How FOOD can give you a throbbing hangover
Even if you have not had a drop to drink
SOMETIMES, Millie Robinson wakes up feeling terrible. Her head aches, her stomach feels bloated, she’s lethargic and finds it almost impossible to concentrate.
To anyone who’s had to face a new day after too many glasses of wine the previous night, her symptoms may sound familiar. Yet hers are not caused by alcohol. Millie’s experiencing a form of hangover — but triggered by food.
Food hangovers can be caused by intolerances to ingredients, adverse reactions to specific foods or additives, or simply over-indulgence.
Like alcohol hangovers, they give sufferers upset stomachs, aching limbs and sore heads.
They also affect the brain, causing fogginess, irritability and sometimes even tearfulness and depression.
Often, sufferers don’t associate symptoms with food they ate the day before, meaning they misdiagnose their discomfort as caused by illness.
Experts say that although food hangovers are not officially recognised by the medical community, they’re increasingly common.
‘Many people experience regular food hangovers, as they’re eating foods their bodies find it difficult to cope with — foods that are high fat, high salt, high sugar, high starch, or all at once,’ says Tracey Strudwick, nutritional therapist at Nuffield Health.
‘Our busy lives mean we’re often under stress, which also has a damaging effect on our digestive process and makes symptoms such as bloating, lethargy and brain fog more likely.’
For technology consultant Millie, 45, from London, the hangovers cause severe discomfort.
‘At home, I cook a lot of tofu and vegetable dishes — because I try not to eat much meat — and salads with tomato, avocado and mozzarella, which make me feel great,’ she says.
‘But sometimes, particularly if I’m feeling very tired or a bit low, I’ll turn to my comfort foods, and they make me feel awful the next day.’
HIGH-
FAT foods and those heavy in carbohydrates are most likely to provoke the symptoms. ‘ My favourite foods are pizza or pasta, especially tortellini filled with cheese, but they make me feel terrible,’ says Millie. ‘I also love freshly baked bread with melted butter on it.
‘They’re the worst culprits for the hangovers. My head will ache, I’ll get awful stomach pains and I’ll be bloated — even my face will puff up and I’ll notice I look older.
‘I’ll feel sluggish, as though there’s a cloud hanging over my head. It really isn’t any different to how I’d feel after a night of heavy drinking.’
As Millie has discovered, among the most common causes of food hangovers are refined carbohydrates, particularly white bread, potatoes, rice and pasta.
These have the same effect on the body as sugary foods and drinks. They release glucose into the bloodstream quickly, causing the pancreas to produce insulin, the hormone that prompts cells to absorb blood sugar for energy or storage.
The speed of the process means the pancreas has no time to regulate the quantity of insulin released, with the result that the glucose in the blood is wiped out by it.
‘This leaves you with very low blood sugar, which is why, the morning after eating a big pasta dish or something sweet, you can wake up with a headache, and may feel dizzy or nauseous,’ says Tracey Strudwick.
‘Your brain needs glucose to function and, without it, you’ll find it hard to concentrate.
‘You’ll also crave something sugary and, if you succumb, you’re back into the cycle again — you’ll keep crashing and needing to eat more.’
Even complex carbohydrates, such as beans, wholegrains and vegetables, can trigger food hangovers, particularly for the 15 per cent of people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS. The exact cause of IBS is unknown, but it can cause bloating, gas, abdominal pain and diarrhoea or constipation.
‘I see many people who have these issues, and carbohydrate is the reason,’ says Dr Jeremy Sanderson, a consultant gastroenterologist at London Bridge Hospital. ‘We all eat far too much, and our bodies are not designed to cope with it.
‘Food is often indigestible by the small intestine, which means it passes undigested into the colon, where bacteria cause fermentation, creating a lot of gas.’ Women are twice as prone to IBS as men, which scientists believe could be because the hormone oestrogen leads to increased sensitivity of the gut.
Marianne Williams, a gastroenterology dietitian specialising in IBS and food allergies or intolerances, says many people will have IBS and not realise it.
Another primary cause of food hangovers is fat.
‘High-fat foods are much slower to digest,’ says Tracey. ‘ They delay gastric emptying, which makes the food stick around in your intestine for a lot longer, causing bloating and gas.’
Excess salt can heighten the problem, causing water retention, making bloating worse.
And, as Tracey points out, many of the most gluttonous feasts will combine fat, salt, starch and sugar. ‘Our bodies are a balancing act, and food that’s overindulgent, such as pizza, pasta, fish and chips or curry, upset their balance.’
This balance can also be thrown off by chemicals added to food as flavour enhancers or preservatives.
Some people experience symptoms including headaches, nausea, palpitations and a strange numbness in the face after a meal rich in monosodium glutamate, or MSG.
MSG, an amino acid combined with salt, is added to everything from crisps to ready meals and takeaways to enhance flavour.
Researchers have found no definitive evidence of a link between MSG and these symptoms, but many nutritionists continue to believe MSG causes migraines and other reactions. The way in which we eat can also have an impact on how we digest our food. ‘ For anyone regularly waking up feeling awful, the first thing I’d ask them to do is look at their lifestyle,’ says Marianne Williams. ‘Are they getting enough sleep? Are they stressed out? Are they sitting down to eat their meals properly, or constantly rushing around?’
Dr Sanderson agrees. ‘The link between your gut and the brain is very close, and stress can affect every part of the digestive system,’ he says.
MARIANNE
believes the key to avoiding unpleasant symptoms is to ensure that you eat in a calm and unhurried fashion.
‘Taking the time to eat and not rushing it is actually more relevant than what you’re actually eating, in terms of how it will make you feel,’ she says.
Tracey adds: ‘Whatever you’re eating, have a salad with it. If you’re adding in some fibre and antioxidants, that will help your digestion.’
And if you are suffering the day after, her advice is to combat the damage by turning to something healthy, rather than succumbing to more sugar or caffeine.
‘Eat something with fibre, such as porridge or yoghurt with pumpkin seeds and some fruit,’ she says. ‘That will help balance your blood sugar levels and calm your gut.
‘Also remember that every now and then, it’s fine to enjoy a blowout — your body can reset itself.
‘But if you’re feeling like this too often, it’s a sign you’re causing real damage.’