Hangover Helpers

Hangover Helpers

Real Simple, Dec. 2001, pg. 85

Craig Offman

This article gives advice of remedies for a hangover. It explains what you can do before you drink; what to do while drinking; as well as suggestions for after you drink. Hangover symptoms may include headaches, nausea, diarrhea, tremors, and fatigue. Hangovers are generally more severe if you haven't been getting enough water or sleep.

Before drinking, the advice that they listed was that you eat fatty foods, eat high- fiber foods, take vitamin C, and try hangover prevention formulas. Foods that are fatty or high in fiber help breakdown alcohol and absorb it, which keeps it from reaching the blood stream quickly. One of the hangover prevention formulas that were included suggested that you take an over - the- counter mixture of B vitamins and prickly pear extract. These help to fight stress and inflammation.

While drinking, there are a number of things that were suggested. The first tip was that you avoid congeners. Congeners are compounds that give liquor it's flavor and color. To avoid these compounds, one should buy lighter- colored, highly filtered alcohol. They may tend to be more expensive, but they can reduce your causes of getting a hangover. Other precautions to be aware of while consuming alcohol is to stick to one kind of drink, avoid carbonation, alternate with water, and to order onion soup gratinee. The reason behind this is that onions are high in sugar, which speeds the body's metabolism and burns alcohol. Also, the cheese is dairy, which slows alcohol's entry into the bloodstream.

When you are finished drinking, you should drink lots of water because it cleans out your system. You should also drink fruit juices due to the fact that the fructose will restore a person's blood sugar level. Other tips that were included was that one should: drink pedialyte, not drink bloody Mary's, eat bland carbohydrates, eat eggs, eat honey, try activated charcoal, try liver care, try milk thistle, try alka- seltzer morning relief, take anti inflammatory, and take Pepto- Bismol.

These suggestions should make you think twice when consuming alcohol, along with possible suggestions of getting rid of hangover symptoms. So the next time you go out and have a few too many, you should