I cant eat food that has sat out for longer than 10 minutes bcuz I feel it's full of bacteria.?

Question

Is this a eating disorder?

Answer 1

Don't let it go to waste. Fish might be full of bacteria after ten minutes, but look at fruit. It's sits at room temperature for days.
Rinse and eat. Pizza can sit out all night, and still make a breakfast.
Give your immune system more credit.

Answer 2

I suppose you could call it an eating disorder. But I hope you know, intellectually, that it's not a rational thing. Any food I can think of would certainly be safe sitting out, unrefrigerated, for ten minutes... many would be safe even after *hours* at normal room temperatures.

Bacteria are everywhere, including in foods fresh from the store, and those stored in your refrigerator. They are generally *not* harmful. It is only when they (and not even all types of them) have been able to reproduce to large numbers, and have left behind toxic waste materials, that they can cause a danger to you. And even *that* is usually nothing serious.

Re-heating, as a couple people suggest, is *not* the answer for a food which has already gone bad. Heating may kill the bacteria (which weren't harmful anyway), but it may not destroy the toxin created by the bacteria.

And it's not *necessary* in food which *hasn't* gone bad.

The solution is in prevention. As another poster said (right above me), keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold is the answer. But you really don't have to be so worried about it.

I suggest that if this concerns you a lot (like on a daily basis), you seek help with a doctor, or perhaps a psychologist or other mental health worker. It's sad to live your life in fear.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Its not an EATING disorder, per se. It's a mental block, an obsession, of sorts, more a phobia than a disorder, and EVERYONE had phobias.
Do you eat food thats not cooked? Salad, carrots, juice?

It is not "Full of bacteria". If you read up on how much time it takes bacteria to grow, and the amount typically found on food...We didn't evolve with these obessions about germs, it's a symptom of living in a controlled environment.

If your intestines weren't FULL of bacteria, you would not be able to properly digest the food you have in front of you. You depend on bacteria to survive. Thats why your digestive system gets all crummy when you take antibiotics.

Even if you eat the worst bacteria there is, you still have a 99.9% chance of survival; your stomach acid will kill it.

You need perspective. Go camping for a week.

Answer 4

Its not an eating disorder, its just a personality quirk. In my opinion you're being a bit paranoid as nothing much can happen to food that sits out for 10 minutes. Granted, some foods spoil faster than others, but even milk can sit out for more than 30 minutes before it spoils. Not to make you even more paranoid, but a lot of food already has a great deal of bacteria on it at the time you buy it from the store. We're surrounded by bacteria every day. Almost all of the time, this bacteria is harmless and can easily be processed by our bodies. You don't need to worry about your food so much. There is nothing wrong in doing so, its just unnecessary.

Answer 5

It sounds a little obsessive compulsive to me, but not an eating disorder (as long as you're eating). Take the 4degreez.com disorder test (http://www.4degreez.com/misc/personality_disorder_test.mv ) and see if you come up with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). If this is really disrupting your life and/or eating patterns, I'd talk to a doctor about it. Don't worry though, you're not going to die or get sick if food has been out for 10 minutes (unless it's meat or something that hasn't been cooked properly). I think about 3 or 4 hours is the limit for eating cooked food that's been out. I wouldn't eat anything that's been out for much longer.

Answer 6

Uncooked or undercooked meats can get some bad bacteria, but not all bacteria is bad. You couldn't digest food at all without some bacteria in your gut. Bacteria is what makes yogurt, cheese, LSD, um, cheese...
If you think you have an eating disorder, see a doctor. You never know what kind of crazy answers you're going to get here.

Answer 7

all food and in fact everything is full of bacteria. If the food is fresh and has been kept in a can or the frige then don't worry about it. Bad food will smell quite bad so you will know not to eat it. I hope you don't have an obsessive pschological disorder.

Answer 8

Do not be ashamed of how you feel about things. It only means you need to find out the truth.

What you are feeling is not an eating disorder, but a product of media overkill. In today's food processing there are so many preservatives in our food that I am surprised we haven't turned to stone.
You remember in your subconscience all of the news about e-salmanella, steph virus, and other dangers.

All you need to do is clean the cutting board between items you slice. Wash your hands after handling meats, fish and poultry.

It will take time, but if you feel threatened call you nearest hospital and ask for the Dietary Consultant, who will give you all the information you need about food safety.

Answer 9

Actually, a good rule of thumb about food left out is 2-40-140. Don't eat food that has sat out for 2 hours or more between the tempuratures of 40 and 140 degrees F.

The other side of that is that you should either keep food hot (over 140 degrees) or cold (under 40 degrees) if you want to keep it more than two hours.

Answer 10

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