Part of the charm of traveling is trying all the local food. When I was in Thailand, especially, I developed a fondness for street food. It appeared that flavour was directly proportionate to how dirty the preparation area appeared to be, the dirtier it was the more delicious the meal was going to be. Often I felt like I was playing roulette with food poisoning and a few times on my trip I’ve got unlucky and found myself regretting my adventurous taste buds. Especially that time I was on a bus for 33 hours, from Vang Vieng, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam, with food poisoning. Dealing with food poisoning is horrible, but this advice might help you minimize or at least reduce the pain.
Tips For Avoiding Food Poisoning
Eat Where The Locals Eat – I’m a sucker for eating in popular places, my theory is that if the locals are prepared to wait for something, then generally it’s worth waiting for. This proved to be true when I randomly stumbled across Mustafas Gemüse Kebab in Berlin, which had a huge line down the street, so I decided to join the queue – best kebap of my life.
Like It Hot – Some people freak out about eating street food, but I love it. I always pick things that will be cooked in front of me and heated up so much that any nasty bacteria will be burned to smithereens.
Watch Out For Ice – In Asia you know ice is safe when it’s in the shape of a cylinder with a hole right through it. When I’m traveling in countries where the tap water isn’t drinkable, I’m cautious about ice.
Brush With Bottled Water – Again, this is only really necessary in countries where the tap water isn’t drinkable. I routinely brushed my teeth with bottled water when I was in Laos and the one time I stopped I wound up with a sore stomach.
Keep Your Probiotics Up – When you can grab a yoghurt or some kefir to keep your stomach bacteria happy and balanced. You may even wish to make space for a supplement containing probiotics in your luggage, having seen a few Activated You reviews and decided that this might be something worth packing.
Dealing With Food Poisoning
Food poisoning is awful. Your body’s natural instinct is to remove the cause of the illness, as fast as possible. The result of this is a very upset stomach, probably paired with vomiting and diarrhea. This is one of the last things you’ll want while you’re on holiday, but the chances of falling victim to it at least once in third world countries is pretty high. Before you leave your home country, I suggest that you see a doctor and obtain a kit for dealing with food poisoning.
In your medical kit you’ll want at least:
Loperamide (or similar) – essentially a “stopper”, good for when symptoms are mild but inconvenient. Will allow you to carry on with your daily activities.
Anti giardia pill – this is the most common intestinal parasite in the world, so having some medical on hand incase you ingest it is essential. Thankfully I’ve never had this, as I’ve heard it’s really awful.
Antibiotic – Something generic such as Ciprofloxacin is good to have on hand.
Pain Killers – To help deal with the cramps or general discomfort of food poisoning.
Rehydration Packets – One of the biggest issues you’ll face when dealing with food poisoning is how to keep liquids down. It’s easy to become quickly dehydrated, which will worsen your symptoms. It’s very important to maintain your liquid consumption even if it is particularly unpleasant. Rehydration packets allow the water to be taken up much faster by your cells.
Thrush pill – For the ladies, only. Treatment of food poisoning can throw your body’s natural bacteria out of whack, leading to imbalances. Thrush can be very uncomfortable, so it is best to have a dose on hand so you can treat it immediately if necessary.
Wet Wipes – Throughout Asia these were a life saver. They’re extremely practical – if you’re in a circumstance where you can’t have a shower or need to clean yourself up quickly, they make a world of difference. Needless to say they’re good to have around when your tummy is being unpredictable.
How Long Will Treatment Take?
It depends on how severe your food poisoning is and what type it is. I would personally suggest using your body as the best gauge of how serious it is. If you are trying any of the above treatments and see no improvement within 24 hours, then I would personally suggest going to a doctor. I’m not medically trained, so my opinion is just my own. But from my own experience, my body has been well able to handle all of the food poisoning I’ve ever had except for in one circumstance. It was so bad a walk that usually took me 10 minutes took closer to 45.
It’s best to stick to a pretty simple diet when you are suffering from food poisoning. Avoid dairy products, unless it is something that is probiotic, such as yoghurt or kefir. Eat simple food that has little to no risk of giving you food poisoning again. As awful as it sounds, I chose to eat foods that I could image being easiest for my body to get rid of fast, if it needed to. Foods high in carbohydrates seemed to be the most comforting, such as bread, rice, pasta etc. Readjust your schedule so that you are not putting much strain on your body while you are dealing with food poisoning.
Do you have any bad food poisoning stories? Or advice for new travelers who might be worried about getting sick on the road?
Dealing with food poisoning can be quite serious over a prolonged period of time, so make sure that you are keeping yourself properly hydrated.
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Good post, Izy. =)
I was once hit by food poisoning in the airport, 5 hours before a flight. Needless to say – it was the worst thing ever. I spent the time leading up to the flight in the airports hospital room, and then spent my flight curled up at the back of the plane on the floor, asleep. I need to be more careful with it though when I travel next year, maybe carrying around hand sanitizer, etc might help prevent.
Awesome advice, Izy!
When we were in Thailand, my boyfriend would always have his meals extra spicy and with a glass of spirits on the side. The time that I didn’t have either, i wound up with food poisioning…. which resulted in me (us) being offloaded from our returning flight home. Lots of lessons learned there.. the above mentioned, and if that fails – DON’T TELL THEM UNTIL YOU’RE WELL IN THE AIR.
🙂
‘It appeared that flavour was directly proportionate to how dirty the preparation area appeared to be, the dirtier it was the more delicious the meal was going to be.’
This statement is so true. We have found some of the most flavorsome food to be some of the cheapest and cooked in establishments that would scare the life out of anyone’s mother!
Great tips re overcoming terrible tummy upsets, I’ve had tummy troubles in Costa Rica and New Zealand, but i do practice the art of taste first, find the food authority hygiene certificate later!
I got food poisoning in Vietnam earlier this year. I think it was because we were late for lunch having been sight seeing. It was around 4 pm, and I think the food had just been sitting there. It was awful, I even got locked out of my hotel room in pj’s with vomiting and diarrhoea … Not good. Thankfully it was over in just 24 hours but I didn’t eat for 48. I need to find a way to try and avoid it as I want to go back next year
When we are traveling short term we use some tablets Called Travel bug they are high strength probitiotocs. The biggest thing is to always wash your hands before you eat or use sanitiser. Whenever we do get the dreaded tummybug we have a chill out day. The bonus for is was when we were in Vietnam and were sick while recuperating was when we decided to go long term traveling so every dark cloud has a silver lining
Me and my boyfriend took a 11 hour bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. All was well, until about 2 hours in we both overcame feeling really sick. At first I thought it was the motion of the bus but I never get motion sickness. Literally finding the nearest thing to be sick in I grabbed our little white plastic bag. It was being sick every 15 minutes the whole journey. When the driver stopped for a toilet break we was just both on the toilet thinking what on earth are we going to do!???! Finally we arrived to our room in Chiang Mai. So glad I booked a nice guest house. Nothing would stay down so we are going to take a hydration sachet and just keep sipping flat warm sprite as this is meant to settle you. HORRENDOUS! Damn you Tempura Prawn!
I know the exact feeling! Go hard on the rehydration stuff if you can- Royal D from 7-11 is super good. It should help you make feel better. Sorry to hear you’re feeling like this and I hope it goes away soon, Rebecca.