How To Survive Your Party Without That Hangover
Does this sound like you? You are off to that cracker of a party and you swear to yourself that you are going to moderate your alcohol intake? Especially since you have over-imbibed over the Christmas season anyhow (It’s not called the silly season for nothing, right?).
BUT ... as soon as you get there, you see your friends and the music is pumping and all those resolutions go right out the window...... and the next day is not looking pretty. So, you see the New Year in with a Force 10 headache, vertigo like a novice sailor and not to mention wanting to puke every time you lift your head...
Or maybe you are the type who likes to swallow a handful of paracetamol (acetaminophen) or nurofen before you go to bed, hoping that this will help.
But bad news people - all those hangover symptoms is your liver trying to detoxify that alcohol (and being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of it) and by adding painkillers ( in particular paracetamol/ acetaminophen) is going to make it struggle so much more.
But there is another way to avoid that dreadful feeling – all it takes is a bit of planning and you don’t even need the willpower of a saint.
Just remember if you drink so much to give yourself alcohol poisoning, NOTHING will save you!
Here are my 5 tips on making sure that you get to enjoy that party AND the following day.
Buy yourself at least 4 big bottles of mineral water and try and drink an entire bottle (that’s 750ml) before you go out and another before you go to bed. Every time you wake during the night try and have another glass and also try and have a glass of mineral water between each drink at the party: Alcohol is incredibly dehydrating and part of that blinder of a headache the next day will be your brain being so dehydrated it is hurting. Interestingly, you won’t usually need to get up and pee more during the night. You actually don’t need any special rehydration drinks or sugar – just plain bubbly mineral water. I don’t know why the bubbles work, but they do!
Your body uses a large number of B group vitamins to detoxify it – in particular vitamin B3 – so it makes sense to load up on these before you go – take a GOOD QUALITY activated B supplement about 1 hour before the fun begins – you can use that mineral water to help wash it down…
Make sure you eat! This seems so simple, but is often forgotten – foods rich in the amino acid cysteine are particularly good – as this is the very nutrient that the liver needs loads of to help detoxify that alcohol. These include eggs, chicken, cottage cheese and even oats. Add an orange for some vitamin C as this actually protects the whole mechanism. When you think that the traditional hangover breakfast often consists of bacon and eggs and orange juice, you have to give credit for our body’s built -in intuition. Also, the alcohol will take longer to absorb on a full belly and will enter your system at a slower rate. So, eat that hangover breakfast for dinner BEFORE you go!
Magnesium – new research shows that the brain recovers from injury far quicker if it has lots of magnesium on board – get yourself the best quality magnesium supplement that you can afford and have a dose before you go out, one before bed and one in the morning – you can wash it down with your bubbly water. Many good quality magnesium supplements come in a combo with B vitamins – so win win there!
Avoid the alcopops – these have the problem of loads of sugar, or worse still, chemicals in the sugar free varieties. ( More for your liver to detox).
Try having a few non-alcoholic drinks as well/ There are such a great variety of mocktails about, that you don’t even feel as if you are missing out.
So, go out, enjoy and be well. To get you started, here is my recipe for one of my favourite summer drinks:
THE QUEENSLAND SUMMER MOCKTAIL
INGREDIENTS
1 mango
½ fresh pineapple cut into pieces (fresh pineapple contains natural digestive enzymes)
200 ml coconut milk
1 cup crushed ice
METHOD
Basically, blitz it all together and pop it into a fancy glass – top with nutmeg or cinnamon if you want a slightly sweeter taste.
Enjoy.
