By Lora O’Brien

We’ve all suffered the morning after the night before when our head in thumping and we feel like we’re on the cusp of death. Yep, that’s right: hangovers suck!

And while there are many ways to prevent a hangover before you go out drinking – lining your belly with food, and keeping hydrated before you go to sleep, for example – sometimes, a hangover still comes knocking, making your brain jingle as it does.

“Why is this happening to me?” you may be moaning. Well, let’s talk science.

Typical hangover symptoms—nausea, sensitivity to light, headache, achy muscles, diarrhea, and decreased motor skills—are all caused by changes in your body chemistry after you drink. These changes involve chemical reactions on your hormones, combined with the toxic chemicals in alcohol and its dehydrating effects.

Weirdly enough, the science of hangovers (and how to prevent them) is largely unstudied, which is why people have been inventing their own “cures” for centuries. Though no one meal or drink can completely cure a hangover, certain foods are better for refuelling than others.

After waking up with a pounding head, you must first aim to restock the body with necessary fluids (namely water!) and nutrients like fructose, vitamins, amino acids, and minerals that can help break down toxins or lessen the body’s negative reaction to the chemicals in booze. It’s especially important to try to detox your poor, overloaded liver: bitter greens and artichokes are great at this.

Here, I’ve rounded up some vegan hangover foods that have worked for me (and my friends) in the past. Do you have your own magical remedy? Let me know in the comments!

20 Vegan Hangover Foods & Recipes

1. Easy Golden Milk Turmeric Coffee

Acetate is the chemical released into your body when you’re drinking that then gives you that thumping hangover headache. Can’t stomach food right away? Go grab yourself a coffee. Caffeine, along with an anti-inflammatory such as turmeric, will banish that headache. Plus coffee is pretty delish, right?

Get the recipe here.

2. Cashew Date Shake

Forget lounging in bed feeling sorry for yourself – this date shake is the boost of energy you need to shrug off that hangover and power on with your day. Bananas are a great source of both potassium and magnesium, which help to regulate your body’s water levels – drinking this may well help to cure that hangover headache!

Get the recipe here.

3. Best Ever Almond Butter and Jam Toast

One of the best vegan hangover foods is also one of the tastiest: toast! Whole-wheat toast and other bland carbs can raise low blood sugar without upsetting your sorry stomach, and adding a bit of jam can give you even more instant energy. Adding a protein surge from almond butter will ensure you don’t suffer from a nasty sugar crash later on.

Get the recipe here.

4. Vegan Breakfast Bagel

My go-to hangover food used to be McDonald’s. A McMuffin was enough to bring me back to life. But if, like me, you don’t want to end a life to feed a hangover, this vegan breakfast bagel is a fabulous alternative. Packed with tofu egg, crisp homemade potato bacon and gooey vegan cheese.. it’s heaven between bread, and it just feels like all those carbs will soak up the booze, whilst the protein will keep you going all day.

Get the recipe here.

5. Vegan Eggy Tofu Breakfast Sandwich

Want a hangover cure that still keeps it a little healthy? Ditch the greasy foods and grab one of these vegan breakfast sandwiches. The tofu is seasoned with black salt which literally makes it taste and feel pretty much like egg. Sandwiched between two English muffins and topped with creamy avocado, lettuce, tomato, vegan cheese and tempeh bacon, you’ll feel revived and rearing to go in minutes.

Get the recipe here.

6. Avocado & Kimchi Toast

This toast it loaded with hangover-friendly foods! It will help to settle an uneasy stomach, and fermented foods such as kimchi contain naturally occurring B vitamins that can become depleted in our bodies when we consume alcohol. Plus, who doesn’t love avo on toast, hangover or not?!

Get the recipe here.

7. Vegan Pancakes

Sometimes you just need to fill your booze-soaked stomach with a sweet stack of pancakes and hope that they will absorb the alcohol and make you want to be a functioning member of society again, am I right? You probably won’t feel like spending hours in the kitchen whipping up anything fancy, but these have just 4 ingredients. Top with blueberries, banana and maple syrup for a simple, sweet and well-needed treat!

Get the recipe here.

8. Lemon Garlic Roasted Asparagus

Eat some of this veggie before or during your booze binge, and you’ll be glad you did! It’s full of enzymes that help break down alcohol. Remember this trick the next time you’re having one too many; it’ll help curb the nastiest of hangovers! Not sure about chowing down on plain asparagus spears? Add a dash of lemon to turn them into a zesty, delicious snack.

Get the recipe here.

9. Banana Shake

Alcohol depletes the body of essential vitamins and minerals, including potassium. Bananas are especially rich in potassium and can help replenish your body’s depleted stores. One medium banana contains 12% of the daily value (DV) for this nutrient, so the more, the better, when you’re hungover! Of all this vegan hangover foods listed here, this is probably the easiest to make: great when you feel like you can barely remember your name!

Get the recipe here.

10. Green Juice

The best juice for a hangover? Wheatgrass! But I’m sure I speak for the masses when I say chugging down wheatgrass is the last thing I want to eat when dealing with a hangover, so instead opt for a green juice. Pack it with ingredients such as ginger and leafy greens, and hydrating fruits such as watermelon, guava and mango. Not only will it make you feel better, it’s super healthy, too!

Get the recipe here.

11. Miso Ramen

If you’re feeling a bit nauseated still, a soup may be the only thing you can contemplate eating. Miso is naturally high in sodium so it will help your body retain the water you lost the night before, rehydrating you. It’s also loaded with essential amino acids which will settle your stomach and help your digestion, so make these ramen noodles and sip on the broth and think of it as a delicious medicine!

Get the recipe here.

12. Classic Vegan Overnight Oats

This superfood provides plenty of much-needed essential nutrients like B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, and iron. Plus, oats can help neutralise acids in the body and raise blood sugar levels, giving you an instant energy boost. Know you’re going to be drinking a lot? Make these overnight oats before you go out. They take minutes to make and you can just grab them the following morning when you’re suffering.

Get the recipe here.

13. Nutty Almond Granola

Due to their high magnesium content, nuts may be the ideal solution to your hangover, since excessive alcohol consumption can suck all the magnesium right out of your cells. One-half cup (71 grams) of almonds packs close to 50% of the DV for magnesium, so this granola blend should help you on your way to better health fast!

Get the recipe here.

14. Creamy Vegan Spinach & Potato Soup

Get the recipe here.

15. Mushroom Avocado Toast

Ah, the perfect post-binge food, right? Eating avocados after a night of heavy drinking can help raise low potassium levels from alcohol consumption and dehydration. In fact, one avocado packs around 20% of the potassium you need every day.

According to scientists, avocados contain compounds that protect against liver injury. And since excessive drinking hurts your liver, avocados may help you detox that organ. Oh, also: topping with mushrooms is also great for a hangover as they’re a brilliant source of selenium.

Get the recipe here.

16. Quinoa Salad with Spinach & Orange

Oranges are rich in vitamin C, which may prevent your body from losing glutathione, which is an antioxidant that helps rid your body of booze. Of course, as we all know, eating oranges also provides a lot of vitamin C, which you need to keep glutathione levels stable – it may also help to cure your hangover!

Get the recipe here.

17. Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Vitamin A may help fight the inflammation associated with hangovers, and sweet potatoes are full of the stuff! They’re also packed with magnesium and potassium, which I’ve already mentioned are lost during alcohol consumption. And plus, when you’re feeling a bit nauseated, this recipe looks so tasty, you may just be tempted to actually eat something!

Get the recipe here.

18. Watermelon Poke Bowl

Most of us have suffered that horrendous headache with a hangover, and it’s usually down to our bodies being SUPER dehydrated. Watermelon is a great fruit to eat since it’s rich in L-citrulline, a nutrient that will help to increase the blood flow to the brain. Plus its high water content will help your body to rehydrate and feel better. Not a fan of fruit? You will be, after you try this savoury poke bowl.

Get the recipe here.

19. The Ultimate Vegan Fry Up

We Brits love nothing more than soaking up last nights alcohol with a greasy cafe fry up, and of all the vegan hangover foods, this is probably the most common for us. Not usually the healthiest option, but it does have its benefits: the carbohydrates in a full English will help restore depleted sugar levels, and the mushrooms have loads of selenium, which help boost your mood when you have post-booze depression.

Get the recipe here.

20. Ginger Cookies

Feeling too sick to even think about food? You need to eat something to regain your energy, and these ginger cookies may be just the thing. It’s well known that ginger is a great remedy for nausea, and if you add these biscuits with a cup of strong tea or coffee, you should be feeling better in no time! Plus, vegan hangover foods don’t get much tastier than this.

Get the recipe here.

Main image: Holland & Barrett. Get the recipe for their full English fry up here.

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