6 Hangover Cures That Are Actually Healthy
We all know drinking’s no good for you. But sometimes it feels like the drunk-eating and greasy hangover food are even worse.
While you could stop drinking so much, we all know that’s just not realistic. Instead, check out these hangover cures from health/wellness expert, Annie Lawless, creator of Blawnde.com and co-founder of Suja Juice.
1. Reverse Your Drunk Eating
With drinking comes unhealthy eating. Either you leave the club to eat a slice of pizza or you wake up the next morning craving hash browns, sometimes both. Annie isn’t saying that you can’t eat anything fatty — but waiting until you’re hungover to indulge could actually hurt your hangover.
“Eat a greasy meal before you go out drinking, NOT the morning after,” says Annie.” It might seem counterintuitive to indulge before you go out for a night of drinking, but eating a fatty meal before alcohol is a great way to avoid a terrible hangover the next morning. The fat will coat the walls of your stomach and slow the rate of alcohol absorption into your bloodstream.”
If you’re not usually one to eat unhealthily, don’t worry, Annie says a fatty meal doesn’t have to be fast food or fried chicken.
“A generous dose of olive oil on your salad, a couple extra spoonfuls of guacamole, or a healthy drizzle of coconut oil on your roasted veggies will do the trick,” she said. “If you eat a greasy breakfast the morning after drinking, as most of us naturally want to, the same slowing of digestion will occur, which will only prolong the amount of time the alcohol hangs around in your body and cause heartburn.”
2. Don’t Try To Erase Last Night’s Calories
You know those psycho exercise-obsessed friends of yours that claim going on a run after drinking helps their hangover and urge you to try it out? Fuck them, because Annie says otherwise.
“When you’re hungover, you’re already pretty dehydrated. You’re also probably low on nutrition. When you’re metabolically hindered, attempting to exercise will only make you feel even worse.”
Instead, take a day to recoup from your hangover, and kill it at the gym the next day (or not, whatever).
“The smarter thing to do is rest as much as possible and resume exercise the following day or later in the week when your vitals have returned to normal,” says Annie.
3. Trade In Your Gatorade
Isn’t it ironic that the drink that’s marketed toward athletes is the drink that you reach for/would give your left arm for when you can’t leave your bed? Annie says that maybe there’s a reason for this difference, and that you should opt for coconut water instead.
“Replenish the salt and potassium you’ve lost with coconut water and stay away from sports drinks that also pack lots of added sugar you don’t need when you already feel like crap,” she said.
4. Detox Your Liver
We all joke about how fucked our livers are going to be when we’re old, but have you ever researched how to help your liver out from all the times it’s absorbed your alcohol for you?
Annie says there are certain foods and drinks to support your liver. Like broccoli, cauliflowers, kale, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts.
“[These vegetables] promote liver detoxification. Similarly, lemon water with apple cider vinegar is a wonderful liver flusher. By helping your liver detoxify, you speed up the recovery process and get back to feeling normal quicker.”
5. Pop Some Pills
Instead of popping pills with the sketchy dude outside the club last night, pop your pills in the morning, specifically vitamins.
“Take a prenatal multivitamin,” advises Annie. “Alcohol depletes vitamins and you are probably low in hangover-reducing Vitamin B, Vitamin C, and magnesium. Replenish your stores with a prenatal multi as they are usually packed with higher doses of these important nutrients.:
6. Bonus For Next Time: Chase With Water
It sounds gross, but you really won’t taste it if you start mixing (or chasing) with water. If you can handle using water instead of your favorite soda, you’ll not only get the benefits of hydration, you’ll ditch the sugar and calories.
Even if you can’t bear the thought of drinking a vodka-water instead of a vodka-cran, try using half-water and half-cran instead, or just club soda. Any water is better than no water and it’ll hopefully help you from waking up looking like this:
