best hangover food Archives

Best hangover cures are more elusive than words of kindness from your ex. The symptoms of a hangover can include fatigue, headaches, nausea, increased sensitivity to light and sound, dizziness, along with a number of mood disturbances – not the most pleasant bunch. If you’re stricken with any of the above fret not; there are a number of hangover cures at your disposal. You may live to drink another day despite your sworn admission to the contrary.

Katerfrühstück

Katerfrühstück is German, and it translates to “hangover breakfast”. A solid breakfast is one of the best hangover cures, especially if you manage to chow it down right after drinking. Any food is better than none. Protein rich foods are best because protein binds with alcohol molecules and helps to slow its absorption in your body. One of the most traditional hangover breakfasts in Germany (and in my grandmother’s kitchen after four or five pitchers of Bloody Mary’s the day before) consists of a delicacy called rollmops, something akin to stanky German sushi. Rollmops are pickled herring fillets, wrapped around gherkins and pickled onion. All the salt actually makes this one of the more reasonable folk remedies to hangovers; it’s way better than the Irish idea of burying someone up to their neck in wet sand, cowboy rabbit shit tea, or the Native American practice of working up a sweat (which works) and then licking it off your body and swishing it around in your mouth (which is A) nasty and B) ineffective). The old standby of burnt toast (or bread in general) is also a great go to – the activated carbon and charcoal created by the toast burning are the very same charcoal and activated carbon that they give to detoxify people who have alcohol poisoning (in a smaller, much less icky way). Check out this article for more hangover food remedies.

Another traditional hangover breakfast idea from the good ol’ USA, the Prairie Oyster (not sheep testicles, those are Rocky Mountain oysters): raw egg, worcester sauce, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. It doesn’t sound so bad – until you realize you’re supposed to down it like a shot. The taurine in the eggs is great for your body (which you can read about it my other article on hangover prevention!) and with the other amino acids (also present with the herring in the rollmops) help you process the alcohol out of your body. They’re also great for your hair!

Drink Up!

Drink lots of water! Remember, you’re 60 per cent water, so when you’re dehydrated the membrane around your brain shrinks, your organs get a little bit leathery and your blood gets thicker, making it harder to get oxygen throughout your body and making you pooped (as in tired, dehydration actually leads to constipation). You don’t need to stress yourself out if you aren’t replenishing your salts though. Gatorade and other sports drinks are probably unnecessary or overkill.

“Even though the diuretic effect of alcohol may cause the body to lose some electrolytes, it’s not so much that you need to replace them right away,” says Samir Zakhari, Ph.D., director of the Division of Metabolism and Health Effects at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Have Sex

“There is no research that shows that sex will make a hangover go away, but maybe it will make the time go faster,” says assistant professor Joris C. Verster, Ph.D., of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. “If it makes you happy, go for it.” It’s solid advice and no article on best hangover cures would be complete without it.

I probably don’t need to probe (pun mildly intended) you too much to make you think having sex is a good idea. While it won’t get rid of your hangover entirely, the rush of dopamine and oxytocin you get are going to make you forget it entirely. In fact, when you have an orgasm, you’re not thinking or feeling anything – not even how much your head hurts. “At the moment of orgasm, [people] do not have any emotional feelings,” said Gert Holstege of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, at the 2005 meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Development (ESHPD). Endorphins released after sex are a stellar painkiller, and all the sweating you’ll be doing is going to be a fantastic way to sweat out the booze. I mean really – does jogging on a treadmill even compare as an option?

I Know What You’re Thinking (And You’re Wrong)

One thing to avoid for sure is the impulse to take pain killers. Simply don’t. While anti-inflammatories like naproxen are fine, acetaminophen (Paracetamol, Tylenol) will cause liver damage in doses exceeding 800 milligrams. This adverse reaction is compounded when combined with the liver pounding force of alcohol. You don’t want to take any chances with cirrhosis of the liver because scarring of the liver is irreversible and cumulative.

“While [Paracetamol] is OK for a headache, when combined with a liver that’s working overtime to metabolize alcohol, it can cause liver damage or be deadly,” says Dena Davidson, Ph.D., former associate professor of psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Best Hangover Cures

There are plenty of things you can do to try to cure hangover, and some of them might actually work. But a gram of preparation is worth an ounce of after thought, and preventing a hangover is the best way to deal with one. If you can wake up without a hangover from the getgo, you’ll be off to a much better start so have a look at my hangover prevention post. If you have any ideas on how to either prevent or treat a hangover, or even if you just have a funny hangover story to share (the only time you will ever see funny and hangover right next to each other!) then I would love to hear about them. Give the comment section below a spin and share your stuff.

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Avoid the Grease

Although grease is your friend when you are out drinking, it has very little to offer you the next day, besides being generally unhealthy for you. On the best of occasions the grease will in fact irritate your stomach more than it already is. While you may be able to get down the grease unscathed the more likely scenario is you staring at your half plate full of bacon and sausage dripping sweat while you try and figure out what made you decide to order that, or worse praying to the porcelain gods.

Fruits are your Friend

Yes unfortunately just like in regular life fruit and of course vegetables are going to be the best hangover food to turn too. I mentioned fruit predominantly as it has the morning mastication market on lockdown, sure you can eat vegetables with breakfast, but a bowl full of berries or a few orange slices just fit so much better. The reason fruits and vegetables help so much is that they not only have a lot of the vitamins that you will inevitably loose to dehydration but they are usually also rich with antioxidants. Also the benefits of fruits and vegetables are easily attained in juice form.

Eggs should Come First

While I’m afraid I do not have the answer to the age old question of which came first the chicken or the egg, I can tell you that eggs are always a welcome addition to your post hangover meal. They are not only full of nutrients, and low in fat, but they are fairly adaptable to many different forms of breakfast, be it a platter of eggs bacon and potatoes, on a sandwich, in a smoothie or maybe even something a little more exotic. Eggs are always my go to best hangover food option. Keeping all that in mind here are just a couple of potential options you could start with when looking for that morning after meal.

Breakfast Sandwich

The sandwich is a a great way to construct your breakfast, it is the blank canvas upon which you can paint your dream meal making it as healthy or unhealthy as your heart desires, (or can tolerate). For the healthy minded some sort of whole wheat bread and or bagel topped with an egg white and spinach omelette and maybe a slice or two of tomato will definitely give you a boost to start the day. If that’s a little bland for you try adding some Sriacha sauce or perhaps cheese or bacon for a little more excitement.

Smoothie/Shake

This is the perfect vessel to load up on one of the best hangover food options; fruit. Banana’s should be key when making a smoothie, they contain potassium which the body dearly wants and needs but which you lost a lot of with your alcohol consumption the night before, not only that they blend well and help add smoothness, other options too include would be, berries, an egg, crushed ice for those really fancy folks, and of course yogurt. While I can’t promise that your fruit and yogurt smoothie will make you as happy as the women in the yogurt commercials it’s an easy way to get what the body needs, especially on the go. Also for those who need a bit of a pick me up consider adding a shot of 5 Hour Energy or a similar product to your shake.

The Liquid Diet

Sometimes circumstance, or your stomach wont permit you to partake of either of the first two options but you still need to get your body started on recovering. This is where an assortment of beverages can help fill the void your body needs. Sports beverages such as Gatorade or Powerade are the perfect drink for after a hangover they have all sorts of sodium and electrolytes that your body needs to replenish itself, drinking these along with lots of water, some pure orange juice, (or whatever your fruit juice of choice happens to be) and maybe an energy drink should get you up and running. When it comes to energy drinks try and avoid lots of caffeine as it will further dehydrate you. The quick shots are sometimes the best option for the morning after drinking.

The Egg Brew

This final option is not for the faint of heart, it’s may help with the symptoms of your hangover but it is still not to be taken lightly. The final hangover “breakfast” involves cracking an egg into a fresh pint of beer and then drinking it. Legend has it this helps rid you of your hangover although I can see their being some negative backlash several hours down the line, this best hangover food option is more for the “Rob Ford” type person and is not recommended for everybody.

Best Hangover Food Ideas

Hopefully these best hangover food suggestions will help you to make some solid choices the next time you tie one on and are looking to reboot the next day.