Messed up Just the opposite. Got to be careful not to do this. Sorry. Couldn't sleep. Barb

Well Barb, I was advised to go on a "low acid" diet for a chronic urinary tract problem. I followed the diet for years, but found it had limited effectiveness. I cut out all acid foods, but found out it was really only a few that bothered me. My worst offenders were diet soda and anything with artificial sweetener in it. Also tannic acids, so no tea, even green or decaf, and no wine, particularly red wine. No raisins either, but a handful doesn't bother me. I cut out cranberry juice mostly because of all the high fructose corn syrup. YMMV. I limit my processed wheat to one serving a day. I find with gluten that a little is OK. That's a gut problem for me, not a urinary tract one. Probiotics help a LOT with both problems.

I don't eat a lot of acidic fruits, but a few don't bother me. I avoid most soda pop because of the high fructose corn syrup. Tomatoes are on the no no list, but they don't bother me. I grow and can my own as much as I am able. I avoid processed and smoked meats. Most of them are very fatty anyway. Happily, coffee and chocolate don't bother me either, so go figure. YMMV.

If you google "Interstitial Cystitis" and diet, you will find lots of recommendations, Like this link for example, IC diet, most and least bothersome foods.

Plenty of foods you can eat.

Barb, I think it depends on the person. I can eat tomatoes and I can eat onions, but if I eat them together (like in spaghetti sauce), then I'm sorry. Cooked garlic is OK, but raw garlic isn't. And raw onions on a chili dog is going to cause terminal reflux that lasts a couple of days.

I'm not a huge fan of fruit, but I find that most don't upset me except grapefruit and fresh pineapple.

You may need to do what my daughter did, she eliminated anything that was acidic or upset her, then added things back in, one at a time. That's how she found that she was lactose intolerant. When she mentioned it to her doctor he said that many people with celiac disease are also lactose intolerant. It would have been nice if he had told her that instead of just letting her be sick until she figured it out...

Good luck.

Annie

If it's stomach acid rather than further down the line (or maybe that too, but I know much less about it), you might get relief from repopulating the flora. When things get too out of whack, almost anything can prompt an acid response. There are bacteria and enzymes that are needed to break down certain foods, and with the kind of struggles you've had, they can die off. I'm no expert so won't tell you how to do this, but you can look it up. It's basically going steps beyond the standard probiotic supplements to get a fuller spectrum of the necessary bits.

If your health care provider suggested such a diet, ask him/her for the name of a dietitian to contact for advice.

If you receive a blank look, phone a local hospital to ask the same question.

The Alkaline ash diet is very different than a diet that is low in acid foods. Eliminating foods that may cause GERD is different. In a GERD diet things like tomatoes and citrus are suspect, but are encouraged in the Alkaline diet.
find out more specifically what your Dr. wants you to do.