From The Straits Times    |


Photo: Female Brides

A tired-looking face, red nose and watery eyes probably isn’t the sexiest look you can muster for your future husband and the photographer. Here, we’ve come up with a list of things to do, to prevent you from suffering from ailments like food poisoning, flu, and more.

1. Load up on vitamic C and D
Whether it’s the pressure and cold temperatures from the airplane, or you’re just not used to the cooler temperatures (if you’re having your shoot in spring, autumn or winter), beat the flu bug by loading up on your vitamins. Apart from vitamin C, findings from a 2010 study showed that taking vitamin D3 will help avoid the common flu, too.

2. Get your immunization jabs
This depends on the places you’re going to visit, but you may want to ask your doctor for advice, if the jabs are necessary. These include flu, malaria, yellow fever, and so on.

3. Better safe than sorry
It’s okay to be a kiasu Singaporean here. I’m talking about hand sanitisers, wet wipes, packets of tissue paper, and so on. When travelling in places which aren’t that clean, these will come in handy when it comes to wiping your hands, cutlery and others, especially if you can’t find clean tap water. Don’t forget to pack pills for diarrhoea, flu, runny nose, or others you may need, as seeing a doctor there may be expensive, or not readily available.

4. Travel insurance
If you should fall ill, your insurance should cover most if not all of your medical expenses overseas.

5. Bottled water
Tap water in most countries aren’t potable. For some, it’s even worse – you can’t even brush your teeth with them. Stock up on tap water from a reputable supermarket, and only drink, or brush your teeth with those.

6. Wash your hands regularly
It’s basic hygiene, and it will really help, especially if you’re in a place that’s less than sanitary. If you can’t find a tap, your hand sanitisers should help.

7. Avoid these foods
Skip foods which come from dodgy sources (like street food), cut fruits, seafood, raw foods (like salad or sashimi), or cold food. These will prevent any likelihood of you suffering from food poisoning or other ailments. Again, better safe than sorry. If you want to try the country’s local cuisine at street stalls, I recommend you do it after the shoot.

8. Rest well
Get plenty of sleep and rest, especially during your first few nights.  A lack of sleep may lower your immune system, and expose you to germs, and more.