How To Get Rid Of A Hangover In Six Easy Steps

I probably should’ve written this before New Years Eve, but at least you’ll be able to reference this for all of your future hangovers (let’s get real, you’re bound to get another one at some point in your life). While I actually don’t get many hangovers these days, I was once a pretty big party girl. To an unhealthy point.

Day drinking? Check.

Having a drink at brunch the next morning to get rid of a hangover? Check.

Drinking several nights in a row? Check.

Drinking on a school night? Work night? Tuesday night? Any night? Check. Check. Check.

I’ve always been interested in health, but in my late teens and early twenties, I was more concerned about partying with my friends. I was also pretty unhappy and drinking was fun, so I found myself doing it way more than I should. Hangovers once in a while are okay, regular hangovers are not. By writing this, I’m not condoning excessive drinking. But I am being realistic – hangovers happen.

The best advice for hangovers is to not drink. The next best advice is to drink a bunch of water while you’re imbibing. But if you didn’t do that and you woke up with a monster headache, fatigue, nausea, or you’re so hungover you can’t even sleep. I’ve got you covered.

Drink a glass of water with lemon squeezed in.

When you drink excessively, you not only severely dehydrate yourself, you really overburden your liver. Alcohol causes your body to produce more urine. So while you’re boozing, peeing, boozing, peeing – you’re not drinking water to hydrate you. It’s a vicious cycle.

Drinking excessively and over time can also lead to fatty liver diseases, fibrosis and even cirrhosis of the liver. So when you’re drinking enough alcohol to produce a hangover, you’re drinking enough to damage your liver. The liver filters toxins out of the body. Drinking lemon water encourages the liver to detox the body because lemon encourages the liver to produce more enzymes. So drinking lemon water detoxifies the liver and rehydrates you.

Make yourself some detox tea.

I drink at least one cup of THIS detox tea a day. This is for three reasons: 1) it’s really good for you, 2) it tastes good, 3) I’m obsessed with tea in the winter because my apartment is always cold. It also make a nice iced tea in the summer. The tea is so effective for detoxification because it contains herbs that specifically support the liver, kidney and blood.

All natural with no preservatives or artificial ingredients
Gentle way to help the body cleanse itself by aiding two primary filtering organs, the liver and kidneys
Purifying burdock and organic dandelion support the liver, as juniper berry promotes kidney function
Ginger, black pepper and long pepper support blood flow, as Indian sarsaparilla adds spicy flavor

Get the tea HERE.

Drink a lot of lemon water and detox tea.

This isn’t really another step since both were mentioned above, but I want to emphasize that you should be drinking a lot of fluids. Lemon water and detox tea are two great options that will do more for you than just water alone.

Make yourself a big, protein and fat rich breakfast with fermented veggies.

After a night of drinking, your gut is inflamed and your body is starving for nutrients. This is often why people crave greasy, fatty food when hungover. Because your body needs nutrients and it knows that fat is nutrient dense. But this is where most people mess up. They go for fried foods like chicken or fries which are fried in GMO vegetable oil and will worsen the hangover because these foods are inflammatory.

You need to reach for natural, organic fats. Think butter, avocados, egg yolks, coconut oil, etc. I’d recommend a big veggie omelet topped with avocado and fermented salsa (recipe for fermented salsa HERE). It’s a meal full of healthy fats, veggies and topped off with a healthy dose of probiotics.

Take some turmeric supplements.

Like I mentioned above, drinking inflames the gut. This is why people feel nauseous, bloated, constipated, nervous and all around crappy. The gut is the key to health, so when you’ve spent a night inflaming it – you’re going to feel like crap.

The above breakfast will help with this, but some natural anti-inflammatory supplements are a great addition. Turmeric is own of the most anti-inflammatory substances on earth and has even been shown to ward off depression, cancer and Alzheimer’s. It will definitely help a hangover.

Take an epsom salt and bentonite clay bath.

Otherwise known as a detox bath. After a bender, your body is full of toxins not only because you added toxins to your body via a bunch of booze, but because you drank a bunch of booze, your body is now not as effective at removing toxins. This will make you feel much worse. Taking a detox bath will draw those toxins out via the skin and give your eliminatory organs a break. You really put ’em to work.

1 bath
2 cups of epsom salt (found HERE)
2 cups of bentonite clay (found HERE)

Apply some magnesium and take a nap.

You got some magnesium from your epsom salt bath, but alcohol severely depletes magnesium from the body. Magnesium depletion leads to nervousness, sleeplessness and feelings of anxiety and depression. I use magnesium lotion everyday, and I highly recommend applying a quarter sized amount during the throes of a hangover. You can find magnesium HERE.

Then, take a nap. You need it. When you go to sleep drunk, the body rarely reaches a deep, REM sleep so you’re physically exhausted. The magnesium will help put you to sleep.