Health Tips: Clean Food and Drink

Maintaining good health is closely linked to cleanliness in eating and drinking. What goes into the mouth as food or liquid can either build up your health and strength, or cause illness, suffering, loss of wage earning ability or death.

So it is essential to be well clued up on how to keep you and your loved ones healthy.

Water
If you live in an area which does not have water coming from a pure water system, boil water before drinking. Water from water-holes, rivers, or stored in tanks, must be boiled even when it looks clean. What looks clean to the naked eye, may have small organisms which can cause illness that can't be easily seen.
It is especially important to boil all drinking water for babies and small children when there is diarrhoea, jaundice, cholera or typhoid fever in the area. Tips for keeping water for properly clean can be found in the Lumiere Charity blog posts links at the bottom of this post; (1)


Food
Keep flies away from the rooms where you store food. 
Cover food at all times in order to prevent flies and cockroaches crawling over it, because the insects carry germs (bacteria) and spread disease.

Don't leave dirty plates, cutlery, cups or leftover and scrap food lying around, as these attract flies. 
Food scraps offer germs a place to breed.

Germs (Bacteria)
Germs are tiny living creatures called organisms which cannot be seen by ourselves without the help of a microscope. 

Fruit and vegetables
Wash all fruit and vegetables well before eating. 
Don't wash the fruit and vegetables with dirty water, water that has not been purified or water from the same bucket you use to take water to wash your hands with after using the toilet in areas where you do not have running water. 
These can cause germs to contaminate the food.

Meat
If you are not vegetarian, eat only meat that is well cooked.
Meat can cause illnesses in the human body. 
Pork can cause illnesses such as a parasitic disease called Trichinosis which brings worms into the body.(2)
Trichinosis can cause nausea, heartburn, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, swelling around the eyes, oedoema, muscle pain, fever, weakness, splinter haemmorhage in the nails. 
The worms can enter the central nervous system and cause a stroke, ataxia or respiratory paralysis. 
Death can occur four to six weeks after the infection, and is usually caused by myocarditis, encephalitis or pneumonia.
Other illnesses caused by pork include Trichuriasis, Taenia solium (pork tape worms),  (3) Schitosoma japonicum and others.

Other illnesses caused by meat include Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) which is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle causing a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord.  

Fish
Eating fish can cause illnesses such as an allergic reaction (some people swell up and have difficulty breathing). Sometimes people are allergic to shellfish or other types of fish. (4)
If you have any food, meat or fish allergies, do not eat the food item that causes your allergy.
Check each dish to make sure a small portion of the food to which you are allergic has not been mistakenly added.
If you are not vegetarian, only eat well cooked and fresh fish.
Be very careful with tinned fish.
Never eat it if it is old or smells bad. 

Food poisoning and Salmonella
Food poisoning or Salmonellosis is a disease caused by raw or undercooked food.
The germ or bacteria that causes the illness is salmonella. (5)

Old Food and 'Off' Food
Do not eat food that is old or smells bad. It may be poisonous.
Do not eat tinned food, if the tin is swollen before being opened.
Be especially careful with tinned fish.
Never store food in the tin as this may turn the food poisonous.

If you are ill
If you are ill with an infectious disease such as tuberculosis, it is advisable to eat separately from other people. Plates and eating tools used by sick people should be properly cleaned with hot water and a good cleaning agent. It is best not to exchange plates and eating tools between sick and healthy people, as the healthy people may become infected with the illness.

Look after your health, and your healthy body will look after you.
You will be able to care for yourself, your family and earn a good wage to give you all good living circumstances.




(1) DelAgua - keeping water supplies safe
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2012/08/delagua-keeping-water-supplies-safe.html
Safeguarding water supplies
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2012/08/safeguarding-water-supplies.html
Health tips; Clean Water Supplies
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2012/08/health-tips-clean-water-supplies.html
Water for Life; giving fresh water for those in need
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2012/08/water-for-life-giving-fresh-water-to.html


(2) With thanks to Wikipedia
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis

(3) With thanks to Youtube and Mr Sakkeer Hussain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MxI2bMwFNE

(4) With thanks to Discovery Health
http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/allergies/food-allergy/shellfish/common-fish-allergy-symptoms.htm

(5) With thanks to Wikipedia
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmonella

*Photograph taken by Catherine Nicolette. Please feel free to use copyright free for any worthy purpose