Some 250 different bacteria, viruses, and parasites can cause food poisoning. In most cases, food poisoning usually shows up hours or days after you’ve eaten something that made you sick. But different organisms work at different speeds. For example, Staphylococcus aureus can give you cramps, diarrhea, and nausea in as little as 30 minutes after you eat or drink. This bacterium grows in meats, eggs, and cream that haven’t been refrigerated properly. Another, far less common, cause of foodborne illness is the hepatitis A virus. It can lie in wait as long as 50 days before making itself known.
Symptoms of Food Poisoning:
- From mild to severe abdominal cramps, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness and dehydration, food poisoning is a condition that should not to be ignored.
- Your symptoms usually pass in a few days or even in mere hours. But if your discomfort doesn’t go away, you may need to get checked and find out exactly what made you sick. You should also see a doctor if along with other symptoms you have high fever, blood in your stool, or feel dehydrated or unable to keep any food or liquid down.
How to avoid Food poisoning:
- Foods should be cooked thoroughly. This especially applies to eggs, poultry, and meat. A meat thermometer can be used to measure the internal temperature of a meat dish.
- Leftovers should be refrigerated immediately so bacteria and viruses do not have time to start growing.
- Wash fruits and vegetables well before eating. This removes dirt, pesticides, chemicals, or other infectious agents used on, or exposed to, the foods in the fields or storage facilities.
- Wash hands routinely before and after handling food to help prevent the spread of infection.
- Thoroughly clean counters and other areas that are used to clean, prepare, and assemble foods. Cross contamination of food is common and can cause food poisonings. For example, a cutting board and knife used to cut raw chicken should be washed thoroughly before cutting up fruit and vegetables to prevent the spread of Salmonella.
- In restaurants, meals are prepared by others. Health inspectors check restaurants routinely and their reports on sanitary practices are usually available online. Make certain the food ordered is thoroughly cooked, especially meats such hamburger.
- Pregnant women and people who have compromised immune systems, such as those undergoing chemotherapy or who are taking medication such as prednisone, should avoid eating soft cheeses like camembert, brie, blue, and feta because of the risk of contracting Listeria. Be very sure all fruits and vegetables are cleaned thoroughly prior to eating, no matter the source.
Home remedies for Food Poisoning:
- It is very important to keep yourself fully hydrated during the period of food poising, as your body tends to lose more water through diarrhea. Also, keeping up your water content, rapidly flushes out the toxins and bacteria, which enhances your recovery.
- Ginger is an excellent home remedy for curing almost all types of digestive problems. Take a tablespoon of honey with a few drops of ginger juice to reduce inflammation and pain.
- Cumin or jeera seeds are a good way to soothe the inflammation in your stomach, reduce the tenderness and aid healing. Crush a tablespoon of cumin seeds and add it to your clear soup.
- Basil is another excellent home remedy to cure infections of both the stomach and the throat. Strain the juice of a few basil leaves and add it to a tablespoon of honey. It’s bound to show positive results within a couple of hours.
- Bananas are a rich of potassium. They aid recovery and reduce the effects of food poisoning to an impressive level. Mash a couple of bananas and apple, or whip up a quick banana shake.
- Apples are as effective against food poisoning as they reduce heartburn and acid reflux. Apples are known to have enzymes that inhibit the growth of the bacteria that cause diarrhea and stomach ache.
- The acidity of the lemon juice kills most of the bacteria that cause food poisoning. Squeeze the juice of a lemon and add a pinch of sugar to it. Drink it as you would take any medicine, or you can even add lemon to your tea.
- Activated charcoal absorbs all the unwanted gases and substances that may be harmful to the delicate lining of the stomach, thereby aiding speedy recovery.
- Being acidic in nature, vinegar, specifically apple cider vinegar, soothes the gastro-intestinal lining. Also, it makes the environment of the stomach inhospitable for the bacteria to breed in, which helps speed up the recovery.
- Peppermint oil is known to have a soothing effect, which is extremely beneficial for people suffering from stomach spasms due to food poisoning. Add a few drops to your tea; your cramps will vanish in a couple of hours.