Advice I wish I had listened to sooner

As someone who used to scroll obsessively on this thread trying to find answers for my GERD/gut issues, I wanted to share some tips that helped me be in a much better place with my gut health over the last few months.

I have had reflux/heartburn my whole life, IBS/gut related problems and recently got my first endoscopy that came back normal (thank goodness!). I was desperate to find answers and relief this past year after many years of having to plan my activities around what I ate. I recently made a couple of changes that have really helped me and I wanted to share them!

My biggest piece of advice is to start small with what changes you make (if you can). I thought I had to abandon all of my favorite foods and it was emotional for me (I love food and I love cooking). But I cut out caffeinated coffee a few weeks ago and my symptoms changed drastically overnight! I drink decaf instead of regular caffeine and now have practically no reflux, hardly any gut/IBS issues, and no heartburn. If I eat trigger foods my reaction is not nearly as severe, and I don’t even need to take Pepcid much. I was shocked that the coffee could be that much of a causation because I wasn’t even drinking that much of it (I would drink half-cafe usually, and at most 2-3 shots of caffeinated espresso a day). Now I just drink decaf and my stomach issues are way less frequent. I don’t even have reflux much when I drink alcohol or eat spicy foods!

I wanted to share this because I was absolutely terrified of making all of these big changes instantly and I’m shocked about how starting small (cutting one thing out vs. everything) has really helped me so far. I still plan to watch my trigger foods and eat them more in moderation, but I truly had no idea the lattes I was drinking every day could be causing so many issues for me. I hope this helps someone!