Posted on Apr 30, 2013 in Food Poisoning | 2 comments

Knowing what to do by having some simple home remedies up your sleeve will come in handy should you ever have to deal with food poisoning. Read on to learn more about this chronic health issue and how to treat it.

If you have never had food poisoning before then you are really lucky. It feels absolutely horrible. In this article we discuss signs of the food poisoning, the causes, prevention tips and effective food poisoning remedies.

If you are not so lucky it can knock you out for days and it ends up affecting your home and work life. It doesn’t need to. Not if you don’t eat any contaminated food. We can go over everything you can do to make sure you aren’t bent over a toilet bowl any time soon. Or if you are sick right now… see our page on nausea remedies.

When bacteria, viruses and parasites contaminate the food we eat or the water we drink, we can get food poisoning. Not being able to detect these microscopic vectors makes prevention impossible at the last minute but we can easily prevent food poisoning from the very beginning especially at home. Food poisoning at home occurs due to improper housekeeping habits and the presence of pests such as cockroaches, rats, mice and other pests that are carriers of harmful diseases and viruses. It may seem impossible to be poisoned at home, but contamination can easily happen at any point when it is exposed to bacteria, viruses and parasites. Eliminating pests from your home through professional pest control and learning how to treat food poisoning is essential.

Signs Of Food Poisoning

When you eat or drink contaminated food or water, you may experience acute or severe food poisoning. You can treat food poisoning at home if acute symptoms are experienced, but when the symptoms are severe, seeking immediate medical assistance must not be prolonged. Here are the common signs of food poisoning:

• Sudden abdominal pain when vomiting and losing stool
• Frequent vomiting which can last for more than a day
• Losing stool severely or diarrhea every hour to up to two hours which can last for more than two days
• Vertigo, dizziness and headache
• Dry mouth and severe dehydration
• Weakness, fast heartbeats and trouble breathing
• Muscle and respiratory paralysis

Food Poisoning Prevention Tips

Always Wash Before Touching Food

You’d think it would be pretty obvious to wash your hands before handling food. Sadly that’s not the case. Not to scare you, but sometimes people don’t even wash their hands if they work in a restaurant. It’s just laziness. Always wash your hands with warm soapy water before you cook anything.

Clean Your Kitchen Properly

I know you would rather be sitting watching TV after you finish your meals. The kitchen should be kept clean at all times. And that also includes your utensils. Don’t just dip them in water and presume they’re clean. Give them a good scrub and make sure all the crap is gone.

Use Separate Boards

When you are cutting your food you should always use two separate boards for your cooked and raw foods. It’s all too easy to start chopping vegetables on a board that’s had raw chicken on it. This also applies to the knifes that you use to cut the food.

Wash Your Fruits and Veg

Before you use any fruits and vegetables it’s really important to wash them properly under the tap. They will probably be brought in from the fields and dumped in the supermarket. Think about all that horrible stuff that’s going to be on them. If you don’t do it already, start straight away.

Defrost Your Food

When you know you are going to be using something that’s been in the freezer you should always take it out the night before and let it defrost. It’s too easy to forget and you are left hungry with something that’s not been fully defrosted. Don’t chance your luck and try using it when it’s still partly frozen.

Watch Out for Pets

If you have any pets in the house they will most likely try and get at the food. Normally with dogs it’s OK because they can’t jump onto the counter, but if you have a cat they won’t have any problem getting to the food. If they’ve been out rummaging all day you have no idea where their mouth has been.

Don’t Eat the Pink Bits

I’m sure everyone has been cooking food and hasn’t had the patience to wait long enough for it to finish. Just because you like your steak raw doesn’t mean you can do the same with chicken. Always make sure you cook your food until it is definitely cooked all the way through.

Organize Your Fridge

When you get home from the supermarket and start putting your food away you should keep the raw and cooked foods separate. If you think that’s common sense you’d be right, but it’s obviously not common enough because lots of people aren’t doing it.

Get Rid of Bad Food

I’m sure everyone has been in the position of taking out food from the fridge and nearly being knocked over because of the bad smell. If you were one of the ones who decided to cook it anyway you should stop now. If anything smells like it’s been lying under the sun for a week you should get rid of it.

Check the Dates

Food comes with a used-by date for a reason. It’s so you don’t get sick when eating it. If it was OK to eat they would not throw it in the bins behind the supermarket. Don’t eat anything that’s out of date. You can chance it, but you won’t have anyone to blame when you’re throwing up.

Follow these food poisoning prevention tips and you will most certainly increase your chances of staying healthy.

Treatments You Can Do At Home

If you think that you are suffering from food poisoning, you can always try out a few home remedies to relieve the symptoms. If they do not subside then you must visit a doctor. However, you must never induce vomiting and stay away from antacid and anti-diarrhea medications. Rich, spicy, high in fiber and dairy products must also be avoided while your digestive system is still weak.

Re-Hydrate

Dehydration is a common symptom in food poisoning and since you will constantly lose fluids and electrolytes, you will have to replace them. You can do this by:

• Sucking on frozen juice bars or popsicles
• Drinking broth or water with electrolytes such as light fruit juices or Gatorade
• Drinking raspberry, mint, chamomile, blackberry and ginger lemon tea

Alleviate And Kill Harmful Microorganisms

You can drink these high acidic liquids diluted or undiluted, but you will have to drink them slowly or by sipping. Soft drinks

• 1 to 2 tablespoons of undistilled, unfiltered and unpasteurized apple cider vinegar
• Lemon juice made from two to four lemons
• Grapefruit seed extract – about two to five drops mixed in water

Antibiotics

If you have these at home, you can use them as remedies due to their antiseptic, antibiotic and antioxidant properties. They can also be bought at local herbal stores. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-poisoning/DS00981/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs

• Barberry extracts or capsules
• Garlic
• Papaya
• Ginseng
• Basil
• Goldenseal extract
• Cumin
• Fenugreek
• Licorice

Absorbents

You can consume these if you are bent on having the toxins absorbed from your body to reduce the symptoms being experienced.

• Bread
• Crackers
• Charcoal or activated carbon or charcoal powder or capsule

Getting a good long sleep can help you de-stress and re-energize so your body can fully recover from the pain and symptoms. You can also opt to have some soothing music played to reduce the stress, as well as adjusting the temperature in your home to avoid excessive heat or cold which can make you feel worse.

If your symptoms worsen and if you suddenly begin to experience high fever, slurred speech, bloody bowel movements or vomiting, abdominal swelling, inability to urinate, yellowing of skin, rash outbreak and extreme thirst get to a hospital. Once you have been treated, have your home treated by a pest control professional to get rid of the pests, and then clean your kitchen as well as every utensil and cooking tool with a disinfectant or warm soapy water.

Author: Valerie Williams is a freelance writer specializing in health and well being as well as natural pest control. She also provides information about natural pest control methods from Preventive Pest Control in Paradise, the illnesses and symptoms caused by food contamination and how to treat food poisoning at home.

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