How I calmed my gastritis naturally (without medication)

I was soft diagnosed with gastritis in the Fall of 2023. I say “soft” because the doctor simply guessed rather than giving me an endoscopy to confirm the gastritis. Which is quite common but frustrating. Nevertheless, I was instantly prescribed a PPI, under the pretense that it should “clear things up” within a couple of weeks. I naively believed this.

I didn’t know much about the stomach at the time, so I was hopeful. It wasn’t until I started posting about it on TikTok 6 months later that I realized how common this situation was and how frequently people with any GI issues are put on PPIs. I also realized how infuriatingly careless doctors were when it came to chronic gut conditions. But that’s a story for another time.

I, like many others, didn’t want to be on PPIs for weeks, months, and especially not years. The idea that PPIs will help heal gastritis is simply wrong, but that didn’t stop doctor after doctor from trying to convince me that this was the truth—that if I wanted to heal, I’d have to stay on them until the inflammation was gone.

On the contrary, long-term PPI use can cause other gut health issues and worsen existing ones. Even if they do reduce gastritis symptoms (and for many people, they do not), PPIs are not a holistic solution; they cover up the symptoms without addressing the root cause.

So I stopped taking them and focused on how I could actually heal the inflammation without them.

Here’s what I did:

The elimination diet

I stuck to a (pretty strict) anti-inflammatory diet for 90 days. 90 days felt like a magic number to me, but in hindsight, 1-3 months is a rough recommendation if you’re looking for a place to start.

I cut out gluten, dairy, alcohol, caffeine (even in tea), fried foods, high-fat foods, garlic, tomatoes. You can see the full list of everything I ate (and did not eat) during these 90 days plus some helpful tips for healing in my healing guide.

It was a very challenging 90 days, and I don’t recommend extending beyond that timeframe as it’s unnecessary and extremely unpleasant. But I was able to get my symptoms completely under control (I went 45 days straight without a flare-up) without being on any medication.

Supplements

Supplements are just that, supplemental, but I feel it’s important to mention them as they were a key part of my healing routine. During those 90 days, I took L-Glutamine in the morning on an empty stomach, a DGL chewable tablet before my 3 main meals, and slippery elm powder in my tea before bed. I have a list in my ShopMy with my favorite supplements.

Since then, I’ve tried various other supplements, but these were the 3 that did not give me any undesirable side effects and were helpful based on my specific symptoms.

Stress Reduction

When your nervous system is under pressure, your digestion slows down and stomach acid increases. It’s not “just in your head;” it is an actual physiological response. I say this because “stress less” is so often touted out as good advice, but it’s really hard to follow when stress is built into our daily modern life. Many of us struggle with chronic stress without even being aware of it.

I restructured my days to allow for buffer periods between sleeping and waking, so that I wasn’t elevating my stress response first thing in the morning and right before bed. Prioritizing my sleep was the foundation of reducing the chronic stress in my life. In the mornings, I would choose to do a 10-minute meditation, light yoga, or journal, and at night I’d do whatever I didn’t do in the mornings. As someone who struggled with staying consistent with these types of habits in the past, I found that sticking to them, despite my cynicism about them, really helped me manage my emotions throughout the day. Work stress became a little lighter, relationship issues were easier to resolve, even the stress of dealing with chronic illness became more manageable because I was giving myself space to feel my emotions in a healthy way and breathe through them rather than ignore them.

I stopped working out for a period

I was big on going to the gym 5 days a week before my symptoms started. But when I was really struggling, my sleep was suffering, and I was losing weight quickly due to my restrictive diet. I had to stop lifting weights and doing intense workouts for about 6 months. I replaced those workouts with walking and yoga and was able to slowly add gym workouts back into my routine once I started eating more. But I had to be patient and really allow my body to feel safe and calm during this healing phase.

I started to feel almost normal again

By the end of the 90 days, I was feeling okay. After 5 months, I was almost feeling normal again. By 8 months, I was eating out, drinking wine occassionally, and feeling less anxious about trying new foods. Even though I wasn’t fully healed, I was much better than I was when I started.

After a year of focusing on healing, I was finally able to get an endoscopy (it took doctors that long to take me seriously, and even then, they were reluctant to administer it). The endoscopy revealed mild chronic gastritis and signs of bile reflux, but no signs of esophageal damage. The bile reflux diagnosis explained why the gastritis wasn’t healing faster, which led me on a new healing path that I’m still working through.

But the shift in how I felt from month 0 to month 8 was a night-and-day difference. These key changes seriously helped me go from sleepless nights to feeling my healthiest in years. None of these recommendations are groundbreaking; the key was being consistent and patient and riding out the storm rather than wishing and praying that this wasn’t happening to me.

Once you accept the diagnosis, treatment becomes a lot more feasible. I was in denial for a few weeks before I truly understood that this could actually be happening to me. The first month was hell, the second month was less so, and like I said before, I felt almost normal 6 months in.

Start today because the time will pass anyway. If you need a little extra guidance, I’m here.

Here's to a healthier 2026.