Heartburn

There are two different reasons why heartburn happens, and the most common one is not the one you might think of.

Too much stomach acid:

It is pretty rare.
It can happen if you were on PPI (proton pump inhibitors) for a while and just stopped, so the stomach suddenly produces too much acid.
You might have eaten something very high in protein, fats and carbohydrates, leading to an increase in gastric juices.
You might be pregnant, and the size of the baby increased pressure in your abdomen, forcing the lower oesophageal sphincter (LES) open, and the acid crawls up your throat.
Or you might have changed your diet, or maybe you are fasting or you are pretty sick, and now you have something called ketosis. Ketosis means your body has switched from using sugars to using fats as main energy source. The molecules the body produces from fat are called keton bodies, and they have a nasty side effect: they are acidic, increasing the over all pH of your body. Additionally, you breathe out acetone, so your breath will smell like you have been drinking.

Home remedies for too much stomach acid: 1/4 tsp baking soda on a litre of warm water, sip slowly.

Too little stomach acid:

Very common. Age, gut dysbiosis, Helicobacter pylori etc. all cause the production of stomach acid to drop.
Without stomach acid, the following things can happen:

• bacteria, parasites and fungi get access to undigested food and ferment it, leading to burping and bloating, and on the long run causes GERD and SIBO.
• This increases the pressure inside the stomach, and forces the LES to open. 
• The sphincter at the end of the stomach does not want the food to pass, since it is simply not digested enough, throwing the contents of the stomach back with force.

If you feel heavy after eating meat, have frequent heartburn shortly after eating and burp even hours later, and your breath smells rotten, you are more likely to suffer from low stomach acid.

Home remedies for not enough stomach acid:
Lemon juice with meals, Vitamin C between meals, or apple cider vinegar.
Or betaine HCL supplementation (with pepsin). Ask you practitioner for details on dosage.