed. Or so I thought.
Now I think “There will always be sources of stress for busy moms, but we get to choose how we respond to them.”
And as I tell my 15-year-old, we have agency in life. We get to control how we respond to stress.
So I started guided meditation as a way to reduce my stress. I spent about one year following guided meditations from a British woman who had a very relaxing voice. Any time I had an extra 5 minutes or an extra 12 minutes before we had to leave for something, I would sit outside and listen to a guided meditation. It took me about a year before I could start meditating completely on my own.
#3: Aloe Vera Juice–Calm your insides
At a time when Kombucha was all the rage, I switched to aloe vera juice. I thought about growing my own aloe plants and becoming that instantly-successful-Etsy-woman during COVID, making natural aloe lotions and creams and selling my baby plants.
Nope.
Too much work.
But drinking aloe juice stuck. Now, our local grocery store is nice enough that if they don’t carry something we really want, and you request it, chances are they will get it in stock at least for a short while to see how well it sells. Seeing as I absolutely bought out everything they ordered on a regular basis, they seem to keep the aloe juice on the shelves.
Decolorized, purified juice (pretty important that you get the right stuff) or even aloe syrup has been shown to be just as effective as omeprazole or ranitidine in helping with reflux symptoms. It works by healing inflamed tissue in your stomach/esophagus, reducing the production of stomach acid, and soothing the digestive tract.
Note: Start small with this. Consume a few tablespoons or teaspoons per day to see how your body adjusts, especially if you have a busy day ahead of you.
#4: Reflux Gourmet–Try alginate therapy
Reflux Gourmet offers:
- Gels for a la carte use
- Bicarbonate gum
Both of these products were designed by reflux specialists, doctors who realized there was potential in other natural ingredients, like alginate.
Alginate, a derivative from algae, is about as natural as it gets. My kids always seem to drag algae back on their surfboards.
Now there have been dozens of studies using alginate therapy as a legitimate, scientifically backed form of treatment for reflux and GERD. The findings have proven just as efficacious as other prescriptions.
So it is worth investigating.
What I found was pretty appealing as a busy mom. For starters, all of the ingredients are crystal clear, easy to understand, and I didn’t have to Google anything. What’s more, those ingredients are safe for long-term use and, perhaps more importantly, safe for pregnant or nursing women.
The gel products are things you squeeze out and use just as a quick alternative to a pill or a chewable tablet, and the bicarbonate gum is something you can chew on the go. Both of these contain a proprietary alginate complex as well as other soothing ingredients like aloe vera, ginger, and chamomile.
I really like this option as a non-toxic mom because I can read all of the ingredients. I know those ingredients. I trust them. I’ve seen them and used them in several other products over the years.
The unique ingredient is the alginate, which creates a sort of gel-like raft that physically floats on top of your stomach contents, so it forms an almost immediate barrier that prevents reflux from happening. So on those (far too frequent) pizza nights, I can chew some bicarbonate gum and know that I won’t be dealing with symptoms later.
The other ingredients are, of course, things I already know and trust, like aloe vera to help reduce inflammation and coat my esophagus and stomach so that any previous damage from symptoms gets treated and alleviated.
#5: Soothe Stomach–Mix things up a bit
Soothe stomach is a popular, natural reflux product. When you look at the ingredient list, everything is easily discernible, basically things like slippery elm bark, green banana, arrowroot powder, papaya, and whole apple.
I mean, that’s basically the same smoothie I get from Jamba Juice every morning.
Bananas are highly alkaline, so the green banana helps to neutralize stomach acid. The apple helps balance your stomach pH much the same as apple cider vinegar (another natural option if you feel like drinking that in a diluted form). The slippery elm bark is one of my favorite ingredients for soothing my throat, especially after I’ve been screaming at the kids to settle down.
The difference between Jamba and Soothe Stomach is that this comes in a powder, and you mix it with a few ounces of water and chug it immediately as a way to help with symptoms. So, where meditation and smaller portions might be a good way to reduce the things that exacerbate reflux symptoms, this particular product helps deal with symptoms when they manifest and boost your gut health as a form of long-term support.
I don’t use this everyday but I keep it off in the cabinet so that if we didn’t get around to meal prep and the kids all just got back from baseball, we can order that extra large greasy pizza and I can just keep my smoothie in one hand while I eat.
Summing Up
As a busy mom, there is only so much time for self-care, but it really matters. If you want to live a non-toxic lifestyle with healthy, natural alternatives to prescriptions like omeprazole, start with a mix of lifestyle changes and natural treatments.
Do what you can to mix things up with smaller portion sizes or meal prep. Prioritize your meals so you aren’t eating while driving or eating over the sink like a rat, scarfing things down while also responding to the unending “Moooom!” calls.
Do guided meditation to reduce stress.
Drink aloe vera juice or syrup as part of your routine.
Add Reflux Gourmet gums or gels to your purse, car, and home.
Keep some Soothe Stomach powder ready for a smoothie-adjacent boost.