Have you ever had foodborne illness or food poisoning?
If you have ever had food poisoning or foodborne illness you probably will never forget it. Especially, if it was severe. Some of us, have mild reactions and there are others who never knew food poisoning or foodborne illness was the culprit.
Did you know the FDA ​estimates that there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness each year. This estimate is equivalent to 1 in 6 Americans becoming sick from contaminated food, which results in an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. WHOA! What is the difference between Foodborne Illness and Food poisoning?
The CDC refers to "foodborne illness" as "foodborne germs and illness" and then goes on to talk about food poisoning. And, this is where it can come quite confusing. Foodborne illness and food poisoning are used interchangeably and are somewhat similar but have different classifications. Stay with me here.
FoodBorne Illness Definition
Foodborne illness is caused by eating contaminated food. Which, leads to getting sick within minutes or developing symptoms over the several weeks or even later.
​Foodborne illness is caused by harmful bacteria or other pathogens in contaminated food. ​ Food Poisoning Definition
Food poisoning happens by swallowing toxins, a form of poison caused by microorganisms in food.It is a TYPE of foodborne ilness. Food poisoning begin quickly, usually within 60 minutes after eating the contaminated food.
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Food Poisoning and Foodborne Illness Symptoms
As you can see from the picture above, food poisoning and foodborne illness symptoms are a bit different. Both are severe, especially for those who are immune compromised, the very young, pregnant women and those over 60 years of age. Food poisoning symptoms are far more sever and you should seek immediate medical attention.
​ How Do We Get Foodborne Illness or Food Poisoning?
Foodborne Illness and Food Poisoning typically come from food and sometimes beverages. It can be canned food, packaged food, fresh food. It just has to be contaminated. It can be from food you purchased at a Farmer's market, restaurants, food truck, festivals, grocery stores, any where you can purchase food.
With the increase in food borne illness outbreaks from produce to packaged foods including restaurants with less than stellar kitchen habits, can we protect ourselves from getting sick? 
How to Prevent Foodborne Illness and Food Poisoning
Preventing foodborne illness and food poisoning can be tricky because we usually do not know it has happened until after it has happened. Of course, check the expiration dates. Make sure the product is within consumption date.
If the restaurant and the bathroom looks dirty, more than likely the kitchen is too! Walk away! ​
According to the CDC, when it comes to handling food at home, to prevent contamination try these 4 steps
Let's Talk About Food Poisoning Remedy You Can Do
A top food poisoning remedy is prevention. We just talked about some tips in the kitchen, but there are also things you can do with your body! Sounds far fetched, right? Not really, if you understand how your body works
​ Let me Share 5 ways you can prevent foodborne illness and food poisoning.
1. Chew Your Food!
​Most of us don’t chew our food. Chewing is your number one defense to fight off microbial attacks! Chewing your food releases antimicrobials in your mouth which can begin the process of killing off microbes later in the digestive tract. Microbes like salmonella, e.coli and listeria . These Bad guys have been dominating the news and the CDC’s list of food borne illness outbreaks, A LOT.
2. Stomach Acid.
if there is good hydrochloric acid, the stomach acid will kill these invaders. Think of battery acid. Your stomach acid is like battery acid — highly corrosive and will burn them up, or, at the very least, can break down the protein structure of the pathogens to help out the small intestine.
3. Which brings us to Pancreatic Enzymes. If your stomach acid does not get all of the pathogens, enzymes made by your pancreas activated in your small intestine will attack the protein structure and break them down.
4. Don't forget the Gallbladder. The gallbladder releases bile acids that will also burn those little critters up and make their protein structures weak. Bile made in your liver and stored in your gallbladder also contains soaps. Think of washing your hands with soap, same thing here, bile soaps will help wash out the small intestine of bad guys and keep the proper alkaline pH so that microbes can not grow, causing illness and helps wash away metabolic debris, even parasites do not stand a chance.
5. 3 Healthy Poops a Day ​If you have a good, strong, diverse microbiota the bacteria in your colon will create the proper acidic pH and crowd out and inhibit pathogenic microbes from colonizing in the colon. If you are constipated this leads to less diversity and more opportunistic chances of suffering the symptoms of foodborne illness.
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