4 Ways To Stay Healthy During the Party Season
When December comes, our calendar is filled with plans with friends and family.
However, did you also know that during this festive season, our body also suffers from frequent and binge drinking?
Of course it is fun spending time with friends celebrating the New Year, but drinking too often could harm your health. Here are some tips on drinking alcohol, to stay healthy whilst having fun.
Eat a light meal before drinking!
Some say they prefer to drink on an empty stomach. This is a bad habit because it speeds up the absorption of alcohol which is especially bad for your liver. Having a small meal before consuming alcohol however, protects your stomach lining and allows the alcohol to be absorbed in the intestines at a lower concentration. You are also advised to have light and simple foods, as you could munch on a lot of snacks or fatty foods while drinking, leading to high calorie consumption.
The most important point here is moderate drinking. The maximum level of alcohol consumption with low risk is 50 grams per day. That is five shots of Soju, two glasses (500cc) of beer and two thirds of a bottle of Makgeolli. Don’t drink more than this, and drink slowly.
Alcohol, the enemy to reflux esophagitis! Drink a lot of water and try not to vomit!
Reflux esophagitis is caused by unhealthy eating habits or stress, but alcohol is the main culprit. There is a muscle between the esophagus and stomach to prevent the reflux of gastric juices, but drinking weakens this muscle causing acid reflux. Symptoms include a bitter taste in the mouth and heartburn.
Of course, the best prevention is not to drink a lot, but if that is not an option, you are advised to avoid binge drinking and drink a lot of water to dilute the alcohol. Some people intentionally throw up to cure their hangover but this makes things works as acid from the stomach leaks up into the gullet when you vomit. Please remember that you are mostly bringing up the food that you ate, not the alcohol you drank.
The more alcohol you drink, the more you dehydrated your skin becomes! Drink more water!
Drinking too often is not only bad for your organs, but also for your skin. Consuming alcohol day after day damages your skin and you may develop chronic skin trouble. You will have an increase of dead skin cells and bad skin in the morning after binge drinking because the alcohol increases the excretion of water from your body, from areas of higher sebum (sweat) production.
Therefore you need to drink more water before and after drinking alcohol. Some people drink coffee or soda thinking that they are replenishing the body’s water levels, but caffeine actually removes moisture from your skin. After drinking, wash your face before applying moisturizer, and drink twice as much water than usual. This will protect your skin from getting drier.
Drinking enough water in the morning will also help you excrete salt from the body.
No spicy and hot soup! Cure hangover with sugar, water and vegetable protein!
Most Koreans love to eat a bowl of spicy, hot soup when curing a hangover. However, this damages the stomach and liver even more. Instant noodles that are salty and spicy irritate the stomach lining which is already damaged by the alcohol. The chemicals in the food seasoning and additives in instant noodles make your liver work harder. If you have a hangover, sugar and water will help.
As persimmons have 17.5 times more vitamin C than apples, persimmon juice will help detox the alcohol from the body. Cabbage juice can also heal the inflammation and bleeding of the stomach and intestines. It is also recommended to take alkaline foods like seaweeds rich in calcium and iron, and vegetable proteins such as beans or tofu.
Of course, an end-of-year party will be a good opportunity to cheer up and congratulate people’s accomplishments of the year. It would be even better however, if you can keep your health in mind this holiday season, whilst having a good time with your friends and family. Happy New Year!
