Cooking for a GERD / heartburn diet

Non-regional discussions Home Cooking
1

I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of making food for somebody with allergies or on doctor’s orders to restrict their diet, but this is really hard. Foods that tend to increase stomach acid include:

  • tomatoes
  • onions
  • garlic
  • butter
  • lard
  • oil
  • significant amount of any other fat
  • chiles
  • black pepper
  • cheese
  • sausage
  • bacon
  • any other fatty meat
  • vinegar
  • citrus
  • mayonnaise
  • sour cream
  • chocolate
  • carbonated beverages
  • caffeinated beverages

Which basically empties my usual bag of tricks for making things taste good.

Foods that can reduce stomach acid include:

  • whole grains
  • root vegetables
  • green vegetables
  • cauliflower
  • fennel
  • celery
  • ginger
  • cucumber
  • lettuce
  • nuts
  • bananas
  • melons
1 Like
2

So a lot of Japanese recipes fit the bill.

Simple grilled / broiled / braised meat with steamed vegetables and brown rice / quinoa / farro.

Granola.

Hippie brown rice bowl a la the old macrobiotic fad diet.

I made a soup with kale, spinach, cannellini, chicken broth, rice, and a lot of good soy sauce to give it some flavor. It was the worst thing I’ve ever made that wasn’t a mistake.

1 Like
3

When P. was on Low FODMAP we subbed baby bell peppers (and regular ones) for onions. It wasn’t perfect… but it fit the bill in a lot of cases.

4

A friend suggested asofetida as a substitute for garlic and onions.

1 Like
5

Asofetida as a garlic substitute might work for some, but I didn’t like it in my dishes.

A lot of low FODMAP recipes call for “garlic-infused” oils; the strategy here is to just warm/lightly brown some smashed cloves in the oil and remove them before starting the cook.

Echoing the point about Japanese recipes being GERD/FODMAP friendly. I would also point out that classic Shanghainese dishes do not use a lot of garlic or onion, or any aromatics really, in the cook (e.g., hong shao rou).

6

I’d be willing to bet that if you cut out all those other foods, the person would be able to eat tomatoes, onions and garlic.

7

It totally varies by individual. To really figure things out you need to eliminate all the potentially problematic foods and then try them one by one.

2 Likes