Natural Gastritis Treatments

Natural gastritis treatments can give powerful fast relief to gut pain from gastritis, inflammation and bloating.

They are especially helpful with unexplained gastritis that is not tied to an h-pylori infection or if you need to come off acid reflux medication.

But too many natural gastritis treatments out there do NOT help and actually aggravate symptoms.

This is because they assume gastritis is tied to bad food choices when many gastritis sufferers already eat super healthy whole grain, high fibre, probiotic rich, meat free diets!!

So I have here quick tips to help you:

1. Identify causes of your gastritis &
2. Select the right natural gastritis treatments for fast relief for you.

I do hope they help your gastritis. Let me know how it goes …

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER

This post does not give qualified medical advice. Gastritis can be a symptom of serious illness.

CONTENTS

1. Gastritis Symptoms
2. Causes Of Gastritis
3. Make Gastritis Go Away For Good
4. 6 Week Natural Gastritis Treatment
5. What Food Helps Heal Gastritis
6. What Is The Best Drink For Gastritis
7. Herbs & Spices For Gastritis

Gastritis Symptoms

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Common gastritis symptoms are :

• Frequent burping
• Rumbling & gurgling
• Bloating
• Feelings of a twisted, burning gut
• Gnawing pain
• Flare ups at night
• Feeling full after very little food
• Feeling sick from little food.

Although, gastritis is really stomach pain, we often also feel symptoms in our intestines and our food pipe.

This is because gastric damage, such as stomach lining ulcers, is tied to damage elsewhere and the causes of gastritis are often systemic throughout our digestive system.

Causes Of Gastritis

The h pylori bacteria is a common cause of gastritis. You will usually be tested for it if you see a doctor.

But if we test negative – and show no signs of auto-immune disease or cancer – doctors may fail to explain the causes of our gastritis.

They may query us about:

• Excess alcohol
• Smoking
• Regular use of pain killers.

However, if they are not relevant we are often left to cope on our own!!

Or told to eat a healthy plant based, whole grain diet with probiotics even though we are already doing that and doubling down makes our gastritis symptoms much worse!!

It can be horribly depressing.

But don’t despair. Gastritis pain is a key sign of imbalance in our:

1. Gut bacteria
2. Gastric acid
3. Key nutrients
4. Hormone levels.

And although that sounds crazily complex, we can often find the simple causes in our diet and lifestyle and make easy changes that help gastritis go away for good.

How To Make Gastritis Go Away For Good

The key secret to making otherwise unexplained gastritis go away for good is to acknowledge our own personal nutritional:

1. Saturations and
2. Shortfalls.

That might seem blindingly obvious but this is absolutely NOT just about:

• Avoiding bad food and
• Filling up on healthy food.

Many people have painful gastritis from devouring far too much food we have been told is healthy and far too little food we’ve been told is bad.

So we need to work out where our personal diet is out of whack …

Saturations

We all know too much sugary food, caffeine and alcohol PLUS endless sodas can cause gastric pain.

BUT too much of these healthy foods triggers excess gastric acid:

• Fruit juice
• Fruit
• Tomatoes

And over eating these can release way too much gas in our colon:

• Garlics & onions
• Gassy vegetables
• Whole grains
• Fermented food
• Yoghurt & kefir
• Dairy.

Gastric acid and gas are part of healthy eating but in excess they put pressure on our digestive tract and cause burning and painful wind.

Our excesses are frequently due to shortfalls in other areas of our diet.

Shortfalls

Many of us these days skip whole food groups for “health reasons”.

But this leaves us short on key nutrients needed for gut health e.g.:

• Vegan: Iron, B12, Protein, Zinc
• Keto: Fibre, Vitamin B9, C, K
• Low Fat: Omega 3, Calcium

And can up the pressure on our gut from all our saturations e.g.:

• Meat free diets don’t make enough use of our stomach’s gastric acid
• Low carb diets put too much digestion into our gassy colon.

To make things even worse, common treatments for excess acid and gas can crazily send our digestive balance even further out of whack!!

Antacids & Probiotics

Antacids are a common trigger for gastritis issues as long term lowering of stomach acid allows bacteria to get into the sterile small intestine.

This causes SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) a painful form of gastritis characterised by:

• Very frequent burping
• Gnawing gut pain.

SIBO is treated by doctors with antibiotics and probiotics but probiotics bring their own problems.

They can re-balance gut bacteria but if we already eat a whole grain, plant based diet or lots of fermented food e.g. yoghurt, kefir we may already be saturated in supposedly “good” gut bacteria like lactobacillus.

Lactobacillus secretes histamine which can trigger food sensitivities.

It sounds complex doesn’t it?

But by identifying our saturations and shortfalls PLUS medication or supplements adding to our gut issues we can design a personal 6 week natural gastritis treatment plan.

6 Week Natural Gastritis Treatment Plan

This 6 week natural treatment plan for gastritis is all about rebalancing both our diet AND general wellbeing.

It is absolutely NOT about obsessively identifying intolerances and avoiding whole food groups.

Both can trigger anxiety which is never good for our gut at all.

So follow this 4 step plan:

1. Cut saturations for 2 weeks (use links below to spot yours)
2. Cut key pain triggers for 6 weeks
3. Re-balance meals to make good your nutritional shortfalls
4. After 6 weeks:
   • focus on moderation
   • alternate food so you are not eating anything every day
   • eat lightly 1 day a week

AND whilst following the plan really focus on your overall wellbeing:

1. Get a dose of daylight early
2. Spend an hour outside
3. Keep moving often all day long (but skip high stress exercise)
4. Talk to neighbours
5. Sing and pray (your way)!!
6. Do some physical work
7. Do clever stuff with hands
8. Rest with family
9. Cherish good sleep.

These may sound simplistic but digestion and mood are closely connected. Gut pain impacts our mind but mental calm can actually ease pain and relieve gastritis.

We need to nurture our mind whilst rebalancing gut saturations …

Spotting Gut Saturations

Use these links for tips on how to rebalance your specific saturations:

• Junk Food, Sugar & Sodas
• Antacids For Acid Reflux
• Probiotics
• Fermented Food
• Fruit Juice & Smoothies
• Alcohol
• Coffee
• Pulses & Legumes
• Plant Fibre
• Onions & Garlic
• Whole Grains
• Dairy
• Gluten
• Meat

Junk Food, Sugar & Sodas

If you struggle with gastritis, there’s a good chance you will already have given up junk food, sugar and sodas.

But if you haven’t do.

And don’t be fooled by diet sodas. Their sweet acidity can trigger big damage in our digestive tract.

Antacids For Acid Reflux

To break the vicious circle of acid reflux, antacids and gastritis we need to stop saturating ourselves with these key triggers for acid reflux:

• All sodas (including diet)
• Fruit juice
• Acidic fruit
• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Onions
• Coffee
• Peppermint
• Chocolate
• White wine
• Fatty meat

Skipping these for 6 weeks lets our oesophagus heal so we can wean ourselves off the antacids.

For more support check out Jamie Koufman which has lots of resources for healing acid reflux through diet.

Probiotics

Many of us take probiotics for gastritis and keep taking them just because we’re told they help despite seeing no relief for our symptoms.

If you have seen no improvement, ditch them for at least 2 weeks as they may be making things worse.

Small amounts of good quality fermented food introduced slowly can better balance gut bacteria.

Fermented Foods

If like me you jumped on the fermented food fad but are suffering increasing gastritis with frequent burping hold off for 6 weeks on:

• Kefir
• Kimchi
• Kombucha
• Sauerkraut
• Blue cheese
• Yoghurt etc

Many of us have saturated our bodies with them on top of whole grain & fibre saturations.

We are literally a gas factory!!

And may well have sky high histamine levels, which trigger migraines and food sensitivities, as we are eating so much histamine secreting “good” gut bacteria.

To rebalance gut bacteria, go easy on fibrous food and enjoy

• Protein e.g. meat, fish, eggs
• Low fibre vegetables
• Non-fibrous carbs e.g. white bread, white rice, potatoes.

You may also need to skip high histamine food e.g. nightshades whilst rebalancing gut bacteria.

Fruit Juice & Smoothies

Fruit high in glucose and acid can harm digestive linings when drunk in excess in juice and smoothies.

Acidic fruit can also trigger burning pain from existing gut damage.

So if you drink loads of juice skip for 2 weeks then stick to:

• Small diluted glass every other day
• Or even better eat whole fruit.

Low glucose fruit are high in other sugars which can trigger excess gas. We’ll cover these under plant fibre.

Alcohol

Alcohol in moderation is not a fundamental cause of gastritis but once gastric acid and gas is out of balance it can be a big pain trigger for various reasons including:

1. Sweet acidic white wine aggravating gut lining damage
2. Fizz in bubbly & beers putting pressure on the gateways between different parts of our gut
3. Fermentable fruit in red wine generating excess gas
4. High histamine levels from excess gut bacteria soaring even higher.

If you have great self control and can stick to a single small glass every other day, you will probably be fine.

If not, going dry for 6 weeks is easier.

Coffee & Caffeine

A small cup of coffee after a protein rich meal is a good way to stimulate gastric acid to help digestion.

A huge jug of coffee on an empty stomach in the morning is NOT!!

Slowly cutting down – withdrawal is painful – can greatly relieve both gastritis and acid reflux.

It is easier to cut caffeine with less sugar and alcohol in our system so focus on cutting these first.

Pulses & Legumes

Pulses and legumes are great sources of protein and fibre.

But they are full of fermentable sugars – FODMAPs – so without balancing low fibre protein, fat and carbohydrate they generate more gas than we can handle.

Skip for 2 weeks and then reintroduce small portions in well balanced meals with:

• Meat
• Fish
• Eggs
• Nuts & seeds
• Low FODMAP vegetables
• Low fibre carbs e.g. white bread, potatoes, white rice.

Plant Fibre

Fibrous vegetables are broken down by the bacteria in our colon and are great for healthy digestion.

Many modern diets are low in fibre BUT you may actually be super saturated on one of these diets:

• Vegan
• Vegetarian
• Low carb
• Clean eating

If we combine loads of fibrous veg and fruit with fibrous pulses and whole grains our colon can get overwhelmed with painful gas.

So for 2 weeks go easy on gassy:

• Vegetables
• Fruit.

Then add back in slowly balanced out by these vegetables and fruit which are low in fermentable sugars.

It is easy to be over anxious about gassy – high FODMAP – fruit and veg. Focus on lowering obvious culprits e.g. onions & garlic PLUS fibrous pulses and whole grains rather than obsessing over every item of food.

Onions & Garlic

Onions and garlic are natural antibiotics and antihistamines and may help see off the h pylori bacteria that causes some gastritis.

But both are rich in fermentable fructans that trigger lots of gas.

Some of us do seem to have made ourselves very sensitive to them through fibre saturation.

Cutting them out of home cooking for 6 weeks – without worrying about every morsel of them we might eat out – is a big easy way to bring fructan levels down.

Going forward fry garlic cloves whole in oil and then remove. You get all the flavour without the fructans!

Whole Grains

We’ve all been told fibrous whole grains are super healthy and they are as part of a well balanced diet.

But whole grains are super rich in fermentable sugars so if we saturate ourselves with them – whilst skipping meat, fish and starchy carbs – we can end up with lots of gas.

So if you have been eating loads, skip or go very easy for 2 weeks whilst also easing up on:

• Pulses & legumes
• Fibrous plants
• Fermented food

Many people with gastritis who have been on a high fibre, whole grain diet find great relief from eating, horror of horrors …

• White bread
• Potato
• White risotto rice.

This doesn’t mean we should go crazy over them but if we don’t have blood sugar issues, they are a valuable part of a balanced diet.

As you add whole grains back into your diet remember to balance with:

• Meat
• Fish
• Eggs
• Some nuts
• Cheese
• Non-fibrous vegetables.

Dairy

Dairy is rich in fermentable lactose and the lactobacillus bacteria.

Both can cause problems in excess.

Some people are lactose intolerant but a high fibre AND high lactose vegetarian diet for example, can just be too gassy for our gut!!

Lactobacillus is a valuable gut bacteria but loads of it, especially in fermented dairy like kefir and yoghurt, can send our gas and histamine levels through the roof.

If you’ve drowned yourself in dairy:

• Skip all dairy for 2 weeks
• But fermented dairy for 6
• Enjoy a wider range of fats e.g. nuts, seeds, fish, eggs, good oils
• PLUS a good variety of calcium & magnesium rich food.

Add back in small portions every other day at most, starting with hard cheese. Cooked dairy is usually much easier to digest than raw dairy.

Reserve fermented dairy for once a week initially and keep portions tiny.

Gluten

Going gluten free can relieve gastritis but is often NOT the answer.

Some people saturated in fibre and whole grains actually get relief for their gastritis by eating more gluten!!

Whilst other people get a few weeks relief from gluten free only for symptoms to return. This can be because gluten sensitivity is a symptom of imbalanced gas and inflammation rather than a cause.

So if you have been saturating yourself with white bread and pasta then certainly cut down and rebalance with gluten free grains:

• Quinoa
• Buckwheat
• Amaranth
• Oats

But if you barely touch bread and pasta don’t jump on the gluten free bandwagon, focus instead on your:

• Personal saturations
• Easing general inflammation.

Meat

Most top Google search results will tell you meat – and especially – red meat is a cause of gastritis.

But some people on long term meat-free, high fibre diets actually relieve gastritis by reintroducing meat!!

You’ve got the picture by now.

NO single food group – except rubbish junk food – causes gastritis. It is always about the balance.

If we mainline red meat long-term we will put pressure on certain parts of our digestion; if we don’t eat any the pressure will come elsewhere.

There is however an extra gut issue with meat and that’s quality.

Intensively farmed, rapidly grown animals frequently suffer inflammation. If we eat lots of cheap meat we risk the same, so you may find that eating less meat but better meat helps with gastritis pain.

OK now we have been through our saturations, so let’s look at our shortfalls as these are the foods that are going to help us heal gastritis.

What Food Helps Heal Gastritis?

The best foods for healing gastritis will vary depending on what nutrients we’ve been missing out on.

But the key building blocks for all of us every single day are:

• Protein
• Good quality fat
• Green vegetables
• A rainbow of other veg
• Small amounts of fruit
• Complex fibre
• PLUS some starchy carbohydrates.

We need all of these to heal.

Protein

It’s easy to skip when we’re struggling but our body cannot repair itself without protein.

We must ensure each meal includes some good quality protein from this mix without over depending on any single source:

• White meat
• Lean red meat
• Oily fish
• White fish
• Eggs
• Pulses (unless saturated)
• Small helpings of nuts & seeds

If your gut is very tender fish and eggs are often easiest to digest without triggering excess gas or acid.

Unfortunately, it is challenging for vegans and vegetarians to get enough protein whilst easing up on gassy pulses and whole grains.

Good Quality Fat

Great fats are essential for a healthy mind and body AND a balanced gut.

Going short on a low fat diet creates just as many gut problems as overdoing lactose and lactobacillus.

So include fats in each meal and eat as wide a range as you can weekly:

• Oils
• Oily fish
• Butter
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Eggs
• Olives
• Great quality meat e.g. organic
• Avocados (they are fibrous so go easy if fibre saturated)
• Dairy (cooked easier to digest if you were previously saturated)

Green Vegetables

Green vegetables are essential for cell repair. These are all low in gas:

• Bok choy / pak choi
• Broccoli (heads only no stalk)
• Cabbage (but not Savoy)
• Choy sum
• Collards
• Endive
• Kale
• Lettuces
• Rainbow chard
• Spinach
• Spring greens
• Swiss chard.

Aim for 2 helpings a day.

Rainbow Vegetables

Eating a good mixture of different coloured vegetables is essential for a healthy well balanced gut.

These are all low in fermentable sugars so can be enjoyed whilst rebalancing gas levels:

• Reds / purples : eggplant*, kohlrabi, red cabbage, radicchio, radishes, pickled beetroot, yam
• Orange : carrots, rutabaga, spaghetti squash, sweet potato
• White : celeriac, oyster mushrooms, parsnip, turnip,
• Green : cucumber, green beans, green pepper, okra.

*You may be sensitive to nightshades whilst gas levels are raised.

Small Helpings Of Fruit

Fruit is rich in healing vitamins but can be tricky with gastritis as most is either too acidic or too gassy.

A few fruit are moderate in both:

• Bananas (firm)
• Coconut
• Dates (2 or 3)
• Dragon fruit
• Guava (ripe)
• Papaya
• Prickly pear

If you have strongly acidic or gassy symptoms rather than a bit of both you could also choose from these :

• Low Acid Fruit : Cantaloupe, honeydew melon, jack fruit, mango, watermelon,
• Low Gas Fruit : Blueberries, kiwi, oranges, passion fruit, pineapple, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberry.

Stick to a few small helpings a day and eat with a meal so you balance out acid, gas and glucose.

Starchy Carbohydrates

Starchy carbs have a very bad rap these days and a diet saturated in them and low in fibre creates insulin and weight problems. But many of us have swung to the other extreme.

A lack of carbs can add to excess acid and gas PLUS thyroid problems.

Including some starchy carbs in each meal – even in tiny amounts – may help us eat a wider range of plant food and is key for re-introducing very fibrous pulses and legumes without re-triggering gas issues.

Complex Fibre

We have got ourselves into a terrible mess in recent years with fibre as:

1. Many people eat barely any
2. Whilst others overload.

Ideally we should eat some fibre rich foods from this mix in each meal:

• Pulses & legumes
• Whole grains
• Fibre rich veggies
• Fibre rich fruit.

They support a good balance of gut bacteria, stabilise our energy levels and help prevent constipation.

So if you have been skipping, gently up your levels little by little.

BUT remember meals full of fibre and nothing else can also unbalance our digestion and cause gut pain.

We have now seen that gently balancing our diet with all the nutrients we need for healing our gut can relieve gastritis in 6 weeks but how we eat our food is also key to treating gastritis naturally.

How To Eat Meals To Help Heal Gastritis

These tiny changes to how we eat have a big impact on gastritis pain:

1. Enjoy small meals slowly
2. Chew well
3. Sit up straight
4. Don’t let stomach get empty (be wary of faddish fasting)
5. Don’t slump on the sofa after meals, keep moving gently.

These all sound obvious but critically they help our body and mind relax to help break the cycle of gut anxiety that can lock gastritis in.

Simple DIY drinks can also help to relieve an anxious gut so let’s look at the best drinks for gastritis.

What Is The Best Drink For Gastritis?

A good number of DIY drinks are power houses at easing gastritis by:

• Killing off unwanted bacteria
• Gently reducing excess gastric acid
• Relieving gas
• Reducing intestinal inflammation
• AND healing our gut lining!!

But most are great at soothing some gastritis symptoms whilst aggravating others. So we need to pick the right drinks to tackle our particular gastritis issues rather than imagine that one single drink is best for everyone with gastritis.

And remember these drinks – like ALL other food – cause problems in excess. Do NOT saturate yourself!!

Potato Juice

The one drink that seems to help all gastritis symptoms is of course the least appetising : potato juice!!!

There is evidence potato juice can see off h pylori, reduce gastric acid, relieve gas AND promote healing.

It is easy to make potato juice with juicers and blenders. Give it a try.

Natural Antibiotic Drinks

These natural antibiotic drinks have all been shown to see off gastritis triggering bacteria such as h pylori:

• Green tea : stops h pylori growth
• Ginger tea : helps kill h pylori
• Coconut : coconut milk and water may protect against gastric ulcers
• Celery juice : rich in flavonoids that help defend us against unwanted bacteria and healing but high in gas generating FODMAPs
• Turmeric latte : is a traditional remedy now shown to kill h pylori:

Teas made with any of these herbs and spices that kill h pylori can help with bacterial gastritis.

Low Acid Drinks

• Chamomile tea : acid easing and anti-inflammatory but may trigger gas in some people
• Coconut : coconut milk & water can gently reduce gastric acid
• Papaya juice : is low in acid & FODMAPs so a gentle option if you are struggling with acid and gas
• Melon juice : low in acid, although a little gassy, cantaloupe less so

Gas Relieving Drinks

• Mint tea : traditional digestive but may trigger acid reflux
• Clove tea : natural pain relief
• Papaya juice : low in gassy FODMAPs and acid so a healthy option when you have gas and acid symptoms.

Healing Drinks

• Aloe Vera Juice : can help repair gut lining but hard to buy in pure form without aggravating preservatives.
• Celery juice : can help to replenish gastric wall mucus but high in FODMAPs so not great with excess intestinal gas …

• Cabbage juice : a traditional remedy for healing gastric wall damage from ulcers. Cabbage (other than Savoy) is surprisingly not gassy so this can be a good option if you have gas and acid.

Anti-Inflammatory

Long term gastritis – and anxiety about it – aggravates inflammation in our intestines. These drinks can all help relax inflammation:

• Green tea
• Mint tea – a very relaxing traditional digestive but can be too relaxing if you have Acid Reflux

• Cinnamon tea – may raise histamine levels so not great if you have high histamine from e.g. excess lactobacillus
• Chamomile tea – may be gassy
• Ginger tea
• Apple cider vinegar

But do NOT overdo them!!

We have three little valves – sphincters – in our digestive system that control movement into and out of our stomach and intestines. If these relax too much we can end up with acid escape from our stomach and bacteria from our large intestine.

So again moderation!!

Bone Broth

All sorts of gut health claims are made for bone broth but there’s no great evidence for many of them.

However, it can be soothing and nutritious when we are struggling to digest anything at all.

Just don’t let it become the basis of every meal. It’s not enough. Sheer hunger makes gastric pain worse.

Bone broth isn’t always cheap to buy so make your own simply and freeze:

These DIY drinks for gastritis make great natural treatments as they all use common kitchen ingredients rather than over priced supplements.

We can also use all sorts of common kitchen herbs and spices to help heal gastritis.

Herbs & Spices That Help Heal Gastritis

We are typically told to avoid spicy food if we have gastritis but a range of herbs and spices actually help heal gastritis.

Herbs & Spices That Kill H Pylori

Research at UCL and Lublin medical schools suggests a range of traditional herbs and spices can:

1. Kill the h pylori bacteria
2. Prevent it attaching to our stomach lining so it can’t grow.

The UCL research suggests the following herbs stop h pylori attaching to stomach lining:

• Turmeric
• Borage
• Parsley

And these herbs and spices actually kill h pylori within 60 minutes:

• Cumin
• Ginger
• Borage
• Black caraway
• Oregano
• Liquorice

Whilst the Lublin research showed these herbs all had strong or good antimicrobial activity against h pylori:

• Chamomile
• Coneflower (echinnea)
• Thyme
• Peppermint

How we digest these herbs and spices impacts their effectiveness but they do appear to be valuable natural treatments for gastritis:

• Brewed in DIY teas
• Added as flavouring to meals.

As ever alternating a range of these herbs reduces the risk of saturation.

It also helps to know which spices actually do aggravate gastritis.

Which Spices Irritate Gastritis

The spices most commonly found to aggravate gastritis are:

• Black pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• Chilli pepper
• Nutmeg
• Mustard
• Garlic

Pepper is particularly problematic for gastritis with research showing black and red pepper:

• Increased gastric acid production
• Caused loss of stomach lining
• Triggered micro bleeding from stomach mucous lining.

Action Plan For Gastritis

OK, so hopefully you now have lots of information that will help you better understand your unexplained gastritis so you can build a treatment plan based on your personal:

• Saturated food groups
• And nutritional shortfalls
• PLUS gently soothing healing food and simple DIY drinks for gastritis.

Whilst focusing for 2 to 6 weeks on reducing saturations and boosting shortfalls, don’t forget to invest in your mental wellbeing. It is key.

We can help our body ease gastritis symptoms with a simple regime of:

1. Getting daylight early
2. Walking for 20-30 minutes daily
3. Spending more time outdoors

PLUS making time every day for activities that truly give us:

• Purpose in our daily life
• Joy & peace despite hard times
• And real connection with our family, friends and neighbours.

Together these nurture the complex connections of our body, mind and gut and really do help us thrive.

I hope these natural treatments for gastritis help in some way. Please let me know how you get on.

REMEMBER always see a doctor if you have gastritis symptoms for more than a few weeks.

For more simple wellbeing tips do explore these related posts:

• Sleep Better Tips
• Cut Inflammation Fast
• Back Pain Relief
• Natural Antibiotics
• Quick Constipation Relief

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Image sources : Garlic and onion, Herbal tea, Coconut milk by by Marco Verch under Creative Commons 2.0

Original image sources :

Original image sources: Woman experiencing abdominal pain, treatment and prevention concept by Marco Verch and rawpixel.com under Creative Commons 2.0