Lifestyle
13 Foods to Eat After a Weekend Binge
All you’ve done is binge all weekend. Whether it’s been on sugar foods, high saturated fat meals, or even alcohol, your body is complaining. Your digestive system is in tatters, and your head wants something healthy and nutritious.
It’s time to get the toxins out of your system. Detoxing will be one of the best things that you can do. But that means following the perfect detox diet. It means focusing on foods that are perfect for cleaning out the bad, drawing out the oils, and clearing up the signs of your weekend binge.
So, whether it’s alcohol or sugar related, here are 13 foods that you need to eat after a weekend binge.
Start by Increasing Your Water Intake
The best thing that you can put into your body right now is water. Water is known as the elixir of life, and there’s a very good reason for that. It forces your kidneys to work again. It helps to dilute the toxins and pushes them through the system, out the kidneys, and through your urine.
Also, alcohol and some high saturated fat foods are diuretics. They will force out liquid until there is nothing left. Your organs are left compromised, and you’ll start to show signs of dehydrating. Drinking more alcohol isn’t going to be beneficial. You continue to dehydrate your body with the liquid instead of fuelling it with the water that you need.
As you start to dehydrate your body, your lips become dry, your skin is flaky, and your head will hurt. Your body draws liquid from available sources to fuel the most important parts.
Start grabbing the water.
You could add some more electrolytes to your body if the dehydration were bad. Coconut water is one of the best drinks that you can have for this!
Opt for Peppermint or Ginger Tea
If you don’t fancy plain water and want something warm, think about tea. Not just any tea. You want an herbal remedy to help boost your health and get rid of the toxins. Ginger or peppermint tea will be your best friend right now.
Those who have binged on alcohol will feel the effects of a hangover. These side effects can include nausea. Well, ginger tea will help to ease those stomach issues and can help to reduce the feelings of motion sickness as you try to get on with your day at work. Peppermint tea has also been linked to reducing nausea and helps to ease stomach pains.
The heat of the tea will also offer some soothing benefits. However, the main benefit is in the hydration qualities. The natural flavorings don’t take away from the benefit of water to your body.
There are other herbal teas that you can drink instead. Green tea could also be an option. However, you want to keep as much caffeine out of your system as possible. Like alcohol, caffeine is a diuretic and will just make your symptoms worse.
Pull Out the Eggs
If you’re not a vegan or allergic to eggs, you want to pull these out for your detox diet. Eggs are ones of those ingredients perfect for any meal of the day. They’re an excellent choice to start your morning right, thanks to the level of protein in them.
Eggs had had a bad reputation in the past. There’s been this view that they are high in cholesterol. While they are, they are high in good cholesterol—the type that you want to add to your body. At the same time, they’re high in taurine (something else that gets a bit of a bad reputation). Taurine is essential for liver function, which helps with the detoxification of your body.
Eggs also include cysteine, an amino acid that breaks down the chemicals that cause your headaches after a binge (whatever the reason for the headaches). If you drank alcohol, the cysteine would work even better, as it stops the chemical that is created after ethanol (alcohol) breaks down in the liver!
At the same time, you’ll add more protein to your body. The protein is essential for muscle building and will repair some of the cell damage that you did after your weekend binge. You’ll also feel full for longer, curbing more sugar cravings and easing your way back into a healthier lifestyle.
Make your eggs anyway that you’d like. Scramble them with some tomatoes and mushrooms or pack the eggs with peppers and create an omelet. The trick is just to make sure that you get more of them into your diet.
Turn to Bananas for a Healthy Snack
Your body needs more potassium.This is an electrolyte that disappears after a bad weekend of alcohol and junk. The best thing is that banana is one of the best fruits to get your potassium intake quickly and effectively.
You can just eat a banana on its own. However, you can also add it to some yogurt (we’ll get onto this) to boost your detoxifying efforts.
Bananas don’t just help add potassium. They will help to add more fiber to your system. Fiber is needed by the digestive system to reduce bloating and gas. You’ll find that you can push more waste through your system, healthily resetting your body.
If you don’t like bananas, you can get many of the same benefits from sweet potatoes! However, try adding a banana to your fruit smoothies. You’ll barely taste it, but it adds a creamier taste without the need of milk or yogurt!
Try Out Yoghurt with Some Berries
As mentioned, yogurt is a good option when you’re detoxifying your body. It’s full of dairy and calcium, adding nutrients that you will have lost or not even thought about with your weekend binge. There is also a slightly watery texture, helping to reduce the effects of dehydration.
You may not initially have the appetite for yogurt. That’s okay! But you want to add it to your diet as soon as you can stomach it. Not only does it detox but it also helps to boost your metabolism. You’ll burn the extra calories from the weekend easier, so you’re not left with a huge weight gain.
The yogurt is also full of good bacteria, especially if you get plain Greek yogurt. The good bacteria will sit in your gut and kill off the bad stuff that has developed over the weekend. Bad bacteria are one of themain reasons for digestive problems, especially from sugary foods.
But don’t just eat yogurt on its own. Add in some berries, whether blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries. All types of berries are full of antioxidants to help repair the cell damaged caused by your binge. Berries will also add a slightly sweet flavor to your yogurt, helping to curb the sugar cravings.
Don’t Forget the Oats!
Another option for breakfast is oats. These can be added to your berries and yogurt. Try creating an overnight oat recipe the night before, so you have something ready just to grab and go with the next morning.
Oatmeal is fibre-delicious, helping to support your digestive system. Like with bananas, the fiber will encourage the removal of waste and reduce inflammation and bloat. Fiber can also line the digestive system with a protective layer to prevent further damage from food.
At the same time, oats are full of iron, B vitamins, magnesium, and calcium. All these nutrients are essential for fighting off infections, protecting the organs, and removing toxins from the body. We also can’t forget that the neutral pH level will reduce the acidity within the body that the sugars and alcohol have caused.
Oats will also leave you feeling fuller, thanks to the fiber. You’ll get an instant energy boost without a boost in the sugar levels. That energy boost will stick around for a few hours.
Snack on Some Raw Vegetables
There’s no denying that vegetables are good for you. Raw vegetables are among the best, whether you chew them, blend them, or even juice them. Try out carrots, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and beets.
Mix and match your vegetables. When they work together, they can boost the liver more effectively. They offer the amino acids and nutrients needed for the liver to get rid of the toxin buildup within your body. They are also high in natural sulfur, which means they destroy the harmful chemicals that you’ve put in the body. Your liver doesn’t have to work as hard.
Dark leafy vegetables are among the best for your after-binge diet. They have potassium, iron, and many other nutrients that will fuel your body with energy, cleanse the system and boost the immune system. You’ll also get the fiber to keep digestive problems at bay.
Grab a Handful of Nuts and Seeds
If you’re allergic to nuts, you’ll only want to opt for the seeds. However, if there is no aversion to nuts, then you want to add them to your diet. Whether you use flax seeds, almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, or even walnuts, you will get a range of detoxifying benefits.
Nuts and seeds are full of protein. They will give your body the energy you need to get through the day. They are also full of healthy fats that will support the liver and the detoxification process. Some fats do get a bad reputation, but it’s not the amount of fat you eat that makes you fat. It’s the type, along with some calories and sugars.
There’s nothing wrong with getting a couple of teaspoons of nut or seed butter daily. Avoid those with added sugar and just have a small amount with some fruit.
Try Adding More Garlic to Your Diet
Did you think I’d missed the garlic? This tends to be on every list of healthy food options, right? Well, that’s because it is good for you. It’s also one that isn’t too offending to various lifestyle choices. It’s paleo, keto, vegan, and gluten-free friendly, so there’s no excuse not to eat it.
Garlic helps the liver to produce the right enzymes needed to get rid of the toxins in your body. This means that your digestive system can easily remove the waste, improving bloating and gas problems quickly and easily.
You will also gain the antibacterial properties of garlic. These properties will get into your gut and kill off the bad bacteria causing your digestive pain and inflammation.
You can add garlic to your dishes directly. This is the favored option since it adds more flavor to a meal. However, you can also create garlic tea with it. This will help you get more liquid into your diet to remove the dehydration issue. It’s also possible to chew on raw garlic!
Get More Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Remember when I said that some fat is good for you? Well, that’s not just the case with the fat from nuts. Anything that is high in omega 3 fatty acids are going to be good for your detox diet. This includes the likes of salmon, mackerel, and other oily fishes.
Omega 3 protects the walls of your intestines. It offers a smoothing lining that helps to encourage the toxins to ease through the body and not get absorbed in. In fact, the oils pull the toxins in and lock them there. Once the oils are removed, the toxins go with them.
You’ll find that most detox diets recommend more omega 3 oils. If you’re not a fish eater, you can get them through avocados, olives, and hemp oils.
Try Some Chicken Noodle Soup
What about as you get through the day? When you get to dinner time, you’ll want to eat more but something that is soft on the stomach. This is where chicken noodle soup is perfect.
With soup, you instantly get the water benefit. You’re adding more liquid to your diet without too much hassle—and often without really thinking about it. This helps to cure the dehydration problem.
At the same time, you’ll add some sodium. Yes, your body does need some sodium, and you lose this as you become dehydrated, and the toxins build up. Chicken noodle soup (especially homemade if you’re up to it) will have just the right levels of sodium to protect your body.
And we can’t forget the cysteine in the chicken. This is released when the chicken is cooked, so your liver gets more help to eliminate the toxins from your body.
Make sure the noodles are whole grain, and you can look for gluten free options. This will help to protect your digestive system while keeping your blood sugar levels down.
Opt for Miso Soup Instead
Want to know what the Japanese eat after a binge? Yes, the Japanese binge too and they turn to miso soup for their recovery. Miso acts very much like chicken noodle soup. It adds the water and sodium levels back into the body.
Look out for fermented miso where possible. This will give the digestive system a boost. You’ll find that the bacteria in the gut is removed, so there are less inflammation and irritation.
Don’t Forget the Honey
Finally, it’s time to add some honey to your diet. I know that this sounds counterproductive. Honey is full of sugar, right? Well, yes but it is natural sugar—you’ll want to make sure you get raw honey.
Honey will give you a boost of energy when you first get up. This is sometimes all you need to kick-start your body’s natural processes. You’ll also get a small blood sugar increase, which is usually low after an alcohol binge. If you’re worried about a high increase in your blood sugar, you can add some whole grain toast or crackers for the fiber.
Don’t forget to include some protein later. This helps to balance out the food groups and bodily functions.
Get Your Diet Just Right After a Binge
Just because you’ve had a binge doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. No matter how strict you try to be with your diet, there will be days that you drink way too much alcohol or enjoy too many sweets and chocolate. It’s what you do afterward that counts.
Get right back onto your healthy diet and give your body a helping hand in removing the toxins. The above foods will put the lost nutrients and water back in, while your organs get a kick start. Your liver is given the amino acids and healthy fats needed to remove toxins from your body and boost your energy levels.
Mix and match your foods throughout the day. Grab a bottle and fill it up with some lemon water, while you enjoy your protein and fibre-filled meals until your body is back to normal.
