The functional nutrition approach to healing Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) focuses on identifying and addressing the root causes of symptoms through diet and lifestyle changes. This whole body, root cause approach is individualized based on a comprehensive functional nutrition assessment, individual symptoms, health history, and labs aiming to restore balance to the digestive system.

What is Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease or GERD?

GERD also known as Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease is a gastrointestinal condition that is characterized by GI symptoms that result from the abnormal reflux of stomach contents int the esophagus, oral cavity, and/or lungs. The main two symptoms of GERD are heartburn (reflux) and regurgitation: the movement of stomach contents backing up into the mouth. There are three different subtypes of GERD which are explained in detail below.

What are the 3 different Subtypes of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease?

GERD is classified into one of the three subtypes:

1. Non-erosive reflux disease: this is the common subtype of GERD, affecting 60-70% of individuals with GERD. Individuals with non-erosive reflux disease or (NERD) have typical GERD symptoms but no visible signs of injury to the lining of the esophagus.
2. Erosive esophagitis: Individuals with erosive esophagitis show visible signs in the lining of the esophagus as well as acid reflux symptoms. This affects 30% of individuals with GERD.
3. Barrett’s esophagus: this occurs when long term acid reflux causes severe damage to the mucosa of the esophagus lining.

The whole body, root cause approach to Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease from a functional nutrition perspective:

Overall from a whole body, root cause approach, to heal GERD we would look at using a therapeutical diet to first manage GI symptoms, targeted supplements aimed for healing your gut, and then work to rebalance the gut using the 5R Treatment Protocol linked here. Any potential root causes are identified using the STAIN method specifically looking at stress, toxins (mold, plastics, heavy metals), adverse food reactions, infections, and nutritional imbalances.

During the initial comprehensive functional nutrition assessment, we will look at:

• Past Medical History: initial comprehensive patient questionnaire, symptom questionnaire, root causes: STAIN model, history of N/V/D/C (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation), family history (GI disorders, GERD, Celiac Disease), current medications/OTC’s and dietary supplements, lifestyle factors such as sleep, stress, exercise, etc.
• Anthropometrics: changes in body weight, weight loss, weight gain.
• Nutrition Focused Physical Exam: dark circles under eyes, mouth sores, abdominal distention/bloating, hair loss/hair thinning, red, swollen tongue, skin rashes, night sweats.
• Dietary and Food Habits: nutrient density in meals, caloric intake, meal pattern and timing, macronutrient balance, micronutrient and phytonutrient intake, optimal fiber intake — fiber types and sources, processed food and refined sugar intake, hydration, alcohol intake, caffeine, spicy foods/spices, adverse food reactions (food allergies or intolerances), prebiotic sources, probiotic sources, fermented foods, gut microbiome diversity.
• Conventional Labs: Comprehensive metabolic profile (CMP), CBC with differential, fasting insulin & HbA1C (Hemoglobin A1C), complete iron profile including serum ferritin, serum 25-OH Vitamin D, serum B12.
• Functional Labs: GI-MAP by diagnostic solutions or OAT test by mosaic diagnostics.
• Wearables Data: apple watch for exercise/HRV (heart rate variability), whoop for exercise/HRV, oura ring for sleep tracking.

A personalized functional nutrition care plan will be created for you based on the data from the initial comprehensive functional nutrition assessment that includes personalized diet therapy that is condition specific, personalized targeted supplements depending on the GERD subtype, as well as lifestyle changes in stress level, sleep quality, and exercise which are important for gut health.

By addressing these underlying causes — through personalized approaches like nutrition, simple lifestyle changes, and targeted supplements — functional nutrition aims to bring the body back into balance and resolve GERD at its root.

What are common symptoms associated with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease?

Symptoms are a sign that something is off internally within one of these systems: Inflammation, Gut Dysbiosis or Gut Imbalance, Impaired Detoxification, Hormonal Imbalance, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Circadian Rhythm Disturbances, Oxidative Stress, Neuro-disruption, or Immune dysregulation. Symptoms are essentially your body crying out for help in the only way that they know how to communicate. Symptoms associated with GERD include:

• Heartburn
• Regurgitation
• Bloating
• Belching
• Chronic cough
• Difficulty swallowing
• Nausea
• Dyspepsia (indigestion, abdominal pain + discomfort after eating or drinking)
• Asthma
• Hoarse voice
• Laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx resulting in a hoarse, scratchy voice)
• Epigastric (upper abdominal) pain

Some of these symptoms are atypical meaning they occur less often than the main typical symptoms of GERD such as heartburn and regurgitation and they may overlap with other conditions.

What are root causes of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease?

• Delayed gastric emptying: in which the stomach doesn’t empty food as quickly as it should. This causes the partially digested to linger in the stomach for too long increasing the chance of acid reflux.

Conditions that Are linked alongside Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease:

• Anxiety
• Asthma
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Hiatal hernia

How can I help treat Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease using functional lab testing?

The GI MAP stool test is not required to heal GERD, but it is helpful for assessing the root cause of digestive issues for a more personalized functional nutrition care plan.

My storefront is linked here to order functional labs, which is signed off by a nationally-licensed physician, to assess for gut health issues, hormonal imbalances, or vitamin/mineral deficiencies. If you need help creating a personalized functional nutrition care plan based on the interpretation of any of the above functional labs, you can work with us here.

Functional lab testing would be a good idea if you really wanted to hone in on the specifics of gut microbiome imbalances, hormonal imbalances, vitamin/mineral deficiencies.

Are there any therapeutic diets used in healing Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease from a root cause approach?

Therapeutic diets for GERD typically include either a therapeutic comprehensive elimination diet trial, a traditional GERD diet, or a low carbohydrate diet. Elimination diets involved the removal of certain foods that are considered potential triggers from the diet until GI symptoms subside and then gradually re-introducing “trigger foods” to determine which food, if any, are triggering GI symptoms.

The therapeutic diet chosen for GERD aims to first manage GI symptoms, reduce inflammation, and reduce immune system burden. These are short-term therapeutic diets that are not meant for you to stay on the rest of your life. We are aiming to first heal and repair the gut, slowly re-introduce new foods, identify any trigger foods, and then work to rebalance the gut using the 5R Treatment Protocol linked here.

Looking at it from the STAIN framework — Stress, Toxins, Adverse Food Reactions, Infections, and Nutritional Imbalances — we aim to identify the root causes and design a personalized nutrition care plan based on your unique biochemical individuality. Biochemical individuality is the concept that each of us has a different nutrition blueprint to achieve optimal wellness. We each have our own, unique genetic expression and that is shown in a personalized nutrition care plan made just for you.

Tip: Keep a food journal so that pre and post meals you can become more in tune with your body and see how certain meals make you feel. Continuously check in with yourself to see how you are feeling, this is the type of subjective information that only you can know for yourself and make sure to share this information with the dietitian that you are working with!

Ask yourself: How do I feel after eating this specific meal? *insert symptom here* It’s helpful to have a dietitian that is able to look at your food journals so that they can decipher what specific ingredient or a combination of ingredients that may be causing these symptoms. Having a food journal is also helpful to look for any potential food reactions that may be related to GERD.

Are there any supplements, probiotic strains, botanicals, or herbs that are helpful in healing Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease?

Targeted supplements, alongside a therapeutic diet using a food as medicine approach, are often used for gut microbiome support and healing. Different targeted supplements are helpful in treatment depending on the subtype of GERD that you have. Remember supplements are there to “supplement” or to help the main treatment which is using a food as medicine approach to healing. Some general helpful supplements for GERD are:

• Sodium alginate
• A high quality probiotic supplement to reduce regurgitation and heartburn
• Deglycyrrhizinated licorice root to increase mucus secretion helping to heal GI symptoms associated with GERD.
• L-Glutamine

Make sure to order from a high quality and third party tested brand instead of purchasing from Amazon where practically anyone can sell anything without any rigorous testing. To make it easier for you, you may order from my supplement dispensary below through Fullscript’s catalog where each brand and product meets strict top quality standards. You can learn more about third party testing here.

My supplement dispensary is linked here (with a 30% off discount!) and you do not need to be a client to place an order.

What are some diet and lifestyle tips that can help me during the process of healing Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease?

Look at sleep, diet, exercise, and stress management.

Here are some helpful tips for you to begin the process of healing GERD:

• Chew your food mindfully and thoroughly
• Take a walk after meals to increase gastric emptying
• Having a routine that includes any form of daily movement: walking for 30 minutes daily has been shown to improve GI symptoms and lower inflammation.
• Drink fluids between meals not during
• Limiting intake of ultra-processed foods and foods with refined sugars
• Have a stress management routine! (traditional yoga, yoga nidra, breathwork)
• Yoga helps to reduce anxiety and stress resulting in improved GI symptoms.
• Using a bidet

Gentle reminder: Don’t stress yourself with an all or nothing mentality where you feel like you have to implement everything on this list all at once. Sometimes in order to reach the end goal, you need to take baby steps at first and build these habits bit by bit.

How can I heal Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease with the help of a functional nutrition dietitian?

Each person is unique and this is recognized in a personalized functional nutrition assessment and intervention plan that engages and empowers the patient in this process to restore optimal function, manage symptoms and promote overall health and well-being.

Functional nutrition addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. We look at it from a root-cause perspective and create a focus on prevention through nutrition, therapeutic diets, targeted supplementation, exercise, interpretation of conventional and/or functional lab testing, botanicals, detoxification protocols, and stress management tools.

Overall from a whole body, root cause approach, to heal GERD we would look at using a therapeutical diet to manage GI symptoms, targeted supplements aimed for healing your gut depending on the GERD subtype, and then work to rebalance the gut using the 5R Treatment Protocol linked here.

By addressing these underlying causes — through personalized approaches like evidence-based nutrition, simple lifestyle changes, and targeted supplements — functional nutrition aims to bring the body back into balance and resolve GERD at its root.