6 myths about food poisoning, or the dangers of self-medication

European scientists, testing modern refrigerators with a no frost system (they do not need to be defrosted, so some do not wash them for years), calculated: in the drawers for fruits and vegetables alone, the number of harmful bacteria, including E. coli, is 750 times higher than the norm. So after several days of storage, individual products turn into poison.

However, indigestion is an ailment for which we most often tend to diagnose ourselves and treat ourselves. The most common ideas about food poisoning are commented on by Natalya Topilskaya, a gastroenterologist at the Clinic of the Research Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Ph.D.

Content:

1. Why should nutrition be special when recovering from binge drinking?
2. Why do you want to eat after a binge?
3. What to eat after binge drinking - diet features
4. Fluid is the key to a speedy recovery
5. Foods that reduce cravings for alcohol
6. What not to eat
7. Indicative menu for a speedy recovery
8. How to make a diet correctly

You can improve your well-being after long periods of drinking and alcoholism by using medications and undergoing physical procedures. Diet also plays a huge role during the detoxification period. If the patient knows what to eat, he will recover much faster.

Narcologists say that the diet after binge drinking should be as gentle as possible. The patient is allowed to eat only healthy and easily digestible foods. Almost all harmful and familiar goodies are prohibited. This is very important for recovery.

Why should nutrition be special when recovering from binge drinking?

Alcohol has a destructive effect on the body (both male and female). Doctors know of many cases where addicts died in a drunken stupor. Alcoholics suffer from constant thirst and symptoms of dysbiosis. The functioning of all organs and systems is disrupted. The performance of the liver decreases significantly and can lead to severe inflammation. It is not surprising that due to the work of the body in such extreme conditions, immunity decreases.

Of course, knowing what to eat after drinking and following the rules established by nutritionists, the patient will not become healthy overnight. Treatment for alcohol addiction is always complex. But, if an addict eats high-quality and extremely healthy food after a binge, his body will recover in a short time. Disturbances in the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract will disappear, the main signs of vitamin deficiency will disappear.

Food is the basis of strong immunity. All people must pay attention to its correct selection, but it is especially important to do this for those who are sick. Alcoholism is a life-threatening chronic disease. All alcoholics are advised to ask their doctor what they can eat after binge drinking and what they should avoid. This approach to treatment is the only competent and rational one.

Benefits and harms

The properties of the drink may vary somewhat depending on the variety and method of preparation.

One can talk endlessly about the beneficial properties of various types of tea; it has been known for several thousand years, and is valued not only as a drink that quenches thirst and improves tone, but also as a means of promoting healing and strengthening the body. For various forms of intoxication, alternative medicine recommends drinking black tea.

But what do doctors say, is it possible to drink sweet tea if poisoned? Quite. Thanks to its beneficial properties, discussed in more detail in the video in this article, it helps to neutralize the effects of poisoning and improve overall well-being.

Its main beneficial properties are:

Both tasty and healthy

In addition, regular consumption of high-quality tea helps stimulate metabolism and launch weight loss processes. These properties can be attributed to both black and green varieties. We should not forget that each type has certain properties, which the instructions below will tell you in more detail.

White

The white variety has the maximum benefits.

The question of which tea to drink when poisoning is best can be answered unequivocally - white. This variety is minimally processed and contains the maximum amount of nutrients and antioxidants.

Thanks to its positive qualities, it effectively removes toxins, toxic substances and heavy metals from the body (see Heavy metal poisoning: mechanisms, signs, treatment). You can drink it to prevent contamination of the body with toxins and waste.

Black

Black leaf or granulated tea is popular and widespread throughout the world.

Black tea for poisoning is an effective remedy that helps restore the functions of the digestive tract, remove toxic substances and breakdown products from the body, and improve overall well-being. But it is necessary to remember that on the first day after intoxication it is recommended to drink it only weakly brewed, since a strong drink has properties that eliminate diarrhea and prevents the body from fully cleansing after food intoxication.

Green

The maximum amount of antioxidants and substances that help remove toxins and waste from the body.

Green is the most powerful antioxidant in a wide range of teas. Drinking it during intoxication is not only possible, but also necessary.

It helps remove toxic and poisonous substances from the body, improve digestion and restore damaged microflora of the digestive tract. In addition, green tea has a slight calming effect and helps normalize overall well-being.

Advice! We should not forget that only high-quality varieties have benefits. A drink made from cheap surrogates will not only not have the desired effect, but can also cause significant harm to the body.

Why do you want to eat after a binge?

Many alcoholics complain of “post-hangover gluttony.” They eat often and in large quantities, but the feeling of satiety does not come. There are several reasons for this:

• Alcohol can lower blood sugar levels. This painful condition is called hypoglycemia. How pronounced the abnormal process will be depends on the amount of alcohol used. At the same time, ethanol enhances the effect of insulin, but at the same time inhibits the formation of glucose in the liver.
• Alcohol disrupts the integrity of cell walls. Glucose flows freely from the blood into the cell through the vacated space. For this reason, the level of the energy component in the blood also decreases.
• Alcohol reduces the production of growth hormone somatotropin. Because of this, the body's normal response to low glucose levels is altered.
• All alcohol-containing drinks are very high in calories. Their calories are “empty”. However, they inhibit fat utilization.

Taken together, all these reasons contribute to the creation of a situation where the brain, after drinking, receives a signal about an acute shortage of energy resources. Hence the obsessive feeling of hunger.

Is it possible to eat after binge drinking? Of course, but the diet must be balanced and healthy. It should be taken into account that alcohol addicts often confuse hunger with thirst. Doctors recommend that before you start eating after a binge, drink a lot of water or another healthy drink. This will dull hunger and relieve symptoms of dehydration.

What to eat after binge drinking - diet features

By filling your stomach with healthy food, you can reduce the negative effects of drinking. The most important thing an alcoholic should do is stop drinking alcohol. Even if you have an irresistible desire to get drunk, you should control yourself.

Ethanol poisoning is a cause of severe dehydration. It is important to get the water-salt balance in order. You are allowed to drink liquid in unlimited quantities, but these must be healthy drinks:

• still mineral water;
• Herb tea;
• fruit drink;
• freshly prepared juice from fruits or vegetables;
• regular drinking water (it can be slightly salted).

It is permissible to eat only easily digestible and gentle food. Many drinkers are diagnosed with ulcers and gastritis during a medical examination. These diseases occur due to the irritating effect of alcohol on the mucous membranes.

Therefore, it is good if the drinker starts the morning with an infusion of flax seeds or jelly without sugar. Such drinks create a protective coating on the walls of the stomach and prevent their unnecessary irritation.

Very useful for drunkards:

• mashed potatoes;
• oatmeal porridge;
• chicken broth with crackers;
• milk, cottage cheese, kefir;
• buckwheat porridge;
• any vegetables and fruits;
• hard-boiled eggs;
• low-fat fish;
• boiled turkey;
• bran;
• nuts.

If constipation occurs after drinking, doctors recommend using pumpkin porridge, prunes, squash, zucchini - almost any food rich in fiber will do.

Authorized Products

The list of what you can eat after poisoning includes:

1. Low-fat fish, meat, vegetable broths or soups.
2. Liquid or pureed porridge from rice, semolina, buckwheat, oats with the addition of a small amount of sunflower oil.
3. Low-fat varieties of fish, meat, poultry in crushed form.
4. Skim milk, cottage cheese.
5. Steam omelet, boiled eggs.
6. Dried fruit compotes, jelly, berry fruit drinks.
7. White bread croutons, biscuits, crackers.

It is also allowed to drink natural juices diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio, weak tea, lemon water, and rosehip decoction. Start your meal with broth and crackers. Introduce the remaining products gradually. You can completely return to your usual diet only after 10–14 days. In some cases, recovery will take longer.

Prohibited Products

What exactly should you not eat if you have food poisoning? Fatty, spicy, salty, pickled and sweet foods. Products that increase the secretion of gastric juice, pancreas, as well as those rich in organic acids and essential oils are excluded. You should not eat complex carbohydrates that are found in plant fiber. They overload the gastrointestinal tract. Completely prohibited:

• complex soups such as borscht, okroshka, rassolnik;
• fresh sour fruits, vegetables and berries;
• fatty meats and fish;
• semi-finished products, mushrooms;
• canned food, sausages;
• spicy seasonings, mustard, vinegar;
• cheeses, sour cream, butter;
• sweets, bread and pastries;
• nuts, seeds, chocolate;
• coffee, cocoa, strong tea, concentrated juices;
• alcohol and carbonated drinks.

At first, it is undesirable to overload the gastrointestinal tract with carbohydrate foods high in animal and vegetable fats. Avoid spicy and smoked dishes, sauces, white cabbage and legumes. They can negatively affect the gastric mucosa, causing heaviness, pain or heartburn. In addition, it is advisable to completely eliminate sugar, since it promotes the proliferation of yeast-like microorganisms that cause bloating.

Following the principles of nutrition will help the body recover faster. The diet reduces the symptoms of dyspepsia, helps prevent dehydration, and improves overall well-being.

Fluid is the key to a speedy recovery

Due to drinking, the body improperly redistributes fluid reserves. A subjectively dependent person can understand this by his swollen face and severe headaches. In such a situation, the volume of circulating blood decreases, which is unacceptable.

This is why narcologists tell all patients to drink a lot. If dehydration is severe, IVs are given. The liquid normalizes the amount of circulating blood and activates the activity of volume and osmoreceptors. As a result, urination becomes more frequent, swelling goes away, headaches are minimized, blood pressure drops, and the load on the heart is reduced.

If a large amount of liquid taken causes a gag reflex in the drinker (this often happens with severe intoxication), it is useful for him to drink often and little by little. If this measure turns out to be useless, you should go to a drug treatment hospital as soon as possible for an IV drip.

With herbs

Tea brewed with medicinal herbs and plants, such as rose hips, is especially useful.

To obtain the best therapeutic effect, it is recommended to drink ordinary black tea, the composition of which is supplemented with various varieties of medicinal plants that have beneficial properties. You can prepare such a drink yourself by combining pre-brewed tea with a decoction of selected herbs.

The most useful herbal infusions for poisoning include:

1. Rose hip decoction.

   To prepare it, pour a couple of tablespoons of pre-crushed raw materials with a glass of cold water, then boil for fifteen minutes. Cool, strain, mix in equal proportions with tea. The drink stimulates the elimination of toxic substances and helps strengthen the body's immune forces.

2. Chamomile and linden blossom decoction.

   To prepare it, pour one tablespoon of raw material into a glass of boiling water, then let it brew for at least half an hour. You can drink the drink either on its own or as an additive to tea.

3. To stimulate peristalsis, improve digestion and suppress the gag reflex, you can use mint decoction

   . Preparing it is more than simple - just add two teaspoons of pre-dried mint to the teapot, then brew the tea in accordance with the algorithm proposed above.

Rosehip is a popular source of vitamin C

Before preparing and using folk remedies, be sure to consult your doctor regarding possible contraindications. Some diseases preclude the use of drinks made from medicinal herbs.

Foods that reduce cravings for alcohol

There are products that reduce cravings for alcohol. The list can include fast carbohydrates, the sources of which are sweets. Cakes, chocolate, baked goods - such goodies reduce the desire to get hungover, as they increase the production of endorphin (the hormone of happiness). But it is clear that they are harmful to health and in case of severe alcohol intoxication, eating them is extremely undesirable.

There is an alternative to the usual sweets - soy products, all cereals, strawberries, blueberries, quail eggs, fish, bananas, tomatoes, oranges, peppers. They all also reduce the desire to drink alcohol. And after a binge, you can eat all these foods absolutely calmly, without fear of undesirable consequences.

By giving preference to complex carbohydrates, the drinker will feel much better. They should become the basis of his diet along with proteins. What’s important is that foods rich in complex carbohydrates prevent spikes in blood glucose. This effect is very important in terms of preventing alcoholism (fluctuations in glucose contribute to the desire to get drunk).

What not to eat

It is forbidden to include in your daily diet during recovery days after drinking:

• smoked meats;
• marinades;
• pickles;
• fat meat;
• sweets.

Heavy food complicates the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, which is already not working at full capacity due to the toxic effects of ethanol. You need to reduce the load on your stomach as much as possible and try to strengthen your immune system. You will have to forget about fried food during the rehabilitation period.

If in doubt, throw it away

Myth 1. If a product is spoiled, everyone who eats it will be poisoned. Not true. Whether symptoms of poisoning will appear and how severely depends on the type of microbe, the degree of contamination of the product, and the body’s susceptibility to this infection. For example, in a kindergarten all children will most likely be poisoned by spoiled fermented milk products. A dangerous amount of Yersinia (a genus of bacteria) may be present on one leaf of cabbage, while another will be safe.

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Food poisoning: 10 rules of self-defense

Myth 2. If you drink a “not fresh” product with alcohol, there will be no poisoning. Not true. In most cases this is useless. It is impossible to “disinfect” the gastrointestinal tract in such a way as to neutralize all the microbes that have entered there; you will most likely get alcohol poisoning. And not all bacteria are killed by alcohol. And if the poisoning was caused not by microbes, but by chemical compounds (nitrates, for example), then alcohol will only worsen the situation. Severe poisoning while intoxicated is much more dangerous to health than simple poisoning.

Myth 3. If you feel sick, you need to induce vomiting faster. Not true. Vomiting can be a symptom not only of poisoning, but also of pancreatitis, gastritis and even some neurological diseases. Nausea is not strictly a gastroenterological symptom at all. This is a sign of damage to the central nervous system. Toxins produced as a result of the activity of pathogenic microorganisms stimulate the vomiting center located in the brain. Therefore, in case of nausea, you should consult a doctor. If the diagnosis of poisoning is confirmed, the doctor may prescribe gastric lavage. But “inducing vomiting” on your own is not recommended.

Myth 4. If you are poisoned, you need to drink several tablets of activated carbon at once. Is it true. With the help of activated carbon, toxins are removed from the body. There are also more modern drugs from the group of sorbents (Enterosgel, Polysorb and others) that can be put in your home medicine cabinet. However, they must be taken strictly according to the instructions and no longer than 2-3 days. Some people drink sorbents simply when they have bloating or flatulence. This cannot be done! Abuse can lead to the fact that along with toxins, beneficial substances are also removed from the body.

Indicative menu for a speedy recovery

On the first day of recovery, it is advisable to give preference to products that reduce cravings for alcohol. So, you can eat semolina porridge, buckwheat, oatmeal. A great option is a steamed omelette. If you don’t feel like eating at all due to alcohol poisoning, you don’t have to force yourself. But drinking plenty of fluids is the main condition for recovery.

For second breakfast you can eat: dry biscuit, fruits, dried fruits, nuts with cottage cheese. Suitable drinks include kefir, milk with honey, and fruit juice. Lunch should include two dishes:

• low-fat soup or vegetable salad dressed with olive oil;
• boiled chicken or fish with pasta or any cereal.

Regular loaves and yeast buns should be replaced with bran or rye bread.

An alcoholic can use chicken eggs and raw vegetables as an afternoon snack. Dinner should not be made “heavy”. The optimal solution is lean, steamed meat and mashed potatoes. If the poisoning is severe, you can get by with just vegetables.

If an addict really loves sweets, he can have honey, marmalade, marshmallows, marshmallows, dark chocolate, jam, but only in small quantities. Any pies, cakes and pastries are prohibited, as are sweets.

Snacks between main meals on recovery days are not advisable. It is important to eat on a schedule so as not to put increased stress on your stomach.

First aid for food poisoning

29.09.2021

As we prepare for the holidays, we have no idea how dangerous holiday treats can be for us. Traditional dishes such as mushrooms, meat, and fish are especially dangerous. For poisoning of various forms (bacterial or toxic), there are different first aid tactics. If you feel unwell, similar to food poisoning, then first of all, think about which product caused the problem.

Bacterial poisoning is caused by a large number of microbes or their waste products. If the food was poorly washed before cooking, or was not sufficiently heat treated, or the storage conditions were incorrect, the risk of poisoning increases.

The cause of toxic poisoning can be wild mushrooms, or any canned food that can lead to botulism. If symptoms such as clouding of consciousness, double vision , paralysis of the palate, tongue, face , pharynx , or respiratory tract appear, you must immediately call an ambulance. Since this may indicate the development of botulism. This disease requires urgent treatment, otherwise it can lead to death or serious consequences. You should also seek medical help if there are no such neurological symptoms, but the poisoning occurred after a feast with mushroom dishes. The most common symptoms of food poisoning are nausea , vomiting, diarrhea stomach and intestinal pain .

In case of bacterial poisoning , you must proceed as follows:

• Completely cleanse the stomach and intestines . For the first time hours after the product enters the body, you need to drink 1.5 liters of a solution of 0.1% potassium permanganate at one time (before drinking, make sure that it is completely dissolved in water), or a 2% solution of baking soda, and then call vomiting Then you need to rinse the stomach with clean water until it is completely cleansed. It is also necessary to give an enema with 2 liters of boiled water to empty the intestines .
• Drink plenty of fluids. This is necessary in order to avoid dehydration and loss of electrolytes (microelements), inevitable with diarrhea and vomiting. It is better to drink non-carbonated mineral water, weak and not very sweet tea, rehydron (a complex of salts, 1 sachet per 1 liter of water - drink throughout the day).
• Remove toxic substances from the body. Such drugs as enterosgel, smecta, enterodes and activated carbon help with this.
• To reduce abdominal , you can take antispasmodics (no-spa, duspatalin).
• To facilitate the work of the pancreas, it is recommended to take enzymatic preparations (Creon, Pancreatin, Mezim-Forte, 1-2 capsules 3 times a day).

When you are poisoned, you usually don’t want to eat, and you don’t even need to – food can only worsen the condition. The main thing is to drink as much liquid as possible. After the acute symptoms of poisoning pass, it is necessary to adhere to a gentle diet (oatmeal and rice porridge cooked in water; light rice or vegetable soup, mashed potatoes without oil).

If the condition does not improve within a day, or the temperature rises, a doctor’s consultation . If the temperature is above 37, and the usual remedies do not help, if the vomiting is constant, and diarrhea is more than ten times a day, you should definitely consult a doctor . Medical assistance is also necessary if a child or an elderly person is poisoned.

As for mushroom poisoning, be aware that after the condition improves as a result of cleansing the stomach , it may soon worsen again. If you do not contact an ambulance in time, the result can be tragic. But if help is provided on time, then even the most severe poisoning will remain only memories.

Published in Gastroentorology Premium Clinic

How to make a diet correctly

The most reasonable solution is to consult an experienced narcologist and nutritionist. If the drinking sessions were prolonged and alcohol was used in high doses, it is advisable to begin treatment with a drip. This simple measure will speed up the cleansing of the blood from toxic metabolites of ethanol.

During a medical consultation, the alcoholic will find out how many times he should eat and what exactly. When developing a personal menu, the doctor takes into account:

• gender, age;
• initial weight;
• severity of symptoms of poisoning;
• existing diseases;
• tendency to allergies;
• patient's eating habits.

As you recover, the list of permitted products will expand. Gradually it will include more fatty and satisfying dishes. It is important not to force the process of returning to your usual menu and strictly follow the diet prepared by your doctor.

Literature:

• Mental illnesses: clinic, treatment, prevention: [Ref. a manual for neurologists, psychotherapists and doctors of other specialties] / Tyuvina N. A. - M.: Publishing house. house "KRON-press", 1997. - 250 p.
• Guide to addictionology / Axelrod B. A. et al.; edited by V. D. Mendelevich. - St. Petersburg: Rech, 2007. - 766 p.
• Gastroenterology: reference book / Baranovsky A.Yu. and etc.; Peter, 2011. - 506 p.

The text was checked by medical experts: Head of the socio-psychological service of the Alkoklinik MC, psychiatrist-narcologist L.A. Serova.

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