

2. Use olive oil
Olive oil is a highly nutritious food, known for its various benefits, particularly in health care. Using olive oil to limit alcohol intoxication is a secret of Mediterranean people. Consuming this food will significantly reduce nausea, fatigue, and dizziness after drinking alcohol. Using olive oil before consuming alcoholic beverages forms a protective thin layer in the stomach and slows down the body's alcohol absorption process. In essence, olive oil functions similarly to fat.
Turkish people have a long-standing tip for staying sober. Olive oil is still considered a 'magic potion' that helps men stay alert and protect their health during drinking sessions. Before entering a party, about half an hour earlier, they usually consume a spoonful of olive oil. You can use olive oil to prevent intoxication in two ways. The first way is to directly consume 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. The second way is to use olive oil along with other foods such as bread, salad.
Note: You must use olive oil before drinking alcohol for it to be effective.


3. Hydrate with plenty of purified water
On special occasions, you may find yourself resigned to the inevitable effects of getting a bit tipsy. However, the post-celebration fatigue can be quite daunting, especially when you have to drag yourself to work early the next morning. Why does your body feel so drained after a night of revelry? One of the main reasons is that alcohol in beer and wine causes your body to lose water. You can replenish fluids by drinking sports drinks with electrolytes. Additionally, to prevent nausea after drinking, you can try ginger water, as ginger helps soothe the stomach discomfort.
Addressing the dehydration caused by alcohol is crucial if you want to escape the hangover. A simple way to rehydrate your body is to drink plenty of purified water upon waking up. The digestive system helps you replace the lost fluids without irritating the stomach. Drinking a glass of water before bedtime also helps reduce dehydration upon waking up. Furthermore, keep a glass of water by your bedside so you can sip it during the night when you wake up.
Drinking purified water is the simplest way to neutralize the toxins caused by beer and wine. Purified water will compensate for the missing body fluids and dilute the alcohol in the blood, making you feel less intoxicated. However, note that only drinking purified water is advised; avoid energy drinks or carbonated beverages. These types of drinks increase the carbon dioxide levels in the stomach and small intestine, contributing to the risk of toxicity in the body.


4. Alternate fruit consumption
If we consume 1 liter of beer or alcohol in our body, we lose 1.1 liters of water through excretion. When drinking beer or alcohol, the body loses water significantly. If you cannot restore the correct proportion and amount of lost water, you will experience headaches and dizziness. There are many secrets to sobering up, and one of the safest and quickest ways is through fruit.
- Pear: Pear contains a large amount of vitamin C, antioxidants, boron... beneficial for health and tops the list of fruits that help sober up. Studies show that just one cup of pear juice in the morning after drinking reduces alcohol-induced fatigue by 16-21%.
- Coconut: If you're looking for a way to sober up from fruit, you should never overlook coconut. The abundant vitamin C in coconut helps fight aging, especially stimulating the body to quickly digest alcohol in the blood, helping you dispel the feeling of nausea from beer and alcohol. It also reduces headaches and body fatigue after waking up. Therefore, coconut juice, with its simple taste, light acidity, and pleasant aroma, is not only effective in sobering up but also excellent for digestion. People who are drunk feel more alert after drinking coconut juice for a short time.
- Lemon: When tipsy, what most moms and aunts often do is offer a person who's had a drink a glass of lemon water to make them feel better. If you want someone to recover from feeling tired, limit headaches after waking up, lemon water is the optimal choice. Lemons, containing many acids, can effectively help you sober up. You can squeeze fresh lemon water and add a bit of sugar or thinly slice the lemon; eating the whole fruit is even more effective.
- Pomelo: Pomelo is a familiar fruit with a sweet, slightly sour taste, a cooling nature, and is very good for the digestive system. It regulates blood circulation, helps dissolve phlegm, and has a particularly good detoxifying effect from fruit. When tipsy, just drinking a glass of pomelo juice will make you feel more awake.
- Watermelon: Watermelon has a cool nature, high water content (over 90%), and is effective in cooling the body, detoxifying, and containing a significant amount of vitamins and minerals. Therefore, it has a good detoxifying effect from alcohol. With just a few pieces of watermelon, you can partly replenish the lost water when intoxicated, neutralize the alcohol in the blood, minimize alcohol-induced symptoms, and sober up quickly.


5. Avoid mixing alcoholic and carbonated beverages
Mixing alcohol with carbonated drinks or fruit powders to enhance the flavor not only harms the body but can also be life-threatening if not used correctly.
Mixing alcohol with carbonated water is currently very common in pubs, bars, and even at home. According to recent studies, mixing alcohol with certain caffeinated drinks is more dangerous than drinking pure alcohol. Mixing alcohol with soda makes it sweeter and easier to drink, so you may consume more. However, drinking alcohol with carbonated soda can lead to sleep disorders, increased heart rate, and an elevated risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Drinking alcohol with carbonated beverages like coca-cola or soda, which contain a large amount of CO2, allows alcohol to be rapidly absorbed in the body. This can cause many harmful effects on the stomach, intestines, and digestive system of humans, and can even affect the cardiovascular system if used in large quantities.


6. Consume alcohol and beer slowly
Respect your body: When entering any drinking session, you need to know your alcohol limit. If you feel you've had enough, stop drinking immediately. Respect your body's signals, don't compare yourself to anyone, and don't neglect your health for the sake of appearances. Remember that if consequences arise, you will be the one to face and take responsibility for your actions. Don't try to prove to friends that you can handle a high alcohol intake. Listen to your body's signals, and if you feel you've had enough, stop drinking. Stop drinking when you start losing control of your thoughts, your vision becomes blurred, speech is slurred, walking becomes difficult, or you feel nauseous...
Drink slowly, with moderation: The human body can only digest about 300 ml of alcohol per hour. Drinking quickly will introduce a large amount of alcohol into the body in a short time, impacting the brain strongly, making you feel bloated, uncomfortable, and nauseous. Drinking alcohol slowly is also a way to reduce the effects of intoxication because a large amount of alcohol suddenly entering the body in a short time can have a rapid and strong impact on the brain, even causing shock to the body and potential negative symptoms. Therefore, drink alcohol slowly to effectively limit the effects of intoxication.


7. Fresh Ginger Water
Ginger is nature's priceless gift, well-known to homemakers. Traditional medicine and folklore have long recognized the benefits of consuming ginger throughout the seasons for general health. There's a saying: 'In winter, eat radishes, and in summer, eat ginger; you won't need a doctor's prescription.' While ginger cannot cure all illnesses, it serves as an essential spice in daily life and an effective remedy for various conditions such as nausea, fullness, diarrhea, cold limbs, and numbness...
Ginger water improves blood circulation, reducing alcohol concentration quickly in the blood and alleviating symptoms such as headache and dizziness caused by alcohol. Ginger also supports digestion, boosts the immune system, and enhances overall well-being. A cup of ginger tea during a 'hangover' is a cost-effective and highly efficient 'detox' remedy.
Thinly slice about 60 grams of fresh ginger and infuse it in hot water. The warm ginger flavor (known for preventing alcohol intoxication by improving blood circulation, thereby quickly resolving alcohol in the body) can be enhanced by adding a small spoonful of honey for fast absorption and effective hangover relief. Prepare a cup of hot lemon water with honey and a few slices of ginger. This will undoubtedly be an excellent hangover remedy; ginger water reduces headache and dizziness caused by alcohol.
Hot sugar-free lemon water with a few slices of ginger is excellent for those 'excessive nights.' It helps detoxify the body. Simply pour hot water into a cup, add a bit of lukewarm water, squeeze in some lemon, add a few ginger slices, and a pinch of salt. This way, you'll have an excellent hangover remedy.


8. Avoid drinking alcohol on an empty stomach
When we consume alcohol, only a very small portion is absorbed in the mouth and tongue through the system of blood vessels. As it reaches the stomach, about 20% of the alcohol is absorbed here, then it enters the bloodstream. Alcohol is primarily absorbed in the small intestine, about 75-80%, and is then transferred into the bloodstream. After entering the blood, alcohol is transported to various organs in the body, but mainly to the liver for metabolism, where over 80% of the alcohol is metabolized. Besides the liver, alcohol also travels through the bloodstream to the brain, kidneys, lungs, skin, and that's why our breath and sweat have the scent of alcohol.
Each person has a different absorption time for alcohol. However, women, young people, and thin individuals often absorb alcohol faster, making them more prone to getting drunk. Liver function also greatly influences the ability to metabolize alcohol for each person. Since alcohol is primarily absorbed in the small intestine, if the stomach is empty, alcohol will quickly move to the small intestine, and we will quickly feel intoxicated. If alcohol stays in the stomach longer, it will be absorbed more slowly, and we will take longer to get drunk. Food helps keep alcohol in the stomach longer, so we should avoid drinking alcohol on an empty stomach.
Several studies and experiments have confirmed and demonstrated this. When testing a group of people, having the same amount of alcohol on two different days, one day on an empty stomach (skipping breakfast), and one day after having breakfast, the alcohol concentration in the blood the day after having breakfast was only 70% compared to drinking alcohol on an empty stomach.
When alcohol is mixed with soda or consumed hot, our body absorbs it faster, making us more susceptible to intoxication. One thing to note is that once alcohol is in the bloodstream, there is almost no way to make alcohol metabolize faster, including drinks like coffee, lemon water, or taking a cool shower, which doesn't help much. It largely depends on the time and function of the liver. However, typically, after about 24 hours, alcohol is almost completely eliminated from the body.


9. Utilize Egg Whites
On average, 1 egg contains 6g of protein, with 4g of protein found in the egg whites. Unlike protein from meat that needs an extended absorption process in the body, the protein in egg whites can be directly absorbed, easily entering the body.
Experts have found that egg whites are rich in albumin - a type of serum protein considered an excellent protein source. Egg white contains a protein that causes the alcohol in the wine to precipitate, thereby reducing the amount of alcohol absorbed into the blood. On the other hand, it also helps prevent the phenomenon of gastric mucosal burns due to alcohol.
Therefore, if you are feeling intoxicated, you can eat 2 fresh egg whites. The alcohol, when it encounters the protein in the egg whites, remains unabsorbed in the stomach, causing it to precipitate and reducing the amount of alcohol absorbed.


10. Apple Catnip Vinegar Soak
Catnip is a fruit rich in vitamin C, excellent for health. Catnip wine aids in digestion, cerebral blood circulation, minimizes arterial plaque, and supports blood pressure regulation.
In addition, catnip enhances the immune system for those who use it regularly and moderately, providing perfect immunity for the human body. Drinking catnip vinegar-soaked water with a few drops of honey before or after consuming alcohol will help you stay alert, avoiding intoxication and fatigue, as catnip vinegar has excellent alcohol-neutralizing properties.


11. Choose beverages with appropriate alcohol concentration
In Japan, when ordering drinks, you can freely choose a beverage that suits you. Every bar offers a variety of drinks with different alcohol concentrations, such as beer or sake with concentrations usually ranging from 10-20%, shochu about 25-35%. If you can't handle much, you can opt for low-alcohol fermented fruit juices with about 4%, or non-alcoholic beer...
However, in Vietnam, there are rarely many drink options like that on the drinking table, usually following the preferences of your friends, and you won't have any other choice than beer and liquor. Sometimes you might even be laughed at if your drinking capacity is inferior to your friends. Nevertheless, assess your strength and choose a suitable beverage to avoid regrettable situations. If you can't drink liquor, choose beer or cocktails – alcoholic beverages with much lower concentration than spirits.
Therefore, choosing a drink that suits your drinking ability and health is a secret to protecting your well-being at festive gatherings.


12. Drink Warm Water
Warm water when consumed will dilute the amount of alcohol in the body, aiding in the rapid excretion of alcohol through the urinary system. Drinking warm water also limits dehydration, making the 'drunken state' last longer. Simultaneously, drinking warm water helps reduce drowsiness after alcohol consumption and helps us sober up quickly.
You can also mix alcohol with water or other beverages. Mix in a way that the ratio of water to alcohol allows for a longer drinking time without getting intoxicated. If you're drinking beer, alternate between beer and water instead of just drinking beer alone.


13. Talk More
While drinking beer, try to laugh and talk more, creating a cheerful atmosphere. The goal is to speak and breathe more. This will help expel alcohol from the body through exhalation. It contributes to reducing the feeling of nausea and prolonging sobriety.
For spirits, an effective drinking technique is to take a sip at a time (in one breath). Absolutely avoid drinking in multiple sips; drinking in sips may give the sensation of consuming more, making you feel intoxicated more easily.


14. Drink milk before joining the drinking table
At your friends' long-awaited gatherings or amid business partners, alcoholic beverages like beer and wine are inevitable. However, excessive drinking can leave negative impacts on health.
You can have a glass of milk before joining the drinking table or use dairy products like yogurt, cheese, etc. Milk is a type of beverage that can limit the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream, protect the stomach, and reduce the stimulative effect of alcohol on the stomach. Especially, yogurt contains a lot of plant gums, which stay in the stomach for a long time. While alcohol will still enter the body, it will take more time, and the liver will have additional time to eliminate more alcohol before the remaining alcohol invades the nervous system.

