Survival Tips

MILK

Good healthy milk; What's the problem in most Third World countries? Disease, contamination and improper handling and refrigeration.

1. Milk should be boiled 10 minutes to purify.
2. Milk products are unsafe also, local; cheese, yogurt, cream, whipped cream, and ice-cream!
3. Once my wife and I were waiting in the hot heat in Gambia, Africa, for a flight to England. The waiting travelers were eating the soft ice-cream. It looked good but I knew the potential problem and sure enough by the time the flight arrived in England about 30 people on the flight were very ill and medical staff had to evacuate them!
4. Powdered and evaporated milk is safe when used with purified water.

FOOD

1. All meat, poultry, and seafood must be well-cooked and served while hot! Avoid ground meat as it is more easily contaminated within.
2. Road-side meat that is cooked over a fire and freshly killed may be much better than meat in a nice hotel kept too long in a refrigerator, spoiled and not well-cooked.
3. Avoid pork in all cases.
4. No! Avoid cold buffets, frozen desserts, custards and mayonnaise!
5. No! To all those fresh uncooked vegetables or salad on your plate, or at the buffet.
6. All vegetables should be well-cooked and served hot.
7. Often we get well-done meat and open our own can of vegetables and put it on our plates!
8. Many times on trips we go to a shop and get canned goods, open it in our room or carry it in our 4-wheel drive or car so we can have good food. Maybe not hot but good road food.

What's the problem with fresh fruit and vegetables?

Food handlers from the field to the kitchen with unclean hands. Most places have no toilet facilities in the field and they handle your food.

The food handlers in the restaurant kitchen don't wash properly after the toilet. They handle fresh contaminated meat, then handle fruit and vegetables without washing.

Also many of the farms use human and animal waste for fertilizer. The worm eggs and other parasites are poured onto the vegetables or fruit.

I must say that fresh fruit and vegetables that would not be eaten in the country uncooked are now being imported into North America and Europe and these are eaten raw. This is one of the reasons and the main one I believe, that horrible outbreaks of food-borne diseases are present in these modern countries. Look at your local food store and see where the green onions and lettuce etc. are coming from. Would you eat them raw there? Well, why here? It's one of the hidden secrets of government and business. Read what the government itself recommends about eating food in Third World countries and then see that the food is imported with no warning.

FRUIT AND JUICE

1. Eat only fruit with skin, that you peel. Do not touch with your hands the part you have peeled as this will contaminate it.
2. Often in restaurants local water is added to the fruit juice to dilute it into lasting longer.
3. Should the person cutting up the fruit for the juice have unwashed hands or the fruit skin is touched, the juice is not safe.
4. Fruit used in a cake or pie that is baked should be fine.
5. It looks good but that freshly cut fruit at the buffet could be your downfall.

VITAMINS I TAKE

1. Vitamin E - 1,000 iu daily
   1. It's the best thing for healing cuts, burns or scratches. Just pour pure Vitamin E over the wound. It helps scars and infection especially in tropical conditions.
   2. Also I put pure Vitamin E oil nightly on my face, neck, hands and arms; all over exposed to the sun.
2. Lecithin - 1,200 mg daily.
3. Beta Carotene, Vitamin A - 25,000 iu daily
4. Royal Jelly - 500 mg Pure Royal Jelly daily
5. 'Ultra Juice' tm - 2 tablets daily
   1. Twenty Eight whole fruits and vegetables.
   2. I take this on the road especially where fresh vegetables and fruits are not available or are unsafe to eat.

I will let you look up the value of these vitamins for the body. But for me it's well-worth the small space it takes up in the backpack.

Spiritual Vitamins

A few verses from the Bible and prayer mixed with love to others keeps your soul well!

RAIN

1. In some warm weather places I just ignore the rain when walking as the raincoat, etc. produces as much sweat water as the rain! Or I put on the raincoat and wait for the storm to pass over or just get in a dry place until it passes over.
2. If you don't have rain gear put some plastic or cloth around your shoe top, to prevent water pouring into your shoe.
3. For me, good rain gear has pants that will go over your walking shoes or boots to keep out water. A raincoat made with the new materials available today that reduce sweat, not rubber etc. The jacket should have a hood that will roll up when not in use. You can get the pants, jacket and hood that will roll up and fit into it's own strap about the waist bag.
4. Remember, get rain gear that is light, breathable, waterproof and easy to carry.

COLD

1. I have walked in the Arctic Circle and Antarctica as well as other 'cold' places.
2. Dress in layers so as you warm up walking, or the temperature changes you can shed clothes to prevent sweating and over-heating.
3. I also carry a small glove that is small for inserting in a very cold weather glove. This way when you warm up you can take off the big glove and wear the small one.
4. A coat that you can take off and turn into a bag you can wear around your waist is a good idea.
5. The key thing is to determine the temperature range beforehand and prepare for the worse.
6. Take rain gear - to get wet and cold could lead to hypothermia or even freezing.

SKIN CARE

1. I use sunscreen 'Shade 45' on all exposed parts of my body all the time as a protection for skin damage and skin cancer prevention.
2. After leaving the sun I wash it off with soap and water.
3. I rub in pure Vitamin E oil each night or some other good moisturizer.
4. Have your skin checked regularly at least once a year, especially if you are exposed to the sun a lot.
5. For personal pleasure I swim at or after sunset to avoid the sun, I get enough walking.

HEAT

1. When possible try to walk as early as you can and rest during the heat of the day, 12 to 2:30 pm and then walk in the afternoon till late. I did this on the long walks across Africa and from Mexico to South America and other places.
2. Cover your skin, don't expose it. The Arabs in the desert are wise with their covered bodies. It keeps one cooler than direct skin exposure to the sun and it also prevents water evaporation.
3. I normally wear long pant and long sleeve sun repellant shirts.
4. I've found the desert hat 'French Foreign Legion' type hat the best, it repels heat on top and hangs around the face and neck for protection. It has a long bib to shade the face and the face and neck wrap is detachable with velcro. The hat works well also by protecting the neck and face in cold winds.
5. Drink plenty of water! How much? Well, in humid climates you sweat a lot and can tell you are losing water, but in dry climates like the desert the water evaporates as fast as it is sweated, often one's shirt does not even get wet. But be warned, the water loss is just as great.
   1. If you are not urinating regularly, you are drinking too little. Drink more until you urinate regularly.
   2. If your urine gets darker, drink more water until it clears up.
      
      Remember, make sure your urine is clear and regular!
      
      


Two tips:
6. Watch your walking pace so you don't overheat. Stop and rest if possible in the shade, if no shade, rest anyway.
7. When in the heat a lot I recommend use of 'Prickly Heat Powder', it's different from regular powder.