When you are nursing a particularly bad hangover, a friend may helpfully suggest that you eat some crispy bacon and greasy eggs. It is a very popular theory that eating greasy food when you are hungover makes a difference as the grease in the food will be able to absorb the alcohol, which will make you feel better. But does greasy food help a hangover?
However, as popular as that theory is, it is not necessarily true. In fact, eating greasy foods when you are already hungover and have woken up with an upset stomach can actually make you feel a lot worse. The following sections will provide brief explanations as to why that happens and what you can do instead to treat a hangover.
Why Doesn’t It Work?
If you eat greasy food after drinking in order to absorb the alcohol, it is already too late. If you have been drinking and then have also had a few hours of sleep before you eat the greasy food to help with the hangover, the alcohol has already been absorbed into the bloodstream.
No matter how much grease you consume, it will not do anything to absorb the alcohol as it is already in your bloodstream.
However, that does not mean that greasy foods are not helpful at all. They can be the best types of food that you could eat before a long night of drinking. When you eat well before drinking, the alcohol will be absorbed into the body a lot slower.
When the alcohol is in the stomach for long enough, it will also start to break down in the stomach. When that happens, the potency of the alcohol will also become inactivated and you will not feel as drunk, in addition to avoiding a hangover the next morning.
So, eating greasy foods before you start drinking is the best way to avoid a nasty hangover the next morning. You will decelerate the absorption of the alcohol into your bloodstream as the grease will line your stomach and offer a protective layer.
Can It Make Things Worse?
Eating greasy foods to make a hangover go away can actually make things worse. When you have a hangover, what is essentially happening is that the alcohol has left you dehydrated. But quite often, the alcohol can upset your stomach and you may wake up feeling nauseous or with a running stomach.
When you eat greasy foods like bacon or fried eggs, you may end up putting even more pressure on your digestive system. Imagine if you were simply nursing an upset stomach that had nothing to do with consuming alcohol, then eating something greasy would be the last thing on your mind.
You know that if your stomach is upset, you should take it easy and eat something that will make your stomach feel better. Similarly, if your stomach is upset because of drinking alcohol, then you need to eat things that will not exert your digestive system even more.
How Can You Help a Hangover?
When you wake up with a hangover, that does not mean you cannot eat. In fact, eating something will probably do you good. If you stay on an empty stomach when you are hungover, it will make you feel even worse.
While you should avoid heavy or greasy foods when you are hungover, it is always a great idea to eat something that is nutritious and vitamin heavy. So a bowl of fruit or some probiotic will be good for you. The following are some of the best foods to eat when you are nursing a hangover are:
- Bananas, which are high in electrolytes like sodium and potassium.
- Watermelons, that have high water content and are also rich in L-citrulline, which is good for increasing blood flow.
- Spinach, which is rich in folate.
- Nuts, which have high magnesium content.
- Honey, which is high in fructose.
- Meat, which is high in protein that can be broken down into amino acids.
- Eggs, which are rich in amino acids and cysteine.
A hangover is essentially your body telling you it is fatigued and dehydrated. So you need to load up on electrolytes. Perhaps, a bottle of Gatorade or some other kind of sports drink will be a great way to get out of a hangover.
If a sports drink is not something you are a big fan of, then simply a delicious jug of homemade lemonade should do the trick.
Another good way to approach a hangover cure is to treat the symptoms as there is no way to actually treat a hangover except waiting for the alcohol to be out of your bloodstream.
So, if you have a headache, then pop an aspirin. If you have an upset stomach, then some Pepto-Bismol may help you feel better. If you are feeling fatigued and tired from a night of drinking, then perhaps simply sleeping your hangover off (if you have the luxury of an off-day) can do you a great service.
Most importantly, the best way to nurse a hangover is simply to avoid getting a hangover altogether. This may seem like counter-productive advice, but prevention is always a better policy than cure.
Final Thoughts
A hangover can be one of the most debilitating experiences after a night of fun and drinking. It can put a dampener even on drinking or celebrating with your friends as it may seem like nursing a nasty hangover is not worth the experience.
However, you do not need to be saddled with a nasty hangover. For starters, the less you drink, the less likely you are to get a nasty hangover the next day. This does not even have to mean that you cut back on the drinking or you have to be too careful about how many drinks you pour yourself.
Simply doing the sensible thing while you drink, such as hydrating while you are drinking and eating something substantial before you start drinking can take you a long way. If you are loading up on greasy foods the following morning, it is already too late.