Basic rules - food and water

joliecoeur

Hi all,

Im new to this forum and have a very basic question to ask...
What are the fundamental rules when it comes to eating food and drinking water in India? I plan on backpacking round India (dont know where exactly yet) from January next year and will be staying in budget accommodation and eating cheaply and until I read the Lonely Planet section on health risks in India I was merely planning on getting all the recommended vaccinations etc After reading all the info on the various diseases Im now also keen to know what measures I can take to avoid Hepatitis A and E and typhoid...

Are these diseases rife in India?

Also, I know that using DEET products is preferable to catching malaria but can anyone tell me what the potential harmful effects of overuse are?
Would you recommend taking medication with you for typhoid, dengue fever, malaria, etc or buying it in India?

Thanks in advance for any comments

seventies'hippy

Welcome to IM joliecoeur.
Firstly I would say that No these diseases aren't rife in India, but yes they are there, though normal precautions should see you through ok.
A few common sense tips, Only drink bottled water, you can buy it everywhere, check the plastic seal hasn't been tampered with, people also use it for brushing teeth, same people avoid icecubes, salads, icecream, yogurt, lassie etc etc,,, Your Choice
Food, Try and eat someplace which is busy & has a good turnover.
5* hotels/restaurants don't always mean 5* food, street stalls can produce
some of the freshest & tastiest food you'll eat in India.
All in all be hygenic

lobo

Also when you do try the new foods take it slowly dont each to much or gorge on stuff you havent eaten before. Give your body time to get used to the new food.
I didnt eat much salads, or have ice (except once in pizza hut )

Shakyamuni

Last year (which was my first trip to India - going back in two days' time) I only ever ate hot food, no meat, and no cold foods whatsoever. I only drank bottled water. Because I love curries, I basically ate them all the time, partly due to the fact that I love Indian food.

I think the point is, unless you're staying and eating in a 4 or 5 star hotel, do not trust any meats that might be put in front of you, cold foods - salads, etc - might have had any number of insects around them, and you simply stay well clear of tap water.

If you drink alcohol, then the only thing you'd suffer here, would be from a hangover!!!

Cheers!!

Shannon

Avoid cabbage at all costs. I blame my very serious illnesses on burgers - one at an Indian joint, one at McDonalds in Jaipur. They put a creamy cabbage slaw on the burgers. It's not worth it - trust me.

iyou

A series of jabs protects you from Hep A and Hep B, the latter a less common worry, but why not protect yourself anyway? If you're moving from town to town in India you'll want to avoid drinking the local water--stick to filtered, treated, or bottled water.

__________________
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--May a moody baby doom a yam.

vistet

Boil it , peel it or forget it (and maybe filter it). After you`ve done that forget it in the sense of don`t get obsessed by it. (wiping your hands with alcohol after the loo and before eating is under the obsessive level)

cyberhippie

As 70s hippy says appearances can be deceptive! A place that has a huge fancy menu cna be a good place to eat but it can also mean that expensive ingredients spend rather longer in the fridge as the profit margins aren't large and the owner is loath to throw away expensive produce.
Your average basic hole if the wall "meals" restaurant doesn't adere to the western idea of hygiene at all and due to this you might well get a dose of the trots. On the other hand these places cook the same basic food day in day out, they know roughly what they sell in a day so there is little wastage (so nothing spends days or weeks festering in the fridge)
Eat in these places at the right time i.e. follow their timetable for breakfast, lunch and dinner, they all cook for their own clientele at specific time if you pitch up at these times the food will be freshly cooked and very tasty with less chance of contamination!
A cheap la carte restaurants of course are of course another story they still keep produce to long and don't adere to western ideas of hygiene (I'm thinking of "the cloth" here, anyone know what I'm talking about) and as such you have to be picky, as a rule of thumb if its busy it's generally OK.
Other than that stick with bottled water and don't go overboard at the first sign of the runs, your metabolism will take a while to get used to the heat, spices and a general change in diet. Drink a lot and if the symptoms persist go see a doctor, forget all the remedies you will hear from other travellers, most of these are fools errands, if you've got a bug you need the right medicine for the job!!
Lastly avoid meat if you will but I can assure you this isn't a way of avoiding the shits as some will have you believe!!
All in all don't worry about it too much, if you get really sick which isn't a certainty, there are good doctors in even the furthest flung places of India so help is always at hand!!

Happy Traveling

freenote

It's possible to get 100% deet on the net but it is not required that strong .I used it once with excalent results,did'ent get bittern once but it did take the paint of the top of my camara and as i wiped my forehead it thined my hair as well .It apears to be one of those substances.If you do get a reaction from it (whitch is rare) you cant use it!!! but most peaple have no problem at all .The lower strenth ones seem to do the job just as well .
with most anti malarials ,to get the best protection ,you have to start the course before you enter a malarial area.So it is better to get medical advise before you leave .Hope this helps.Good traveling and have fun

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joliecoeur

Thanks for all the info, I'll be sure to follow your advice to the letter. I have no doubt that I will at least get Delhi belly but there is no harm in being cautious where your health is concerned.

volga_volga

in India i have religiously followed all the rules (drink only bottled water, no salads, meat, ice-cream, fruit only peeled...) but in Pakistan i was so much enjoying myself that i decided to give it a try! (and, if you don't eat meat in Pakistan, you'll end up having chapati for lunch and dinner)

and, i told myself, i was on a fact finding mission so i'd make certain sacrifices in the name of science

so, i ate loads of meat (and mostly from roadside places and on the street), vegetables (go well with meat and chapati!), ice-creams and milkshakes (made with unpurified ice ), i ate apricots and apples since that taste so good. and guess what - in three weeks i have never had any digestive disorder, not talking about Delly (or Karachi ) belly or else. the only thing i did stick to was drinking bottled water but the water quality was rather poor anyway

do you think Pakistan is different from india in this respect? the guidebooks gives you exactly the same advice as for India though

now can you please tell me, how long does it take for hepatitis to show up? i washed my fruit but didn't exactly peel it

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Wanderer22

It takes about a month. First symptoms I noticed were very dark urine, and almost white stool. I hope you had the vaccination? It's a problem best avoided.
W22

koreankim

(wiping your hands with alcohol after the loo and before eating is under the obsessive level)[/quote]

This is nonsense...there's nothing compulsive/wrong about using sanitization gels...especially when adequate washing facilities are unavailable (which can be often).

vistet

This is nonsense...there's nothing compulsive/wrong about using sanitization gels...[/quote]

Well, that was exactly my point ... hence under (not over) the obsessive level.
I use a small plastic soap box which i refill with medical swabs and douse with alcohol - a lot more compact than separately packed thingies.

sbballer33

Staying away from meat is excessive just make sure it’s cooked. I ate chicken and lamb(goat) all the time and didn’t get sick, others I was with went strictly veg and got sick. And as already been mentioned look for a busy place. Although I understand why people avoid meat, one look at an Indian butcher shop would make a lot of people go vegan. Be very careful about water especially the first couple weeks. Wet dishes, salads, ect. I start bushing my teeth with bottled water but after about a week move to tap water.