We all know that in the period from the end of December to the Old New Year, our “stomach pit” opens, and the second liver grows, and the size of the clothes increases slightly. Well, we cannot see off the old year and meet the new one without stormy libations and gluttony. Olivier is cooked in basins, jellied meat is cooked in buckets, strong drinks are purchased in boxes. This is how our parents lived, this is how we live. The New Year's table is the most chic table of the year, because no one has canceled the saying “As you celebrate the New Year, so you will spend it”. And let your favorite pants not be fastened later.
I have long wanted to talk with nutritionist Lyudmila Denisenko, fortunately, the reason has finally been found. Lyudmila is a native Donetsk resident, a member of the Russian National Society of Nutritionists. For many years Denisenko has been running his own website and actively writing notes on social networks on the topic of health and slimness. We met with Lyudmila in December 2019 in the heart of Donetsk, on Pushkin Boulevard, in one of the many cafes. We ordered black tea for ourselves, in which, under Lyudmila, I was ashamed to add sugar, and some kind of light dessert, which probably still came out sideways. So, dear readers! In this material you will find instructions for the New Year holidays. Read, follow the tips and take care of yourself!
Twelve holiday tips from a nutritionist
Not to starve! It is clear that the holidays are always associated with the fact that people drink and eat too much. Preparation for the next morning after the festive feast, which is always difficult, must begin the day before. Usually a person on December 31 saves strength and a place in the stomach for a gala dinner. This is a totally wrong approach. “Here you have to act differently, you need to slightly weaken your diet, but in no case give up food,” advises Lyudmila, “include more vegetable and light dishes, fresh vegetables are good, if there is such an opportunity. It is categorically impossible to sit down at the festive table on an empty stomach. Don't miss lunch and a light afternoon snack."
Disperse the liver. If you have a long night of festivities with libations that you cannot refuse, you need to "disperse the liver." This is what the people call it. Shortly before going out, you need to drink a small glass (about 20 grams) of the drink that you plan to drink during the evening. Have a drink with a light snack. This is done so that the liver begins to produce an enzyme that is needed to process alcohol. “When you drink your first glass at the table,” says Lyudmila, “your liver will be ready for this!”
No popular advice. One of the most frequent folk tips on how to drink and not get drunk says that you need to eat a piece of butter before a feast. “Nothing of the kind,” says Lyudmila, “it will put off your intoxication a little, but it can do a disservice. You will not feel the habitual intoxication from the usual dose, you will drink more, and in the end you will face a stronger intoxication."
About the appetizer. “It is customary for us to snack on vodka with herring or lard,” says Lyudmila, “while strong alcoholic drinks are advised to eat with carbohydrate products. Better potatoes, not herring. You need to eat warm dishes, not cold ones. The vodka is cold, and the food is hot, as long as they become friends in the stomach, the absorption of alcohol will go a little slower. " It is not a sin to remind one more rule of nutritionists: you cannot drink strong alcohol with carbonated drinks.
Don't lower the degree! It seems that everyone knows this poster phrase, but still no, no, and people are being burned. If you understand that you will drink vodka, then a purely symbolic glass of champagne to the chimes should be reduced literally to a sip.
About coal. No, we are not talking about our Donetsk coal, which we call black gold, but about the activated pharmacy. There are people who take activated charcoal on the eve of a feast. “It’s pointless,” says my interlocutor. “It's better to take activated charcoal after a meal. The calculation is as follows: one tablet per 10 kg of weight. You can crush the tablets, the sorption surface will be larger, the effect will be stronger."
No to newfangled fizzy! In no case should you take effervescent hangover tablets immediately after a feast. One of the most famous is Alka-Seltzer. These drugs are not to prevent a hangover from occurring, but to relieve the hangover. They contain acetylsalicylic acid - aspirin. The combination of aspirin with fresh alcohol can play a fatal role, up to a cerebral hemorrhage. Such drugs should be taken only in order to alleviate the symptoms of a hangover: headache, intoxication.
Water and brine. You woke up on the morning of January 1st with the millennial heat of the Sahara in your mouth. This is a hangover. What to do? The first step is to start filling yourself with water. The water should be very ordinary, not mineral. You can take the same "Narzan" or "Borjomi", but in a large bottle - a table version. You must drink at least two liters of water. “This is necessary in order to remove from the body as quickly as possible toxins that are circulating in the blood due to still“undecomposed”alcohol,” says Lyudmila. “In addition to water, you can drink brine, this is an excellent folk remedy. But it should be exactly the pickle from cabbage or pickles, and not from pickled products. Not the one with vinegar."
The power is in the soup. Also, a good rich, but not very fatty soup saves you from a hangover. Any soup will do. “If you haven’t bothered beforehand, I’ll give you some know-how,” says Lyudmila, “you can warm up the jellied meat after removing the fat”.
Bulgakovschina. Allow me, dear reader, to quote the words of Woland from the immortal novel The Master and Margarita. “Dear Stepan Bogdanovich,” the visitor began, smiling shrewdly, “no pyramidon will help you. Follow the wise old rule of treating like with like. The only thing that will bring you back to life is two shots of vodka with a spicy and hot snack. " “As a doctor, I strongly advise against doing this,” says Lyudmila, “unfortunately, such a hangover can lead to prolonged binge drinking. You will drink, throw new vodka on the old yeast, you will want to poke around again. Moreover, I do not recommend getting a hangover with beer, it is also carbonated and will further aggravate intoxication."
About baths, saunas, fresh air and sleep. After you fill up with water, you need to go to the shower. The shower should not be cold so that there is no vasospasm. “No thermal procedures are recommended on a hangover day,” says Lyudmila, “no baths or saunas. It is better to postpone them until the second or third of January. Fresh air also helps very well. And not just go for a walk along Pushkin Boulevard, but you can actively move, disperse the blood, play snowballs, and ride a sled. It’s also great to go to sleep in the afternoon.”
One last tip. If all this does not work, there is another surefire remedy! Lie on the couch in front of the TV and say something like the following: “So that I still someday Yes, never in my life! Well, until next New Year, that's for sure."