Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Coconut Water

It's the best cure. Always will be, always has been.

Nature's Gatorade, used by soldiers in the South Pacific when they ran out of sterile saline, this stuff is made to go in your body. It is full of electrolytes and liquid, with none of the sugar (or worse, fake sugar) that plagues modern sports drinks. Plus, thanks to the Tetra Pak, coconut water is not easily found in grocery stores from Brazil to Alaska.

Drink it, Love it.


You'll notice I saved this post for my birthday. Some secrets are worth sharing on special days.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Some crazy smoothies for your hangover

Many people recommend a hangover remedies of all the other remedy mixed together in a cure-all. If my blender worked, I would maybe try one of these. Ok, probably not.  If you do want to try to find the silver bullet of remedies, be sure to include some of the following items:

Bananas: remember the day we talked about electrolytes? Potassium is important and bananas are chock full of it.
Looks gross, tastes worse...

Other fruits: try the frozen strawberries leftover that somehow didn't make it into last night's margaritas. Strawberries are an excellent source of Vitamin C and flavonoids. I'm not sure what those are, but I'm pretty sure they are good. Other good fruits are oranges, cherries, blueberries (antioxidants in the last two are terrific), and peaches.

Milk/yogurt/ice cream: Calcium was another one of those electrolytes. Dairy it up.

Tomato juice: might not be your first choice to put in your smoothie, but it's good for you. Besides, you're hungover. You already feel like crap. Just drink it already.

Ice: it's made of water. You need water.

Links to some recipes:

ehow.com
this one suggests herbs
This one looks decent
From a TV station
this uses apples

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Pickle Juice: drink it if you dare

When I was (much, much) younger, I was known to occasionally imbibe a bit more alcohol than recommended the night before I had a shift at a coffee shop. While lying on the dirty floor mats during my breaks, I would vacillate between cursing my lack of moderation and pathetically pining for pickle juice. Fortunately I was well-loved by my coworkers who would occasionally call the next person coming in to pick up some pickles on their way.  After a while, we took to keeping a jar of pickles in the extra-milk fridge at all times (though safely separate from any customer-destined products) and everyone who worked with me swore that pickle nectar was the best hangover cure.


I know the last thing that you want to hear when you're hungover is a suggestion you try drinking something you wouldn't even consider when you're drunk, but hear me out. Pickle juice, or brine, is full of the healthy salts that encourage re-hydration. If you like pickles at all, it isn't that big of a leap to try the brine. Though temperature won't matter for effectiveness (I don't think), I prefer the brine to be chilled.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Medicating a Hangover

There are some things in life that should be avoided: evil mothers-in-law, law school, curdled milk, IRS audits, knowing that cat urine glows in the dark and mixing aspirin with alcohol. The phrase "take two aspirins and call me in the morning" does not apply to hangovers; it could damage your liver if mixed with alcohol.

If you must have pain relief in the form of a little white pill the morning after a bend, reach for ibuprofen, but only after eating a little something. Your liver will thank you. While you're in the medicine cabinet, grab a multi-vitamin or some vitamin C. Can't hurt!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Sleep: the body's favorite cure

If you are lucky enough to be hungover on a day that you have nothing better to do, after drinking a glass or two of water (and maybe a snack), go stretch out on the couch and get another couple hours of life-giving sleep. While you were enjoying Jäger bombs to the sound of a 90's cover band last night, you beat up your body pretty badly. It deserves a day of rest, even if that means that you don't get the laundry done or you end up having breakfast at three in the afternoon.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Hungover? Run through it.

I had a cross country coach who both preached and lived by the line "Run through it." Have a cold? Run through it. Cut your hand off? Run through it. Sprain your ankle? Run through it.

This same "wisdom" can be applied to a hangover. Go out and get some exercise. This might not be ideal if you can't move, but just getting the blood flowing can go a long way towards recovery, especially if you have things you need to be doing today (aka work).

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Hangover cure: eat something already!

You're hungover and you've already had a glass of water. Good start, champ. Get yourself another, but while you're in the kitchen, go ahead and make a little breakfast. The alcohol still in your system needs to be absorbed by something.

What to eat? Fruits and vegetables should be your first choice to replenish those nutrients, but don't discount proteins and healthy carbs. Eggs are great, oatmeal is swell. Plus this step will help with the tip for tomorrow.

Just as a reminder: eat before you drink to avoid this situation in the future. Also, try to incorporate eating with the drinking so that you maintain a little something in your stomach to greet the whiskey when it gets there.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Ginger Ale: my favorite fizzy cure all

Remember when you had the flu and your mom gave you ginger ale? No? Well my mom is more awesome than your mom because she knew that ginger (even that found in a natural ginger ale) helps calm the stomach.

Ginger ale is good for a hangover because it helps with one of the more annoying symptoms while rehydrating you back to health. Might I recommend Vernors?
Don't forget to recycle the can!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Gatorade and other electrolyte drinks

Electrolytes specific functions are a mystery to me, but I know they are important to curing hangovers or just helping your body to recover from any kind of rigorous event. A few you might recognize are potassium, sodium and calcium and they are basically essential to allowing your body to rehydrate.

You could get these by drinking "a simple electrolyte drink made by using the correct proportions of water, sugar, salt, salt substitute for potassium, and baking soda" (thanks Wikipedia). Or you could keep sports drinks like Gatorade on hand.

Your choice.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Juice: a step beyond water

Not only are you dehydrated when you are hungover, but the tequila you were happily downing last night took its time happily sucking your body's nutrients. Now you need some vitamins. Though any juice will help your situation, aim for the ones that will benefit you the most.

Tomato: go ahead and grab a V8. Stocked with a mix of vegies, this is a great way to get vitamins and minerals to get you back on your feet.

Orange: Vitamin C is your friend. Any extra your body doesn't use will help flush out the toxins you worked so hard to incorporate into your drowsy morning.

Eating fruit is also good, but seriously, you need liquid.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Water: the obvious hangover cure

You have a hangover. This means many things, but most importantly:

You drank alcohol.
You didn't drink enough other fluids.
You are now dehydrated.

Get thee to a glass of water. Drink. Repeat.

Replenish your body's fluids or you might go to bed as uncomfortable as you woke up.


Next time, try chasing those shots with some H20 instead of the icky light beer.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

June is Hangover Remedy Month!

During the month of June I will research all of the hangover remedies I can in celebration of the first annual Hangover Remedy Month. I'll start with the more common cures and get more fun from there, maybe even creating a few of my own by the end of the month.

Why am I doing this? There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of untraditional holidays out there, I figured it was about time that I created one. Why June? I figure this is a good time because we are five whole months away from National Hangover Day (January 1). Also, I hope to come across the perfect cure in time for my birthday, which is also in June.

Today's cure is a cop-out; it isn't really a hangover remedy at all:

Don't get drunk in the first place.

It will be more fun tomorrow. In the meantime: Frogs don't drink.