International travel is just so much fun.  Well, it is a lot of fun as long as one is not sick on the trip.  Good Neighbor Insurance staff have traveled and lived outside the U.S. for many years and know from experience what to do and not to do in order to keep from getting sick.  In case we do need medical attention while overseas it is a wonderful thing to have travel medical insurance.  So before any of us travel outside the U.S. make sure you grab one of our travel medical insurance plans by calling our agents at our toll free number 866.636.9100, or go to our web page for these great travel medical insurance plans at https://www.gninsurance.com/travel-A/international_travel_insurance.asp.

If you are going to be overseas for longer than a year you may want to consider our career long term plans which are located here at https://www.gninsurance.com/health/.

Here are some helpful tips to keep you and I from being sick while traveling throughout the world.

How to avoid food sickness

Although home cooked food is usually tasty and safe, that is not all most of us will be eating on vacation. Occasional eat outs are common for everyone, and the dangers of outside food always persist. While you may be worried about falling sick after eating at a restaurant or a food booth, there are easy ways to prevent food sickness. All you need is a little knowledge about what causes food poisoning and other problems like diarrhea. Once you have that in mind, avoiding the wrong food becomes easy, whether at home or outside. Besides eating right, you could also make hygiene a habit, food storage safer and use special sources for infants and kids. Here are a few foolproof ways of enjoying the best food and avoiding sickness at all times.

Dairy Products

Dairy products are often the cause of food sickness and diarrhea. However, making them safe is easy. Dairy products need to be cooked over heat or you need to buy pasteurized versions from reliable stores. Items like cheese, milk, eggs and the like often carry bacteria, which you can get rid of, simply by heating them to the right temperature for the right time. While milk products should be pasteurized, other items from dairy lineups require adequate cooking so that possible bacteria can be removed.

Meat Products

Cooking meat at high temperatures is one way of avoiding food sickness. However, cleaning them is also important because many people cook meat items without boiling them. Heating them in ovens and leaving them even slightly uncooked can cause illness. As a result, one must be extra cautious while handling meat items. It is also important to prevent raw meat from contaminating other foods in the kitchen. Multiplying microscopic insects and organisms can adversely affect health unless meat is cooked at a certain temperatures and the handling of the meat prior to cooking was done safely. Remember, always keep meats cold prior to cooking. Temperatures for adequate cooking vary according to the source of meat.

Fruits and Vegetables

Although vegetables pose lesser threat than dairy and meat products, they are often unclean on the outside. The fact that agriculture products come from the soil, traded in the streets and so on, should be reason enough for you to clean them thoroughly before eating. While eating them raw is advisable and healthy, getting rid of soil and dust particles is very important. The presence of bacteria in the air at shops makes indiscriminate eating of raw vegetables very risky. The same goes for fruits. Cleaning the outer portion of such items is extremely important for avoiding food sickness.

Foods that prevent food sickness

A strong immune system can help you keep diarrhea and other problems away. In order to build immunity against bad food, you can help your system with fresh clementines, tuna salads, ginger tea, avocados and many other food items. These not only help in fortifying your immune system, but also prove effective when you are down with flu or an upset stomach.

Avoiding food sickness can be easier said than done, especially for infants and pregnant women. However, all you need is to make sure that juices and milk are pasteurized, and that everything you eat across the counter feels healthy.

Many of our clients have asked me, Doug, why we call our company ‘Good Neighbor Insurance.’  It is so wonderful to be able to share our business philosophy with you all because we are more than providing you travel insurance benefits while overseas.  Please allow me to explain via our web page at https://www.gninsurance.com/why-good-neighbor-insurance.asp.