“Whyyyyyyyyyyyy?” If those are your sentiments tomorrow morning after partying a little too hearty on New Year’s Eve, we’ve got some all natural hangover cures that can really help. If you consider yourself a hangover veteran, you might already know about some of these, but a bunch of them were new to us. The good news is that they’re all things you can easily stock up on today and, if need be, place right next to your bed (or whatever hovel you’re planning to pass out in) for some much needed day-after relief. Read on to see them all, and if actually getting hungover in the first place is what you need help with, check out these 6 organic cocktail recipes.
BANANAS
You might have heard that bananas are favored by athletes because they contain potassium and it’s that same reason that makes them great hangover cures. When you’re hungover, your body has lost a lot of potassium that needs to be replenished, so eating a banana when you wake up will provide much needed relief. If you’re super queasy and can’t stomach the idea of munching a whole banana, a banana smoothie laced with some drops of the next hangover fighter on our list is a more palatable way to feel human again. Or, if you’re still able to stand after you get home from drinking, having a banana before you pass out will help start the recovery process even sooner.
HONEY
Honey is one of those miracle foods that has so many applications, and hangover help is one of them! The fructose in the sweet stuff helps your body metabolize the alcohol more and it also contains potassium, just like bananas. If you’re in a bad way, you can take two to six teaspoons of it every 20 minutes or until you feel better or you can combine its healing powers with bananas by using the recipe we linked to above for a double dose of feel-better.
WASABI BATH
While you might think that hangover relief is all about putting new substances into your body, it’s just as much about getting the alcohol out. As much as a third of toxic body waste is removed through the skin (which explains why uncle Pete always smells like a bottle of scotch) and you can speed that process up by taking a nice soak in your tub or even just taking a hot shower. To help the detoxification process even more, you can pop a spoonful of wasabi (Japanese horseradish) powder into your bath or use some wasabi bath salts.
CARBS
If you’re on a low-carb diet, ditch it just for today. One of the best ways to ditch that queasy, “if I eat something, I’m going to puke” feeling is to go against what your body is telling you and eat something – preferably a healthy portion of carbs to sop up all of that alcohol in your stomach and mix it with food as it processes in your body. It’s best to go with something bland that won’t upset your innards like bread with butter or plain pasta, or you might even want to top that pasta with sauce made from our next natural hangover cure.
TOMATOES
There’s a reason why people love drinking Bloody Marys the day after going on a bender (besides getting some hair of the dog, which most experts generally agree is more of a temporary hiatus than a cure for a hangover) – it’s rich in the vitamins, minerals and enzymes that booze robs your body of and it contains fructose with aids in metabolizing alcohol in your system. One way to stop the room from spinning is to imbibe some tomato juice mixed with a little cayenne pepper, sugar, and lime.
WATER
Sorry if this makes us disciples of Captain Obvious but we really couldn’t compile a natural hangover cure list without including good old H20. It’s tried and true and it will work better than probably any other remedy in this article as long as you remember one thing – stay sober enough to drink loads of it after you get home from partying or better yet, during. Speaking from personal experience, drinking one glass of water for every shot, glass or can of alcohol will almost guarantee you no hangover the next day and if you can’t swing that, the next best thing is to chug 3 or 4 cups of water right before you hit the hay. But we all know that having the presence of mind to hydrate properly when you’ve had a bunch of cocktails is easier said than done, so you can still do it in the morning when you wake up – although an ounce of prevention could have saved you a pound(ing headache) of cure.
Lead image via Pixabay
*Interesting word usage note. As Althouse explains here, both “party hearty” and “party hardy” are commonly used phrases that are both “right” in their own ways, but they actually meantwo different things.
