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Acid Stomach in the USA

Acid Stomach in the USA

Old Jan 11th 2004, 9:54 pm
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Default Acid Stomach in the USA

After arriving in the USA I found that I had a need for antacids. Upon return to the UK the problem would go away. Then on return to the USA it would come back again. Now I seem to have less of a requirement for antacids, but still carry an emergency bottle of antacid tablets just in case.

Anyone else had this problem, fine in the UK, but here in the USA get acid stomach. It must be the food or something, maybe too much cinnamon or spices in the food. Something about the food (me thinks).
 
Old Jan 11th 2004, 10:10 pm
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My husband Todd has always suffered with heartburn, well, as long as I've known him at least (no connection there)!

Anyway.... he has recently begun taking Nexium (prescription only) and he is very happy to be finally heartburn free!
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Old Jan 11th 2004, 10:47 pm
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Default Re: Acid Stomach in the USA

Originally posted by Patent Attorney
After arriving in the USA I found that I had a need for antacids. Upon return to the UK the problem would go away. Then on return to the USA it would come back again. Now I seem to have less of a requirement for antacids, but still carry an emergency bottle of antacid tablets just in case.

Anyone else had this problem, fine in the UK, but here in the USA get acid stomach. It must be the food or something, maybe too much cinnamon or spices in the food. Something about the food (me thinks).
Do you drink coffee? If so, how often/much do you drink it? What about orange juice? That could irritate one's stomach.

It might be helpful to record everything that you consume over a couple of weeks, also noting the occurence of acid stomach.

I've heard that eating a meal late, say after 8.00pm can lead to digestive problems later that night. It rarely happens to me but my husband occasionally suffers (but we try to take care not to eat late nor eat meals that could aggravate the stomach if we have to eat late).




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Old Jan 11th 2004, 11:07 pm
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Default Re: Acid Stomach in the USA

Originally posted by NC Penguin
Do you drink coffee? If so, how often/much do you drink it? What about orange juice? That could irritate one's stomach.

It might be helpful to record everything that you consume over a couple of weeks, also noting the occurence of acid stomach.

I've heard that eating a meal late, say after 8.00pm can lead to digestive problems later that night. It rarely happens to me but my husband occasionally suffers (but we try to take care not to eat late nor eat meals that could aggravate the stomach if we have to eat late).
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I drink some coffee but can go days without it (I drink tea, Tetley, British Blend). That's the thing though, I get acid stomach here in the USA, soon as I go back to the UK it disappears only to re-appear after a week or so after arriving back in the USA. I figured it must be something to do with how I react to food that I eat here, but for the most part I eat the same things as I eat back in the UK. So it is a puzzle. I just wondered if anyone else experienced the same kind of thing, acid stomach on this side of the pond verses normal stomach on the UK side. Pretty strange how this happens. Maybe the stress level on the US side of the pond is higher *don't really know*
 
Old Jan 12th 2004, 12:43 am
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I came over here in May and have constant heartburn since I arrived here!!!

I thought it was just me... Obviously not!


FYI, I don't drink coffee.
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Old Jan 12th 2004, 1:04 am
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Default Re: Acid Stomach in the USA

Originally posted by Patent Attorney
I drink some coffee but can go days without it (I drink tea, Tetley, British Blend). That's the thing though, I get acid stomach here in the USA, soon as I go back to the UK it disappears only to re-appear after a week or so after arriving back in the USA. I figured it must be something to do with how I react to food that I eat here, but for the most part I eat the same things as I eat back in the UK. So it is a puzzle. I just wondered if anyone else experienced the same kind of thing, acid stomach on this side of the pond verses normal stomach on the UK side. Pretty strange how this happens. Maybe the stress level on the US side of the pond is higher *don't really know*

OK. I'm guessing that you're reacting to an ingredient/additive/chemical in a food you regularly eat.

I don't suffer anything like you (generally) but I stay clear of foods with too many colours, especially the equivalent of E110 (sunset yellow) and anything coloured blue or green. I also try to avoid E621 (monosodium glutumate) that I've discovered is more prevalent in foods in the US than in the UK. Caramel as an ingredient in foods (as in coke products) is usually synthetic caramel (E150) and not the good old fashioned caramel you can make at home.

Of course stress could be a contributing factor to getting acid stomach so often.

I hope you can identify what's causing the stomach acid. Please let us know if you get to the bottom of this puzzle.




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Old Jan 12th 2004, 1:26 am
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I think you give it you at immigration when they stamp your visa into your passport. Within two weeks of being here I was told I had Acid Reflux Disease (fancy name for heartburn) and am now a slave to prescription drugs like every other american.

Truth be told I have had stomach problems in the past, usually after eating curry or spicy food but not all the time like now

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Old Jan 12th 2004, 1:31 am
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Default Re: Acid Stomach in the USA

Originally posted by NC Penguin
OK. I'm guessing that you're reacting to an ingredient/additive/chemical in a food you regularly eat.

I don't suffer anything like you (generally) but I stay clear of foods with too many colours, especially the equivalent of E110 (sunset yellow) and anything coloured blue or green. I also try to avoid E621 (monosodium glutumate) that I've discovered is more prevalent in foods in the US than in the UK. Caramel as an ingredient in foods (as in coke products) is usually synthetic caramel (E150) and not the good old fashioned caramel you can make at home.

Of course stress could be a contributing factor to getting acid stomach so often.

I hope you can identify what's causing the stomach acid. Please let us know if you get to the bottom of this puzzle.

NC Penguin
Yes! It's a real puzzle, I suspect that more than one thing is causing it making it an elusive problem to fathom out. My mum lives with me now (I sponsored her, she got a green card and we moved her stuff from the UK (took a few months) and I brought her back last year). So I only eat home cooking cooked by mum.

When I visit the UK I often stayed with my mother and have had no history at all of acid stomach eating my mother's excellent home cooking! Yet, even though I exclusively eat mum's home cooked tucker I still have heart burn on the USA side of the pond (though less severe, so eating mum's cooking is helping).

So I am thinking that NC Penguin is on the right track, that there is something in the food here, a generic ingredient added to food here in greater amount than back home in blighty. Maybe it is in the bread I eat or one of the basic staples that one does not cook at home.

Perhaps the flour or shortening is different somehow. *puzzled* Then it might be stress related, but I had as much stress (if not more) in the UK and never had heartburn. It is better now, I only need to crunch Tums about once every three days or so, but often enough that I always must have some handy to immediately neutralize the access acid. It does not distress providing I can immediately chow-down a couple of antacid tablets, preferably with some water.
 
Old Jan 12th 2004, 1:51 am
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Default Re: Acid Stomach in the USA

Originally posted by Patent Attorney
<<snip>>

So I am thinking that NC Penguin is on the right track, that there is something in the food here, a generic ingredient added to food here in greater amount than back home in blighty. Maybe it is in the bread I eat or one of the basic staples that one does not cook at home.

Perhaps the flour or shortening is different somehow. *puzzled* Then it might be stress related, but I had as much stress (if not more) in the UK and never had heartburn. It is better now, I only need to crunch Tums about once every three days or so, but often enough that I always must have some handy to immediately neutralize the access acid. It does not distress providing I can immediately chow-down a couple of antacid tablets, preferably with some water.
Ah, I have a couple of questions. Do you eat much readymade bread? Drink beer containing yeast?

My best friend's partner was diagnosed an allergy to yeast (i.e. foods containing yeast) but after years of suffering (I don't remember how many doctors and specialists he visited. It was a difficult allergy to identify). I think a major symptom of this allergy was that he had terrible acid stomach for days, weeks (maybe continuously, just like you).

Here's a list of foods containing yeast-
http://scc.uchicago.edu/allergyyeast.htm

If you notice that you eat many of these foods, some specifically ever day, it might be worth eliminating them from your diet for a week (the longer the better) and seeing if your symptoms of acid stomach reduce or disappear.

I should think there's no harm in eliminating such foods from one's diet.




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Old Jan 12th 2004, 3:40 am
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Same thing happened to me. I arrived in US when I was 36 never having had heartburn once ever- in fact the joke in my family was that I had a cast iron stomach because I could eat anything- nothing upset me ever. Within a couple of months here I started getting heartburn now and again. Tums or some other generic antacid usually sorted it. However when I went back to UK consuming fish n chips and all the stuff we usually binge on when we go home- never had heartburn. I've always cooked all the same meals I did back home, but it's almost impossible to get "additive, colouring" free ingredients here, and I've tried. One of my kids was asthmatic and I could not keep him free of those "E" numbers here in the USA- it was fairly easy in UK.

I went on the Atkins diet last year and heartburn disappeared- and even over christmas when "atkins" went out the window for a bit- no heartburn but we were eating all British foods. I haven't done a process of elimination to find out what causes it- good luck if you try- but if I eat low carb I have no problem.
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Old Jan 12th 2004, 3:51 am
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The food in America is poison. It's over processed, artifically colored, and seeped in sugar. This is not the fattest country in the world for no reason! When I first starting visiting here on a regular basis, I didn't get heartburn, but I became incredibly bloated and let's just tactfully say my habits were not as regular as they normally were. I felt inflated and lethargic and sometimes nauseous and dizzy, even if I had been on a diet in England for months and felt really good when I got to the US...within days I felt as if I had put on a stone. I couldn't put my finger on it but my entire digestive tract did not feel right. This would disappear as soon as I got back to the UK, and lo and behold, the next trip to the US would be the same, even if I tried to eat sensibly.

The I went on Atkins and I noticed that even the US I felt much better, by completely eliminating processed sugars and starch. Have you ever looked for oatmeal with no sugar in America? Or anything without sugar? I stood in the aisle in front of the oatmeal and saw everything but.....maple, honey, cinnamon and brown sugar, apple spice...sugar, sugar, sugar. One small packet of plain oatmeal later, mixed with Splenda sweetener and some real cinnamon and I felt great. Thank god, with the explosion of Atkins, there are a ton of products available here without sugar, and there's even a Low Carb mall here in Phoenix. Even the bread has sugar and coloring in it. How I miss Waitrose with it's pure and quality assured produce...fine foods at an affordable price. I feel poorer healthwise for my move to the States, and I have made a huge effort to buy only fresh food since I got here. I know that if I don't I could easily put on a stone in about a month with no effort, just by eating the American way, and with all the health problems that that brings. It's hard to eat right.
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Old Jan 12th 2004, 4:15 am
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Originally posted by Rockgurl
The food in America is poison. It's over processed, artifically colored, and seeped in sugar. This is not the fattest country in the world for no reason! When I first starting visiting here on a regular basis, I didn't get heartburn, but I became incredibly bloated and let's just tactfully say my habits were not as regular as they normally were. I felt inflated and lethargic and sometimes nauseous and dizzy, even if I had been on a diet in England for months and felt really good when I got to the US...within days I felt as if I had put on a stone. I couldn't put my finger on it but my entire digestive tract did not feel right. This would disappear as soon as I got back to the UK, and lo and behold, the next trip to the US would be the same, even if I tried to eat sensibly.

The I went on Atkins and I noticed that even the US I felt much better, by completely eliminating processed sugars and starch. Have you ever looked for oatmeal with no sugar in America? Or anything without sugar? I stood in the aisle in front of the oatmeal and saw everything but.....maple, honey, cinnamon and brown sugar, apple spice...sugar, sugar, sugar. One small packet of plain oatmeal later, mixed with Splenda sweetener and some real cinnamon and I felt great. Thank god, with the explosion of Atkins, there are a ton of products available here without sugar, and there's even a Low Carb mall here in Phoenix. Even the bread has sugar and coloring in it. How I miss Waitrose with it's pure and quality assured produce...fine foods at an affordable price. I feel poorer healthwise for my move to the States, and I have made a huge effort to buy only fresh food since I got here. I know that if I don't I could easily put on a stone in about a month with no effort, just by eating the American way, and with all the health problems that that brings. It's hard to eat right.

Agree entirely- its almost impossible to eat healthily here. Since my kids were babies I kept them off additive, preservative chemical ingredients- I couldn't do it here in US, and consequently they started getting colds etc - my daughter needed antibiotics for the first time in her life, then 10 years, within 2 months of living here.

I'm coming to Phoenix to see that Low Carb Mall Although more and more Atkins products are creeping into the supermarkets now- new this month is Atkins sliced breads, and a full range of cereals and bagels- last month the new products were Atkins ice-creams and choc bars. Also ate at Ruby Tuesdays on Friday and their menu has Low carb versions of almost every entree AND one low carb desert- flipping good too.

Getting back on topic- we get a load of UK visitors every year- and I always get in a big supply of Tums and Gas X tablets- visitors like to eat out a lot natch, and boy are those tablets needed.

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Old Jan 12th 2004, 7:08 am
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Originally posted by Taffyles
Agree entirely- its almost impossible to eat healthily here. Since my kids were babies I kept them off additive, preservative chemical ingredients- I couldn't do it here in US, and consequently they started getting colds etc - my daughter needed antibiotics for the first time in her life, then 10 years, within 2 months of living here.

I'm coming to Phoenix to see that Low Carb Mall Although more and more Atkins products are creeping into the supermarkets now- new this month is Atkins sliced breads, and a full range of cereals and bagels- last month the new products were Atkins ice-creams and choc bars. Also ate at Ruby Tuesdays on Friday and their menu has Low carb versions of almost every entree AND one low carb desert- flipping good too.

Getting back on topic- we get a load of UK visitors every year- and I always get in a big supply of Tums and Gas X tablets- visitors like to eat out a lot natch, and boy are those tablets needed.

By all means buy Gas-X by the truck loads. Wouldn't do for all those UK guests to spend their entire visit passing wind in your home:scared:
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Old Jan 12th 2004, 11:40 am
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Originally posted by Rockgurl
The food in America is poison. It's over processed, artifically colored, and seeped in sugar. This is not the fattest country in the world for no reason! When I first starting visiting here on a regular basis, I didn't get heartburn, but I became incredibly bloated and let's just tactfully say my habits were not as regular as they normally were. I felt inflated and lethargic and sometimes nauseous and dizzy, even if I had been on a diet in England for months and felt really good when I got to the US...within days I felt as if I had put on a stone. I couldn't put my finger on it but my entire digestive tract did not feel right. This would disappear as soon as I got back to the UK, and lo and behold, the next trip to the US would be the same, even if I tried to eat sensibly.

The I went on Atkins and I noticed that even the US I felt much better, by completely eliminating processed sugars and starch. Have you ever looked for oatmeal with no sugar in America? Or anything without sugar? I stood in the aisle in front of the oatmeal and saw everything but.....maple, honey, cinnamon and brown sugar, apple spice...sugar, sugar, sugar. One small packet of plain oatmeal later, mixed with Splenda sweetener and some real cinnamon and I felt great. Thank god, with the explosion of Atkins, there are a ton of products available here without sugar, and there's even a Low Carb mall here in Phoenix. Even the bread has sugar and coloring in it. How I miss Waitrose with it's pure and quality assured produce...fine foods at an affordable price. I feel poorer healthwise for my move to the States, and I have made a huge effort to buy only fresh food since I got here. I know that if I don't I could easily put on a stone in about a month with no effort, just by eating the American way, and with all the health problems that that brings. It's hard to eat right.
The reason why there is so much sugar in the food here (so i read) is that the sugar producers lobby congress so there is a much higher maximum daily sugar intake amount. Get this, these clowns say it is ok if 50% of your total daily calorific value comes from sugar!!!!!! In the UK i believe it is in the teens's. There was a potential transatlantic tiff between HM government and the sugar producers over this a while back.

I too get bad acid indigestion and am now on omeprozole, and am sure it is the processed starches. I also don't get the acid problem in the UK.....maybe the green card should with a health warning on the front: "WARNING; living in this country and eating its food can seriously damage your health" ha ha ha
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Old Jan 12th 2004, 11:51 am
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Sorry so many of you get the 'acid stomach' problem,but at the same time....THANK GOODNESS!,I thought it was just me!!!,I had noticed how much sugar is snuck into just about everything over here,but I do cook just about everything from scratch,so I can control what goes into everything,that seems to have taken care of the problem,I very rarely drink soda,and even then can't finish a whole can.
One thing I do wonder....do any of you drink 'tap' water over here?,when I lived in California I didnt have a problem,but as soon as we moved to Central Illinois,every time I drank even a sip of 'tap' water I'd almost imediately get dreadful stomach cramps,even if the water was boiled first,then cooled,so I started buying gallons of 'drinking 'water from Walmart and everything has been fine ever since,but even if I get a different brand my stomach knows straight away!!Does it have this effect on anyone else???

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