Meeting friends for drinks or a wine tastings sounds like a good time, right? The thought of overindulgence never enters into the plans for the evening. But, best laid plans can often get away from the evening’s attendees.
Being prepared for the evening doesn’t mean that the plan is to overindulge. Being prepared with these tips will help avoid unnecessary pain:
Eat – Before drinking start the event or evening with a favorite meal. This isn’t the time to worry about low calorie, light carbohydrate meals. Ensuring that you eat a healthy meal and including bread, pasta, rice, potatoes or other starches is a good idea. These types of foods will assist with absorption of alcohol.
If a meal doesn’t work into the plan, then try to ensure that snacks can make a difference between a hangover and a pain-free day after. Believe it; this really works when you eat an hour before drinking! The best snacks will be starchy but not overly fatty.
Drink (Water) – Consuming water before drinking wine will serve several purposes. First, water will quench excessive thirst and the inclination to guzzle that first alcoholic beverage. This will help set the pace of enjoying wine, as well as cleansing the palate.
Additionally, alcoholic beverages, including wine have a tendency to dehydrate the body. The temptation of the beguiling wine may be calling out, but before tasting that next glass of wine have more water. Not only will this assist in avoiding hangovers, but no embarrassing stories of lampshades being worn as hats will surface in the following days.
Drink More (Milk) – A glass of milk before and after drinking any alcoholic beverage is another proactive trick for avoiding the wrath of grapes. Milk provides a protective coating for the stomach and helps the body with absorption of alcohol.
Avoid - Salty foods are a favorite of restaurants, understanding why is easy. Salty foods make the diner or drinker thirstier. The extra salt dehydrates the body, which then makes alcohol harder for the body to tolerate. Not only will the body appreciate this tactic, but the wallet also benefits!
Avoid More - Mixing drinks has always been known as a recipe for disaster. A good hangover avoidance technique is to stick with one drink. This doesn’t mean the wine drinker can’t enjoy both red and white wines, but it would be best to avoid other alcoholic beverages. This is particularly true for drinking red wines with other dark liquors such as scotch, bourbon and whiskey.
Before enjoying your event plan what the drink of the evening will be and stick to your plan. Otherwise, plan on foregoing avoidance of a hangover and start planning the “morning after” treatment.
Following all or even a few of the above tips will help focus on the enjoyment of the wine beverage and deter a painful day after. However, drinking responsibility can be as simple as monitoring your drink quantity. Enjoying wine isn’t based on quantity consumed but the quality consumed!
Cheers!
Margo Dillard - Margot has finally had her second book published, Life By The Glassful. Both her new book and her first one, Wine and Sweet Words are ...
