What to do for Food Poisoning: What You Need to Know
Having what you need to heal naturally can save you a lot of unnecessary suffering. Don’t let your next business trip, holiday, romantic dinner, salad bar night or long-haul flight be ruined. Prepare yourself for travel or unexpected belly bugs by knowing what to do for food poisoning.
All information in this article is for educational purposes only.
It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
Food poisoning can occur when you eat or drink something that is contaminated with infectious organisms. Bacteria, viruses and parasites – or their toxins are the most common causes of food poisoning. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. They’re usually mild but unpleasant. If you’ve ever had food poisoning, you know how unpleasant it can really be!
Don’t think that only tourists who go to India get food poisoning. You can get food poisoning both at home or abroad. Food that was thawed and re-heated, not cooked properly, stored incorrectly, handled on an unclean surface, or not cleaned at all can create potential hazards.
I think everyone knows someone who got sick from seafood, but it can happen at salad bars and with raw food too. Travel is also a definite risk with things like Bali Belly and Montezuma’s revenge. Believe me when I say you don’t want to add those experiences to your bucket list!
How to Stop Food Poisoning
1. Take Activated Charcoal capsules immediately at the first sign of food poisoning (cramping, malaise or nausea after eating food). Take 3-4 capsules of Activated Charcoal with a glass of water. Do not eating anything else. Slowly sip water to stay hydrated.
2. Wait 20-30 minutes.
- If your symptoms subside, continue to drink water. After 1 hour, eat a banana for potassium and to help with electrolytes.
- If you still have cramping or nausea, take 2-3 more capsules of Activated Charcoal. (In rare cases of more intense food poisoning, you may need to take a few more.) Once your symptoms subside, wait 1 hour and then eat a banana as your first food.
3. After you manage to eat a banana without feeling sick (this may be 1 hour up to 3 hours after), then start taking Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE). Add 8-12 drops in a glass of water and drink 3x daily. Continue for 3-5 days after the food poisoning. At this point, you can slowly add other foods back into your diet as well.
4. Follow up for a good 30 days with a daily probiotic or added fermented foods in your diet like kombucha or raw sauerkraut to help bring more good bacteria into your gut. Take 1 probiotic capsule at night before bed.
Note: Activated Charcoal is safe if you have food poisoning while pregnant or nursing but do not take GSE if you are pregnant or nursing unless approved by your doctor.
Activated Charcoal
Activated charcoal is nothing new; in fact, it’s been used for thousands of years as an ancient remedy in Chinese, Ayuredic and Western Medicine. It’s usually made from wood or coconut shells (no, you don’t want to use the charcoal briquettes from the bbq – they’re NOT the same!). Activated Charcoal works through a process called “adsorption” which means to bind to rather than to absorb. Think of Activated Charcoal like a natural super sponge that goes into your guts and soaks up all the chemicals, toxins and bad bacteria then safely carries it out through your poo. As a side note, your poo may turn black the next day after taking charcoal but this is completely normal so don’t be alarmed!
Today, hospitals still use Activated Charcoal an antidote for drugs and poisons in pregnant women and children. In Asia, it’s widely used as a remedy for poisonous snake bites in household dogs and cats. If you live in Australia, you can keep activated charcoal at home and in your car in case of snake or spider bites. Of course, for any poisonous bite you should seek medical attention immediately but you can take charcoal on the way to hospital to help minimize damage.
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE) is a great follow-up to the charcoal capsules. The charcoal soaks and absorbs as much of the bad stuff as possible and then the GSE kills any bad remaining critters. Grapefruit Seed Extract is extremely anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-parasitic…and it’s completely natural, made from pressing the oil from the seeds of grapefruit.
Always take GSE with water, i.e. diluted. Never take it straight from the bottle because it’s very concentrated!
While living in Thailand, I cured my dengue fever with GSE. In less than 2 hours my fever broke after taking a triple dose of GSE. And yes, I have the blood test to prove that it really was dengue fever! The stuff is simply amazing.
Probiotic
“Probiotic” means healthful to life. A probiotic capsule contains billions of good bacteria to help get your gut back into balance. Any time you get food poisoning, you can have an imbalance in your microbiome..that’s the combination of microbial communities that are actually part of your immune system as well as your digestive zone. Re-instating more good bacteria helps get your microbiome up and running again and that means you should bounce back faster with more energy and no lingering gut pains. If you’re traveling with probiotics, you want to find a brand that does not require refrigeration. I recommend the Jarrow Formula Jarro-Dophilus brand (see more info below).
Travel Arsenal and At-Home Kit
I recommend to have both of these supplements at home in case of any emergencies. It’s also very wise to travel with them because once you’re already sick, you usually don’t have the energy or desire to shop around for what you need. The sooner you start taking the charcoal, the more effective it is.
In SE Asia, you can find charcoal capsules in any pharmacy. They even sell them by the single pill! But in Central and South America, they’re virtually impossible to find. It’s much better to be prepared and just bring your own.
What to Buy
You can find all of the above at your local health food store. Or, save time and money and just buy online at iherb here. If you’re an amazon fan, you can find all the products under the Supplements Tab on my amazon astore.
Disclaimer: The information provided on this site is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professional or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosis or treatment of any health problem or for prescription of any medication or other treatment. You should consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet, exercise or supplementation program, before taking any medication, or if you have or suspect you might have a health problem. You should not stop taking any medication without first consulting your physician. Read full disclaimer here.
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arscenica 30c homepathic remedy will help food poision with carbo veg and china for fluid loss to replace the electrolytes i had a bad case of it from a hotel and this is what saved me i had to take it a few times but stopped the symptoms quickly. i also have used the charcoal. you take every 15 minutes until the symptoms stop.