Since Thursday night I’ve been battling the effects of food poisoning. You know how this works – vomiting, nausea, digestive tract malfunctions, headaches, chills/shivers, low-grade fever, general weakness, etc. It’s been torture. And it’s because of Baja Fresh!

I haven’t had Baja Fresh in a few weeks and I needed a quick fix for dinner on Thursday night before I had to jump on a conference call. Seemed like an easy decision – I’d get my standard: nachos and a nacho burrito (no jalapenos). Well, the joke was on me because as soon as I was done eating this stuff, I immediately felt sick. In fact, I had to watch the tail end of the Vice Presidential debate while laying in bed because I felt so nauseous. I wound up passing out around 10:30pm – as soon as the debate ended – and I jumped out of bed at 12:30am for the first of six, long trips to my bathroom to dispel the Baja Fresh from my body.

At about 4:30am, I wound up passing out until 7:30am, when I woke up to go to a conference for work. Talk about the walking dead – I was a mess! I was pale, dizzy, and completely disoriented for most of the morning. In fact, I left the conference early so I could go home and take a nap. I woke up around 8:30pm and one of my roommates offered me some Gatorade, which helped to replenish my fluids (and electrolytes!). I only ate three, small dinner rolls on Friday and some Excedrin, if you count that as sustenance.

I felt a little bit better yesterday as the fever subsided and the nauseous feeling went away. I also ate more solid foods including a bagel with egg, rice and bean soup, and chicken noodle soup (picked up by my other roommate). I also ate a cup of fruit, which was really good.

Today I feel much better, though my body is still sore from the vomiting. At least my head isn’t spinning any more and I’m not constantly running into the bathroom! I’ll probably pop in a few more Excedrin Back and Body aspirin so I can get over some of this body pain. Also, I finished a big bottle of Gatorade yesterday so I might have to go out and get another one.

The morals of the story are 1) I’m never going back to Baja Fresh again and 2) there’s something creepy about cheap, Americanized Mexican food. The last time I had Taco Bell was about four years ago and the reason I stopped eating it was because I had a bad reaction to it one night. Granted, I don’t eat fast food any more and I haven’t had stuff like McDonald’s or Burger King in seven or more years now so I don’t have a proper frame of reference. I do know, however, that when I eat food that I make in my kitchen or that I watch prepared for me in a deli – I’m fine. Yet another reason to leave the crap food behind and move on to whole foods.