Bad food vs nasty food

I feel like I've been beaten up. My back aches, I'm sore all over, exhausted and I can't eat or drink. Most importantly, my former best mate, Mr Stomach has been recently misbehaving.

A new milestone. Not a good milestone, but a memorable one nonetheless. Last night (and all of today as a matter of fact), I suffered from my first severe bout of food poisoning.

I have been hung over many times this year, and the worst hang over I've ever had doesn't come close to the experience I had last night. I won't go into the gruesome specifics too much, but I will say the culprit was a well known franchise in the Newmarket area.

Sunday night - A dozen pork ribs, a Jack Daniels chocolate pudding and two or so hours later, my stomach complains, and I am disappointed that once again my eyes have been bigger than my stomach.

11pm - About three hours later, I think "I'm never going to be able to go to sleep with this full of a stomach... do some exercise." So I focused my attention on productive domestics, cleaning my kitchen, taking the garbage out and doing some washing. Anything to get myself moving and digesting this heavy load of food cement in my stomach.

12am - Four hours later, I am being entertained by a blog detailing some humourous adventures of cooking every recipe from the The French Laundry Cookbook, the book by three michelin starred Thomas Keller, who’s restaurant now sits at #32 in the best 50 restaurants in the world. The post was about lobster jelly, and half way through it, I felt the urge to throw up. Lucky I made it to the bathroom, as when it came up, it did so with some impressive force.

Over the next 7 hours, I saw my entire dinner come up, to the point where the vomiting was so strong, my stomach muscles were contracting the hardest they've ever worked. I felt like an almost empty toothpaste tube, and my body was trying to squeeze out every last ounce of toothpaste out until there was absolutely nothing left.

I tried every trick I knew of to get myself right. Cold water, warm water, salted coke, manuka 20+ honey, green and ginger tea, aloe vera drink, Mizone sports drink, preserved plums. The problem was I couldn't keep any fluids down - everything that went down, came back up. I was even trying to watch Russell Brand’s Scandalous to make myself laugh and trick my body into forgetting. But I was fighting a losing battle. I just had to simply strap myself in for the bumpy ride.

I will leave out any other details, and paint the picture another way. Through the torturous experience, I did some research and self diagnosis through the reliable Dr Google, and have found others have aptly described their food poisoning experience, so I will quote them verbatim:

• - I got food poisoning a few months ago from my favorite local sub shop. I puked, I shat, I cried
• - I got some eggs, bacon and a chicken sandwich at a Waffle House last night, and about an hour after I got home I started getting cramps like I had omfg horrible gas. I spent the next hour and a half or so on the toilet feeling like I was going to shit and puke at the same time.
• - I had steak and crab legs at some mom and pop shop last night and have been having the worst day ever today.... I WANNA SUE
• - Last night I bought some chicken and rice from a local food stall. Around 3:00AM I woke up and was violently sick, vomiting like crazy. Today I feel slightly nauseous, I've got the chills and my whole body is sore.

Now the point of my post - what I learnt from this experience. As foodies, I think it is inevitable to get food poisoning at least once as part of our quest to taste the amazing food this planet has to offer, so hopefully this post can help you survive the horrible experience, although I do not wish it on my worst enemies. It was interesting to know, similar to the "RICE" (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) method to treat an injury, there is a "BRAT" diet to recover from food poisoning.

Note: This is not a medically proven assessment – it is purely based on internet research and going through FP – please consult a doctor if you need medical fact. Also, this only refers to natural foods, rather than medications

Food poisoning - The road to recovery

by TP Big Bro

Basically with food poisoning, there is not much you can do but let it pass. But there is an accepted method of recovery.

The recovery procedure appears to be 24 hours of clear liquids to prevent dehydration and replace electrolytes (eg sodium, potassium, and calcium), that are being depleted through the diarrhea and vomiting. Clear liquids include apple juice, 7up/sprite, Gatorade and ginger drinks to soothe the stomach (flat ginger ale, ginger tea). Avoid caffeinated beverages which are too dehydrating, dairy, carbonated drinks and citrus juices.

You can then progress to the BRAT diet for a couple of days, followed by bland, low fat, non-dairy, easy-to-digest foods like plain chicken, as tolerable. If you advance too quickly, you may aggravate your symptoms, so take it easy. You can then slowly transition back to your normal diet if things are going well, reintroducing spicy or fatty/oily foods with caution.

Recovery food notes:

• - Small portions, more often
• - BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Apples/Applesauce, Tea/Toast) - these foods are tolerated by the tender gastrointestinal system. No butter
• - Some medical researchers recommend a diet that includes complex carbohydrates (e.g rice, wheat, potatoes, bread, and cereal), lean meats, fruit, and vegetables
• - Another argument says that fiber is also a complex carbohydrate, and it should be avoided if you have gastroenteritis. So, putting some noodles in your broth will be okay, but avoid cooked vegetables at an early stage, and raw crunchy fruits and vegetables should be avoided at the start
• - Chicken broth with noodles/rice/couscous/pasta
• - Chinese rice porridge (jook) - Season with soy sauce or salt
• - Plain crackers
• - Plain baked potato (no sour cream)
• - Ginger, garlic
• - Miso soup
• - Low sodium tomato juice apparently has as many electrolytes as Gatorade
• - Avoid fish, milk products, fatty foods and foods with a lot of sugar
• - One poster said doctors in India advised them to eat plenty of fresh curd and pineapples

Everyone is different, so we will react differently to different foods. I think the main thing is to listen to your body, be patient and let your body recover. All the best and safe eating!