7 surefire ways to prevent stomach ulcers from recurring

When an ulcer strikes, you may feel heartburn, bloating, nausea, or a burning sensation in your chest (heartburn). Of course, these symptoms can interfere with your daily activities. But you don't need to worry, because this condition can be prevented. So, what are the ways to prevent stomach ulcers? Come on, check out some of the following ways.

How to prevent recurrent heartburn

Talking about ulcers, you might think of it as a disease, but it really isn't. According to the Mayo Clinic website, ulcers are a group of symptoms consisting of stomach nausea, heartburn, bloating, and heartburn.

Not only symptoms, the causes of ulcers also vary. This can occur due to poor diet, bad habits, H. pylori bacterial infection, long-term use of NSAIDs, to certain health problems.

If you don't want stomach ulcers to bother you again, you can prevent this condition in the following ways:

1. Choosing the right foods

Spicy, sour, salty, and fatty foods can trigger a recurrence of ulcer symptoms because they can stimulate the production of more stomach acid or cause contractions in the muscles around the stomach. Therefore, choosing the right foods is one way to prevent stomach ulcers.

Some food choices that are safe for consumption for people with stomach ulcers include:

• Green vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, green beans, celery, and cauliflower
• Tubers such as potatoes, carrots, radishes, or beets
• Oatmeal is low in sugar and high in fiber
• Unprocessed whole wheat or whole grain bread is full of fiber, vitamins and other nutrients and brown rice
• Poultry, seafood and egg whites
• Various types of fruit that are ripe and not acidic, such as melon, papaya, or watermelon

2. Serve food properly

If the food choices are appropriate, you also need to pay attention to how to process food. The reason is, if the food choices above are cooked using lots of chilies, peppers, onions, or vinegar, it will still trigger the appearance of ulcer symptoms. For this reason, the way you process food also includes tips for preventing stomach ulcers.

You should not fry food, because the fat content in finished food is higher. Fat is harder to digest completely, so it will stay in your stomach longer. Instead, try recipes that are steamed, boiled, grilled, or grilled.

Then, serve the cooked food on a plate with small portions. Try to avoid eating large portions of food at once.

In most cases of ulcers, the sphincter muscles in the esophagus are weak and the presence of a lot of food can put pressure on the stomach, causing acid reflux.

Instead of eating large amounts of 2 or 3 times a day, you can eat 4 to 5 smaller meals. This method is powerful enough to prevent the appearance of ulcer symptoms, such as flatulence and nausea.

3. Changing bad habits during or after eating

In addition to food choices, bad habits during or after eating can also trigger ulcers, for example eating in a hurry. Bad habits that make ulcers recur and you should change, include:

Not lying down or sleeping after eating

After eating, stomach acid production will increase. If you go to sleep right after eating, it will be easier for stomach acid to rise up into the esophagus causing heartburn.

Allow about 2 to 3 hours before you decide to sleep. Make sure you sit up straight for 30 minutes after eating. Another way to prevent ulcers is to avoid eating large portions near bedtime.

Don't drink too much water

After eating, you certainly need water to smooth the process of running the food. Not only that, water also helps clean food debris stuck between your teeth. However, this doesn't mean you can drink lots of water.

Drinking water is important, but not too much because this can make you full and the pressure in your stomach will get bigger. As a result, this will actually trigger ulcer symptoms after you eat.

4. Stop drinking alcohol and smoking

The appearance of ulcer symptoms is very closely related to diet. However, you need to know that what you drink can also be a trigger, for example alcohol.

Alcohol is known to irritate the lining of the esophagus and stomach, stimulate the production of more stomach acid, and weaken the muscles around the esophagus so that stomach acid can more easily go up into the esophagus.

This effect is not much different from smoking. This bad habit not only triggers ulcers but damages your overall health. So, the surefire way to prevent ulcers is to stop these two bad habits.

Both the habit of drinking alcohol and smoking, you cannot stop suddenly. This is because the body, which is usually consumed with caffeine, nicotine, and various other substances, will be "shocked" when they don't get it. The body will cause various withdrawal reactions, generally headaches.

To be successful, take steps to prevent heartburn gradually; little by little until you can get rid of this habit completely.

5. Limit caffeine intake

Ulcer symptoms will often appear if you have GERD, which is stomach acid reflux. In people who have GERD, drinking coffee can trigger heartburn symptoms. So, a safe way to prevent ulcers is to reduce caffeine intake.

Actually, caffeine is not only in coffee but also in soft drinks and some types of tea. If you usually drink 2 or 3 cups of coffee a day, reduce it to 1 cup a day. If symptoms persist, it's a good idea to stop the habit of drinking coffee.

6. Use the medicine as directed by the doctor

Every drug has side effects, especially if used long term. If you are on painkillers such as NSAIDs, do not use them continuously. The reason is, this drug can cause damage to the lining of the stomach, causing symptoms of ulcers.

Therefore, the way to prevent the appearance of ulcer symptoms is to use this type of drug as recommended by a doctor.

7. Reduce stress (how to prevent ulcers that are often underestimated)

If you have applied all of the ways to prevent heartburn above and the ulcer remains stubborn, it could be that stress is the cause. Yes, stress is one of the triggers for ulcers, but it is often not realized by many people.

You can reduce the severity of stress with various things, such as doing things you like and taking a moment to distract from the problem. If that doesn't work, consult a doctor or psychologist.

You can adjust the way to prevent heartburn according to the causes and triggers. You can adjust whichever method you think is effective in preventing ulcer recurrence. However, it will be more effective if all the ways to prevent heartburn are applied together.

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