Papaya Good for GERD? The Jury's Still Out

There's tons of articles, blogs, and websites out there that talk about the benefits of Papaya fruit and GERD:

Papaya is a powerhouse fruit that is not used nearly enough in our society. Papaya is an excellent natural remedy for acid reflux disease.  It is not only a low acidic food, but contains an enzyme called papain that is designed specifically to help with digestion.  It also consists of potassium which is helpful in providing  an healthy bacterial setting for your intestines.  This eases the digestive process and helps your stomach not work as hard.  This is the underlying source of health to fix the disease process. 

Papaya also has more than the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C.  vitamin C also helps with digestion.  You don't necessarily have to eat papaya to get it's benefits.  You can also buy a papaya enzyme supplement.  My family uses this to get our papain and it comes with a mint taste. 

and

Papaya : If you have access to fresh papaya, eat half of one for breakfast every morning with half a cup of yogurt and you will see a huge improvement in the amount of acid your body is producing. Papayas contains papain which will aide in the digestive process along with the live cultures in the yogurt. Squirt a slice of lemon over the flesh of the papaya for added flavor and Vitamins before eating, or sprinkle with a Tablespoon of wheat germ for a nutty flavor. If papaya is not available in your area, pick up some papaya tablets at the health food store. Read the label to be sure they do not contain any salt, sugar or sorbitol (sugar substitute).

However, after more digging, it seems there's still no real evidence, or consensus on Papaya: 

Papaya Enzyme 
One of the alternative treatments for GERD that you may have heard about is papain, or papaya enzyme.Papaya enzymes occur naturally in the fruit of the papaya plant, and they have well established proteolytic properties, meaning that they help digest proteins. For this reason, one of the historical uses of papaya has been as a meat tenderizer -- marinading tough cuts of meat in papaya for several hours can soften the muscle fibers, making the meat easier to chew.

Enzyme FunctionThere simply isn't any scientific evidence that papaya enzyme can help reduce symptoms of GERD. In part, this is because enzymes are very reaction-specific, as explained by Drs. Mary Campbell and Shawn Farrell in their book "Biochemistry." Enzymes with roles in metabolism don't play a part in digestion. Enzymes that digest fats can't affect carbohydrates. In the specific case of papaya enzyme, because it digests protein, it has by definition no effect whatsoever upon acid production or reflux.

Other Considerations

A further reason that papaya enzyme can't affect or reduce your GERD is that enzymes operate within a very narrow range of temperatures and acidity levels. Very few enzymes can survive the highly acidic interior of the stomach, and papaya enzymes aren't among them. As such, when you consume papaya enzyme, your stomach acid renders it inactive. You simply digest the enzyme, which is itself a protein, as you would any other dietary protein.

For now, I've added papaya to my list of items to buy at the super market.  We'll see how it goes.

Foods to Eat to Prevent GERD

I personally eat these foods, they generally do not aggravate my GERD.

Oatmeal
Drop that doughnut, unless you want heartburn for breakfast. If you have GERD, high-fat food is usually a recipe for pain. Instead choose oatmeal. It's a low-fat, high-fiber meal that can soothe your stomach. Top it off with sliced bananas, which are thought to fight stomach acid naturally.

Ginger
Fresh ginger acts as an anti-inflammatory and is an age-old remedy for stomach problems of all kinds. You can get your daily dose—2 to 4 grams (more than that can actually cause heartburn)—by steeping ginger in hot water to make tea, chewing a piece of ginger, or using ginger generously when you cook.

Pasta (hold the red sauce)
Tomatoes and heavy sauces are a no-no for people with GERD—which rules out a lot of classic Italian dishes (unfortunately). For those with a craving for pasta, the National Heartburn Alliance recommends thin, broth-like sauces. And using a whole-wheat pasta will boost your fiber intake.

I personally like to make a garlic sauce.  Make sure you use locally grown garlic to make sure the import process has not killed off the health benefits of your garlic.

Beans
Certain fatty meats, such as ground beef, are thought to trigger heartburn. Beans are an excellent source of protein and fiber and a great alternative to meat. If you have GERD, they should be a regular feature in your diet.

Almonds
Raw almonds are wonderful if you're looking for a mid-day snack.  It's loaded with protein and vitamins, and you can be quite satisfied by just eating a handful.

I found a chart that's pretty handy, to which I both added and put some notes for you.  I definitely don't subscribe to eating all these foods, particularly the cookies.  But take a look:

Safe Foods for the Acid Reflux Diet

Food Group	Foods With Little Potential to Cause Heartburn
Fruit	• Apple, fresh • Apple, dried • Apple juice • Banana • Melons • Strawberries Try to limit high calorie fruits.
Vegetables	• Baked potato • Broccoli • Cabbage • Carrots • Green beans • Peas • Romaine or iceberg lettuce • Eggplant • Celery • Sweet bell peppers • Lentils • Watercress Some websites warn against eating vegetables rich in starch, such as potato, sweet potato, carrots, brussel sprouts, tomatos and turnips.
Meat	• Ground beef, extra-lean • Steak, London Broil • Chicken breast, skinless • Turkey meat • Egg whites • Egg substitute • Fish, no added fat • Shrimp, crab meat I've read that pork may not be good for GERD.
Dairy	• Cheese, feta or goat • Cream cheese, fat-free • Sour cream, fat-free • Soy cheese, low-fat Just make sure you're not lactose intolerant or that lactose in some way may be the cause of your GERD.  Cut all lactose out then introduce it again to see if this may be the cause.
Grains	• Bread, mult-grain or white • Cereal, bran or oatmeal • Corn bread • Graham crakers • Pretzels • Rice, brown or white • Rice cakes Just keep in mind that your GERD may be cause because of some Gluten intolerance, so try to cut glutens out then introduce them to see how you feel.
Beverages	• Mineral water • Alkaline water I've read some articles on the benefits of alkaline water, so this may be worth a try.
Fats / Oils	• Salad dressing, low-fat • Olive oil • Coconut oil Try to limit the use of oils as much as possible because, as you probably know, grease can aggravate GERD.
Sweets / Desserts	• Cookie, fat-free • Jelly beans • Red licorice • Potato chips, baked I've been staying far away from all kinds of deserts period, but you can give these a try and note how you feel.

Prevent Night Time GERD

There's tons of suggestions out there on how to prevent night time GERD.  Just know, I find that by preventing night time GERD, you can wake up to a GERD free morning too.

So here are some of the suggestions I've found out there:

1. Eat your big meal at lunch instead of at dinnertime.

This is very important to make sure you digest your food before sleep.  Going to bed with a full belly is a guaranteed way of not getting a good night sleep.

2. Eat at least two to three hours before lying down.

This will give you time to digest and go to bed with an empty stomach.

3. Avoid foods that are known to lead to heartburn.  Some foods to avoid: chocolate, mint, citrus, tomatoes, pepper, vinegar, catsup, and mustard.

Consider a high protein and low carbohydrate diet.  I'm now on a paleo diet.

4. Eliminate late-night snacking.

This has been extremely hard for me.  I use to do most of my eating as night time snacking.  Just take a look at how I got here. The thing is, that every little bit of food and liquid (including water) needs to be digested and in order to have a good night sleep most of your digestion has to be done before hand.

5. Sleep with your head and shoulder on an incline.

I raised the head of my bed by 4 inches.  I have read in many places that this helps by relieving pressure from your esophagus.  Gravity is a great thing for us GERD sufferers.

6. Sleep on your left side.

I prefer to sleep on my back, but I have found that sleeping on my right side doesn't feel as comfortable.

7. Make sure your bed clothes are loose-fitting.

This really applies to everything.  Forget the tight clothes, they restrict everything in your body. Loose clothing helps your body's circulation.

8. Stop smoking.

Considering all the other problems that smoking causes, this is just not a surprise.

9. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and carbonated drinks.

This is quite painful.  It means no going out to bars, unless it's to drink water, and no morning coffee.

10. Eat your food slowly.

I find this is very helpful.  I use a small teaspoon, cut my food into tiny pieces, and make sure I pay attention to what I'm eating and how I'm eating.  For this, you may need to turn the TV off while eating.  Just pay attention, slow it down, and chew a lot.

11. Eat smaller portions.  

I think I've cut my food portions by more than half.  Sometimes it's because I really can't eat any more.  Smaller portions will help you not over eat, which very important in controlling your GERD.

12. Avoid fatty/greasy foods. Try lean meats.

I mostly only eat poultry and fish now.  I'm not looking forward to this summer though, because I've always enjoyed a big burger. I've just found that everything to control grease.  I find that eating greasy food will give me what I call my "GERD attack," which is sudden shortness of breath and painful bloating and burping.

My GERD Plan of Attack

So, I'm a pretty methodical person.  Also, despite feeling depressed over my GERD, I do deep down have hope that I can beat this and will get most of my life back, if not all of it.  But these are the steps I feel I have had to follow:

1.  Hope for my life back, but not despair.

Alright, so I do hope to get my life back but I realize that this may not be possible.  In fact, it wont be possible at all because the reason I'm in this situation is because I led a life that my body could not sustain.  My body couldn't handle the way I drank, nor the way I handled pain killers.

2. Life style / food change.

Yes, my life has to change forever!  Only through changing my behavior for good can I make sure that  a) I can cure GERD, or b) I can cope with GERD.  This is quite hard for most of us because it's so easy to fall on our past behaviors.  I have to walk past an ice cream shop every day, and I sometimes feel like crying at the idea that I wont ever taste ice cream or any of my favorite foods again.  I now try not to think about it.

Instead, I've changed my diet and feel quite strong.

3.  Pay attention to what I put in my body.

So, generally I'd go around eating and drinking whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.  That just can't be so.

I have been keeping a journal.  At first I was simply writing what I was eating, then I started writing down how I was feeling and how I was reacting to my food and natural supplements.  Guess what?  It's helped a lot.  I now can look back and see what has caused me pain, how bad, how much burping, everything.  I have an app on my tablet, but any phone app should work too.  I write the time, then what I ate, or how I was feeling.  (This has included many burping notations.)

4. Educate myself.

I'd like to thank the internet community for this part.  I have read countless articles, both scientific and amateur, countless blogs and their comments.  The comments have been so wonderful because they've helped me see I'm not alone and what I thought was an odd symptom is really not.

From my readings, I believe that GERD may be caused because of either too much or too little acid in the stomach.  I now many would say is really one and never the other, but I disagree.  You can have GERD with both, and they both have the same symptoms.  I'll delve into the difference in subsequent posts, including the different treatments.

5.  Try and try again.

I have tried so many things now that I feel my kitchen has become a mini "natural foods store."  The thing is, that so many different things work for different people that you really have to just keep trying stuff.  Something that worked for someone out there is bound to work for you.  I'm definitely determined to try every little thing people have done out there.  If they say it works, then why not give it a go?

6. Don't let depression win, shake yourself out of the house.

So, because I was so weak, I just became quite depressed.  I read that making your stomach muscles can help, so I started doing yoga at home.  Well, it seems I was way too weak for that and then not only did my stomach hurt, but also the muscles.  All this made me even more depressed.  Finally, I just told myself, get the hell out of the house!  I went walking.  Just walking has lifted my spirits.

So what's the plan you say?

a. Change diet.
b. Keep a food/symptom journal
c. Educate myself on GERD
d. Try each different remedy
e. Exercise