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How to Day Drink Without the Hangover
(Stock up on our new 15-serving Intox-Detox bottles before your vacation here...)
Day drinking is fun. I don't care who you are. If you do it every day, you might be an alcoholic. If you're in college, it's just another day ending in "Y". As an adult, these kinds of days are few and far between, limited to cruises, all-inclusive Mexican resort vacations, St. Patrick's day and maybe even an occasional beer or wine festival. If you love soccer like I do, playing hooky to watch World Cup games over a few beers might be acceptable too. However, since we are all adults here, I'm guessing you have stuff to do the next day. And, as you get older, bouncing back from a day like that is a little more difficult than your college days. Hang tight and I'll give you a game plan for surviving the fun of day drinking without a nasty 48-hour hangover. Yes, it includes Intox-Detox.
1. Get Fat at Breakfast -- I don't buy that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Personally, I like a couple coffees and a brief fast, then a brunch around 10 or 11 am. However, if you're hitting the sauce early, breakfast is required. Dietary fat is exceptional for slowing down the absorption of alcohol. I recommend a 3-egg omelet with cheese, bacon and avocado. If your heart's not healthy enough for that, you might consider toning the fat down a bit to focus on the healthy ones. Think spinach egg white omelet with avocado and salsa. High fat meals release endo-toxins into your system, according to my boy Brad Pilon, author of Eat Stop Eat. Good thing you can easily fix this with a cup of berries or half a glass of orange juice. Now your stomach is primed for some drinking. And your body has some quality vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to fight off the toxins.
2. Be Sessionable -- Drink choice is going to make a big difference. Will you be knocked out by lunch time, crippled by a sugar coma or too full to eat? First and foremost, keep your drink types to one or two for the day. Now is not the time for a tropical drink flight with one rum, one tequila, one vodka etc. Liquor before beer, you're in the clear is a real thing because carbonated beverages get you intoxicated faster. That means starting with beer or champagne and then veering toward liquor could lead to disaster. Taking Intox-Detox gives you a little extra leeway here, but use your head. As always, avoid your kryptonite; we all have one. For some it's champagne, red wine or tequila. Others fall into the trap when they imbibe a thimble of whiskey. Know thyself and drink accordingly. Avoid sugar where possible. It's bad for you. It makes you fat. It makes hangovers worse. And it can knock you out. Yet, there's nothing better than a cold margarita or pina colada on a Mexican beach. If possible, opt for natural alternatives like agave nectar, cane sugar or calorie-free stevia, erythritol or monk fruit. I know this is difficult at bars. They have been very slow in adapting to consumer demand for low-calorie, natural, and sugar-free alternatives. Check out Be Mixed if you enjoy these kinds of drinks. It's all-natural and sugar-free. There's no harm in a downshift. For example, start your day with a few mimosas or Bloody Marys. Then retreat to a session IPA or lighter cocktail. I like sugar-free Tom Collins, vodka tonic with Zevia's sugar-free tonic beverage or even an occasional Corona Light.
3. Dose Thyself Accordingly -- I constantly repeat myself, but here it goes: Intox-Detox is science, not magic. You MUST understand dose dependence. That means it only works if you use it the right way. For day drinking, pop your first pack of Intox-Detox with breakfast. If it's going to be a marathon, you need to take another pack every 4 to 6 strong drinks or 4 to 6 hours, whichever comes first, preferably with a couple glasses of water and a meal. Intox-Detox is safe to be taken in bigger doses, but the truth is that once you reach 3 packs in a day, a 4th or 5th one won't do much more good. There is a point at which nothing will help you. These tips are to help you avoid reaching that dark place. Do the math; if you get beyond that 3-pack recommendation, that means you have been drinking for 18 hours (or the equivalent in drinks), it's probably time to shut it down. Maybe you overdid it and didn't take my sage advice. An additional pack the next morning with a cup of coffee will clear the cobwebs, so that you don't waste a whole day of your vacation writhing in bed.
4. The Art of Power Napping -- At Slippery Rock University, my alma mater, I had a friend who was the real life Van Wilder. I think he attended SRU for the better part of 8 years. We will call him Jeffro and he used to say "Today I am going to get drunk three times!" That sounds insane, but he was actually very disciplined about his day drinking. He set alarms throughout the day and he stuck to his plan. Power naps were typically scheduled for after lunch and before dinner. Notice how he cleverly planned them around meals, which reminded him to eat. More on that in a moment. The art of power napping does not lie in falling asleep; that's the easy part, especially if you are lying in the sun all day. The secret is not to stay asleep. More alarms to the rescue. The perfect power nap is no longer than 30 minutes, otherwise you will dip into that deeper REM sleep and wake up tomorrow. A well-timed nap can be incredibly restorative. For one, you can't really drink more while you're asleep, so your liver can play catch-up. Also, most of your detoxifying and healing happens when you sleep. Don't be afraid of taking a nap.
5. What to Eat -- It's easy to make healthy choices when you're sober. Drink a few beers and suddenly you're ravenously hungry and a pizza sounds like a great idea. Now is not the time to be a food snob or to stick to your low-carbohydrate diet. Eating anything is better than eating nothing. And carbohydrates are particularly good for keeping the tipsy train from going off the rails. Most people think that carbs "soak up" alcohol. That's not actually true, but they do really seem to help. It's complex, but it may avoid extreme swings in blood sugar while you are enjoying some drinks. Ideally, we would all have the discipline to eat low-glycemic, flour-free carbohydrates, but it just doesn't work that way. If you can stick to that, do it. Otherwise, get your diet back on track tomorrow or after your vacation. Guilt can be a powerful motivator, so live it up now and fix it later. Trust me, the worst thing you can do is try to eat healthy by starving yourself while consuming alcohol. It goes without saying that you need to be drinking water throughout the day. Pencil a few glasses of H2O in around your naps and meals. A well-timed tea or coffee can also do wonders by adding a little caffeine and some antioxidants. Green tea is a great choice, and highly functional for eliminating alcohol's toxins. That's why we put Green Tea Extract in Intox-Detox.
The Bottoms Up Bottom Line:
And that's pretty much it. The most important tips for enjoying a day of drinking without losing days of your vacation in the process. You might be wondering about electrolytes and the drinks that promise to hydrate you. Sure, they can help. But nothing beats pure water. All of your electrolytes you can easily get from food, including salt, avocado, bananas etc. Same for B vitamins; your very best source is food. If you want to add a B complex or multi-vitamin as an insurance policy, go for it. I like a few cups of Amazing Grass greens powder because you get 2 servings of fruits and vegetables in a shot. Mix with a little apple or orange juice and chug it down with your meals. If you must have an electrolyte beverage, try Ultima - they have a great natural, sugar-free powder stick that you can mix into a bottle of water. They are great people and their product tastes good too.
It's awesome to day drink with your friends. Even better if you can somehow avoid the pain and misery of the hangover. The worst thing you could do is waste a day of your hard-earned vacation time sleeping off the day before. But keep in mind that with Intox-Detox, you're not just preemptively avoiding the misery of tomorrow, you are also protecting your body in the process. In the long run, that is way more important. You want to keep your liver in working order so that you can have a little day drinking fun on vacation every once in a while.
Stock up on our new 15-serving Intox-Detox bottles before your vacation here...
Use coupon code "LoveYourLiver" (not case sensitive) to save a few bucks.
Our amazing product has been credited with saving destination weddings, crushing sea sick hangovers on cruises and helping vacationers get the most out of their time, without giving up a few cocktails in the sunshine.
You're welcome! Enjoy your summer!