How to keep food poisoning at bay

Food poisoning, a common monsoon illness, can easily be cured at home with a few simple measures.

With the arrival of monsoons come a plethora of diseases. Food poisoning is the most common one that essentially occurs when one consumes food products contaminated by bacteria and other toxins. The common symptoms are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, low grade fever, headache and weakness. Food poisoning usually occurs within 2-36 hours of consuming contaminated food.

However, there’s nothing to panic, people usually recover from food poisoning within a couple of days. The main concern while providing correct nutrition to the body during food poisoning is to supply the right nutrients and maintain a proper fluid supply to the body to prevent dehydration.

Here’s what to remember:

Avoid milk and milk products during food poisoning.

Drink lots of fluids to replenish the fluid reserves of the body.

Avoid consumption of solid food, as it’s difficult to digest.

Switch to the BRAT diet that consists of banana, rice, apple and toast.

Barley or rice water is beneficial in healing an inflamed stomach.

As the diarrhea and vomiting subsides, introduce soft, easily digestible foods in the diet like khichdi, porridge, upma, oats, bhurji, etc. Pulses, legumes and vegetables should be avoided.

Eat freshly cooked food only. Avoid raw vegetables and fruits.

Avoid oily, sweet and spicy food till you’ve recovered.

Intense cases require hospital care, but food poisoning is an easy to handle disease if care is taken at the correct time.

(Anjali Mukerjee, nutritionist)