The Accidental Chefs
This book came about through a combination of friendship and common purpose. Two of the authors are medical doctors (trained as ear, nose, and throat specialists), and the third is a French Master Chef. Drs. Jamie Koufman and Jordan Stern were urged to write this book by their reflux patients, for whom the standard two-page brochure wasn’t enough to help them figure out what to eat on a daily basis. Chef Marc Bauer was interested in making his delicious French cuisine accessible to patrons with reflux.
When we set out to write this book, we already had experience treating thousands of patients with reflux. We knew all about the notorious bad-for reflux foods. We knew that some foods cause reflux by disabling esophageal defenses, the equivalent of springing open a trap door.
We also knew that acidic foods cause reflux symptoms. This last point is a recent discovery, and the key to The Reflux Diet.
Reflux management has traditionally been about minimizing the impact of acid from the stomach below, but our research and clinical experience taught us to be just as concerned with “acid from above.” We found that for many reflux patients, a diet that was too acidic was just as bad as having continual gastric reflux, acid coming up from the stomach.
We tested the pH (acidity of many common food and beverages using an ISFET pH meter
As a result, The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure offers new ideas about healthful eating and cooking. This is the first diet cookbook to systematically address the problem of dietary acid.
The authors talked, cooked, and ate their way through every recipe in this book, and we believe that our collaboration honestly reflects the state of the medical art and our combined years of experience.
Be prepared to consider some new ideas. Whole-grain breads, for example, are very good for avoiding reflux, and a slice or two makes a great snack. Just remember that almost everything is going to bed for someone somewhere. That’s the way it is in the world of reflux. Oatmeal and bananas are great items for most refluxers, but not all sufferers. We welcome questions, suggestions, and recipes; you can add your comments, etc., to our blog at www.refluxcookbookblog.com.
Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure has been a work in progress for 25 years. That’s because the principles and recommendations here have evolved as a direct result of clinical and basic medical science research. Until recently, no one understood enough about how reflux causes symptoms and diseases to counsel patients on exactly what to eat and what not to eat.
Naturally, there are foods you will have to learn to avoid. Barbecued ribs, French fries, and chocolate cake will never make a good meal for a refluxer. Still, we felt that the conventional anti-reflux diet was overly restrictive and focused only on what you couldn’t eat–no fried food, no chocolate, no soda–so we came up with recipes that expanded on what you could eat. Wait till you try our oatmeal-crusted salmon!
The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure integrates science, medicine, and culinary art in a bold new way. And while the focus of the book is self-directed reflux management, the basic principles are more broadly beneficial. When you maintain this way of eating, you lose weight and become leaner and fitter–because these dishes are low in fat. In the past “low fat” meant “no fat,” leading to food with no taste. Chef Bauer’s idea to us tasty fats as flavorings, not as main ingredients, represents a paradigm shift in reflux cooking.
The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure offers a healthy dietary foundation on which you can build. Our recipes are original, healthful, and delicious. They make good sense. And given that reflux-related esophageal cancer is currently the fastest growing cancer in the U.S., this diet just might save you life.
