By Marcio Soares
After the excesses of Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations, abuse from excessive food and drink is felt by many people. Along with revealing some myths about hangovers, Kanoa Personal Training would like to help you fight them most effectively.
As we all know, the after-effects of excessive drinking includes: headaches, a bitter taste in the mouth, diarrhoea vomiting and dehydration. As well as the above symptoms, alcoholic beverages produce harmful toxins in our body, create an imbalance in blood sugar levels and affect the level of absorption of vitamins and nutrients, thus depleting our bodies of much-needed energy.
Before giving suggestions on how to prevent hangovers, let’s look at what causes them in the first place. When alcohol is consumed, the body’s sugar level rises rapidly, with a consequent sharp fall right after. Our system inevitably wants to swiftly balance out this rapid fall. Hence, after ingesting alcoholic drinks, people tend to want to increase their consumption of fatty foods and/or foods high in sugar and salt. This is a kind of reward for the body. However, these foods actually end up impairing the function of the liver, which has already been adversely affected by the consumption of alcohol.
Eating dark greens is the best way to eliminate toxins created as a result of imbibing alcohol. Consuming vegetables the next day in the form of juices, salads and other preparations, helps get rid of hangovers more quickly. Raw cabbage, besides helping the liver function better, also reduces headaches.
Drinking plenty of liquids is also important for those who have drunk too much alcohol. Consuming water, about ten glasses per day, is fundamentally important.
Tea is also beneficial to relieve the symptoms of a hangover, especially tea made with herbs, such as boldo leaves and artichoke. Boldo leaves contain the alkaloid boldine and artichoke has cynarin, both of which substances protect liver cells, detoxify the body and help the bile work better. In case of dehydration, diarrhoea or vomiting caused by consuming excessive alcohol, ingesting isotonic drinks throughout the day, such as natural coconut water or mineral water can be very beneficial.
Refreshing juice!
To overcome the effects of alcohol, we would like to share with you a juice recipe made from beetroot, carrot, apple, mint and ginger. Beetroot has betaine, which helps detoxify the liver; apples and carrots have fibres which retain glucose longer in the blood stream and also create a sense of satiety without leaving the body feeling heavy; mint is digestive and helps in the process of detoxification; and ginger stimulates circulation and directs nutrients rapidly to those cells that need them most.
Refreshing juice!
Blend all these raw ingredients and add water or coconut water to produce the desired amount. To ensure it is fresh ideally, the juice should be drunk right after it is prepared.
Enjoy!
Yours in health and fitness,
Marcio Soares
