Home Remedies for FOOD POISONING

FOOD POISONING

 

Food poisoning, also known as acute gastroenteritis, is an acute inflammation of the lining of the stomach and small bowel. It is caused in various ways, one of which is excessive indulgence in alcohol. Some people are allergic to certain items of food, which may act poison to them.

 

Food poisoning usually begins suddenly with a feeling of nausea and abdominal cramps, followed by vomiting, diarrhea, and weakness. Rectal burning may be intense, and the stools may contain blood and mucus. All of this loss of fluid from the bowel may result in severe dehydration and shock. There is pain in the abdomen, with some distension, especially in the lower area.

 

Germs cause the worst attacks of food poisoning. Foods used at picnics, in restaurants, and at home are easily contaminated by toxins or poisonous substances, produced by staphylococcus bacteria. Foods most commonly that cause food poisoning are various meats, fish, pastes, custards, cream filled pastry, milk, ad many different kinds of deserts.

 

The trouble seems to arise from skin infections on the hands of those who handle food. Within two or three hours after taking this type of contaminated food, the patient suffers from severe abdominal cramps, followed by nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, often resulting in severe prostration and shock. Most of these attacks only last a few hours and are followed by complete recovery. Severe poisoning may be caused by different types of fish.

 

HOME REMEDIES FOR FOOD POISONING

• Keep the patient in bed and give nothing by mouth as long as the nausea and vomiting persist.
• As the vomiting subsides, give sips of some warm drink, such as tea, barley or rice water.
• Gentle heat may be applied to the stomach to relieve spasm or pain and also the tendency to vomit.
• Wash your hands before preparing food to avoid passing on bacteria such as staphylococcus (commonly found on the skin and in the throat) or shigella (passed from fecal matter). Wash again after handling raw meat and eggs.
• Don't eat raw protein food like fish, fowl, meat, milk, or eggs. Avoid sushi, oysters on the half shell, Caesar salad made with raw eggs, and unpasteurized eggnog. Don't use cracked eggs.
• Don't taste test the raw pork sausage stew, the fish chowder, or even the cookie batter before it's done.
• Don't let raw meat juice drip onto other food. It can taint otherwise harmless food.
• Don't leave food at room temperature for more than two hours, and avoid eating anything that you suspect may have been unrefrigerated for that long.
• Don't taste any food that doesn't smell or look right.
• For food poisoning treatment drink fluids as much you can to combat the loss of fluids.
• Scrub counters with warm, soapy water and bleach to combat countertop bacteria.
• Use a plastic cutting board instead of a wooden one. Be sure to thoroughly clean the cutting board after you've finished using it.
• Avoid foods that are fried, smoked or salty as well as raw vegetables, pastries, preserves, candies, alcohol and spices and condiments.
• Mix a tablespoon of lemon juice or cider vinegar in a cup of hot water before a meal to prevent acid indigestion.
• Add three drops of garlic oil to half a cup of Soya oil and rub onto the stomach after food.
• For food poisoning treatment drink a herbal tea of mint, raspberry, chamomile and blackberry.
• Drink one cup of ginger tea after meals to promote a good digestion and for heartburn, nausea, etc.
• Cooking utensils and plates, as well as sponges and dishcloths that were used in the food preparation process, should also be cleaned appropriately.
• Grind a lemon along with seeds and make a paste. Add some salt. Take 1 tsp of this paste 2-3 times.
• Drink 1/2 tsp of dry ginger (saunth powder in 1 cup buttermilk (chhachh) 3 - 4 times a day.
• Chew a few pieces of the inner lining of pomegranate with salt, and/or drink pomegranate juice.
• Prepare a mixture by ading 1 Tbsp poppy seeds, 1 tsp edible gum, 1 tsp cardamom powder, 1/2 tsp nutmeg (jaiphal) powder, and2 tbs sugar, and grind to a powder. Take this powder every 2 hours.
• Prepare a mixture by adding 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp ginger juice, and 1/4 tsp pepper powder and drink it.
• Mix 5-6 chopped basil (tulsi) leaves, 1/4 tsp sea salt, and some black pepper in 3 Tbsp of curd, and eat it. Repeat this 4 times a day for one week. This is very useful home remedy for food pisoning treatment.
• Roast 1/2 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds and 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (dana methi). Mix and powder it, add to 4 tsp of yogurt (curd). Take thrice a day. This is also very useful home remedy for food pisoning.
• Grate one raw papaya. Add 3 cups water, boil for 10 mins, strain and finish the water in one day.

Drink Water. "You are losing liquids very quickly when you have food poisoning. Therefore, it is extremely important to replenish your system," says Joseph Madden, Ph.D., director of the Division of Microbiology at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, a branch of the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, D.C.

"Start with a few sips of water," says Dr. Ruderman. "Once you can keep water down, it is better to take in fluids containing sugar, because they are better absorbed by the body." Try clear fruit juices. If vomiting is a problem, though, wait several hours before taking in liquids.

 

Slurp on a sports drink. Drinks like Gatorade contain electrolytes, which are essential elements such as potassium and sodium that influence the way water is distributed throughout your body. "When you're vomiting or having diarrhea, these elements get lost along with liquid during dehydration," says Dr. Madden. "The sports drinks like Gatorade help replenish these necessary elements as well as rehydrate your body with water." Rehydration is more important than replacement of electrolytes, so sports drinks can be diluted 50-50 with water.

 

Relax. "Most of the time, food poisoning problems tend to resolve themselves without needing intervention," says Dr. Ruderman. Once your body's immune system takes over, relief is on the way, and you'll be feeling better soon. Just rest and drink fluids, and when you feel a little better, start to establish a diet.

 

Leave the over-the-counter drugs on the counter. If you feel the urge to reach for an antacid, stop yourself. "They don't really help," says Dr. Ruderman. If you're suffering from traveler's diarrhea, however, Pepto-Bismol is beneficial for relieving the symptoms until you feel better.

 

Ease into a bland diet. When you feel ready to begin eating, a bland diet is recommended. This means eating easily digestible foods such as cereal, pudding or chicken soup. Be sure to avoid foods that are fried, smoked or salty as well as raw vegetables, pastries, preserves, candies, alcohol and spices and condiments.

 

Get a lift from a sugary drink. If you're feeling weak, sip on a flat soft drink. "The advantage of soda is that it has sugar in it," says Dr. Ruderman. "This will give you some energy."

 

Reference:

Selkurt, E.E. (editor), Physiology, 2nd edition, Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1966).

Chinese Medicinal Herbs, compiled by Li Shih-Chen, translated by F. Porter Smith, M.D., and G.A. Stuart, M.D., Georgetown Press, San Francisco (1973).

Chandan BK, Sharma AK, Anand KK. Boerhavia diffusa: a study of its hepatoprotective activity. J Ethnopharmacol 1991 Mar;31(3):299-307.
 

 

Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.