Cure Your Sugar Hangover

If you dipped a few too many times into the candy bowl, you may feel lethargic, foggy or have sore joints (among other discomforts).  Why?  Because sugar is so inflammatory, it literally makes your entire system flare up. You need to give your body some extra love and assistance to help bring it into balance.  Also, consider this the next time you feel tempted:  sugar makes you age faster.  Besides the inflammatory effect, it actually breaks down your collagen so you look older.  No amount of beauty products are going to help if your body is constantly breaking down what reserves you have.

The good news: there are delicious alternatives to processed sugar (which is another post).  And, there are fixes for the sugar hangover.  Here’s to hoping it’s your last one.

1. Drink lots of water.  Bonus points if you add freshly squeezed lemon juice, or 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, which helps you detox even faster.  Make sure that you get at least half of your body weight in ounces of water.  i.e.:  Say you weigh 150 pounds.  150 ÷ 2 = 75, so you should drink 75 ounces in water.  75 ounces is roughly 9 glasses of water.  Keep in mind many glasses now actually are 16 ounces, so it would only take  drinking 5 glasses all day to exceed your dose.
2. Eat some healthy protein.  Raw almonds or almond butter, black beans or chickpeas, a healthy protein powder (preferably hemp, brown rice or pea protein) made into a yummy drink, or some lean, organic animal protein if you prefer.
3. Give your liver some help.  Drink some liver detox tea, containing milk thistle, dandelion root or burdock root as the main ingredients.  Some reputable brands are Traditional Medicinals and Yogi.
4. Take a good quality probiotic which helps the helpful bacteria in your gut fight off the bad guys, which are fed by sugar.  I rotate my probiotics often to make sure I am getting the strains that I need.
5. Eat your greens.  I will say this over and over, because they are a natural cure all.  Choose your favorite and eat them like crazy.  They will flood your blood with chlorophyl, vitamins, minerals and water.  And the fiber is so helpful to clean out the gunk faster.
6. Go for a walk.  The more you can get your body moving, the faster it will detox.  If the weather allows walking outside, bundle up. You’ll also get fresh air and sunshine, which are instant pick-me-ups courtesy of Mother Nature.

While you are taking better care of yourself, stop beating yourself up for getting caught up in the festivities.  You’re human.  Just get yourself back on track, and you’ll feel better on many levels.  If you can, take a long hot bath (throwing in epsom salts and ginger are great additions that assist the detox process), do some deep breathing, or give yourself a facial.  Send yourself loving kindness and you will be back to normal much sooner, and with more grace and ease.