Man who's visited every country in the world warns people not to 'go out and eat' while travelling
A man who has completed the rare feat of travelling to every country on Earth has given fellow nomads a huge tip when it comes to their adventures.
Henrik Jeppesen is part of a select group of people who have managed to set foot in every one of the world's nations, even managing to do so in the space of just 11 years.
The Dane is truly a global citizen, deciding to start travelling at the age of 17 and only stopping at the age of 28 after visiting Eritrea, the final country on his long list.
Now married with a son, Henrik may live a quieter life nowadays, though he has enough stories to last a lifetime, including seeing his friend have a close brush with North Korean law enforcement.
Advert
But when reflecting on his trips across the globe, he revealed one of his biggest 'mistakes' he made, urging others not to do the same.
Speaking to LADbible, Henrik explained: "You don't have to go out and eat every day. Supermarket food can save your life.
"I have been extremely sick from food poisoning a number of times, and I made many mistakes when it comes to food - this might play a role in the chronic illness I have today [Lyme disease and multiple chemical sensitivity]."
Henrik noted that this now affects his day-to-day life and that he has been to several hospitals in recent years.
According to a study from 2017, parasites can play a lethal role in causing MCS in particular, with chronic parasitic infections sometimes leading to histamine intolerance or the aforementioned condition.
Opening up about his trip to the Andaman Islands, Henrik said that after eating a fish curry at a bed and breakfast, he felt 'extremely sick', not being able to sit up on his flight back to the mainland.
"I got to a hospital after some time and my body was in a really bad condition. It continued [later] - I went home, I thought I was better and I was ready to travel again," he admitted, before revealing: "Then sometime later, on a highway in America, the extreme discomfort in my body came back and years later, I was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease.
"I have been sick for more than six years with extreme conditions, I have multiple chemical sensitivity."
The NHS defines Lyme disease as a bacterial infection which is spread to humans by infected ticks - it's a condition that is easier to treat if diagnosed early with the use of antibiotics.
If treatment is delayed, it can lead to pain in the joints, neurological issues, or even heart problems - if not treated quickly, lasting damage to the joints and nervous system can persist, resulting in long-term fatigue and aches.
As for MCS, the chronic medical condition is characterised by symptoms which the person can often attribute to low-level chemical exposure. This can be caused by a number of substances, with the patient often experiencing difficulty breathing and struggling to focus, in addition to tiredness and aches.
Henrik tried a number of treatments to help with his health issues, explaining: "I went to Kazakhstan for parasite killing treatments, which was very effective.
"I went to a private clinic for around three weeks, and huge parasites came out of my body for five or six days in a row. This may be been from travelling and I'm pretty sure these parasites had been in the body for years."
The nomad then took aim at Western health systems, claiming that they wrongly tell people that they 'don't have problems with tropical diseases' in this part of the world.
"There's one important thing they forget, people travel like crazy [nowadays]. People travel an extreme amount, and they travel to countries where people every year or every six months," he said, advising people to 'take a parasite cleanse'.
Henrik pointed out that people who have only spent a number of weeks in areas of Asia, specifically Southeast Asia, can pick up parasites or diseases which are easily treated in that part of the world, with Western medicine not as well equipped to deal with them.
"I think hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people with some kind of chronic illnesses would get better, if they managed to get rid of parasites," Henrik claimed.
Despite warnings about eating certain things overseas, he went out of his way to tell people to prioritise travelling at a young age, instead of waiting to do it 'later in life', noting that you may 'end up chronically ill' or have 'big issues with travel'.
"Life goes extremely fast, so I highly recommend you really prioritise what you want to do. If you want travel to be a big priority, it's very good to make the effort to experience things at an early age," Henrik urged.
Topics: Travel, Health, World News
Joshua Nair