Traveling has its own share of perks and cons. As long as you are extremely careful with certain things, there’s nothing that can make your expedition an unpleasant one, but the second you commit a mistake, your whole trip can be ruined. One of the many factors that can easily ruin your trip is food poisoning. There’s nothing uglier than sickening food poisoning that can ruin a trip. Consuming something wrong that your body couldn’t accept can make you confine to the toilet seat for the rest of your trip. Be it eating or drinking; food poisoning can be caused by either of it. Hence, every traveler ought to be extremely careful with what all they are putting into their body. An upset stomach is something the majority of us must be aware of, and quite honestly, it’s nothing but a big headache that can drop your energy to great levels. Whether you are into exotic food or street-side concoctions, if not careful enough, one can easily fall prey to this sickening food poisoning, and to avoid that from happening, there are certain things that you can do to prevent yourself from getting sick while traveling.
Get bottled water
Sometimes the only way to keep yourself away from such sickness is to be extra smart and careful with your choices, even if it means spending a few bucks extra on it. If this ensures your safety, then you shouldn’t think twice before spending money. While you get drinking water at almost every eating joint or restaurant, but you can always choose to be extra safe from your end. You can get bottled water every time you order food, this may shoot up your expenses, but if you have a really sensitive stomach, then you wouldn’t want to risk it with regular water offered at the restaurants or eating joints.
Always eat the food hot and fresh
You should always try consuming the food when it’s hot and fresh. It won’t only taste better, but it is also very safe to eat. Food that has been sitting for hours is probably being harbored by so many germs and microorganisms, and this isn’t how the food is supposed to be eaten. If you are having any doubts about the food, then you can get it fried again so as to kill any kind of germs or bugs present in the food.
Check for hygiene
Any food joint preparing the food should always comply with certain hygiene practices. It’s not only necessary from the safety’s point of view, but it also helps in increasing the confidence amongst the people for that particular eating joint. You should always keep a check on sanitary and hygienic conditions of the eating joint preparing the food such as if the person is wearing a hairnet, if he’s handling the food with gloves and many more things. If you don’t pay attention to these things, then you aren’t entirely blameless. While you certainly cannot expect the street market to meet hygiene and sanitary practices perfectly, but you can make sure that the prep area is sanitary.
Wash your hands
It’s the most basic rule of following good hygiene and sanitary practices. This shouldn’t even have to be reminded as we are adults now, and we should know the basic things. Every time you go out or even have a meal at your home, make sure to clean your hands first with a hand sanitizer or germs killer soap. We don’t realize this, but lack of hygiene can easily lead anyone to become bedridden. So take cleaning your hands very seriously.
Find a spot where the locals dine
You can never really go wrong with a well-loved local find. Any place where you see a lot of crowd can be taken as the best joint to eat at. Unlike tourist traps, local restaurants or joints have repeated and regular restaurants, so they have to maintain their high standards in order to keep their customers satisfied. Any restaurant or food stall with a big crowd probably means that they have to keep churning out freshly cooked food.