“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are,” wrote Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in the early 19th century. He was not a chef. In fact, he served as mayor, practiced law, was a politician and a judge. But he did write some of the most influential aphorisms about food and has been praised a lot for his take “on transcendental gastronomy.”
Basically, Brillat-Savarin believed that what people ate defined them, he believed in eating good foods that nurture the body, and he believed that unhealthy foods make people unhealthy. A lot of the knowledge that he gained on the chemistry of food came from interactions with Paris’ most distinguished minds, so he knew what he was talking about.
But what does this have to do with unhealthy condiments?
Let’s just say that Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin would have never paired fish with tartar sauce because as someone interested in the nature of digestion, he would have known it can trigger heartburn.
What causes heartburn?
Heartburn is that sensation you get in your abdomen, chest or throat after you’ve eaten certain foods, but although it’s called heartburn, the discomfort may actually come from the stomach and not from your heart.
In some cases, heartburn is caused by disorders of the stomach muscle and of the esophagus, but often times it is food that triggers it, particularly foods with too much acidity. It’s also how much you eat that can trigger heartburn.
If you eat a lot of any food and you have a sensitive stomach, issues could occur.
Avoid tartar sauce and others
Some foods have hidden sources of acidity so you may eat your low acid vegetables-salad thinking you’re miles away from developing heartburn, but if you sprinkle that salad with sour dressing, you might start feeling the negative effects in no time.
Avoid simple oil-and-vinegar dressing and sauces such as mustard, ketchup, salsa, marinara sauce and tartar sauce because they are a hidden source of vinegar and will add to the problem.
Acidic foods such as tomatoes, grapefruits, oranges, rhubarb, strawberries, and cranberries should also be avoided or at least consumed less often and in small quantities, and definitely not on an empty stomach. Avoid fatty foods and deep fried foods too.
What you can eat instead
You can eat plenty of naturally sweet foods. The list includes ricotta cheese, coconut, pears, dates, and honeydew.
Don’t refrain from eating sweet potatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, asparagus, avocado, wheat bread, and vanilla pudding either because they are all low acid foods that make it easy for your stomach to digest.
When eating pasta, for example, add less sauce to your meal and substitute with more vegetables or meat.
Treating acid indigestion, acid reflux or heartburn
If you find yourself experiencing acid indigestion and you want to treat it differently than with over the counter anti-acids, what you can do is switch to natural, herbal anti-acids.
Alternatively, treat it with sweet foods. This is your chance to enjoy a bowl of well-deserved ice cream and claim it is for treatment, which it is because sweet foods are also natural anti-acids. Too late into the night for ice cream? A glass of cow’s milk will do the job too.