Bananas and GERD

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I have GERD and lately it's been under control for the most part. I switched from Prilosec (omeprazole) to Nexium (esomeprazole) a couple months ago and that has been going mostly great, the Nexium seems to work better than the Prilosec. But something has apparently been triggering my GERD lately - bananas!!

I exercise a minimum of 3 times per week. I can't eat anything for at least an hour before hitting the gym, or I'll start refluxing. It starts with belching, and then I can feel stuff coming up my throat - not pleasant when you are trying to work out! Bananas have always been a safe food for me, IBD-wise at least. Lately I've been trying to eat healthier, and since bananas are the one fruit I know my guts like, I've been eating more of them. Never within an hour of going to the gym, but even so I have been refluxing more often at the gym lately, and when the burps start I taste banana. The other day I had a banana about 2 hours before hitting the gym, and I took about 5 Tums too, but still ended up refluxing and having banana burps. Yuck! It seems I am going to have to stop eating bananas or at least cut way down (I have about 2 daily so it's not like I'm eating tons of them in the first place - previously I was eating about 1 daily).

I googled, and nearly everything came back as saying that bananas aren't acidic and therefore are good for keeping GERD under control. So I feel like a total weirdo that increasing my banana intake has made my GERD worse! I'm also pretty upset that a safe food is suddenly not so safe for me. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced an increase in reflux from bananas? Or any other weird GERD trigger foods?

 

[CLynn]

Oh my GOSH!!! Bananas are supposed to be such a safe food, even for little ones with vomiting, they tell us go with the B.R.A.T. diet...bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. I can't imagine why it is triggering your GERD.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Thanks, and I know! It's ridiculous! Bananas should be a safe food for both IBD and GERD, I just don't get why they are triggering my reflux. I actually did the BRAT diet for a bit during/after my first flare (I was told at the time that it was viral gastroenteritis and I should be fine after a few days... wrong!). I hate applesauce so I actually did the BRT diet and now I guess it'll be the RT diet if I have to do it again.

I miss bananas. I'm cutting them out for now and will probably try slowly re-introducing them into my diet at a later time.

 

[David]

Were your bananas slightly green still or well ripened with black spots?

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

David, I try not to eat green bananas. They were totally yellow or yellow with brown spots. Another thing I noticed was that even banana bread (made with very mushy old bananas) triggered my reflux too. So no bananas or banana bread for me.

 

[David]

Bummer If you're feeling brave, I'd try another variety of bananas if you can find them if you're going to miss them a lot. And of course organic

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I already miss them a lot! I might try other varieties - I haven't had plantains in a very long time, not even sure if those are considered a banana or if they're their own thing. There's a new health food store by my work that I've been meaning to try anyway so I will check them out and see what they have for bananas.

 

[CLynn]

Awww I would miss the homemade banana bread too. I made some a month or two ago and the 2 loaves were gone in a matter of 3 days.

 

[outlier]

bananas have a lot of sugar in them. Sugar activates heartburn
http://lifehacker.com/5895525/are-b...s-to-eat-to-keep-you-full-and-not-crash-later

 

[David]

I think that may be a little simplistic outlier. What sort of sugar activates heartburn? Banana's sugar is almost entirely monosaccharides and one would expect other fruit to cause heartburn as well.

Cat, I was thinking about this. Are you still on your PPI or other form of acid blocker?

 

[outlier]

other fruit can activate heartburn. Oh how i miss apples