So it’s another month of food and drink overindulgence and a New Year beckons with all the good intentions we promise ourselves and to those around us after the 31st, which may or may not be honoured. It is not easy being a modern human with all the yummy temptations at festive occasions and the mind and body does take a shock to the system when we literally decide to go into overload and expect our battered and bruised organisms to stand up to the mountain high dinner plate. The price will always be paid a second time the next day as our heads and livers are not cheap dates.
 In the past they believed that piling more of the same into our tummies the morning after would ease the headaches and indigestion from the night before. Hence the hair of the dog expression originating from when a rabid dog takes a bite at you and the wound being miraculously cured by rubbing a few of the infected dog hairs on the area to cure what can actually be a fatal disease. These days the same philosophy is being used to wean children of severe nut allergies by slowly administrating minute doses so that an immune defence is established. Poisonings in the past had similar remedies by having tiny amounts of the consumed substance administered.
On the food front something like fruit, toast, eggs and bacon can help the hangover cause with a tea or coffee to drink but the secret is to get rehydrated as quickly as possible. Alcohol really drains the body so a few pints of water is all you need and a paracetamol for any pain. A good fresh air walk or swim will do you the power of good.
The detox industry is now at a frenzied level especially online but most of the remedies remain unproven and peddled by unqualified self anointed experts preying on our desperate gullibility. Buying any health food or medicine online is a high risk treatment, neither of which I have done.Of course we do not have to worry about any of the above if we only behave ourselves in the moment and consider moderation but we are weak and not machines.
We all hear or witness stories of the most laid back and polite fellow work or family member morphing into a trail of destruction and offensive behaviour after crossing several red lines of consumption be it from drink or drugs. The aftermath of this can be quite an embarrassment never mind serious career consequences if it was at the office party. Family may be slightly more forgiving.
I learned my own sobering lesson by being filmed on the old handy cam video recorders in the early 90s crawling around on my hands and knees at two in the morning not knowing my name and then watching it in horror the following afternoon when I came around. It has never happened again in the following thirty years since.
Each first woozy signpost after that day and I was on the water or soft drink for the rest of any occasion. Maybe there should be more of people being filmed to show them up on what they are like intoxicated, with mobile phones now there is no excuse. Eating wise, it is best to play it safe. Don’t starve for the day thinking you will stuff your face all night. Eat as per normal and then stick to familiar foods when you party. It is not the best time to try your first oyster and find out you are allergic to shellfish with an anaphylactic fit. Another mistake, is not knowing when you are likely to be finishing up hence the late queues for fast foods on nights out when the hunger pangs return.
   So it is sensible to have the odd glass of water over the evening and the stronger the beverage the slower it should be consumed and mixed well if a short or spirit. Keep out of buying rounds too; everyone has different body sizes and levels of consumption ability so if you are a slow drinker then you are in trouble as the guzzlers will be the pacesetters. Finally give yourself a recovery day, back to back bashes are ok for the young guns but after a certain age two nights in a row will kick you into touch and those organs of yours will be meting out the punishment you rightly deserve.