Ashley Charlebois, Registered Dietician, discusses gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Dr. Duncan Miller, B. Sc, MD, Family Physician  discusses gastroesophageal reflux disease and heartburn.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, is when your lower esophageal sphincter doesn’t close properly, meaning that often times, contents from your stomach can go back up into your esophagus.

Common food triggers of GERD include spicy foods, high fat foods, alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, citrus fruits and juices, as well as mint flavorings. However, these vary between individuals, and there might be certain foods that I haven’t mentioned that might contribute to your symptoms, where they might not for somebody else’s.

So there are certain foods that are acidic, or somewhat acidic, that may or may not work for you, such as pineapple and tomatoes. It would be a good idea to kind of test out the foods that you think might not work in small quantities, and assess your symptoms.

Examples of food that you probably won’t have any problems with if you do suffer from GERD, would include less acidic foods such as fruits and vegetables like zucchini, squash, bell peppers, carrots, to name a few. Fruits that might be on the safe side would be things like papaya, melon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and blueberries.

If you think you have GERD, or if you have more questions, you should visit your local registered dietitian for more information.

Presenter: Ms. Ashley Charlebois, Registered Dietitian, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Registered Dietitian

Ashley Charlebois, RD, discusses What is Gastroparesis.

If you suffer from gastroparesis, it is important to try and have small, frequent meals throughout the day to minimize your symptoms.

More serious cases of gastroparesis might mean that you cannot keep down any solid foods, and that would mean you would switch to a completely liquid-based diet. Eventually you would progress to puree foods, or a blenderized diet.

In this case, what you can do, you can either have, or a combination of nutritional supplements such as Boost and Ensure, and your own blenderized diet where you combine solids such as meat, vegetables, and fruits, different grain products like potatoes, pasta or rice, and puree that together with a liquid, either vegetable broth, or chicken broth, or any kind of vegetable juice. That way you still do get your nutrition.

Remember that it is important to get calories down, so that you don’t have any further weight loss. If you are experiencing problems, or you are having issues managing your gastroparesis, do visit your doctor or visit a local registered dietician for help with dietary management.

But eventually over time, if you get the uric acid low enough, you should be able to prevent episodes of acute gout and not need the medications like the anti-inflammatories and colchicines because the episodes don’t happen. So it’s important for individuals to recognize that medications have side effects.

Those side effects can be severe, and so one needs to realize that if they’re gonna start a medication, they need to discuss with their doctor and their pharmacist whether that medication is right for them.

Presenter: Ms. Ashley Charlebois, Registered Dietitian, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Registered Dietitian