Food diary for acid reflux: how to find your own triggers
Last updated: 9 October 2026 · Reading time: about 4 minutes
Not medical advice. This page is general information for adults who already have heartburn or acid reflux. It does not diagnose anything and it is not a treatment plan. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist about your symptoms and medicines.
Why a diary at all?
Lists of "foods to avoid" for reflux are the same for everyone, but people react differently. Major health organizations note that certain foods and drinks trigger or worsen symptoms in some people, and advise avoiding the ones that affect you (NIDDK, NHS, Mayo Clinic). Writing down what you eat and when symptoms appear is a practical way to find out which ones those are.
What to write down
- What you ate and drank, including portion size and roughly when.
- Symptoms: heartburn, regurgitation, a sour taste, chest burning, cough. Note when they started and how strong they were (for example 1–5).
- Context: late meals, lying down soon after eating, stress, poor sleep, alcohol, smoking. These can matter as much as the food itself.
- Medicines you took, so you and your clinician can see the whole picture.
How long to track
One bad evening proves little. A diary becomes useful when the same food appears before symptoms more than once and its absence is followed by calm. Two weeks of consistent entries gives most people a first pattern to bring to an appointment; some need longer.
Reading the pattern
- Look for foods or habits that show up repeatedly in the hours before symptoms.
- Compare against days with the same food and no symptoms. A suspect that is fine half the time may depend on portion, timing or combination.
- Change one thing at a time. Dropping ten foods at once tells you nothing about which one mattered.
- Treat the result as a hypothesis to discuss with your doctor or dietitian, not a verdict.
Foods that commonly appear on trigger lists
The sources above mention, among others, fatty or fried food, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, mint, citrus, tomato-based food and spicy dishes. "Commonly mentioned" does not mean it affects you, and plenty of people tolerate several of these. That gap is exactly what a diary is for.
When to see a doctor rather than keep a diary
Get medical advice if heartburn happens often, keeps coming back, wakes you at night, or does not settle with the treatment you have been given. Seek care promptly for trouble or pain when swallowing, repeated vomiting, black or bloody stools, unexplained weight loss, or chest pain, especially with shortness of breath or pain spreading to the arm or jaw. Chest pain can be a heart problem, not reflux.
Doing it on paper or in an app
Paper works if you will actually fill it in. AcidLog is an app that does the logging in about 30 seconds and lines your meals up against your symptoms, so the pattern is visible without a spreadsheet. It is a diary and correlation tool, not a medical device, and it does not diagnose or recommend treatment. The 14-day trigger discovery is free.
Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play
Sources
- NIDDK (National Institutes of Health): Acid reflux (GER & GERD) in adults
- NHS: Heartburn and acid reflux
- Mayo Clinic: GERD, symptoms and causes
AcidLog is a diary and correlation tool — not a medical device, and never a replacement for your doctor.