One of the worst things about going for a night out, whether it be after work drinks, celebrating a birthday, or just a heavy night in the pub, is the hangover and inclination to jump down a hole and throw away the hole the next morning. We’ve all experienced chronic hangovers, bar that one smug friend who is up for a jog at the crack of dawn the next morning.
Throughout the years there’s been thousands upon thousands of miracle pills, juices and everything else under the sun that guarantee your morning will be hangover free, but most, if not all, have zero effect on the egregious banging inside your skull post 15 pints and 8 vodka red bulls.
While there is still no proven way to fully negate a hangover, there are a huge number of ways, using food, to blunt the effects both before and after the fact. Using your nutrition you can prepare your body as well as possible to handle that self inflicted misery.
The night before:
We are going to start with the do’s and don’ts of what one can eat and do during the day, before and leading directly up to binge drinking. Hangovers are inevitable, but there are a select few things that if done, definitely wont harm you anyways, and may reduce that thumping brain from all day , to just after lunch time.
Vitamins :
You usually know whether you’re going to be going out that evening and so have time to prepare throughout the day. While the meal you eat before you ease into a few pints is by far the most important, the whole day can be used as a springboard for a fresh morning after.
Getting a host of important vitamins into you periodically during the day is very important. Zinc, B vitamins and potassium are a good place to start according to Dr. Alexis Halpern, an emergency medicine physician at New York-Presbyterian Medical Centre. Potassium in particular is great as it helps to hydrate you
When you drink alcohol it acts as a diuretic, flushing out all the good stuff you need to keep the body functioning at 100% and therefore getting some extra supplements in will keep your body as it possibly can after smashing 15 Baby Guinness Shots in an hour.
Food:
Eating the right food before a heavy night can be imperative to warding off a hangover. We all know how dangerous it can be to go out on an empty stomach, making you drunker quicker while also having some damaging effects on your liver, digestive system, kidneys and cardiovascular system. When you have an empty stomach, the alcohol defuses directly through your stomach walls and into your bloodstream, causing rapid descent into intoxication with bad decisions to follow. Eating a meal before you eat allows the alcohol to drip into your bloodstream , rather than flood it.
While it is tempting to throw in a quick oven pizza or a burger from a fast food restaurant, eating the proper food can help the body and the impact of the booze on it. Foods high in slow release carbs and fats are a good place to start with . Incorporating avocado into your pregame meal is a great option due to the slow release fats it contains. Others foods to focus on include eggs meat and fish such as salmon, which is high in omega 3 fatty acids can help your liver detoxify when you start drinking. Getting some yoghurt in there somewhere can help also as it literally coats the gut, digesting slowly over 4 to 6 hours.
In essence, getting as nutritionally dense meal into you before you go on a heavy one is the ideal scenario, with as many vitamins, minerals and slow release foods as you can.
A big tip is always to drink in moderation but when has anyone ever heeded that advice, so all we can do is plan for the inevitable and hope to god you’re still semi able to function in the morning.
The Day After:
So you’ve messed up, and you’re currently feeling that self inflicted pain right behind your eyes. Apart from reflecting on all the bad decision and that friend who insisted on jaeger bombs like he was actually doing you a favour, its now time to cure this b*tch!
Water:
Water is the obvious starting point, getting as much into your body as you can. Alcohol dehydrates your body due to its diuretic effect and so you need to replenish your stores, lube-ing up your insides to get everything up and running smoothly again.
Coffee:
Often times people go straight for the coffee pot and this can either be a good or a bad idea. If you usually have a cup in the morning it is probably a good idea to stick to your routine, as if your body doesn’t get its usual spike of caffeine it might worsen your headache. I’m sure the added energy boost may also help move things along. The counter argument to this is that coffee is a mild diuretic and therefore might worsen your hangover and aggravate the nauseousness already building in your stomach .
Breakfast:
Eating your way out of a hangover can genuinely work, if you get the right foods and nutrients into you. While you may not want to leave the house, brunch type foods are in fact some of the best you can eat. Eggs are the OG breakfast food and they should stay just that when looking to fuel up the next day. Eggs are packed full of essential nutrients such as calcium , Vitamin B, D and loads of hard working amino acids. Vitamin B12 is great for giving you a bit of needed energy.
The amino acid cysteine helps clear acetaldehyde from your body, which is the chemical that causes a lot of the pain that comes from your liver working at 120% from your lack of respect for your body! Taurine also boosts liver function and helps protect it. Aside from that, there’ s a good helping of protein in there to get the body going once more.
Eating bananas are a great way to get some potassium in, which is an important electrolyte that disappears as you burn through your bank balance in the boozer. Also have a good supply of slow releasing sugars to put that pep back in your step . Making yourself a smoothie with those bananas and work some spinach in there for its detoxifying qualities similar to eggs.
While none of this will make your hangover magically disappear, what you eat before and after your trip to the local can have an astronomical effect on your wellbeing . Eating right can protect the organs, reduce morning after sickness and headaches but most importantly help avoid sending that ‘you up’ text at 4 am.