Thanksgiving weekend goes pretty much like this: food, wine, family, more food, more wine, hors d’oeurves, desserts, copious amounts of coffee for Black Friday shopping, leftover turkey, fruitcake, a few more glasses of wine…and then all of a sudden it’s Monday. It is a wonderful weekend in so many ways, but it sometimes gifts us with a big fat hangover in all senses of the word. So now…aside from taking a day off work to sit on the couch and watch 10 episodes of Criminal Minds, what can we do to recover?
1. Drink water. Surprise…like I haven’t said this one before. Hydrating your body will help to ‘dilute’ excessive sodium consumed over the weekend in the form of gravy and stuffing and pretty much everything else that we loaded up on. Excess sodium intake equals bloating and swollen fingers. Drink more water than you feel is possible. It will raise your energy level and keep your brain hydrated..which, in turn, will give us the brain power to Just Say No to gorging on those leftovers in the fridge. On another note…If you are suffering from a “I had too much to drink” hangover, try some coconut water with a squeeze of lemon or lime. 
You can also make a way-healthier DIY sports drink…water, citrus, a bit of sugar or honey and a pinch of salt.
2. Cleanse. I’m not advocating one of those extreme kits that you have to order from late-night tv watching. Cleansing can be as simple as eating only whole-foods for a few days and skipping the drive thru and restaurant fare. Nothing processed, no animal 
products and no sugary sweets. Whole foods (veggies, fruits, nuts and grains) are easy to digest in our bodies and give us the fiber that we need to get our digestive systems back on board with keeping us healthy. A naturopathic doctor that I respect often recommends spending one day just eating apples after your body has come under dietary abuse. Water, herbal teas and as many apples as you would like. Try it…it’s actually not as weird as it sounds.
3. Get active. Go outside and breathe in the healthy, healing oxygen. Fill up your lungs as you walk, jump rope, practice some yoga, take a spin on your bike or ask a friend to borrow their rebounder for a few days (b/c most people that own them don’t use them!). Activity will get your sluggish lymph system flowing again and will help to do away with that ‘UGH’ feeling when you try to button your favorite pants on Monday morning.
4. Take the night off. From eating, that is. Energetically speaking, evening hours are when our bodies are working to clear and cleanse out the day’s food intake. Sleeping if for sleeping–not digesting…which is why so many health experts recommend not eating for several hours before you hit the hay. 
Give your organ systems a break (and a chance to catch up and recover from the excessive food consumption the last few days). Skipping dinner won’t be the end of the world for most of us, and you’ll wake up feeling rested and actually hungry for breakfast. In the winter, it is best to eat your biggest meal of the day before 4pm (before 5pm in the summer). I don’t always do this either, but I type it knowing how much better I feel when I do!!
