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What To Do At Home After Food Poisoning

Treating food poisoning can be a tricky task. For one, without formal testing, it’s hard to know exactly what caused it. You may suspect the egg salad, but technically it’s innocent until proven guilty. This is because food poisoning can be caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, chemicals or toxic substances (both man-made and natural).

Treating Food Poisoning at Home

There are no hard-and-fast rules about determining who the guilty party was, but below are several sources of food poisoning depending on pathogen type:

  • Salmonella– Under-cooked poultry and eggs
  • Listeria– Processed meats and soft cheeses
  • Escherichia coli (E. coli)- Under-cooked meat and raw, unwashed vegetables
  • Campylobacter– Poorly sterilized processed foods and drinks
  • Norovirus– Undercooked or raw shellfish
  • Staphylococcus– Un-cooked or re-heated food
  • Mycotoxins– Moldy food such as cereal, grain, nuts, and dried fruit

What To Do At Home After Food Poisoning- onion, garlic, chilliThere are two methods for treating food poisoning: attacking the pathogen, and neutralizing their toxic effects.
Attacking the pathogen usually involves compounds that can inhibit its reproduction and spread, or destroy its protective biofilm. These include natural antibiotics and antifungals such as honey and olive oil or antivirals such as bitter melon and hyssop. Toxins can be minimized or even neutralized with compounds which alter their expression, such as garlic, onion and chili or mustard, or their toxins absorbed by activated charcoal. A simple broth with garlic, onion, mustard, goosefoot (Chenopodium album) and some chili can neutralize many of the toxins produced by pathogens.

In most cases, it’s about managing the symptoms after a bout of food poisoning, because let’s face it – you’re unlikely to keep anything down during it. Therefore, it’s recommended to try the following.

  1. Drink plenty of water and non-caffeinated teas, especially something like mint, eucalyptus, goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), goosefoot and/or ginger tea which will help to settle your stomach, keep you hydrated, provide you minerals as well as fight any bacterial infections. The mentha present in mint also inhibited toxins produced by some bacteria.
  2. If a viral infection is suspected, such as from shellfish, then ingesting some natural antivirals such as a cup of hyssop tea or some bitter melon (Momordica spp.) soup may help. A couple of sips of some watered-down juice will hydrate you at the same time as providing some vitamins.
    Nibbling on some saltine crackers can help you to replace lost electrolytes.What To Do At Home After Food Poisoning- onion, garlic, chilli, crackers
  3. Olive oil is an antimicrobial as well as a neutralizer so eating some bread dipped in olive oil should also reduce your symptoms.
  4. Eating probiotics such as fermented foods and yogurt can help restore your gut biome afterwards.
  5. If you suspect your food has been contaminated with pesticides, mold or staph toxins, then taking a single dose (½ – 1 teaspoon) of activated charcoal will absorb some of them from your stomach.
  6. Bentonite clay is reputed to help absorb some of toxins released by mold. A small capsule taken at 3pm for 2 – 3 days is recommended.
  7. Some fish, particularly scombroid fish like tuna and mackerel, contain incredibly high concentrations of histamine which can cause food poisoning. The treatment is to take antihistamines, such as those used for allergies and hay fever.
  8. Avoid food which is high in fat and sugar, or try to substitute fat for olive oil and sugar for honey.
  9. You should avoid caffeinated drinks as they tend to dehydrate your body.

Add This “Unusual Nutrient” to Coffee or Tea, to Effortlessly and Fully Empty Your Bowels Every Single Morning (Video)

Method

Tea – Use a teaspoon of dried leaves or about a tablespoon of fresh leaves and brew for 8 – 10 minutes in hot water. Add honey if needed.What To Do At Home After Food Poisoning- tea
Soup – Lightly fry a chopped onion, add 4 cups of water, 1 – 2 cloves of chopped garlic, a handful of mustard greens, a handful of goosefoot, 1 – 2 pinches of salt and a chili. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes and it’s ready to serve.What To Do At Home After Food Poisoning- soup

When To See a Doctor

If you have a high fever (higher than 101 °F or 38 °C) or bloody diarrhea, then this could mean a bacterial or parasite infection, in which case a course of antibiotics is required.
If you are severely dehydrated and unable to replenish fluids due to continuous vomiting and diarrhea then only a doctor at a hospital can re-hydrate you.

The Bottom Line

Food poisoning can happen anywhere and at any time. Following strict food hygiene guidelines can minimize the risk of food poisoning, but contamination can occur along the entire food processing chain. So even though you can minimize the risk, you can never truly eradicate it.
Therefore, having a few simple remedies up your sleeve for treating food poisoning can ease some of your discomfort.

The Herbal Body Map

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What about bad food combining where symptoms mimic food poisoning?

Last edited 1 year ago by Don Karp

Hi Don,

Thank you for your question! Ginger tea, peppermint tea, or activated charcoal work wonders for this kind of situation.

Many blessings and good health!

What is good for psoriasis. It got very bad after getting COVID 19.

I use colloidal silver water. I keep some in my medicine cabinet and drink a lot of it if I am sick. It works in 15 minuets and works well.

What proportions?

My wife gets food poisoning while eating the same as I do. However I don’t get it. She has a low immune system. Thank you for the information.

Hi Bob,

Thank you for your kind words! I’m happy to hear the article was helpful.
Many blessings and good health!

Lovely article, thank you!

Hi Jo,

That’s so nice to hear! It’s extremely rewarding for us to hear your feedback.
Many blessings and good health!

Had something digestive that strung along for a week. Was miserable. 1 tsp apple cider vinegar chased with a blend of honey and turmeric every 3 hours on an empty stomach worked wonders in just 24 hours. Not sure how or why it worked but it did. Definitely my go to.

I’ve had food poisoning several times. Busy working, and grabbing food from the food trucks. It feels like a cat, sharpening its claws inside my stomach. My remedy for it has always been just plain vinegar mix into lemonade. It makes the lemonade, taste tangier. Usually around three glasses, and then I grab some cottage cheese. The next day I am fine. It also works for me for dehydration. Is an old trick. My grandfather used when he worked in the oil fields in California.

Eating figs just 3 figs will stop food poisoning I keep dehydrated figs in my refrigerator freezer always
I even feed one to my dogs if they are sick to their atomic, even if all you have is Fig Newton’s eat 3 and food Poisoning is gone, if I’m going anywhere to eat I take some figs with me in a snack bag just in case.

I can no longer print your articles please put you original icon back on your articles. I’ve tried four different articles and none will work. I tried one on my desktop that wanted me to print all the pictures. Too much ink for me to do that and I use too much paper.

Hi Pam,

We thank you for bringing this technical issue to our attention!
Our IT team is currently working to fix it. We appreciate your patience!

Many blessings and good health!

If you can hold it down, Activated Charcoal!

In my travels, I always pack some Green Chai Tea in individual packets. Simple to carry, and designed to kill off most food poisoning. Drink it soon after a questionable meal.

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