Protect yourself from the “salad bar disease”! Also known as the stomach flu, which is a highly contagious group of bugs known as noroviruses. Their calling card? A sudden bout of vomiting, diarrhea, and cramps. About 30 to 40 different strains are in our environment, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. Like it or not, it’s often spread from fecal matter that comes from people who don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom. The good news? This four-step plan can spare you the misery.
- Skip the salad bar. It turns out the most likely place for noroviruses to lurk in restaurants is the salad bar. Why? Because raw foods easily transmit the virus – since they’re not exposed to heat, which kills the virus. Plus salad bar counters are crawling with bacteria. To protect yourself, order a “made-to-order” salad from the kitchen instead of picking through veggies that everybody has had their hands on. Also, check the restaurant’s restroom! A study from the CDC confirms if the bathroom isn’t clean, the kitchen is worse!
- Wash up at the right time. The most crucial times to wash your hands are before brushing your teeth, eating, preparing food, and after using the bathroom, changing a diaper, or doing the laundry. When you’re lathered up, get under your nails too.
- Build up your defenses. To boost your resistance to noroviruses, have a daily cup of yogurt containing live bacteria cultures. Keeping your digestive system well stocked with good bacteria increases your ability to fight off bad bacteria.
- If you’ve been around someone who’s sick, break out the bleach! Noroviruses can linger for days on surfaces like your kid’s toys, telephones, cell phones, and doorknobs. So if you’ve been around a sickie, wipe everything down with a solution of one part household bleach to 50 parts water.
- Aside from this four-step plan, beware of this food. Eggs. Eggs are associated with more than 600-thousand cases of food poisoning each year and more than 300 deaths. So make sure you cook your eggs completely.
