8 Steps to Deal with a Food Hangover

Last night we had some friends over for Supper, which was lovely and it was nice to do that, but if you find you have overindulged a little you may feel a bit bloated the next day. So what can you do to remedy this? Is the best plan of action to starve yourself the next day?  Well here are some tips on what to do and how best to deal with a dreaded food hangover.

Eating too much fatty, fried, salty, spicy, sugary or starchy food, in particular – or simply overstuffing yourself, in general – can leave you with a whopping food hangover the next day. The symptoms: bloating, sluggishness, stomach pain, mild nausea, gas or other digestive distress, topped off by a pervasive feeling of yuckiness.

Normally, food stays in your stomach for two to six hours, depending on what you eat, explains Dr. Cynthia Yoshida, a professor at UVA Digestive Health in Charlottesville and the author of “No More Digestive Problems.” “High-fat foods tend to stay in your stomach longer.” This means the baked brie, steak, fries and chocolate truffles you ate late last night could (literally!) still be with you in the morning, causing nausea, heartburn and soreness in your stomach, especially if it’s distended.

Meanwhile, too much salty fare can lead to water retention and bloating. A large sugar intake can cause your blood sugar to shoot up quickly, which can slow the movement of food through the gastrointestinal tract, before dropping precipitously, which “will make you feel tired, lethargic and cloudy headed,” notes Dr. Dawn Wiese, an assistant professor of gastroenterology at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville.

Adding insult to misery, fatty foods or an excess of sugary or starchy carbs can change the bacteria in your gut, which can trigger more gas production, Wiese says. How long symptoms of a food hangover will last depends on the underlying motility of your digestive tract. “Everybody’s a little different,” Wiese says, “but most people feel somewhat better in 24 hours.”

1. In the meantime, you can take steps to hasten your recovery. For starters, load up on non-caffeinated fluids, Yoshida advises. Besides helping food start moving more swiftly through the GI tract, water and other liquids can help dilute excess stomach acid and high-sodium levels in your body. And “peppermint or chamomile tea can help with bloating, and ginger tea helps with nausea,” Bonci says.
   
2. You may be tempted to avoid solid foods altogether the next day – but don’t. Instead, “eat a healthy breakfast so you can start over again,” advises Dr. Gina Sam, director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Center at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Good choices: a bowl of oatmeal or high-fiber cereal topped with fruit.
   
3. As the day goes on, stick with low-fat, low-salt foods, avoid starchy carbs and sugars and keep up your fluid intake. 
4. Having a fruit smoothie (with a bit of ground flaxseed added for extra fiber) or a vegetable soup (such as butternut squash or pasta e fagioli) can help increase your fluid intake, Bonci suggests. 
   
5. The fiber in the fruits and veggies will also rev up the movement of your GI tract and add bulk to your stool. “When you have symptoms of a food hangover, avoid [foods that are high in] FODMAPs [such as onions, legumes and dairy products] because these can be more gas-producing,” Wiese says. Once you feel better, you can add these back to your meals.
6. Though they won’t make you feel better immediately, consuming probiotics (in yogurt or kefir or supplement form) can help relieve diarrhoea, bloating or constipation, Bonci says. If you’re bothered by heartburn, aluminum-based antacids can neutralize stomach acid for a while, Yoshida says.
   
7. To get your digestion moving again, fit in some aerobic exercise, such as 30 to 45 minutes of brisk walking or another activity that raises your heart rate. “Exercise helps your gastrointestinal tract move and it boosts your metabolism,” Sam explains. “Plus, it gets your endorphins going, which helps you feel better.”
   
8. The final step in your food-hangover treatment plan: “Think about what habits you’ll put in place moving forward to prevent recurrences,” Bonci says. To that end, it helps to stock up on healthy munchies – such as a bag of clementines and packages of pomegranate seeds and pre-cut vegetables – that are easy to access and can help fill you up before you overdo it on nuts, sweets and other temptations.

That’s not to say you can’t enjoy treats, as long as you do it in moderation and mindfully, Bonci says. “If you’re going to have a holiday cookie, put it on a plate, sit down and chew it thoroughly.” This approach will help you savour the flavour and avoid the eating amnesia that can occur if you scarf it down on the fly – a healthy habit for any time of year.

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