Dr. Jorge E. Rodriguez - The Acid Reflux Solution. A Cookbook and Lifestyle Guide for Healing Heartburn Naturally

The information contained in this book is based on the experience and research of the authors. It is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician or other health-care provider. Any attempt to diagnose and treat an illness should be done under the direction of a health-care professional. The publisher and authors are not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of any of the suggestions, preparations, or procedures discussed in this book.

Copyright 2012 by Dr. Jorge E. Rodriguez
Photographs copyright 2012 by Jennifer Martin

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rodriguez, Jorge E.
The acid reflux solution : a cookbook and lifestyle guide for healing heartburn naturally / Jorge E. Rodriguez, Susan Wyler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Gastroesophageal refluxPopular works. 2. Gastroesophageal refluxDiet therapyRecipes. I. Wyler, Susan. II. Title.
RC815.7R59 2012
616.3240654dc23
2011033896

eISBN: 978-1-60774-228-9

Design by Katy Brown
Food styling by Karen Shinto
Prop styling by Dani Fisher
Food styling and photography assistance by Victoria Woollard, Jeffrey Larsen, and Irene Chan

v3.1

This book is dedicated to my parents, Ofelia and Juan, who sacrificed it all for their children and to Whoopi and especially Tom, for believing, believing, and then believing some more.

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK our intrepid editor, Julie Bennett, whose attention to detail and dedication to quality made this a better book than it would have been without her. We also appreciate the efforts of designer Katy Brown, copy editor Leslie Evans, proofreader Karen Levy, and photographer Jennifer Martin for their excellent work.

Jorge would like to thank Susan Wyler for her endless dedication to this work and for her tireless friendship, Carole Bidnick for her sage guidance, and last but not least, Nancy Udell and MaryAnn Palumbo for getting this ball rolling.

Susan wishes to thank Dr. Jorge, whose boundless energy, medical integrity, and generous good nature made this collaboration such a delight, and agent Carole Bidnick, for making such a happy match. She would like to acknowledge the databases and helpfulness of the librarians at the health sciences library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which greatly facilitated the research for this book. And thanks especially to her professor and advisor, the exceptional Amanda S. Holliday, MS, RD, LDN, who served as teacher, mentor, and role model.

BLUE CHEESE BURGERS, SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS, Spanish chicken and rice these are just a few of my favorite dishes that I could not enjoy without paying a high price until I developed the Acid Reflux Solution. Growing up in South Florida, Southern California, and the Detroit area gave me a broad appreciation of American culinary culture as it came into its own in the 80s and 90s. Growing up Cuban in those places offered me some of the tastiest cooking on earth wherever I was.

My mothers Cuban cooking, although delicious, could have caused acid reflux in a giraffe. And it certainly was not geared to weight control. All that braised pork cooked in lard with mojo de ajoan intense garlic and lemon sauceand black beans and rice in portions that made supersize look wimpy guaranteed that as I developed physically, so did my girth, and by the time I was a practicing physician, my weight could be classified as obese (even though I didnt look that heavy). At the same time, until this past year, Ive suffered from GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease, my entire adult life. Think there might have been a connection? Somehow, it never occurred to me. Why should it? For me, heartburn was simply what happened whenever you ate. I didnt need an alarm clock to wake up. All the garlic, onions, and lemon did it for meusually about an hour after I went to bed following a substantial late supper or midnight snack, with the pain of heartburn unmistakable as the searing acid escaped my stomach and shot up my throat.

Heartburn, the chief complaint of GERD, is one of the most prevalent medical problems in America, with roughly a sixth of the population reporting symptoms at least once a week. Expenditures for powerful antacids like proton pump inhibitors total seven billion dollars a year, making Nexium the second most popular drug in the country. Yet too little attention is given to what is ultimately the most effective and natural long-term solution to acid reflux: a sensible combination of healthy eating and lifestyle modifications that include regular physical activity.

Does the prescription of diet and exercise sound familiar? It should, because obesity and GERD are inextricably linked, with a prevalence two to three times that of people with normal weight status. If I sound passionate about this problem its because I have a double interest: As an expert in gastroenterology, Ive treated tens of thousands of patients suffering from acid reflux and performed thousands of endoscopies to confirm my diagnosis or perform corrective procedures. Why I was drawn to this area of medicine Im not entirely sure, but even as an impressionable young medical student, the intimate association with the inside of the body fascinated me. The first time I watched an endoscopy, a high-tech fiber-optic internal examination of the esophagus and stomach, I was mesmerized. I remember thinking: How extraordinary! It feels like you are actually walking through the inside of the body. Internal medicine had me hooked from then on.

For a long time, I did a lot of thinking about my patients and not much about myself. I didnt worry about my weight, or my GERD; both were simply facts of life. I believed that in the future I could deal with both when it became impossible to ignore them any longer. But the clock kept ticking as I became accustomed to living with obesity and GERD. I treated my own illness the same way I treated my patientswith over-the-counter antacids and prescription medications. In the back of my mind, I remembered the fact sheets that came with the drugs, suggesting use for no longer than four to six weeks, but what can you do when your heartburn persists?