Tips to Prevent Traveler’s Diarrhea
I had no idea what I was going to write about this week for the blog, then it hit, pull from your personal life. We all got sick in Mexico, sigh. I could have taken more steps to prevent illness as an adult, but my son is suffering the most. We are home now and he is still vomiting and having diarrhea so he likely has a parasite or bad bacteria. I give my son herbs often, however, most of the antimicrobials aren’t safe as a toddler making preventing illness a little harder. I’m now testing his poop! I will say, this happens in many countries and isn’t specific to Mexico.
If you have post infectious IBS or got traveller’s diarrhea on vacation, let’s do a GI-MAP and ensure you don’t have long lasting effects for years to come.
Tips to prevent food poisoning and traveller’s diarrhea.
Bring HCL, bitters or a digestive enzyme with you.
We want to optimize digestion and ensure your body is functioning the best it can. HCL will boost stomach acid production and in aid in killing pathogens as they can’t survive in certain pH. When we eat a meal our pH becomes more alkaline and unfortunately this enables bugs to live. Avoid HCL if you’re experiencing heartburn or GERD like symptoms as this may make you flare. I’d combine this with a digestive enzyme or my favourite, a bitter tincture that actually helps support your own secretions.
Wash your hands, a lot.
It may seem obvious, but it’s helpful. My son puts his fingers in his mouth, not ideal when travelling! I prefer this to hand sanitizer so our good gut bugs live on!
Avoid drinking tap water
Even for brushing your teeth! This is a hard one for kids as we give our son a nightly bath and I can guarantee water ends up in his mouth. The last resort we stayed at had filtered water on each floor and you’d fill up your water bottle. Less than half the people I met got sick, so I think the water was ok for consumption. If they don’t have this on site, please stick to water bottles. From an environmental perspective, it sucks, but your gastrointestinal tract will be happier.
S. boulardii
This is a yeast that is similar to a probiotic in that it can prevent traveller’s diarrhea and opportunistic bacteria. It’s also great if you have low SIgA levels (think gut immunity), low beneficial bacteria or H. pylori. I had a calendar reminder to bring this on my trip and I forgot it!
Eat freshly cooked food
This is a tough one. Usually we opt for a condo in Tulum and we soak all our food in filtered water and vinegar prior to cutting and eating. We cook a lot of food, but also enjoy eating out and do consume raw foods. The latest trip we ate buffets and this can potentially increase your risk of traveller’s diarrhea. The person dining doesn’t know how long the food sat out for, especially with respect to raw seafood. The CDC recommends avoiding buffets and eating cooked food - my options were so limited I couldn’t go a week without any uncooked foods. I did try to grab a daily banana as it’s peel keeps it protected from pathogens - usually water or feces from kitchen staff’s hands.
Keep your bowels moving!
This can be hard on vacation when regular people tend to get slightly constipated. One lady on the trip I spoke to hadn’t gone poop in a week! Prokinectics are great here as they encourage peristalsis. An affordable one is ginger - you can use the fresh root. For traveling I like the tea bags or even better, a convenient supplement. My Fullscript dispensary also has combination herbs that act as prokinetics. This keeps toxins and bacteria moving through you versus sitting there to be reabsorbed. Gentle movement also helps with perilstalsis - the wave like action your intestinal tract makes to move food down.
Bring antimicrobials
I forgot my oil of oregano at home! I couldn’t have given it to my son, but my hubby and I could have taken it. Ensure you take herbs that kill bacteria away from any probiotics or S. boulardii as they also destroy good bacteria. Oil of oregano should only be used temporarily because of this. It’s strong, just like an antibiotic. I also have garlic capsules at home (great for H. pylori) and black cumin seed pill (ok for nursing and helps with parasites). I get everything on my Fullscript here.
Brush your teeth first thing in the AM
Did you know we produce less saliva when we’re sleeping? This means bad bacteria can linger though. Picture a stream in the forest that’s moving versus a stagnant almost dried up stream. Instead of waking and drinking water first thing, brush your teeth. You’’ avoid swallowing the bacteria in your mouth. This is a bonus tip, not one that will make or break getting sick.
Keep stress low
We know that our secretory IgA (SIgA) levels are low when stress is high. This is our defence system in the gut, your little army fighting pathogens. Meditation, a more go with the flow way of life (working on it!!), breathwork, yoga, nature and stimulating the vagus nerve will all help. If you haven’t read my blog post on the vagus nerve, I highly recommend it.
At the end of the day, you can try doing all these tips and still get sick. It’s definitely a risk. These will really help reduce the odds. It’s just tougher with toddlers and kids. If we go back in the Fall, I’ll be brining kid friendly antimicrobials, excessively washing hands, cooking our own food and giving him child friendly S. boulardii.
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