Hard gainer, but frequent heartburn restricts diet. Suggestions?

I am 5'8", 23 yrs old. I am what you would call a "hard gainer." Nevertheless, I was somewhat successful in gaining weight by just eating more, eating a lot of nuts, working out, etc. I was 125 lb about 2 years ago, but I managed to get up to 145 lbs.

But now I have another problem... I went to the doctor earlier this year and he thinks that I have acid reflux. I was on Prilosec for a while, but I decided to stop taking it because I didn't want to become dependent on it for the rest of my life. Plus I've heard it's not really good for your stomach because it will decrease the overall acidity of your stomach (so it's more difficult to digest foods).

I've instead restricted my diet to help deal with the heartburn. I stopped eating dairy, cheese, tomatoes, anything acidic (OJ, etc), and generally anything fast food or fried. Certainly, this has significantly improved my condition. However, I feel like by not eating those foods I have cut out a lot of options that I used to have. Especially milk and cheese... I used to eat those a lot. Thus my weight has gone back down to 135.

SO... sorry for the long explanation haha. But my question is, is there any alternatives to these foods that won't give me heartburn but will help me to get my weight back up? My previous goal before I properly addressed my heartburn problem was 150-155, but now it seems almost impossible.

There's a host of other things you could eat that are non greasy and non acidic.  The complex carbohydrates for example are more easily digested.... rice, pasta, potatoes, noodles, bread...  Just increase your intake at each meal by an ounce or two (uncooked weight) and you should find it makes up a lot of the shortfall.

Ah I see. Thanks for the input.

I'm a little surprised that milk was giving you acid reflux--if you drink lowfat milk, I wouldn't expect it to do that (cheese is a different matter though.) 

In addition to eating different things, I've found that the *timing* of my eating has affected my acid reflux too.  For instance, if I eat just prior to working out, I almost ALWAYS get heartburn.  I try to avoid eating just before going to bed too, because lying flat can be problematic while digesting.  If I eat too fast, it can trigger heartburn.  Also, I try to make sure to chew my food very thoroughly--if you do this, your stomach will produce less acid because it is easier to break down smaller bits of food than big chunks. 

I can understand not wanting to be on Prilosec permanently (it's really expensive if nothing else), but you could consider taking a zantac every now and then if you get a bad flare up.  Unlike Prilosec, zantac starts working relatively quickly (like 30 minutes or so) and you don't have to take it everyday or anything.  You can also take a zantac in advance if you know you are going to eat something that might trigger acid reflux. 

Finally, try to reduce your stress levels.  I don't know if that's a factor for you, but I tend to hold onto stress internally and that makes matters worse. 

Good luck!

I cant eat before a workout, before laying down or before bed. Takeing a stroll after eating helps me, and not being stressed out really helps my heartburn!

For pure calorie count, fatty foods like avocadoes and nut butters are great. Avocadoes are about 322 calories each. Also olive oil is 120 calories/tbsp. Look up high calorie foods, and pick the ones you can eat. Also, protein powders are good. Don't get the weight loss kinds though! If you go to a supplement/protein powder store that sells to bodybuilders, you should be able to ask them if they have a 'gainer' powder. These are super high calorie protein powders that help bodybuilders add bulk fast, and can be really good for getting anough calories if you're trying to get back to a healthy weight. The one I have, is 630 calories per scoop. If added to a glass of milk it makes it 900. If regular cow's milk bothers you you could try goat's milk or rice milk or almond milk, which have less calories than cow's milk but will still help. Check the ingredients of the gainer powder though and try to avoid ones with aspartame because that will cause even more health problems.