The 10 Best Foods To Help Cure Your Holiday Hangover

Forget Tylenol and sports drinks. Cure—or prevent—a hangover naturally with these tips.

Whether you're imbibing at a family holiday party or ringing in the new year, it's important to know how to prevent a hangover—before the morning after.
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Good news! Enjoying a few drinks doesn't mean you're destined to spend the next day sloth-like on the couch or hunched over a toilet. In fact, researchers are finding that your alcoholic choices and what you eat before, during, and after you drink could drastically reduce your risk of a morning hangover.

Related: 9 Foods That Will Cure (Almost) Whatever Ails You

In the event that you do overindulge and find yourself feeling queasy and awful the morning after, reach for natural hangover food and drinks instead of the medicine cabinet and you'll be feeling refreshed and back to your good old self in no time. And remember to choose organic foods when stocking up on the below foods to fight hangovers; your night out on the town has already given your liver enough to process, it shouldn't have to deal with breaking down toxic pesticides, too.

(Slash your cholesterol, burn stubborn belly fat, solve your insomnia, and more—naturally!—with Rodale's Eat For Extraordinary Health & Healing!)

 

Clear liquids, including cocktails

To prevent a horrible hangover, it's important to focus on clear liquids not just the day after, but while you're drinking, too. (This includes the actual cocktail.) Stick with rum, vodka, and gin, spirits lower in hangover-causing congeners, a fermentation byproduct. Avoid more congener-rich spirits like brandy, champagne, bourbon, cognac, whiskey, red wine, and tequila.

Related: The 5 Best Cocktail Ingredients To Grow At Home

Since alcohol blocks the release of vasopressin, a hormone that signals the kidneys to conserve water, it's easy to become dehydrated while drinking. White recommends drinking water in between cocktails to stay hydrated and dilute the alcohol already in your stomach. The morning after, reach for some clear organic broth to help replace the salt and potassium lost through drinking.

Related: 13 Sparkling Organic Wines Your Holiday Season Needs

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Asparagus

Eating asparagus before you go out, or while you're drinking, can help prevent or ease a next-day hangover, according to scientific research. Scientists found that extracts taken from the leaves and shoots of asparagus boosted levels of important enzymes that break down alcohol after heavy drinking. (Maybe bars should start putting this super veggie on the menu!) A researcher involved with the study says eating asparagus the next day can help tame hangovers, too.

Whether you choose an asparagus dish or not, be sure to eat before you drink, warns Aaron White, PhD, senior scientific advisor to the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Eating allows more of the alcohol to break down in the stomach before your body absorbs it. "Having food in the stomach while drinking results in a slow trickle of alcohol into the bloodstream versus a rapid rise when one drinks on an empty stomach," White explains. "This means a smaller impact on the brain, less of a buildup of toxic byproducts of alcohol metabolism and, presumably, a more tolerable hangover."

Prickly pear

This cactus fruit possesses mega anti-inflammatory agents that can help offset the damage done by drinking alcohol. Researchers at Tulane University discovered that drinkers who took prickly pear cactus extract 5 hours before drinking had 50 percent fewer hangover symptoms compared to drinkers who went without the extract. You can eat prickly pear as a fruit, take an extract capsule, or drink prickly pear tea to help prevent a hangover.
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Coconut water

Most people are conditioned to reach for a sports drink when they wake up with a grueling hangover. While those electrolyte-rich drinks do help bring your body's chemistry back into balance, they often contain nasty ingredients like fake food dyes that are toxic to brain cells. Coconut water is a natural electrolyte-boosting option that can help. (You might also want to try out maple water.)

Organic eggs

Eggs provide protein to help stabilize blood sugar, while the cystine in protein may help break down toxins, according to The Big Doctors Book of Home Remedies. Look for organic pastured eggs, meaning they come from hens raised on grass and supplemented with organic feed. This type of egg can quickly help replenish your body with B vitamins drained from drinking alcohol.

Related: The Ultimate Hangover Breakfast

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Bananas

Ever feel physically weak after a night of drinking? You're not imagining it--your muscles really pay the price when you overdo it in the drinking department. If you're feeling a little shaky after a night of drinking, reach for a banana to help restore your body's potassium levels and improve muscle function.

Crackers & honey

If you can't stomach eating raw honey the day after drinking, use a cracker as the delivery system. Real honey is loaded with antioxidants and concentrated fructose, which will help flush any remaining alcohol out of your system more quickly.

Related: Why Honey Is So Good For Your Skin

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Quinoa

Quinoa is a South American grain growing in popularity in the states, and it can also come in mighty handy during a hangover situation. Drinking depletes your body's amino acids—the building blocks of protein—but quinoa's well-balanced amino acid profile can help repair the damage done.

Toast

There's something extremely comforting about toast. Whether you're hugging the porcelain throne due to the flu or a hangover, it seems like toast is always there to help you get back on your feet. Your liver is also grateful for a few slices of toast after a night of drinking. Under normal conditions, your liver automatically produces more glucose from stored carbs when your blood sugar dips. But when you drink, your liver is busy metabolizing your alcohol and can't always regulate your blood sugar, leaving you moody and drained of energy. Toast is also easy on the tummy, making it a perfect hangover food for queasy mornings.
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Tomato juice

Organic tomato juice can send a natural jolt of vitamins and minerals into your alcohol-ravaged body, but that's not it's only perk. Tomato juice hydrates, and just like honey, the fructose in the juice will help flush out lingering alcohol.

Courtesy RodaleOrganicLife