Advertisement

Your New Years Eve Survival Guide

by QuickieChickLaurel House

Several glasses of Champagne are served.
Several glasses of Champagne are served.

How many times have you uttered "I'm never drinking again…" while feeling so sick to your stomach that even the idea of alcohol ever touching your tongue again makes your stomach turn.

Worse than feeling awful, hangovers can actually wreak havoc on your immune system, digestive track and organ function. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself the day after, eat and drink these BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER (but before you go to sleep) to avoid the post-alcohol pain.


Base Food
If you're going to drink, you have to eat something first. Even if you know that there will be food at the party, you will probably start drinking before the food comes out. So prepare yourself. Have a few bites first. I'm all about popchips new tortilla chips made with stoneground corn masa, and half the fat of regular flavored tortilla chips. They are a great base, but not so filling that you won't be able to eat later.



Drink Organic Alcohol

Drinking organic spirits (as opposed to alcohol that's loaded with chemicals from the growing process) is less taxing on the liver and, because the function of the liver is basic detoxification, that means that drinking organic spirits can help your liver pump out the alcohol faster. The easier it is for the liver to digest, the less likely it is that you will be bedded the next day by a hangover. I'm obsessed with American Harvest organic vodka that's made in American- which is kind of awesome. It's also super smooth and doesn't leave you with that burn in your throat like other vodkas do.

Eat Asparagus


The high concentration of amino acids produces enzymes that help to accelerate the breakdown of ethanol (the active ingredient in alcohol that creates the hangover as well as the toxic effects on the liver). Eat asparagus before or during (as in, with dinner) drinking to help decrease your chances of being hit hard by the hangover stick.

Go Green!

Green drinks help to hydrate while simultaneously helping to detox your system faster. Green drinks and pressed drinks are a huge trend- a very expensive trend. And because fresh juiceries aren't generally open late at night, bottled drinks are a better bet. Evolution Fresh is made with pure fresh-picked fruits and vegetables that are squeezed and pressed fresh. You can even mix it with that vodka or wine- which they actually do at some healthy restaurants these days like M.A.K.E raw restaurant in Santa Monica (so amazingly delicious!).

Down Copious Amounts of Water Before Bed… no matter how sober you "think" you are

Dilute the alcohol, making the toxins move through the liver in less concentrated force, allowing more time for the ethanol to be broken down, resulting in a less torturous hangover.
Try to:
-a glass between alcoholic beverages.
- "on the rocks" then crunch and swallow all the ice
-before bed drink as many glasses of water as you consumed alcoholic drinks.

Mix Up A Tomato/Cayenne Chaser
Replenish electrolytes and get blood sugar back on track with a tomato and cayenne chaser. No tomato juice in the house? Water with a dash of salt, sugar, cayenne, and a squeeze of lime both before bed and immediately upon waking up.

Drink Orange Juice BEFORE Bed


The Vitamin C helps your liver break down alcohol and flush it out of your body faster. Plus the fructose helps to digest the alcohol, pushing it through and out of the liver.


*****THE DAY AFTER (IF YOU ARE HANGOVER) *****

MOVES
Cardio
I know… it's the last thing you want to do, but working out is exactly what you should be doing. Cardio helps to clear the toxins out faster, flushing them out of your cells, clearing them through the liver, and finally out of your body. Get outside and take a brisk walk, bike ride, go on the elliptical, or if you really can't get out of bed, stay in and do a Hangover Quickie Workout in Bed.



Twisting Yoga

Imagine a rag filled with water that you twist to squeeze out the liquid. Twisting yoga poses help to squeeze the toxins from your internal organs, helping to detox the system and energize the body. Try a Twisted yoga pose to wake up and look better- Stat!

FOODS
Forget Hair of the Dog


Contrary to popular belief, more of the "hair of the dog that bit you" only delays the inevitable. Hangovers happen because the liver is still processing the toxins left over from alcohol.

Forget Fried or Fatty Foods
More likely to only irritate a drinker's stomach further. Had you eaten it the day before- coating your stomach, it would have slowed down the absorption into your blood. But since you didn't….:

Simple Poached Eggs (no burnt toast- that's a myth).
Eggs contain large amounts of cysteine, the substance that breaks down the hangover-causing toxin acetaldehyde in the liver's easily depleted glutathione. Therefore, eggs can potentially help mop up the left-over toxins.)



Salmon with a side of Wasabi

The Omega-3s in salmon help relieve headaches by lessening inflammation, fighting off fatigue, and bringing life back into skin by infusing the cells with moisture. Wasabi increases circulation and promotes oxygenation of cells, brightening and stimulating the skin.

xx
Laurel

Laurel House is a healthy lifestyle author, personal trainer, and nationally recognized print and online magazine writer covering travel, relationships, healthy food and fitness (Women's Health, First for Women, Men's Journal, Yahoo! Shine, Elegant Bride, Fit, Spa, Fit Yoga, Playboy, Elite Traveler, etc). Beyond writing, Laurel has appeared as a expert on television morning shows including E! News, Weekend TODAY, The Daily Buzz, Better.TV, KTLA Morning News, CBS, Fox, NBC, and ABC Morning News shows both locally and nationally, and her YouTube videos have received over 9 million views. Her 4th book "QuickieChick's Cheat Sheet to Life, Love, Food, Fitness, Fashion and Finance on a Less than Fabulous Budget" (St. Martin's, May 2012).