Hiatal hernia is a medical condition in which some portion of the stomach bulges out through an opening in the diaphragm. In healthy situations, the diaphragm separates the chest and abdomen without any bulging of hiatal hernia. Hiatal hernia is accompanied by heartburn, demanding some treatment or food alteration. An intelligent diet plan for hiatal hernia patients is necessary, which includes eliminating foods that cause acidity.

Though most of the time hiatal hernia patients seem healthy and show no symptoms, yet some trivial symptoms like heartburn, belching etc. are sometimes seen. The symptoms become severe when the patient lies down. Dry cough can be an irritating symptom of hiatal hernia. It occurs due to regurgitation of acid in the throat.
 

A healthy diet plan along with treatment is a must for hiatal hernia patients as healthy food can prevent these symptoms.
 

Citrus foods must never find place in the diet plan of a hiatal hernia patient. These foods may cause acidity, making the situation worse. Sour foods like grapes, oranges, lemon, pickles, sauce vinegar etc. are also to be excluded from the diet plan of hiatal hernia patients. Other foods that need to be excluded from a healthy diet plan are fried foods and spices. It is recommended to avoid even healthy foods that have added preservatives and artificial flavors.
 

Dieticians recommend avoiding tea, coffee, and carbonated beverages from the diet plan of hiatal hernia patients. Some otherwise healthy spices like garlic and onion may aggravate acidity and hence should be avoided from diet plan.
 

Eating small meals instead of binging is a healthy choice to reduce the hiatal hernia symptoms.
 

Alcohol withdrawal and avoiding smoking are also recommended for alleviating symptoms in hiatal hernia.
 

A sensible diet plan for hiatal hernia includes healthy foods that prevent constipation as well. Foods such as papaya, figs, and banana are recommended for this purpose.
 

The drug treatment of hiatal hernia is antacids. In some cases, hiatal hernia gets trapped and does not come back to the abdominal cavity. The symptoms of this situation are severe chest pain, demanding emergency treatment. Symptoms of anemia due to bleeding hiatal hernia are also evident. Surgical treatment is indicated when the reflux symptoms do not resolve with drug treatment. Conventional and laparoscopy treatments are reserved only for a small number of patients and a healthy diet is the mainstay treatment recommended for most of the cases.