What do you do to prevent stomach parasites?

If you're going to eat raw fruits and vegetables they should always be sanitized first, especially if you are eating the skins.

2 teaspoons Regular Bleach (8.25% sodium hypochlorite)
1 Gallon of clean water

This will result in a 200 ppm (parts per million) chlorine solution.

Let fruit or vegetables stand in solution for at least one minute.
Then rinse with potable water or bottled water.

If your bottled water from the bodega cannot be verified for its source then by all means you should switch to store-bought commercial brand water with a verifed source.

The restaurant meals you're bringing home, are they being properly refrigerated? If not toss them, it's just too risky.

What are the sanitary conditions of the places where you're eating? Do you really trust them? By all means avoid the salad bar and anything that is uncooked when eating out, just too risky as you've found out.

Cheers,
James    Expat-blog Experts Team

James has it correct. That is how we wash our fruits and veggies.

Bob K

I got my bottled water ( 5 gal ) from Zoilo's. In 8 years had 2 bouts of the parasites.  Went to the pharmacy bought OTC for a few pesos after explaining my problem some big brown pills. took them as the directions said & bingo! gone, gone, gone. Cheap & effective.  The locals & long time ex-pats told me about them. I don't remember the name. There is no sure fire way to avoid the problem, but there is the sure fire way to get rid of them.  I felt much better by the second day & no sign if discomfort by the fourth day. By cheap I mean 3 or 4 dollars. Ask around & get a packadge, keep them around in case you need them again. Take them at the first definite sign of infestration & you'll be the happier for it.  Our immune system needs an occasional enemy to stay in shpe, but parasites ain't one of them.  Catty on.

Ok, take precautions at home but that is tough to do when you are out.

I had American doctor tell me to take Zentel every 3 months on a preventative basis and whenever something flared up.  It won't hurt the good stuff but kills most bad stuff.   3 days of treatment morning and night and done.  After add yoghurt to repopulate the good stuff.

This has worked for me for the last 11 years.

planner, you tweaked my memory, Zental is the OTC med.  Cheap  works. Thanks.   Pays to keep some on hand.

i'm taking paramox for the amoeba.  good thing is no side effects so far.  but there were some short term side effects from the amoeba wherein i went overboard with the prevention thing.  after a few days of being suspicious of everything as a potential source fo re-infection i gave up and went back to my old risky ways: (1) eating salad bar vegetables at la sirena, (2) eating take out dinners at a local restaurant, (3)  brushing with tap water, (4) washing dishes with tap water, (5) buying 5 gallon water bottles fron the local colmada...
i am counting on defeating further parasite attacks by relying on a positive attitude.