I food poisoned myself...I think

Well let me start out at the beginning...such a logical place, yes? Well I was snowed in my room wednesday and thursday. I cooked a crock pot full of split peas, and made many cups of rice. I think I cooked wednesday. I never put any of this food in the fridge, I figured my room was cool enough. Today (friday) I ate the remaining amout of this food for lunch, which was around 1:30. At 3:30 I started feeling nausious. I must also add I ate carrots, 2 bananas, and some O.J. before going to work. Anyhow most of that came up at work (3 times), rice and beans are still in me. I'm still feeling nausious and its 10:30 pm. So I guess I should ask who thinks this is food poisoning? Any remedies, or things to help get through this, keep food down etc.?

sorry you feel like crap Brian. Nausea SUCKS.

The only "natural" way is to make yourself puke (which I have always dreaded doing - sometimes I think I would rather suffer thru the nausea). But you feel SO MUCH better afterwards.

It could also be that you are getting a flu- so nothin to do with food poisining. I say try to puke, and if not, just drink gingerale if you can get some and rest -- sleep, keeping yourself warm. Try to sleep off the nausea, although it is hard to fall asleep sometimes when you are feeling really nauseated. Post how you feel tomorrow afternoon.

Keep warm and take care of yourself

actually, now that I think about it, I am feelin a lil nauseated myself. I just snacked on some mock chicken salad I made with the Yves Chicken Strips and I am feeling a lil queezy now. Ugghhh I hate stomach ailments. Those and sore throats are the worst to deal with.

I came home from work and slept an hour. I went to workout but it wasnt goin too well. I got through most of my training but having to stop and wait like 10 minutes for an upset stomach to subside gets old. I'll get some gingerale maybe, I havn't had a carbonated beverage inyears so they make me feel funny. I did buy some gatorade (orange) its yummy, also some cranberry juice. Eatin bananas also having some tofu now and that is goin alright. I ate a clif bar and some cereal earlier. I'll see how I feel in the morning, may puke up stuff, though I imagine I wont need to. Also I have a test in the morning which wont help me sleep easy tonight.

Lesson learned: dont leave food out for a few days.

Oh my, I feel for you! I hope you feel better soon.

I was always taught once food has been cooked: you need to store it at 40 degrees F or less or you will have bacteria growth.

Bacteria growth can occur from 40 - 140 degree F with 60 -120 degrees being ideal conditions for rapid growth. Food should be refrigerated (or reheated) after being out for two hours or less.

Drats I should have atleast popped it in the microwave. I'm feelin good today though. Thanks all.

Good that you're feeling better. Whenever I'm feeling sick I drink tons of citrus juice (grapefruit is my favorite), but then again I'm always drinking lots of citrus juice even when I'm feeling well. Anyway, the point is citrus seems to help recover

could be food poisoning. when i cook food i rarely put it away or cover it, and I eat it days later. my stomach has kinda gotten used to the bacteria that forms on the food....sounds gross....but I can also drink water from almost anywhere, since I'm used to drinking out of dirty sinks at hardcore venues.

also you could just be sick from it being cold outside and stuff...

my recommendation is dont leave food out unless you have a tolerance for it.

well i'll count this as a step towards tolerance. Guess i should do it more often.

i think that it is food poisoning. done a fair few food hygeine courses with me being a cook and then a support worker.

food needs to be kept below 42degrees fahrenheit. when you heat it it has to reach 167 degrees in order to kill bacteria. if you are going to keep it warm, it has to stay above 145 degrees.

rice is the only vegan food that is liable to give you food poisoning. the bacteria in it forms spores, which can survive heating. you can only reheat it once, and it must be refridgerated immediately once it has cooled to stop the formation of any more spores.

i myself have a pretty tough stomach (used to be tougher), and just about anything (especially out of date food). this served me well in nepal where i didnt get food poisoning but everyone else did. that said, you just cant take risks with rice

jonathan

Thanks for the info Seasiren and Jonathan regarding the numbers. I don't know if I've ever been food poisened before. I know some foods have upset my stomach but I've never become ill over something I ate. I feel very lucky in that respect. I don't know that my stomach is totally tough, but I'd say it's not totally wussy. I know someone (maybe even from this forum) told me a couple of years ago that he ate 35 apples in one day to help make his stomach tougher!

Some people I know don't handle beans well. I can handle them very well. For some reason carrots are little be tough on my stomach and apples can be also. But I still eat both foods Some breads don't always make my stomach feel great, but those are some foods that I should pretty much eliminate anyway.

I know that pineapple and papaya are supposed to be digestive aids but I don't notice anything special when I eat them.

-Robert

Hmm....I learned a lot from this thread.

Okay, so Jonathan, ALL food needs to meet those temperatures?

I knew that animal products spoil if left out (which obviously is not a concern for vegans), but I didnt realize that even stuff like steamed veggies and rice have to put in the fridge after being cooked and can only be reheated once after that? Why once by the way?

I tend to make stuff in the early day and then leave it on the counter in tupperware containers (so at room temperature) for the whole rest of the day because sometimes I like my stuff at room temperature when eating it. So this is not good because by the end of the day there are lots of bacteria spores in it is what you are saying? And this applies to ALL cooked food is what you are also saying?

Thanks for the info and clarification. Science was never really my strong suit. That is why I went into law and not veterinary medicine, which would have been my number one choice.

with most vegan food its generally quite hard to poison yourself. rice is the main exception, and its very easy to do so. it is unique in terms of the bacteria that forms in it, so take extra care with it. with other things there is much less risk, and you can reheat things more than once, but dont for rice.

the reason why food should only be reheated once is that it greatly increases the risk of bacteria growing. its not the actual bacteria that harm you, its the toxins that they produce. so the more time that the food is in the 'comfort zone' of 20-63degrees celcius the more bacteria reproduce, and thus preduce toxin. if you reheat twice, there will be twice the amount of toxins as there is twice the cooling period.

for most vegan food this isnt really too much of an issue as they are low in bacteria, but anything with a high fat or protein content is more prone to giving you food poisoning.

hope this helps

jonathan