There is an idea that if we have GERD, Heartburn or Acid Reflux, this means we have too much stomach acid.

Due to this, many people take stomach acid neutralizers or acid blockers, known as PPIs, to make their stomach less acidic and calm it down.

However, these only give a temporary solution, and in the long term actually make the problem worse.

This is because it’s not high levels of stomach acid that cause acid reflux and GERD, but the exact opposite — too little stomach acid.

This is an example of only addressing the symptom instead of the cause, allowing the cause to continue on, slowly worsening over time.

This lessened stomach acid leads to foods, especially proteins, not being fully broken down into a form our bodies can use. So we don’t get the nutrients we need, no matter how much we eat.

And, harmful bacteria are allowed to take root in our stomach and intestines, raising cortisol levels, lowering energy levels, stealing nutrients needed by the cells, preventing muscle gain, causing sugar cravings and more.

And, of course, we get GERD, Acid Reflux, Gas and Bloating.

So lets see what’s happening here.

WHAT CAUSES GERD, HEARTBURN & ACID REFLUX

When we eat, our stomach secretes digestive acid and enzymes. These are necessary to break down the food into a form the cells can use, break down minerals so they can be used, and kill off harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites coming in through food and water.

All of these are very important.

Now, there is something called the pH scale, going from 1-15, with 1 being the most acidic and 15 being the least acidic.

When we eat, our stomach secretes acid until it hits a pH of about 1 or 2 (very acidic). Hitting this point signals that the food has been broken down enough and is ready to move on into the small intestine, which opens to let it in.

However, if the stomach doesn’t reach this level, then the food can stay in the stomach longer and go rancid (if you drank milk and then looked at it in the stomach it would look like cottage cheese, not milk anymore).

When it goes rancid it can start to bubble up and hit the esophagus. And while the stomach is made to withstand a very acidic environment, the esophagus is not, so it burns.

It can get so bad that the valve between the stomach and esophagus becomes degraded and may start to let acid in with or without food in the stomach just because you laid down or bent over.

Now, the pH scale is not a straight scale upwards. It goes up by multiples of 10.

So a pH of 2 is 10 times less acidic than a pH of 1. And a pH of 3 is 10 times less acidic than a pH of 2, or… 100 times less acidic than a ph of 1.

That’s a big difference. If a pH of between 1 and 2 is needed, that’s pretty strong. But if we’re only at a pH of 3, that’s not just weaker, it's much weaker. It’s much harder to break down foods and heartburn and acid reflux is much more likely to occur.

Unfortunately, today, many people have a ph of 4 or 5 — 1000 to 10,000 times less acidic than what is needed. So we see how easy it is for acid reflux to occur.

But look at this now. Getting to a pH of between 1 and 2 isn’t only necessary to break down foods and minerals. It’s also to kill off harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that come in with our food and water.

A pH of 1 or 2 kills these off for the most part, and fully breaks down food and minerals so they can be used.

But if it’s at a 4 or 5, this is 1,000 to 10,000 times less than what is needed here.

This leads to bacteria making it through to the small intestine where they take root, eating your food and providing gas in return that makes you bloat.

They also break down or corrupt the cells of our intestinal wall, causing raised cortisol levels and, over time, Leaky Gut, which then allows them and other toxins to enter our blood stream.

And it can get so bad that the stomach itself is so non-acidic that bacteria can start living there, breaking down the cells of the stomach walls and causing even more trouble, including ulcers.

Until this is fixed, and the ph level is lowered to a more acidic environment, GERD, heartburn, and acid reflux will continue, no matter how many pills we take.

In fact, the pills will make it worse over time.

ACIDS BLOCKERS DESTROY OUR DIGESTIVE TRACT OVER TIME

Antacids operate by neutralizing the acid in your stomach and so raising the ph level — less acidic. This then alleviates the pain of heartburn or GERD, as it’s less acidic.

But it also lets through these harmful bacteria and prevents food breakdown, including protein breakdown.

This last point is a big problem because your stomach acid is made from the amino acids we get in protein. So if they’re not fully broken down, then our body can’t use them to make more stomach acid.

So we eat protein and take antacids and not all of the protein is broken down into amino acids. So there are less amino acids to produce new stomach acid. We take more antacids and break down even less protein, and get even less amino acids for new stomach acid, and so on.

Then, as we get this continued lowering of stomach acid production over time, leading to a less and less acidic environment, we get more heartburn and so take even more antacids.

This is not helping us.

We get less and less nutrition our body needs in order to function at optimum levels and to repair itself, and we get more and more harmful bacteria and yeasts taking root in our intestine.

It can get so bad that we even get these bacteria taking root in our stomach, like H. Pylori.

And that can cause a lot of trouble on it's own, not least of which that it can start to not only destroy the cells lining our stomach, but cause them to mutate.

But that’s antacids. Acid Blockers, or PPIs, are a bit different. PPIs stands for Proton Pump Inhibitors. The Proton Pumps are the glands that secrete stomach acid.

PPIs operate not by neutralizing the acids these glands produce, but by directly poisoning them so they produce less acid. So they literally can’t function as they’re supposed to.

Now, if someone has something like a bleeding ulcer, an actual wound in the stomach, these can be necessary as we do need to lower the acidity level so the wound has a chance to heal.

But… once it’s healed we need to come off them and build back up our stomach acid levels or we’ll be causing ourselves a lot more trouble than just a wound in the stomach.

Most boxes of Acid Blockers/PPIs say to only take for 6-8 weeks or so.

But so many people carry on taking them, sometimes for years, destroying their digestive tract and causing many more problems than they originally had.

And, as PPIs operate by poisoning the glands that secrete acid, over a long period of time these glands can become so damaged that even when we come off the PPIs it can take a long time for the glands to heal so they produce acid properly again.

If they ever do fully heal. It depends on the extent of the damage.

So this is very important. Only take them when actually needed, and no longer.

HOW WE ADDRESS ACID REFLUX, HEARTBURN & GERD

If we have Acid Reflux, Heartburn or GERD, then our stomach is not getting as acidic as it needs to be when we eat. Period.

So first, we need to get off any acid blockers, antacids, and even soda water, which also lessens acidity. If you are on any antacid prescribed by your doctor, make sure to consult them when doing this.

We then need to start taking Digestive Enzymes to provide the Stomach Acid and Enzymes the stomach needs to fully break down food and kill off bacteria and parasites coming in. Because if we have one of the above situations, then we already know we don’t have enough.

Next, we need to start getting in more protein and taking the digestive enzymes to ensure it’s broken down fully so the body can use it, as it’s protein that the body uses to make more stomach acid and digestive enzymes.

If we don't have enough stomach acid this is due to not enough protein, or more specifically, the essential amino acids we get from protein that the body then uses to make our stomach acid.

So if we want to build up our natural levels of stomach acid, we need to increase our amino acid intake or this situation will continue indefinitely.

This is one place PerfectAmino becomes very important. It not only provides the amino acids needed to synthesize protein and produce more enzymes and stomach acid, but it also helps to repair the cells injured by the effects of low stomach acid.

And if our stomach acid is low, then we're also not fully breaking down the protein we eat and so getting less protein than we think and that we need.

Due to its form, PerfectAmino is completely absorbed and utilized by almost everyone and helps get our body the essential amino acids it needs while our stomach builds back up it's acid levels.

For Acid Reflux, Heartburn, and GERD, PerfectAmino and Digestive Enzymes are a winning combination.

Add Gut Restore and Gut Defense to this and we start to eliminate the harmful bacteria and yeasts that have taken root and repair any Leaky Gut that has occurred.

Take 1-2 Digestive Enzymes with each meal, plus 2-3 servings of PerfectAmino per day for two weeks and see how much better you feel.

If you want to kill off harmful bacteria and yeasts already present and address Leaky Gut, then also take Gut Restore mid morning or near bedtime outside of food.

And if you want to address SIBO that has taken root, take Gut Defense as per its instructions or as part of the full Gut Health Protocol & 30-Day Challenge.

It addresses heartburn, IBS, GERD, Candida, Bloating, Leaky Gut, H. Pylori, C. Diff, Gluten Reactions and much more.

It's very effective.

And we have specially designed and discounted Gut Health Packages that go along with it.

And if you haven't already, make sure you join our PerfectAmino VIP Group, where you can ask all your health & fitness questions. 

Index To The Gut Health Guide:

The Autoimmune Series:

1. What Are Auto-Immune Conditions & How Do They Work
2. Leaky Gut, Gut Health & Auto-Immune Conditions
3. How To Address Autoimmune Conditions

The Gut Health Protocol:

1. The Gut Health Guide & 30-Day Challenge
2. The Gut Health Protocol
3. Your Gut Health Schedule
4. Running Your Gut Health Protocol

Digestion: Acid Reflux, Bloating, Muscle, Fat Loss & More:

1. What Causes Sugar Cravings & A Protruding Stomach
2. Why Proper Protein Digestion Is So Important
3. What Causes Acid Reflux, Heartburn & GERD
4. How Poor Gut Health Leads To Poor Heart Health

Leaky Gut: SIBO, Toxins, Glyphosate & Gluten:

1. SIBO & Leaky Gut: A Root Cause Of Poor Health
2. Glyphosate, Leaky Gut, The Microbiome & Physical Conditions
3. How Leaky Gut Causes Premature Aging
4. What Is Gluten Face & Wheat Belly

The Microbiome: Stress, Recovery, Mood & Overall Health:

1. Depression, Anxiety, Stress & Sleeplessness — The Microbiome
2. How Toxins Affect The Microbiome & Overall Health

What Is Candida & How Do We Address It?

1. What Is Candida & How Do We Address It?

How Gut Health Affects Skin Health:

1. How Poor Gut Health Causes Poor Skin Health

Where To Go From Here:

1. The Gut Health Protocol: Where To Go From Here