6 Best Vegan Hangover Cures

Your daily alarm rings off in blaring monotonous beeps. You groan and push snooze, pulling the covers over you. The sun streaming through the window hurts your eyes. The clock ticks off again. You sit up a little too fast and your head rushes. It feels like bolts are stuck into your temples and the alarm’s sound echoes in a high-pitch ring through your brain. Your lips are chapped and your mouth is dry. There’s an emptiness in the bottom of your stomach and it rumbles through you, but food is the last thing on your mind as you rush to the toilet to puke up last night’s shenanigans.

Post St. Patrick’s day and spring break, we find ourselves with too much green beer in our bellies or too many tequila shots on that Cabo cruise adventure—making us wake up pale, dehydrated and almost dysfunctional. While there’s certainly no shame in having a fun night out, alcohol can take a serious toll on our bodies. Instead of scarfing down a greasy breakfast, try these hangover cures to get you back to your vibrant, healthy self!

1. Drink water!

The anti-diuretic hormone in your body, which helps to keep water in when you urinate, becomes low when you consume alcohol, causing you to pee more and become dehydrated. So reach for a glass of water first thing in the morning, and better yet, make sure to balance your alcohol consumption with water. Squeeze some lemon juice into your water for its diuretic effect, which will help flush out those toxins. You can also drink coconut water or put cucumber slices in your water to restore electrolytes lost from drinking.

2. Have ginger or peppermint tea

Get your stomach feeling less queasy and brew yourself a cup of ginger or peppermint tea. Both ginger and peppermint are well known ways to naturally settle your stomach.

3. Have a shot!

No, not another shot of vodka, but a shot of wheatgrass juice. The chlorophyll in wheatgrass sucks out toxins from the body making it a superior detoxifier, according to a Green Health article.

4. Green juice and smoothies

One of my favorite ways to detox is with a green juice or green smoothie. It’s a great vitamin-rich way to pack in lots of different vegetables and fruits to get you feeling alive and energized. Make sure to do both for the awesome fiber benefit of a smoothie and the hydrating power of a juice. Some of the best detox greens to try are apples, broccoli, cilantro, cucumbers and kale. Also make sure to toss a banana in your smoothie to make up for the potassium lost from frequent urination the night before.

5. Cysteine-rich foods

Whip up a stir-fry of garlic, onion, bell pepper, broccoli and Brussels sprouts, which all contain the amino acid, cysteine that breaks down toxins in the liver.

6. Sleep!

Controversially, sweating out those toxins with a steamy shower, sauna or workout can actually worsen your symptoms if you’re not properly hydrated, Ruth C. Engs, Indiana University professor and drinking expert, said in a Fitness Magazine article. Alternately, rest and sleep off the hangover’s effects instead of hitting the gym.