Sure, if you get an upset stomach you can always try popping antacids, but doing so can actually cause more harm than good.

Stomach acid is vital for food digestion and frequently taking antacids can cut down on the acid you need at mealtimes, which in turn can raise your cholesterol.

So how can you battle an upset stomach without causing more problems than you're fixing? Simple. Do it the natural way.

There are plenty of foods and other natural remedies that can soothe your stomach, starting with eHow.com's recommendation of papaya and ginger.

Both papaya and ginger are natural stomach aids that can kick start the digestion process. You can find papaya in chewable tablets and ginger can be found in tea or capsule form.

But you can also just peel a piece of ginger root and chew on it, according to the health blog FitSugar.com. Using raw ginger in this way has been used for thousands of years to aid digestion.

If you're not into raw ginger or ginger tea, you could instead try ginger ale. FitSugar recommends looking for the all-natural, high-fructose-corn-syrup-free varieties.

Peppermint is also known for its properties as a stomach calmer. After dinner mints do more than just freshen your breath, they can also help your stomach along. And a cup of hot peppermint tea sipped after a heavy meal can make smooth the process while eliminating any overpowering tastes.

eHow.com also offers this word of advice when it comes to ensuring your digestion process goes smoothly: avoid drinking too much water with your meal. Water dilutes stomach acids and enzymes and can cause meals to linger in the stomach longer than they should.

Lemon is also known for its stomach-calming properties. The bloggers at FitSugar suggest squeezing the juice from one whole fresh lemon into a cup of hot water and sipping it slowly when your stomach acts up.

"The hot water will help to flush out your system, and the lemon helps break down food, easing the work of the stomach acids," FitSugar says.

Rice and yogurt can also help with stomach problems, FitSugar says. In fact, eating yogurt often can help beat tummy trouble altogether thanks to food's healthy dose of probiotics.

Of course, there's always the old standby of saltine crackers and 7-Up or Sprite. Your mother might have given this remedy to you as a child when you weren't feeling well, and for good reason. Crackers can help settle a stomach and the carbonation in 7-Up and Sprite can provide some temporary relief as well.

The blog www.natural-homeremedies.org suggests mixing water with some mint essence and drinking it in place of regular water every few hours.

This will not only help with upset stomachs, but also refreshes the mouth and cures any bitter or sour taste left behind from indigestion, the blog says.

The blog also offers several other suggestions to soothe your aching tummy, including:

• Drinking a mixture of baking soda in a glass full of water for some quick relief. Although it does warn against doing so too often.
• Massaging the stomach with some warmed garlic oil
• Using cumin or asafoetida as tempering while cooking, since they help digest food

But the best food to nurse an upset stomach is buttermilk, according to www.natural-homeremedies.org. Buttermilk helps fill the stomach without irritating it while also making sure the body is hydrated.

If none of this works, John Tesh -- of all people -- passes this advice along on his website from Dr. Andrew Rubman, naturopathic physician at the Southbury Clinic in Connecticut: Eat sauerkraut.

While it probably doesn't do much good to pile that sauerkraut on top of a hot dog, the kraut itself contains enzymes released during the fermentation process of the cabbage that will help neutralize a sour stomach.