I need to lay off the Tums.
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| This picture describes almost perfectly how I felt about Tums a few days ago. Yes, I found it from Google images. |
I happened to learn this little piece of information from my Hypnobabies home study course. This week I'm learning about nutrition during pregnancy. I need lots of protein. I need lots of calcium... Yeah, yeah I know. Taking Tums is bad... wait what?? ( it was not phrased that way of course). I was taking Tums for my heartburn. What I learned is this--Tums neutralizes stomach acid (duh). But protein and calcium can't be absorbed properly without acid. Antacids such as Tums "deplete the body of proteins and calcium." When A LOT are taken, it can affect the liver, " thereby causing toxemia" (a.k.a. pre-eclampsia). Of course if you're getting what you need, you won't have this problem. But in my case, since I have been taking many many Tums, it made me take a step back. I should probably hold off on those as much as I can.
Another interesting fact: Taking Tums as a calcium supplement is practically useless. You need magnesium and vitamin D in order for calcium to be absorbed and used properly. I have never taken Tums for that reason but if I hated milk or were lactose intolerant, I probably would. Let's face it. Tums tastes amazing. It's like candy. Luckily I absolutely love milk. Whole milk especially. I've struggled with adjusting to 1% since W.I.C. doesn't pay for whole milk until the baby is born. Trust me, this has been cruel. I'm getting off track... The reason I mention this is because I have always wondered how great of a calcium supplement Tums actually is. They claim to be an excellent source of calcium. Now I know.
Because Hypnobabies is so great (I'm sorry. I love Hypnobabies right now), they have compiled a few things you can do to ease heartburn.
-Eat several small snack-meals rather than 3 big meals.
-Drink liquids separately from solid food.
-Avoid greasy or heavily spiced foods. (This one is hard for me because I love spicy food)
-Sit up after you eat anything.
What they say can ease heartburn:
-Papaya enzymes (whatever that is), or drink papaya juice (that is probably disgusting so I won't attempt that one).
-Ginger
-Peppermint tea
-Almond milk
-Apple cider vinegar
-Hansen's Natural Soda
How to neutralize pH level:
-Add lime juice to your water
-Add 1/8 tsp of baking soda to 2 oz of water
I must say that I have already tried eating small meals, standing or sitting after I eat, and tried not to drink anything with my food. The only thing that slightly helped was drinking throughout the day and not with my food. But that is extremely hard to do! And it does not matter what I eat, I always get heartburn. Most of the time it's not right after I eat. It's several hours after I eat. Usually at night. So, I'm going to try some of these things to see if they help. Next time I'm at the store, I'm getting me some peppermint tea!
2 comments:
haha thanks for posting this! The first thing I thought when I saw the picture at the top was hey, that's me too! At least one meal a day - if not all of them - make me nauseous, and after chomping my way through about 15 boxes of pepto bismol, I decided to switch to TUMS (they really ARE like candy!) because it doesn't have the asprin-like qualities of pepto that give your body issues when you take a lot. But it sounds like maybe TUMS isn't the answer after all. Oh well. Not drinking at the same time as eating makes a world of difference for me though.
great post! wish we would have been friends when i was pregnant with my first so i could have read it! ;) i was a regular tums taker with my first!
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