How to kill a hangover

If morning (or perhaps afternoon) rolls around and your head is pounding, your mouth tastes like a garbage dump and your stomach is rolling as if you were on a boat in the middle of a storm, Congratulations, you have a hangover! At this point you have a couple of options:

1. Stay still. Don't move an inch! The hangover may subside on its own. (This is super unlikely.)
2. Get up and out of bed and actively fight this hangover. Helmets and gloves style, you will take this hangover DOWN! (Also unlikely, depending on hangover severity.)

If you choose option one, good on ya - I wish you the best of luck. Please note that you may turn to option 2 at any time, when you realize that you still feel terrible.

First of all, if you are out partying and have the sense of mind to do some forward thinking, go order a glass of water and then three more. If you skipped dinner and had beers instead, be kind to yourself and grab a slice or two of pizza or make a pot of Kraft dinner. You will thank yourself in the morning.

Now, let's talk business! The following steps are an almost maybe sure-fire way to kill that nasty hangover.

1. Advil. Take 3 before opening up your eyes. Ideally, you should sleep with a bottle under your pillow to facilitate this step.
2. Get your hands on some coffee. If you come across a bottle of Bailey's, you should definitely incorporate it. Total twofer - caffeine and hair of the dog.
3. A hot shower will probably make you feel slightly more human. If you can't stand long enough to make that happen, at least wash your face and brush your teeth - you probably did neither before going to bed and you probably are disgusting.
4. Time to eat. McDonald's breakfast - GO! If it's past the sacred McDs breakfast hour, fear not, you have options - try Dennys. If you are a slug and have slept most of the day away, feel free to have lunch instead. Either way, get something carby and greasy and bacony in your stomach and try not to regurgitate it.
5. Depending on your level of hungoverness, you now should either go do something active or hit the couch super hard. Fresh air and keeping busy will make the hangover feel less awful. If, however, it hurts to move, you should camp out on the couch. It is imperative you set yourself up correctly here - you MUST be wearing sweatpants, have a blanket handy, have snacks and drinks at your immediate disposal and have the blinds shut tight. You are looking for a cave feel here. I would recommend putting your phone on silent. If you lost your phone last night, ever the better.
6. Drink a diet root beer.

If you are still feeling terrible, it probably means you had a really good time last night, and you will just have to wait this one out. It should be noted that during steps 1 through 6 you should drink at least your body weight in water. Also remember, misery loves company. Surrounding yourself with other hungover individuals is a good idea! There's nothing worse than suffering a hangover with someone who feels amazing... Actually, there's' a lot of things worse. If you DO have a friend at your disposal who IS feeling great, use them! Steps one through 6 can easily be facilitated by a buddy. If you can get them to bring you the Tylenol and breakfast and root beer all the better!

I sure hope these steps help. If you have any alternate suggestions, please let me know. I will test them out next weekend.

That is all.Good luck and god speed!

healthtastic.

Let's talk about health, baby. let's talk about you and me. Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things. Health, baby. Let's talk about health!

I hope that song gets stuck in your head! Ok, so I've decided to do a spiel on health by sharing some of the things that I do as part of my normal routine that I believe keep me healthy. I actively pursue new ideas and trends to see what others are doing to keep themselves healthy and fit. Some I try out and nix within a week or so and some things I keep and mix into my own routine. Hopefully one or more of these things will make your life a little bit better! Ready? OK!

#1. I take vitamins, daily. What kind, you ask? Depends on what's on sale when I go shopping for vitamins. Currently I take a multi vitamin, a cranberry pill, and biotin (helps to metabolize carbs, protein and fat - rumoured to make your hair grow faster). Occasionally, I take Omega 3 pills, probiotics, vitamin C and echinacea.

7. I squeeze a lemon in my first bottle of water in the morning. Lemon water helps balance your pH, has tons of vitamin C, aids in digestion and helps the purging of toxins. The rest of the day, I drink plain boring old water, but lots of it so that I don't dry up like a prune.

#4. Oatmeal for breakfast, every day.... sounds boring, but I've been eating it for years and never get sick of it. I make mine with skim milk and add in banana, ground flax and vanilla protein powder. Sometimes I get wild and will throw in blueberries, chocolate chips or even nuts. It's a hearty, well-rounded breakfast that keeps me full until snack time.

5) I work out 6 days a week, doing both cardio and weights. One of those workouts if spent with my personal trainer who gives me the extra push I want and the accountability I need. I spend a lot of time on the treadmill with my ipod, and find it helps me get my thoughts in order. I also love running really fast. I especially love running in front of the mirror because I feel like I'm racing myself.

6. I eat 3 meals a day and a couple of snacks. Eating often keeps my metabolism up and stops me from ever being hungry. I try to eat lean proteins, lots of vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy. That being said, I rarely choose salad over fries at restaurants and I will take a steak over chicken almost any day of the week.

2. I have warm baths with Epsom salts a few times a week. Some of the countless health benefits include relaxing the nervous system, curing skin problems, soothing back pain and aching limbs, easing muscle strain, healing cuts, treating cold and congestion, and drawing toxins from the body.

8. I don't watch a lot of TV, especially since I JUST finished all 5 seasons of Sons of Anarchy and have nothing else I want to watch... I spend a lot of my free time reading. I read somewhere that reading burns more calories than watching TV because your brain has to work harder. Reading also keeps my vocabulary up to snuff. Speaking of vocabulary, you'd think with all the reading I do that I could come up with a better word than 'snuff'!

3) I get an embarassing amount of sleep. On weeknights I'm usually in bed by 9:30 and up at 6:30, which is 9 hours each night. I like to think I bank some of those extra hours for the weekends where I'm up until 4AM.

The end. That's it? Yep! I know, I know, nothing earth shattering. I am not a health nut by any means. There is an equally long list of things I do that are super unhealthy (see: binge drinking, McDonalds, aspartame and all-night partying) but I can definitely tell you that everything on my list is shelly tested and approved! Are you on pinterest? Go check out my healthtastic board here.

Now, go be healthy!