You may not realize it, but the foods you eat may be triggering your tummy. If you feel slightly nauseous, have a "warm" feeling in your throat after eating, or experience stomach issues after a meal, you could have acid reflux or heartburn.

Normally, when you eat, food combines with natural stomach acid to digest food and help your body absorb nutrients from the food. According to Healthline, "acid reflux occurs when there is acid backflow from the stomach into the esophagus."

If the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) isn't closed, you could end up with stomach acid moving up towards your mouth, and nobody wants that.

Do you suffer from heartburn or problems with digestion? You might be able to reduce your symptoms.

Since what you eat affects your level of stomach acid, avoiding certain foods can help control acid reflux. Beat the bloat by cutting out these foods:

1. Watermelon

If you were planning to eat a pile of this delicious summer treat, think again. Watermelon contains a lot of FODMAPs, or rapidly fermentable carbohydrates, which can lead to a lot of tummy trouble. Fructose and polyols are just a few of these that tend to increase the growth of gut bacteria, which results in excess stomach acid.

2. Citrus Fruits

Generally speaking, you want to avoid all foods high in acid, and citrus is one of the biggest ones. That includes oranges, grapefruit, lemons, and limes. Grapefruit in particular has fructans which are difficult to digest. Avoid these if you want to decrease acid reflux.

3. Alcohol

We know, this is something you don't want to hear. Enjoying a beer on the patio in the summertime is one of life's greatest joys. But you might want to swap your favorite brew for a mojito, because beer and red wine have both been shown to relax your esophageal sphincter more than other types of booze.

Continue to the next page to see more foods to avoid!

4. Coffee

How many coffees do you drink every day? You might want to dial it back a little. Not only can caffeine irritate your mood, but it can also increase stomach acid, resulting in more severe heartburn symptoms. Even decaf is high in acid, so reduce your coffee intake and you could see a difference.

5. Blackberries

Although other berries are okay to eat, blackberries are very high in polyols, a sugar alcohol that may be hard to digest. Because the polyols irritate your stomach, you might end up with too much stomach acid which can backlog into your esophagus.

6. Spicy Food

Not everyone experiences the same thing when it comes to spicy food. Some people say that it increases heartburn, while others claim it calms their stomach. Next time you have curry, pay attention to how you feel afterwards. That will be your clue on whether to avoid spicy foods in future.

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