Anyone who's ever eaten week-old leftovers or an undercooked hamburger may already know the gut-wrenching consequences of food poisoning. Symptoms include varying degrees of gastrointestinal upset: stomach cramps, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list more than 250 different kinds of food poisoning, most caused by eating food contaminated by certain bacteria, viruses, parasites or the toxins they produce. Some of the more common microbes that cause food-borne illness are E. coli, calicivirus, salmonella and listeria.
Eating or drinking may be the last thing you want to do when you have food poisoning, but staying hydrated and keeping up your strength for recovery is vital.
Onset of Symptoms
The type of microbe or contaminant you ingested determines how soon you'll start experiencing symptoms--upset stomach, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea--and how long they'll last. Symptoms may begin within hours of a meal and last from one to 10 days.
Once your symptoms have begun to subside, you'll still need to go easy on your digestive system while it recovers, so temper your diet to prevent gastrointestinal symptoms from recurring.
Start with Hydration
Liquids are the most important nourishment during a bout of food poisoning, especially if you've had severe or frequent diarrhea. You need to replace the body fluids lost during repeated episodes of vomiting or diarrhea in order to ward off dehydration. According to the National Institutes of Health, dehydration is one of the most common and serious complications of food poisoning.
Drink whatever you can keep down to keep yourself hydrated, but avoid milk, alcoholic beverages and caffeinated soft drinks, teas and coffees that may irritate your already stressed digestive tract. Clear liquids such as water, ginger ale and broth are less likely to further upset your stomach. Drinking a noncaffeinated sports drink also assists in restoring electrolytes, minerals that serve to maintain the body's fluid balance. You may not be able to down a full glass of fluid in one sitting if you are severely nauseated, so sip at a drink throughout the day or suck on ice chips.
Ease Back to Solid Foods
Diarrhea is the body's way of telling you something you've eaten is not sitting well, and food poisoning is a prime example. If you begin to eat solid foods before your symptoms fully subside, your digestive tract may rebel and cause the diarrhea and cramping to worsen. Wait until the bouts of diarrhea are over before eating solid foods.
Take it slow when returning to solid foods, and stick to bland foods like crackers, dry toast, white rice, bananas or applesauce that are low in fat and easier to digest. Eating small snacks throughout the day helps your body recover from food poisoning; large meals may be more than your digestive system can handle after an intense illness.
Foods to Avoid
Slowly add foods back to your normal diet once the worst symptoms of food poisoning are done. For the first few days, stick with a bland diet and avoid foods that are spicy or high in fiber and fats; these are more difficult to digest and may further irritate your stomach. You may return to a normal diet after several days of being able to tolerate the bland food.
Prevention
To prevent illness, make sure the food you eat is well-cooked and properly prepared. When cooking at home, wash all cutting boards and utensils with hot, soapy water to avoid cross-contamination of raw meats and other foods. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours of preparation to prevent bacteria from growing on the food. When dining out, order meats medium to well-done to ensure they've been cooked to a high-enough temperature to kill any pathogens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend cooking meats to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.
Warning
Dehydration caused by food poisoning can be extremely serious--and even fatal--for infants, the elderly and people with weak immune systems; they are unable to replace lost fluids quickly enough and may require IV fluids at a hospital. Check with a physician at the onset of symptoms.
