Hydration - The Simple Cure for Hangovers (and many other things!)
Nothing is worse than waking up with a heavy head, a lead tongue and not knowing where to begin to start feeling alive again!
All it takes is one or two extra glasses while enjoying an evening with friends – and cue an AWFUL headache the next morning.
The most obvious reason for hangovers is dehydration. We know we're meant to drink multiple glasses of water for every alcoholic drink. But that's very easy to forget when we're busy chatting and laughing with friends or family (and liberally topping up glasses!).
So the question is – can finding relief really be as simple as staying hydrated?
Well yes, and no.
While hydration is essential for keeping your body healthy after alcohol, so is replenishing the lost nutrients and minerals that your body needs to function.
So we have another solution for you...
Drink up! (...but not that kind 😉)
Step 1: At the end of the night and before bedtime, make yourself a greens shot
Your body will need some extra goodness overnight while it's trying to process and eliminate the alcohol that's gone in. Add a teaspoon of Alkalise Green & Go to a glass of water (or coconut water is even better for the extra electrolytes) and drink it down.
This is one of the best ways to prevent that throbbing headache the following morning, or at least minimise it.
Step 2: Support your body throughout the next day to avoid developing a headache later on
1. First thing in the morning (or as soon as you can stomach it) make a simple 'Shake n Go”
Mix 1 heaped teaspoon Alkalise Green & Go with 250 - 500 ml apple juice or coconut water and shake or stir!
Drink half quickly to quickly get it into your system and then sip the second half slowly to allow your body to absorb the nutrients.
2. Make yourself a Hangover Recovery Power Smoothie
Even if you're going to eat something not-so-healthy, it's still important to get lots of good things into your body to support it while it's eliminating and detoxing.
This smoothie is instantly refreshing and restores essential minerals and vitamins using the power of Mayella Nutritional Power Blends. It's a delicious and super-easy way to prepare an isotonic drink (no blue-coloured sports drinks required!). This means instant hydration and alkalisation... and onto the road to recovery your body goes.
Hangover Recovery Power Smoothie Recipe
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2 cups / 300g watermelon
Rich in potassium, Vitamin C and lycopene, naturally good for flushing the body of acidity and free radicals
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The leaves of 3 or so stems of mint
Helps to soothe stomach and digestion (and is tasty in a smoothie!)
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Juice of 1 lime
Gentle detox and works to flush the kidneys
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1/2 cup or 75–100 g cucumber, peeled and sliced
Any variety is fine however the softer skinned cucumbers are usually better. As with watermelon, cucumbers are mostly water, and their electrolyte composition makes them a natural isotonic. Cucumbers are very high in Vitamin C, K and potassium with naturally occurring copper.
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1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Celtic or Himalayan are the best options. Balanced in naturally-occurring minerals, they help the body to hydrate on a cellular level, not drawing and holding fluids in amongst the tissues (as with the usual sodium table salt)
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1 heaped teaspoon Alkalise Green & Go (5-8 grams)
This organic, vegan formula of concentrated plant-based nutrition will gently detoxify and hydrate while adding essential minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients back into your system. Alkalising, as the name suggests, building life force back into your blood and bringing your acid body back from the “hangover hell”.
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Optional - 20ml aloe vera juice
Aloe vera is a very worthwhile addition to maximise the flushing of acids and the softening, hydrating, healing benefits to your hardworking kidneys
Variations to experiment with
- Add apple juice or sparkling mineral water as optional extras if you need a little fizz or natural sweetness. Generally though, the watermelon will be sweet enough.
- Add in coconut water for extra hydrating.
Preparation
- Combine all ingredients in your blender and blend until smooth. (Noise alert – Severe hangover sufferers may want to wear headphones to muffle the noise of the blender!)
You can add ice, but if your watermelon, cucumber and lime are from the fridge, this will be cold enough! Adding extra ice may make the smoothie too cold, making your blood and kidneys work harder again!
Tip: Double the recipe to make enough to continue drinking all day or take mercy on your drinking buddies and share the recovery juice love.
But quality hydration is good for so many other things...
Hydration is the secret to avoiding post-exercise pain!
The recipes above aren't just hangover cures but also refreshing and hydrating tonics after any exercise.
Even if you're thinking, "I didn't sweat too much so I haven’t lost a lot of body fluids", – think again.
Any time you're burning energy – thinking, walking, talking – you need water in your cells, tissues and body to be energetic.
Tightness and tender and aching muscles are a sign of dehydration post-exercise. Hydrate effectively and you'll experience less muscle soreness while your body flushes residual toxins and acids from burning energy. The recipes above will flush acidity and waste, oxygenate the blood and provide concentrated plant-based nutrition that is easily absorbed and bio-available for maximum fitness. And if you have less pain and tightness, you then feel more energised and on a better road to recovery again!
A final note on whatever your day brings
Don’t forget, mental activity can be just as depleting as physical exercise, so the importance of hydrating while at work is to be appreciated in balancing mental fatigue and stress.
A big day outside or a long driving excursion can leave you depleted and tired. In the heat of summer or simply those days you just know you haven’t had enough water, your skin, kidneys and brain are feeling it more than you realise. Dehydration is mentally fatiguing and ageing – eek!
Most of us know our bodies are 70% water but many of us don’t think of how effectively we can renew our body fluids without using up more fluid than we are putting in. For example, our daily cup or cups of coffee. For every cup of coffee we need to drink on average 4 glasses of water to balance the dehydrating effects of the 1 cup of coffee. Soft drinks, and especially carbonated energy drinks with caffeine content, are the same (if not more) demanding on our systems.
Refuel & Replenish - Daily tips and habit to keep you hydrated, always!
- Start and finish your day with a glass of water.
- As a general rule of thumb, drink 4 glasses of water to every cup of coffee, soft drink or “energy drink”
- A simple, daily "Shake n Go" drink of 250 - 500mls water, apple juice or coconut water with 1 heaped teaspoon Mayella Alkalise Green & Go not only boosts your nutritional requirements but will also hydrate your cells, help you to overcome fatigue and support your immune system.
As well as staying hydrated to balance out caffeine, remember to also move your body to allow the extra energy to be processed rather than be stored.
If you leave it within your body without burning it off, it can put extra stress on your adrenals, pancreas and liver, leaving them loaded with stimulation and with nothing to do.
Bit like being all dressed up with nowhere to go :)
What do you think about alkalising greens drinks? Would you be willing to give them a go to swap out the post-party or post-exercise pain?
Let us know in the comments!
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