Athena wrote:

toria wrote:Oddly, sometimes Coca Cola helps calm my tummy.

Not odd. Coca Cola contains a bicarbonate buffering system - basically its a mild form of Alka Seltzer, so it reduces stomach acidity & makes you feel better. Any type of soda water or carbonated soda will have the same effect (not seltzer though, no bicarb). Ginger ale acts the same way & has the added impact of the ginger, if its made with real ginger.

When I was a kid, my doctor prescribed coca cola syrup for upset stomachs. You used to be able to get it at the drugstore and it came in a regular medicine bottle like cough syrup.

toria wrote: Oddly, sometimes Coca Cola helps calm my tummy.

For quite a while, in my younger days, a Coca Cola float was my favorite (and most effective) hangover remedy.

I remember when cola syrup was part of every First Aid kit.

David Hammond wrote:There are something like 500 types of aloe vera, and I'm guessing some are maybe more suitable for eating raw. The ones on display in the food section at Hispanic grocery stores would seem to be edible in some way and there a lot of recipes out there for raw aloe (e.g., http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/07/aloe-vera-recipes/ and http://www.whyaloevera.com/aloe-vera-recipes.html.

Nonetheless, I think your point is well-taken, Cynthia: best not to eat the gel out of random aloe vera plants.

That is the issue precisely -- 500 types. It was the "I have an aloe growing at home" that concerned me. Unless you know which kind you have and how much to take, it can be an unnecessary risk. Unless one is an expert, it's safer to just go with the stuff at the healthfood store.

Hammond wrote:

The ones on display in the food section at Hispanic grocery stores would seem to be edible in some way

Assume nothing. A prime example: I have seen rue for sale as an edible herb in both Hispanic and Greek markets, and it is not only not edible, it is poisonous, and corrosive to the skin - the sap alone is capable of raising blisters (!). See Amy Stewart's 'Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities' for further information.

Cynthia wrote:It was the "I have an aloe growing at home" that concerned me. Unless you know which kind you have and how much to take, it can be an unnecessary risk. Unless one is an expert, it's safer to just go with the stuff at the healthfood store.

You're right and you may also be right about some types of aloe being a kind of homeopathic medicine, or a hair-of-the-dog-that-bit-you/fighting-fire-with-fire cure that works by introducing a small bit of stomach irritant that actually works to soothe the stomach.

I've always thought that menudo as a stomach-soother/hangover cure maybe worked something like this, or maybe as a sort of sympathetic magic: If you have a bad stomach, you eat stomach and your stomach will feel better.

David Hammond wrote:If you have a bad stomach, you eat stomach and your stomach will feel better.

That's been my theory for eating liver for the past few years. So far it hasn't worked.

Got a little food poisoning from some turkey deli meat that was past its prime-- didn't have any yogurt for probiotics, so sent some kimchi down the pipe to kick probiotic a$$. My kimchi recipe has a lot of ginger-- tasted great.

Jen

I would not eat raw aloe vera. I think the kind prepared like lily of the desert might be safer. I take a pill made from whole leaf aloe vera. but its not safe to take constantly.

also the whole world of bitters and digestifs might help....fernet branca, cynar, peppermint schnapps, jagermeister, Chartruese, Pernod, there are those that are proponents of taking a shot of these. Not boozing it up just a shot.

Also you might try Underberg bitters. Very interesting.
They are not really a beverage but a tonic. Always wanted to buy but have not. I did see them at Bendes some time ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underberg

I do like the Underberg bitters, and they seem to help me with any sort of digestive issues. They're in the same general category as Unicum and Jaegermeister. Not anywhere near as sweet as Jaeger, though. Good stuff.

I've got an Underberg backpack. Just the perfect Teutonic, hikingly-gay, grass green accoutrement to my lederhosen(seriously, I own lederhosen...can't fit into them, but I got 'em). Underberg is classically herbal...like a Unikome w/o the sock to the face. Underberg schmeckt gut!

Called "Magenbitters" in the olde countrie, CG--goes along with your taste for bitters in general.

Geo

The woman I worked for recommended umeboshi for upset stomachs, she always brought it along when going out of the country. I haven't tried it yet because I keep forgetting to buy it but it sounds like my kinda cure for stomach pain. Currently, I take charcoal pills if I'm feeling sick after a large meal.

David, what exactly is Po Chai? I'm always surprised when people who are so attentive to avoiding germs and eating organic take pills from strangers and give them a try. (No disrespect intended) I do understand, however, when one feels bad, they are willing to try anything to alleviate the distress. I spent a couple months trying everything to rid myself of bad "tummy troubles." I eventually went down the tubes and ended up in the hospital for 5 days. Turns out I had a malevolent lingering case of food poisoning (rare, but it does happen). I ended up having to be on IV nutrition for 16 hours a day for 30 days. My thought is anything that lingers, see your MD. (Note: I had been seeing my MD, but it was such an odd case he didn't put it together until I landed in the hospital).

stevez wrote:

Athena wrote:

toria wrote:Oddly, sometimes Coca Cola helps calm my tummy.

Not odd. Coca Cola contains a bicarbonate buffering system - basically its a mild form of Alka Seltzer, so it reduces stomach acidity & makes you feel better. Any type of soda water or carbonated soda will have the same effect (not seltzer though, no bicarb). Ginger ale acts the same way & has the added impact of the ginger, if its made with real ginger.

When I was a kid, my doctor prescribed coca cola syrup for upset stomachs. You used to be able to get it at the drugstore and it came in a regular medicine bottle like cough syrup.

You can still buy cola syrup at some drugstores. It works. But Emetrol is more readily available and I find it more effective for serious nausea.

For milder symptoms, I often turn to my mother's standby, which was flat ginger ale. (Stir the ginger ale until it's not bubbly before drinking.)

Sitting down in the dining room for the breakfast buffet at the Oberoi Grand in Calcutta, I overheard an American say somewhat loudly (as we do) to another American, “You can get yourself some bacon up there,” gesturing to the buffet table.

This was like my fifth day in India.

When I got to India, I ate Indian food three times a day (surprise!), with no ill effect. I have to admit that although I was pretty sure I hadn’t picked up any belly-attacking bacterial, my tummy felt a little…different.

I knew what would help: bacon…and eggs.

After that realization, whenever I had the chance, I had bacon and eggs for breakfast. That familiar, kind of dull and predictable first meal seemed to set me up for the rest of the day of eating some very spicy food (not always hot, but always heavily spiced).

I think of the traditional Anglo-American breakfast of bacon and eggs as a kind of neutral foundation for further gastro-adventures, a totally unsurprising and predictable combination of flavors that grounds the gut.

I hardly ever have bacon and eggs at home, but during foreign adventures, it’s my go-to-first-bite.

I was traveling with four other people in southern India a few years back, and after a about 9 days of lavish amounts of Indian food for three meals a day, we all at the same time reached the point where we wanted something simple. We settled on broiled fish. So not the same outlet you chose, David, but a similar feeling -- the need for something a little dull and predictable.

That surprised me because on my longest trip to China, I had Chinese food three meals a day for three weeks, and when I got off the plane, I wanted to go for Chinese food. No need for a break in Thailand, either. So not sure what it was -- possibly the amounts, as much as the richness and spices.

However, the respite worked, and the next day we were all ready for more Indian food.

But glad to know your tummy is behaving a bit better.

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

If I have no place I need to be, I prefer to tough it out. I want whatever-it-is to leave my system. Sending interference to plug the flow can be counterproductive and may prolong whatever-it-is grip on my system.

If I need to move about and I am not throwing up, I may use Imodium.

***

I had a friend whose sad moment of distress came on a flight from India to Heathrow. There was a line to the airplane's toilet. He marched to the front with a desperate look on his face. He asked to go next or they risked his going right then and there, he was allowed to go next. At Heathrow Airport, an ambulance crew met him at the gate taking him to the airport's hospital. I don't know how he was processed, though he was very grateful to have them there.

Regards,

And THIS is why I'm never going to India.

AngrySarah wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

If I have no place I need to be, I prefer to tough it out. I want whatever-it-is to leave my system. Sending interference to plug the flow can be counterproductive and may prolong whatever-it-is grip on my system.

If I need to move about and I am not throwing up, I may use Imodium.

***

I had a friend whose sad moment of distress came on a flight from India to Heathrow. There was a line to the airplane's toilet. He marched to the front with a desperate look on his face. He asked to go next or they risked his going right then and there, he was allowed to go next. At Heathrow Airport, an ambulance crew met him at the gate taking him to the airport's hospital. I don't know how he was processed, though he was very grateful to have them there.

Regards,

And THIS is why I'm never going to India.

And that's why my mother was horrified of ever leaving the continental U.S.

David Hammond wrote:

AngrySarah wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

If I have no place I need to be, I prefer to tough it out. I want whatever-it-is to leave my system. Sending interference to plug the flow can be counterproductive and may prolong whatever-it-is grip on my system.

If I need to move about and I am not throwing up, I may use Imodium.

***

I had a friend whose sad moment of distress came on a flight from India to Heathrow. There was a line to the airplane's toilet. He marched to the front with a desperate look on his face. He asked to go next or they risked his going right then and there, he was allowed to go next. At Heathrow Airport, an ambulance crew met him at the gate taking him to the airport's hospital. I don't know how he was processed, though he was very grateful to have them there.

Regards,

And THIS is why I'm never going to India.

And that's why my mother was horrified of ever leaving the continental U.S.

I contracted food poisoning on my recent trip to London, something I was unprepared for (no antibiotics such as the ones that saw me through a bout in Yunnan this past year). Kinda set me back in the culinary adventure department, but hey, I could have stayed in the US and gotten food poisoning, too. And man cannot live by bread alone. Being disinclined to eat gave me a chance to take in some art for a change of pace.

Several people have posted above about the prophylactic benefits of yoghurt. However, I learned yesterday from my internist that my lingering discomfort post-episode is likely bacteria-induced lactose intolerance. My doc said this is really common and recommended avoiding milk products for 7-10 days and taking probiotics in pill form, if desired.

The puzzling part is that I cannot figure out what the culprit might have been. Is it possible the water was the source of my problems? I have not had problems with the water in Europe since 1970. Can anyone shed light on this?

Josephine wrote:
Several people have posted above about the prophylactic benefits of yoghurt. However, I learned yesterday from my internist that my lingering discomfort post-episode is likely bacteria-induced lactose intolerance. My doc said this is really common and recommended avoiding milk products for 7-10 days and taking probiotics in pill form, if desired.

The puzzling part is that I cannot figure out what the culprit might have been. Is it possible the water was the source of my problems? I have not had problems with the water in Europe since 1970. Can anyone shed light on this?

Sorry to hear about the food poisoning in London. It's never fun to get sick on the road.

Aside from lactose issues (though most yogurt/kefir/fermented milk products have drastically reduced lactose -- since that's what ferments), traveling with yogurt isn't very practical, and you can't always find it at a destination. I rely on acidophilus pearls. The pearls are tiny, so don't add weight to the luggage, plus they come on blister cards, so no weight from a bottle -- and most important of all, they're enteric coated, so they don't dissolve till they hit your intestine, which is where you need them. I start taking them at least a week before I leave for anywhere (worst food poisoning I ever had was in Philadelphia), and take it until I return home.

That way, you don't have to waste calories on yogurt when you could be eating something more interesting.

Cynthia wrote:Sorry to hear about the food poisoning in London.

The only time in my life that I've had actual food poisoning (as in, the kind that requires antibiotics in order to make better) was in London, in 1973. The doctor who came to the hotel room in the morning and diagnosed it asked what I'd eaten the night before, and I said Lobster Cantonese at a Chinese restaurant in the West End, and he shook his head sadly and said, "Our standards of refrigeration are not what they are in your country."

I was in Peru a few years ago, and just before going to the airport, we stopped to eat. Nice, higher end restaurant right in Lima.

My freind saw the ceviche and said - "What the heck, I'm going to be home tomorrow, so I might as well risk it".

He went to the ER a few days later with stomach pain - turned out to have salmonella enteritis.

My learning on this was stay away from raw fish. Dont know what I'll do if I go to Japan.

threegoofs wrote:
My learning on this was stay away from raw fish. Dont know what I'll do if I go to Japan.

First, Japan is much more conscientious about food safety than Peru is.

Second, even if you decide to stay away from raw fish, there are TONS of other great things to eat in Japan. You would not go hungry.

I don't know I did not get very sick when I went to India and Nepal ....but it was years ago. I ate mostly cooked vegetarian food I drank hot tea or chai that was boiled and drank bottled water from hotels on occasion. I also drank golden eagle beer thinking it was safer than other cold drinks. I did have a few upsets but nothing debillitating. I think if you take care and stay away from meat, be careful on what you drink, you will hopefully be okay. Bring florastor, bring immodium and maybe pepto bismal tablets.