The burning sensation will travel from your diaphragm to your throat and you will taste something sour and bitter on your mouth and feel as if food is reentering your mouth. You feel like vomiting and when you do gag, no food will come out. Around 20 percent of adults experience a mild case of heartburn. Chocolate is another type of food you should avoid as it is a known trigger for heartburn. This is because chocolate relaxes the LES or the Lower Esophageal Sphincter. The LES acts as a valve to keep stomach acid from pouring in to your esophagus. When it is relaxed, stomach acid can freely bypass the LES and reach your esophagus, which in turn causes heartburn. This can also cause you to experience persistent heartburn or pyrosis and if it is already affecting your quality of life, surgical intervention may be needed to treat the problem. Basically Hiatal Hernia occurs when the stomach protrudes upwards through the hiatus, which is a space in the diaphragm. The nicotine you inhale will increase the production of stomach acid and it will also weaken the LES or the lower esophageal sphincter. The LES acts as a valve which is primarily responsible for keeping stomach acid inside the stomach and prevent it from reaching your esophagus. You should also avoid drinking too much alcohol. When you eat certain foods that weaken or relax the sphincter, it will allow stomach acid to reach the esophagus, which ultimately causes heartburn. This means you should avoid coffee, chocolates, onions, peppermint, and citric fruits, such as oranges and pineapple. If you are a smoker and you frequently experience heartburn, then you may want to stop smoking. You also need to avoid or lessen your consumption of foods that can damage your esophagus, such as spicy food, oranges, pineapple or citrus fruits and juices, tomato sauce and foods that contain a lot of tomatoes. You should also stop smoking as nicotine can damage your LES or the lower esophageal sphincter, which is primarily responsible for preventing stomach acid from reaching your esophagus.