Diet issues while travelling

[lizzielee]

I can become quite mental when it comes to food and being in another country. I was worried when I was in Turkey for 2 whole weeks last year. I said I would only eat bread and bananas because bananas had a skin on them and I would not eat Turkish meat or turkish vegetables as I would get sick....(Oh God I don't know what the hell I was thinking at the time but yes I did think that). I was scared to eat the food there as I had thought that I would get sick. Anyway, I never at bread or bananas in Turkey I just ate turkish delight all day and I loved it! I found wherever I went to in Europe, every place served western type food. I had the best pizza ever in Poland lol ........something I can't get over to this very dayl Don't worry, it will work out for you. Enjoy your time there...............

[Bowyn Aerrow]

My friend did tell me to avoid most fresh food because we're not used to other countries' bacteria and that jazz.

the worst part is I love food xD so not being able to get to know foreign cuisine takes so much fun out

Thanks for the advice though! and yes our household is regularly disinfected >.> not my fault that I love the feeling of hand sanitiser.

Buy your own fresh foods, thing with skins like apples, oranges and bandannas. Wash before peeling. Lettuce, celery are more difficult to clean and often have things like e.coli and other interesting critters on them.

The others side of this is cooking foods to a temperature high enough to kill most bacteria. 60°C (140°F).

Its too late for me to tell you to go out and eat some soil out of the lawn. Babies/toddlers who eat soils (just a taste or a bit more than that) are actually inoculating themselves against a lot of things. You are too old to get the health benefits of 'inoculation'.

Hand sanitizer has a place - that place is if you are a high risk individual to various infections such as cold and flu. High risk means that a cold or flu readily becomes complicated or can kill you. If you are healthy then getting colds and flu (common ones not novel ones) is beneficial in the long run.

Too many otherwise healthy people are terrified of the cold and flu and do everything to prevent catching one - the upside is that they don't get sick, the down side is that their immune system is not put through drills and movements and gets the exercises of 'war-games' which make the immune system hardier, stronger and more able to confront and win wars with many other ailments.

I was reading somewhere that kids in daycare who get the common cold end up having less problems with asthma and autoimmune illnesses later in life. That was a study 30 years in the making as they followed a group of kids from day-care through adulthood and tracked many ailments of childhood.

http://phys.org/news106418144.html Lays out a few interesting details of use of antibacterial soaps over regular soaps.

[megumidesu]

when i go anyway (or when i'm at home for that matter ...) i usually live off rice , fruit and vegetables . i'm extremely boring when it comes to food ...

[zeon]

My friend did tell me to avoid most fresh food because we're not used to other countries' bacteria and that jazz.

the worst part is I love food xD so not being able to get to know foreign cuisine takes so much fun out

Thanks for the advice though! and yes our household is regularly disinfected >.> not my fault that I love the feeling of hand sanitiser.

An immune system is there to be tested so feel free to try other foods but dont over do a portion just try a small amount and see where ya go... If it was dangerous it wouldnt be sold