JOIN USIt’s that time of the year when you’ve got to be careful about what you put in your mouth. The E-coli bacteria suddenly produces a toxin that disallows our intestines from absorbing water. It results in diarrhoea. The reason we rush to the loo often is because the wise body has learnt over the centuries that the best way to rid itself of E-coli is by completely emptying the intestines. It takes one to five days to purge, sometimes you may have nausea, cramps (due to dehydration) or fever.
Some prudent measures to keep you from having unproductive days:
* Keep replacing displaced fluids. Drink, drink, and drink as much water as possible. Make sure the water has been boiled or treated with iodine.
* Each day, have 2 to 3 glasses of purified water in which you’ve dissolved Electral/Enerzal powder. This is to replace lost salts, sugar, electrolytes. Your intestines will thank you because these substances help it to absorb water more effectively.
* If you prefer home remedies, cook apple peels in water and drink the concoction.
* Unless you’re on the road or at an out-of-town conference, I don’t advise antidiarrheal drugs or antibiotics for the simple reason: plug, and your system keeps the bug longer. Better to be mean and clean.
* Let good bacteria battle with the bad bacteria. Your beleaguered intestines need the acidophilus bacteria found in milk or the bulgaricus bacteria found in yoghurt. As soon as you land in any foreign region, don’t order coffee or beer or any beverage, start your stay with a bowl of yoghurt. It will stem the growth of bad bacteria.
* Say no to raw vegetable salads or fruits in restaurants. At home, wash them thoroughly—in filtered water.
* Add a pinch of potassium permanganate powder in water, and dunk leafy greens like spinach, lettuce, fenugreek, cabbage (even cauliflower) in it. It’s available at your local pharmacy.
* Avoid eating meat outside. If it’s undercooked, you’re in trouble. Better to bring home the bacon and cook it to healthy, hygienic standards.
* Much as you want to chill out, still, don’t help yourself to ice-cubes beyond home frontiers. Mix your cocktail with soda; not water or fruit juice. And no, booze does not kill the E-coli bug—it’s a guzzler’s fancy.
* Drink acidic drinks like orange juice (home-squeezed) or colas. They lower the E-coli population.
Water is really very important for physical well-being and mental clarity. When the tissues reach a certain ‘dry’ point, the cell-surrounding membranes correspondingly thicken to avoid more water loss. This also slows down metabolism and imbalances the system. When the body cells move into a survival mode, so does the mind become a little erratic and slightly irrational. A doctor once told me that we need about four ounces every hour to retain our wits.
Sometimes, our system is a tad slow in absorbing water. That’s because of the relatively higher surface tension of water. It’s not absorbed because it pulls together to form drops and does not move through the membranes of the intestinal lining as required. In that case, low surface tension carrot juice works wonders.
Water promotes the element of balance and harmony in our system.