# Try not drinking liquids or eating fruit during a meal



## drdahlman (Nov 6, 2000)

Here is what may seem to be the dumbest suggestion in the world, but I have seen this work wonders for a large majority of patients in my office.Do not drink any liquids or eat fruit during any meal and for 1 hour after the meal. The reason is that you secrete digestive enzymes in your saliva and from the stomach (mostly hydrochloric acid to digest proteins) into your food and if you also put in a glass or two of liquid, you will dilute their digestive power, potentially causing gas, bloating, pain and discomfort. But here's the best reason for those in this thread: With liquid mixed in with the food and hydochloric acid, you have created an acidic soup that can splash. If you hadn't, you would simply have a bolus of food sitting at the bottom of your stomach....no splash. If this acidic soup splashes up onto your unprotected esophagus, it will cause pain and create GERD and reflux. Any movement, sitting down, laying down or bending over or simply turning around quickly can cause the soup to splash onto your esophagus.I know this sounds silly, but it's a simple fix if it works, you can report back to give me an idea of how many are helped. Also, I know that it's most peoples habit to drink with a meal, or wash your food down, but try this, chew a little longer and you will find you don't need the liquids.I also place fruit in this category, because when we eat it we chew it into pretty much a liquid state, so it qualifies as a liquid....just for this experiment. Also, it is more easily digested than other foods and if put in with other more slowly digested foods, the fruit waits and spoils a bit causing gas to form.You can drink as much as you wish immediately before any meal....wait 5-10 mintes before eating...and then don't drink again for 1 hour. Let me know.


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## simon2004 (Jan 23, 2004)

That is very good advice! I learned to benefit from this a few months ago and it works. So many are conditioned to drink meals with their food and the habit could be a difficult one to change, because of our American customs.


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