Purging disorder quiz

Do I Have an Eating Disorder? Quiz

Do I Have an Eating Disorder? Quiz | Psych Central

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Medically reviewed by Bethany Juby, PsyD — By Christina Ward — Updated on Jun 7, 2022

This quiz can’t replace a clinical diagnosis. If you believe you might have an eating disorder or another condition after taking this test, consider reaching out to a qualified professional about your symptoms.

Despite media depiction, eating disorders can affect anyone, regardless of race, gender identity, sexuality, or body weight.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), an estimated 30 million U.S. adults will have an eating disorder at some point in their lives.

Eating disorders can affect your mental and physical health, as well as influence your behaviors around food and body image.

There are different types of eating disorders, each with its own unique symptoms. Common types of eating disorders include:

anorexia nervosa is a condition marked by restricting how much food you eat

bulimia nervosa involves binge eating and purging or non-purging (fasting or obsessively exercising) behaviors
binge eating disorder involves eating large amounts of food and feeling like you can’t stop
avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a condition that involves restricting the amount and type of food you eat
pica involves eating things that aren’t food such as paint
rumination disorder is a condition marked by rechewing, reswallowing, or spitting out your food

The type of eating disorder you have will determine the type of treatment that’s best for you.

This brief, time-saving questionnaire is designed for anyone who thinks they may be living with an eating disorder.

The items below will help you determine whether you may need additional help navigating a condition.

A mental health professional can also help figure out if your issues might be a symptom of another condition or recommend treatment or other interventions if needed.

This online screening is not a definitive screening tool. However, it can be useful if you’re concerned about your eating habits and body image and want to determine if seeking out professional support is the next best step for you.

Only a trained medical professional, such as a healthcare or mental health professional, can help you determine the next best steps for you.

Ready to start therapy? Our Find a Therapist resource may help.

Last medically reviewed on June 6, 2022

2 sourcescollapsed

Eating disorders. (2016).
nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders
What are eating disorders? (n. d.).
nationaleatingdisorders.org/what-are-eating-disorders

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Medically reviewed by Bethany Juby, PsyD — By Christina Ward — Updated on Jun 7, 2022

Binge-Eating Disorder Test & Screening.

Get Instant Results.

Eating DisordersBinge Eating Disorder

Complete the following quiz to get an instant assessment on whether you or a loved one is displaying signs of Binge-Eating Disorder (BED).

Jan 18, 2022

Medical ReviewerSophie Abber, MS

Who Is This Binge-Eating Disorder Quiz For?

Could you be suffering from Binge-Eating Disorder?

Binge-Eating Disorder is a recognized eating disorder like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. It can happen to women and men, children, teens and adults. Binge-Eating Disorder can be treated with psychotherapy that aims to teach the patient to recognize their emotional eating triggers, and to use food to sate hunger rather than provide comfort.

Below is a list of questions that relate to life experiences common among people who have been diagnosed with Binge-Eating Disorder. Please read each question carefully, and indicate how often you have experienced the same or similar challenges in the past few months.

How Accurate Is It?

This quiz is NOT a diagnostic tool. Mental health disorders can only be diagnosed by a licensed mental health provider or doctor. But Psycom believes assessments can be a valuable first step toward getting treatment.

Your privacy is important to us. All results are completely anonymous.

Alchemer is versatile enough to efficiently solve your organizational problems. Please take my survey now

Binge-Eating Disorder FAQs

How do you know if you have Binge-Eating Disorder?

If every so often you eat a tremendous amount of food at one sitting, you may worry that you have a binge eating disorder. There is binge eating, and then there is Binge-Eating Disorder.

Binge eating encompasses a wide range of eating patterns.

“A person may have heard that fasting is good for them, so they fast all day and then binge,” says Monica Bearden, RD, LD, CSSD, Consultant in Sports Nutrition at Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital in Houston, Texas. “Binge eating is disordered eating that could turn into an eating disorder. It is often due to a lack of education about how to eat. Or it could be someone who is busy all day long and doesn’t eat, and then at night they are starving.”

Binge-Eating Disorder is more than just overeating.

“The definition of Binge-Eating Disorder is eating a large quantity of food in a relatively short time, but it is more than that,” says Ashley Jacobs, RDN. “The person also must have a sense of a lack of control. There is guilt and depression afterward.”

To be diagnosed with Binge-Eating Disorder, you must also have recurrent episodes of binge eating accompanied by a sense of lack of control. The episodes also must be associated with three of these symptoms: eating a lot faster than usual, eating until uncomfortably full, eating copious amount of food even when not physically hungry, eating alone because of a sense of embarrassment about how much you are eating, feeling guilty or depressed afterward, and experiencing distress over the eating. The binge eating must go on for at least three months and occur at least once a week.1

How does Binge-Eating Disorder differ from bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa?

One of the newest eating disorders formally recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5), Binge-Eating Disorder is separate and distinct from anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

“There are no weight criteria for Binge-Eating Disorder,” says Ashley Jacobs, RDN. “Most of the time, the person who has Binge-Eating Disorder will either be a normal weight or overweight or obese.”

Binge-Eating Disorder doesn’t involve purging the way that bulimia does.

“And with anorexia, there is intentional restriction of food,” Jacobs says. “In anorexia, the person eats less than what their body needs to function.”

What causes Binge-Eating Disorder?

Binge-Eating Disorder, like other eating disorders, stems from a variety of factors. How you feel about your weight and your body shape comes into play, and BED has been linked to anxiety and depression. Your environment and your genes also can influence whether you develop Binge-Eating Disorder. For some individuals, dieting in unhealthy ways like skipping meals, avoiding certain kinds of foods, or not eating enough can influence whether you develop this disorder.2

“Having someone in your immediate family who struggles with an eating disorder puts you at risk,” says Ashley Jacobs, RDN. “Whether you are seeing a parent binge-eat in front of you or they are not eating because they are restricting calories can be very confusing for a child. The eating is being put right in front of the person.”

Binge-Eating Disorder is treatable, she says: “You need to find a provider who is compassionate so you will feel comfortable talking about it. It is important to find a mental health provider who has an expertise in eating disorders.”

What is the average age for the onset of Binge-Eating Disorder?

“The age group I see tend to be early teens and early adulthood, but I have had patients up to 70 years old,” says Ashley Jacobs, RDN. “I don’t think there is a specific age group for Binge-Eating Disorder.”

Monica Bearden, RD, LD, CSSD, Consultant in Sports Nutrition at Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital in Houston, Texas, says it is hard to say what age group is the most prone to develop Binge-Eating Disorder.

“It can be adolescents who are busy during the day and don’t eat and then they eat all their calories at night,” she says. “Or it can be adults who are trying to fast and then end up binging. Binge eating does affect every age group, from adolescents through adults.”

While BED is more common in younger and middle-aged people, it also is common in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes: These disorders' constant focus on weight and food control may be why. In some individuals, binge eating may even contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. This can happen through excessive weight gain and the higher risk of metabolic abnormalities. People who have Binge-Eating Disorder and who have diabetes can find it harder to control their blood sugar. 3

National Eating Disorders Association. Binge Eating Disorder. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/bed
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Symptoms and causes of binge eating disorders. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-management/binge-eating-disorder/symptoms-causes
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Definition and facts for binge eating disorder. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-management/binge-eating-disorder/definition-facts#who

Notes: This article was originally published September 7, 2017 and most recently updated January 18, 2022.

Take an online test for OCD (test for obsessive-compulsive disorder)

Instructions:

This test serves as a guide, but in no way can replace an in-person consultation with a specialist, and even more so, the test result cannot reveal the true diagnosis. If you suspect any disorder, please see a specialist in person.

The total duration of your obsessive thoughts (obsessions) during the day is

not seen at all

total less than an hour

cumulatively 1-3 hours during the day

cumulatively 3-8 hours per day

more than 8 hours in total during the day

Degree of disruption of daily life due to obsessive thoughts

not broken at all

Violated weakly

negative influence is felt, but the way of life is the same

severe disruption of daily life

lifestyle is completely disrupted

Level of psychological discomfort due to obsessive thoughts

I don't feel at all

I feel mild discomfort

I feel a lot of discomfort, but in general, I feel good

I experience severe discomfort and this affects my well-being

I feel very uncomfortable almost all day.

Resistance to obsessions (obsessive thoughts)

able to resist them almost always

can resist most obsessions

sometimes I can give them good resistance

most of the time I can't resist them

unable to resist obsessions

Degree of control over obsessions (obsessions)

obsessions are completely under my control

most of the time i control them

sometimes I manage to control obsessions

I can barely control them

my obsessions are out of control

Your duration of obsessive actions, rituals (compulsions) during the day

are not observed at all in the aggregate for less than an hour

cumulatively 1-3 hours during the day

cumulatively 3-8 hours per day

more than 8 hours in total during the day

Degree of disruption of daily life

do not violate at all

have little effect

negative influence is felt, but the way of life is the same

disrupt daily life

lifestyle is completely disrupted

Level of psychological discomfort

I don't feel at all

I feel mild discomfort

I feel a lot of discomfort, but in general, I feel good

I experience severe discomfort and this affects my well-being

I feel very uncomfortable almost all day.

Resistance to compulsions (compulsions, rituals)

able to resist them almost always

can resist most compulsions

sometimes I can give them good resistance

most of the time I can't resist them

unable to resist compulsions

Degree of control over compulsions

compulsions are completely under my control

most of the time i control them

sometimes I manage to control compulsions

I can barely control them

my compulsions are out of control

Results

You scored: points, you have: No clinical manifestations of OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)

You scored: points, you have: mild OCD symptoms (should consult with a specialist)

You scored: points, you have: moderate OCD symptoms (IMPORTANT to see a specialist)

You scored: points, you have: symptoms of severe OCD.
Your psychological state may be critical!
Consultation with a specialist is required to resolve your questions. You can make an appointment with a psychotherapist by calling 8 (831) 266-03-06 or using the registration form below.

You scored: points, you have: extremely severe OCD symptoms.
Your psychological state may be critical!
Consultation with a specialist is required to resolve your questions. You can make an appointment with a psychotherapist by calling 8 (831) 266-03-06 or using the registration form below.

Make an appointment

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Digestive disorders are connected with: intoxications, allergies, bacterial and viral infections

Chef of Delicatessen and Yunost restaurants Ivan Shishkin has an encyclopedic knowledge of the world of food, loves to talk about it and knows how to fall in love with it. Poster Daily presents a summary of his detailed story about the types of digestive disorders, their differences and basic safety precautions.

Everyone knows that beans should be soaked before being boiled. And why? You will laugh, but even beans contain poison. Kidney red beans contain a blood poison - a complex protein of the lactin family phytohemagglutinin, which sticks together blood cells. This is expressed in a set of most unpleasant symptoms. Some raw legumes contain cyanide derivatives, which are also toxic to humans. And soaking leads to the fact that all these substances are washed out or hydrolyzed, the beans become harmless, and you can try to eat them even raw.

But I would not recommend eating raw dry beans: this can lead to illness. For example, I read an amazing text on one raw food forum: “At one time I ate black-eyed (this is such a bean). She was going great, no vomiting, no diarrhea, no seething in her stomach. It just takes a very long time to digest. There is a terrible chemical smell coming out. I also tend to believe that raw beans are inedible. So raw beans are inedible, you shouldn't eat them.

What is food poisoning really?

In Russian, food poisoning refers to all diseases associated with food. In fact, the term "poisoning" is not used quite correctly. By poisoning, we mean a disease associated with the introduction of toxins, toxic substances into our body. While the currently used term "food poisoning" in official nomenclature and medicine in general mixes everything together: intoxications, allergies, bacterial infections, viral infections, and so on. All together, for some reason, this is called food poisoning, which I personally cannot put up with. For me, poisoning is a consequence of taking a toxin.

What do you think is the proportion of poisoning in the real picture of food-related diseases? How many people exactly get poisoned when they feel bad after leaving a catering establishment? A man falls ill and says: “I was poisoned in a cafe yesterday.” Remember, there was such news - about a cafe on the Scramble Patriarch's Ponds, when about thirty people were put in the hospital? There was salmonella, which is the number one foodborne infection in Russia.

The actual number of poisonings is negligible. In our time, getting on food that contains enough toxins to be poisonous is quite difficult. Firstly, modern agriculture practically does not use poisonous chemicals that are deadly for warm-blooded animals, products are not pickled with mineral poisons, and nerve agents are not used. There is a system of rules that controls grain when it enters the market. Therefore, the picture with toxins is more or less favorable. At the same time, intoxication is the most difficult and unpleasant thing that can befall us.

Big three causes of poisoning

Botulinum toxin is one of the most powerful organic poisons. Botulism is now the least common because it is associated with the action of a certain bacterium, one of the clostridia, which develops in canned foods. Modern industrial canned food is processed in such a way that there is no way for anything living to survive. In home canned food, it can be present, for example, in both homemade herring and stew. But nowadays, few people make homemade canned food. Plus, the technique of using pressure cookers and autoclaves more or less guarantees that we won't get poisoned. The last notable outbreak occurred at 1986 in the Soviet Union, in Murmansk, when someone made homemade canned food, brought it to the market and killed about 40 people. Since then, no cases of mass deaths from botulism have been recorded.

The number one food poisoning today is methyl alcohol. Recently, in Irkutsk, 75 people drank Hawthorn. It is clear that this is a surrogate, not quite a food product, but nevertheless, people died, completely unaware of what was happening to them. They didn't do anything to harm themselves: they just bought something, drank and died.

Also, toxins that accumulate as a result of the action of microscopic fungi. Microscopic fungi are everywhere: yeast for example. The famous penicillin is produced with the help of penicillum fungi. The same mold produces toxic substances along with penicillin, such as patulin, a microtoxin. When you see blue-green blackish mold on a product, it means that you will eat an antibiotic that can kill not only bacteria, but also a person. An unpleasant liver poison that, in a known concentration, can cause serious pathology. Microscopic fungi are very common. We use one every day. Soy sauce, sake, miso are made with the help of microfungi. Others are working against us. You can get poisoned without even noticing it. It is enough to violate the rules for the safe storage of cereals, exceed the humidity of the room and allow the development of mold. Subsequent drying will no longer help, because some toxins do not decompose even when boiled. By the way, tea stored in damp cellars can also be a substrate for such a sad infection.

In general, in civilized countries, the fight against microfungi, in particular Aspergillus and other microorganisms, is carried out using the HACCP system - detailed control of critical points at each stage of product production. Nevertheless, diseases still occur, and the farther from civilization, the more often. In Southeast Asia, this is a fairly common occurrence. In Africa, the death rate from liver cancer is 50 times higher than in our country. When traveling, keep in mind that food quality control is far from being arranged in the same way everywhere as in civilized countries.

Which foods can be harmful?

For example, nightshade. Plants of tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, nightshade, tobacco, belladonna, goji, one way or another, can be poisonous. It all depends on what part of the plant and how much you use. Tobacco and belladonna are toxic in their entirety. Tomato - in the form of greens and very unripe berries. Potato - in the form of grass and fruits. Eggplant and pepper greens are also very toxic. They are poisonous due to a set of alkaloids. If we talk about food poisoning, then we need to mention solanine, an alkaloid that accumulates in the skin of green potatoes. That is, potatoes that have begun the active stage of germination should not be used for food. Symptoms of solanine poisoning are fever, weakness, diarrhea, headache, disorientation, further dehydration, and death. Deaths from potatoes have not been recorded for a long time, but you can feel bad. By boiling a large vat of overripe potatoes, you can get a pronounced clinical picture. This happens more often than we might think, because a significant number of poisonings, I mean intoxications, doctors do not bother to record. Because if the poison is received in a small dose, it is excreted from the body, the symptoms subside and everything goes away. In the end, it is simply called indigestion.

Bitter almond, apricot, cherry - all drupes contain cyanogenic glycosides. During their hydrolysis, hydrocyanic acid is released, resulting in benzaldehyde, which smells brightly of almonds, so the toxicity of certain grains can be indirectly judged by the intensity of the smell.

The most unexpected of these toxic fruits are apples. Apple seeds contain a significant amount of cyanogenic glycoside. There will be nothing from one core, but from a handful of seeds you can feel the symptoms of poisoning. Try to chew an apple blossom and you will feel a serious bitterness and a bright blue aftertaste. The lethal dose of hydrocyanic acid that you can get by eating apple seeds is huge, it is very difficult to eat that much, but it is quite possible to get symptoms. Eight grains of bitter almonds give a pronounced clinical picture: difficulty breathing, weakness, and so on. You have to be careful: if you feel bitterness, spit it out.

Dangerous mushrooms

Another reliable way to get poisoned is mushrooms. One of the most ridiculous ways to kill yourself is to go into the forest, pick an unfamiliar mushroom and eat it. There are people who experiment with their health, try different mushrooms. For example, fly agarics are plucked to get a psychedelic effect. They get it and finish it in the hospital, because in addition to psychotropic substances, fly agaric contains toxic substances that block breathing, cause depression of higher nervous activity, and other sad phenomena.

Mushrooms are hallucinogenic, others can poison with alkaloids, some contain hemolytics - products that destroy blood cells - for example, unwashed, undercooked stitches. The dung beetle mushroom contains a substance that inhibits the secretion of the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, which is responsible for one of the stages of alcohol metabolism. Leads to a significant exacerbation of alcohol poisoning. Not being poisonous, these dung beetles are incompatible with alcohol.

Porcini mushrooms, champignons, oyster mushrooms, chanterelles are used in public catering. They are industrially produced, grown under controlled conditions, and there is no need to worry that some kind of fungus has accumulated toxins in itself.

Unsafe shellfish and fish

Shellfish is a product that, no matter how consciously we grow it, grows in the wild, and we can only indirectly control its quality. For example, mussels. All bivalve mollusks that we eat are natural filters that pass through a significant amount of water in which microscopic organisms are present: algae, crustaceans, unicellular protozoa, some of which are poisonous. If concentrated, they can cause quite serious harm to a person. Until the end, the mechanism of their accumulation in the body of the mollusk has not been studied. It is clear that there are microalgae, it is approximately clear what kind of algae they are, it is not very clear what initial toxin enters the mussel, whether it is digested there or simply stored, the doses are not very clear. It's hard to set up an experiment, but we know that bivalves are a risk.

The same goes for fish. People say: I don't eat fish, I'm allergic to it. Once I ate - then I was sick for a month. It really is. But the first poisoning arose because the fish was stale. The reason may be histamine, a substance that is produced in our body as a companion of the immune response. It is formed in spoiled fish, and we can eat a noticeable amount and cause a hypertrophied reaction, induce it from the outside. After that, our immune system remembers this case, and the subsequent introduction of fish proteins comes back to us in the form of a powerful reaction.

Even ordinary fish can be harmful to humans, for example, when preparing for spawning. This is a natural defense mechanism. As a result, the insides of fish and caviar, for example, burbot, become toxic. Another example: in the south of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the object of semi-commercial and amateur fishing hobby is marinka fish from the carp family. This fish is always toxic - entrails, gills, caviar. However, if they are cleaned and washed with salt water, marinka can be eaten. Three fish from the southern regions - marinka, barbel and osman - are poisonous.

Why do we need to know about intoxications and poisons? If I work in a restaurant and am responsible for the people who come to eat my food, I need to know where my risk field is. In the case of toxins, you need to understand how you can systematically avoid this or that problem: which products can be excluded completely, and which ones can be taken from predictable sources - without the content of toxins.

Underdiagnosis of virus infections

There are a lot of diseases that you can get while eating. That is, not only through the food itself, but also by airborne droplets or by contact. These include norovirus, rotavirus, enteroviruses. At the same time, the epidemiology differs by country: emphasis is placed on various disinfecting and preventive measures. In the United States, viruses are the dominant cause of food-related illness. Norovirus is similar in symptoms to salmonella, but goes away on its own in two to three days. A person writes a review for a restaurant: "I got poisoned there." But in fact, he didn’t get poisoned, but became infected with a virus. And it's not at all a fact that there. Recognizing the virus is more difficult.

In cases of viral infections that people get in public places, including restaurants, there is a serious element of underdiagnosis. In Moscow, this happens quite rarely, in the provinces it is a common thing, even criminal cases are not opened. The SES came, closed for three days, disinfected, imposed an administrative fine, and the work continued. Otherwise, all catering establishments would have to be closed, because the level of diagnostics and production culture is generally low.

Despite all the measures taken, in the entire civilized world - America, Western Europe and Russia that joined them - food-related illnesses have doubled compared to 2008. More restaurants, more people, overcrowding of animals with industrial content. Low-temperature technology is involved, which does not always provide sterilization. Vacuum cooking technology is now popular: with it, the chicken is cooked at a temperature of 64ºC, despite the fact that, according to old-fashioned sanitary rules, it must be cooked to a temperature of 90ºC.

In this situation, the only barrier is our personal hygiene, industrial hygiene, common sense and basic knowledge of how microorganisms function, how they can multiply, what kind they are and what products can be found in, how to deal with them.

Bacteria and how to prevent them from developing

Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Listeria, Shigella, Yersinia are the seven monsters that we encounter most often in the kitchen. These are all diseases of dirty hands. In order to avoid their transfer, it is often enough to mechanically wash your hands with traditional soap. Most bacteria are quite sensitive: they can be killed by simply sprinkling lemon or heating to a temperature of 60ºC. Salmonella dies in 90 minutes at 55ºC, 12 minutes at 60ºC and almost instantaneous at 75ºC. It is enough to keep the meat in boiling water and scald on the outside. It will live in a poached egg only if you used an unwashed egg with cracks in the shell.
Salmonella lives in the gastrointestinal tract of many people without causing any pathologies. At the same time, the total majority of them die from acid in the stomach, only a small proportion of the survivors begin to actively multiply. Such a person can easily bring a small colony of bacteria simply through dirty hands. A frequent occurrence is when a cook takes some kind of perishable sauce, pours it into a bottle, keeps it on the table, and then pours the next portion of the sauce into the same place - and so on. In this way, feeding after feeding is carried out, and the colony of bacteria blooms luxuriantly. A bottle of homemade mayonnaise is a classic example of a kitchen bacteriological weapon.

We want to avoid salmonella contamination by pasteurizing eggs and storing everything in the refrigerator. We want to use a raw yolk - we keep it for two hours at 57ºC.

It must be understood that some categories of food are often contaminated, for example whole poultry. Chicken ducks are walking carriers of diseases. Therefore, they cannot be washed in common sinks and even indoors. Campylobacter is the second most common causative agent of bacterial infections, the frequency of which is growing rapidly even in the countries of victorious democracies. This is due to the living conditions of chickens in a poultry farm: they live crowded, the probability of carrying the disease is high. By the way, this is the difficulty in obtaining high-quality poultry meat according to an organic protocol. It's hard without medicine, the birds get sick. When you wash a chicken under a tap, the spray scatters one and a half to two meters. But at 50ºC Campylobacter dies almost immediately.

If I want to avoid the development of bacteria, then I must prevent the product from being in a temperature window favorable for their growth: approximately 20 to 40ºC. To do this, there is a system of rapid cooling. The product needs to go through the temperature range as quickly as possible, without giving opportunities to bacteria. It happens that spores remain, for example, Clostridium, which survive even when boiled, but they will not cause harm if they enter the body.

Thus, even if it is not possible to completely avoid the presence of bacteria in products, but we do not create conditions for their reproduction, then we will most likely be healthy.

E. coli, Yersinia, Clostridium perfringens, Shigella and Listeria

Clostridium perfringens is present absolutely everywhere in nature (in the soil, on trees). It should not be present in food, but if the product fell, lay on a dirty floor or was dug out of the ground - wait. Almost always, it can be found in products that have undergone deterioration, rotting. Such products may be toxic. They must be destroyed and never, as they say in bad restaurants, not let through. There is a rule of three thumbs: the appearance, taste and smell of the product should not differ from what they should be. If the product differs in at least one of the signs, it must be discarded. Nevertheless, unscrupulous business owners bully chefs for writing off spoiled products, and they, fearing punishment, put them into food, thereby provoking mass diseases of people. It is not for nothing that in the West Clostridium perfringens is called cafeteria germ - "cafe infection". Getting rid of it is a matter of common sense, caution and hygiene.

E. coli is a highly widespread and active agent, lives in the body for a long time and in large quantities, being part of the normal flora. But in circumstances that are comfortable for itself, it can begin to multiply dramatically. It is absolutely unacceptable in any concentration to allow the presence of E. coli, especially its pathogenic strains, in products. Even its minimal amount is a sign of total pollution. The kitchen in which E. coli is found must be closed, all food movement routes and the health of the people who work there must be checked. Perhaps this kitchen contains systemic disorders.

An extremely dangerous thing - listeria bacteria that cause acute and very difficult to treat diseases. In terms of its activity and danger, Listeria is superior to Salmonella. Lives and actively breeds in the soil, fermentation and processing centers, for example, in silo pits. In a restaurant, listeria products are rarely found. The most common places are inventory, knives, cutting boards, and everything related to cleaning floors. This is the danger of listeria, because everyone gets used to treating products with reverence and trying to process them, and such a simple tool as a knife, which is used every minute and with different products, is sometimes not washed at all, which creates favorable ground for the development of listeria. So you have to be careful.

An amazing microorganism - Yersinia. Their trouble lies in the fact that they feel good and even breed at temperatures from 1 to 4ºC, that is, in the refrigerator. This bacterium can cause trouble when we store undercooked or washed vegetables in the refrigerator. They can carry infection despite being stored in a refrigerated environment. The disinfection factor by heat treatment remains a means of their destruction, but they must be protected from their ingress by regular and thorough washing of products.

The last of our main enemies is the Shigella family. There are quite a few of them, and different ones. They cause severe diseases such as dysentery. It is a highly active agent. Sometimes ten bacteria in the human body is enough to cause a serious illness.

Dyspepsia not associated with poisons, toxins and infections

Discomfort and diarrhea can be caused by other than poisons, toxins or infections. Symptoms of dyspepsia (which used to be called indigestion) are conditions that are associated with poisoning, infections and the phenomena described above, but caused by other pathologies: stress, trauma, infections that did not come through food or dirty hands, eating disorders, including overeating , eating foods that do not fit the diet for certain chronic diseases (for example, gout). In such situations, we are talking about organic or functional dyspepsia, which can be mistaken for poisoning without a special examination.

The problem of diagnosis is acute, and a person who knows such problems behind him should be careful, because the first symptoms are too general. An interesting polyetiological condition is travelers' diarrhea. People come somewhere and say: "I react to the water in the tap." This is actually so. The mineral composition of water, the bacterial or viral composition of the environment, a different amount of fiber in food, the fat content of food, new strains of E. coli to which our body has not developed tolerance, the use of prophylactic drugs can cause the same set of symptoms, and this will not be poisoning, nor a disease. It's more of an adjustment problem.

Another important component of discomfort is intolerance to certain foods and food allergies. These terms must be clearly distinguished. Lactase deficiency or celiac disease (gluten intolerance) is not an allergy. An allergy is an immune response to the introduction of certain proteins into the body. Milk sugar intolerance cannot be called an allergy by any means. However, there is an allergy to milk proteins. Allergies to cow and goat milk are in the top five of all food allergies. It also contains soy, eggs, nuts and fish with seafood. Food allergies have very pronounced symptoms, but no more than two percent of the population are affected. And more than eighty percent of complaints about food allergies are more likely issues of intolerance to certain foods and psychosomatic reactions, when people seriously think that they have an allergy.

Ivan Shishkin's health tips

Wash what needs to be washed: everything that is dirty, everything that could be dirty or touch the ground, lie on the floor or next to food that could be contaminated. Wash tools, dishes and tables.

Do not wash what should not be washed. For example, chicken. You don't have to wash the meat. If your meat is in such condition that it needs to be washed, it is better not to use it.

Wash hands after each manipulation, going to the bathroom, shaking hands. This should become a habit.

Do not roll on the floor. Do not eat from the floor - my mother taught me. Don't rely on the famous 5 second rule. Despite a semi-joking study recently published that found dangerous flora failing to switch to a rapidly raised product, I would not trust this rule.

Do not work in a restaurant when you are sick. Never come to work if you suspect an infection. And not only gastrointestinal, but also colds. There are suspicions of a virus - you do not need to come to work. Keeping people with symptoms or complaints out of work is the responsibility of kitchen administrators.

Heat food sufficiently. There are two key parameters - time and temperature. Combining them, you can achieve both a culinary worthy result and safety. Quickly cool properly thermally prepared foods and keep them refrigerated.

Do not create conditions for the growth of bacteria, incubators. You cannot update the contents of containers with sauces and condiments. They need to be replaced, and the old dishes should be thoroughly washed.

It is clear that each of these points can go incredibly far. But our task now is to create a certain impression and encourage you to think about it continuously, in everyday life and at work.

The topic of food and its dangers is endless and multifaceted, everyone has their own experience. But unfortunately, not everyone has a sufficient set of knowledge. People who go to restaurants need to know their limits, and they also have to trust the restaurateur. At the same time, those who work in a restaurant and feed people should not trust themselves for a single minute. There must be permanent paranoia: how to make the result of the work even safer. Because making tasty is critically important, making beautiful also helps the business, but making it safe is the number one priority, without which public catering will not exist as such.

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