Something for Saturday Morning
I've always been susceptible to hangovers. My father never minded if I drank, but if I was too hungover the next day to do my job, I'd have to pay the devil.
This article does a nice of summarizing the reasons: "We feel dreadful after drinking because of dehydration, the build-up of destructive chemicals created when the liver tries to break down alcohol, shortages of minerals and vitamins, the loss of sugar stores and poisons in our blood from impurities in alcoholic drinks." It then goes on to review a handful of the new hangover cures on the market. I'd never even heard of most of the cures. I may have to get me a few. I especially like the sounds of this first one:
Berocca These effervescent tablets, containing vitamin C and six types of vitamin B, have built up a mythological status as a hangover prophylactic. Overconsumption of alcohol does seem to cause vitamin B12 deficiency. Some studies show that vitamin B6 can help to reduce hangovers, so it makes sense to ensure that your body isn't short of these vitamins. Berocca is a perky, rehydrating way of getting them – but it does turn your urine green.
For the record: The best hangover cure I've ever found is a 16-ounce energy drink (Red Bull or any of the myriads of others, just as long as it has carbonation) and 600 mg of ibuprofen. That should do the trick, but if you're not sure it's enough, add a bottle of Gatorade or Propel.
Received in an Email
You need to read American Christmases; Firsthand Accounts of Holiday Happenings from Early Days to Modern Times, Compiled by Joanne Martell, John Blair, Publisher, c 2005
examples:
Now drink good Liquor, but not so, That thou canst, neither stand nor go. - James Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1733
Never mind it, she'll be sober after the Holidays - Ben Franklin, same almanack
Christmas time is come, hang on the Pot
Let Spits turn round, and Ovens be hot;
Beef, Pork, and Poultry, to provide
To feast thy Neighbors at this Tide;
Then, wash all down with good Wine and Beer
And so with Mirth conclude the year.
- Virginia Almanack, 1765
Now Christmas comes, 'tis fit that we
Should feast and sing and merry be
Keep open House, let Fiddlers play
A Fig for Cold, sing Care away
And may they who thereat repine
On brown Bread and on small Beer dine.
-Virginia Almanack, 1766
And
The biggest drinking picture I've ever seen: Twenty Things Worth Knowing About Beer.
