The next day after drinking alcohol is often full of discomfort, and many people experience hangovers. What you eat is essential in speeding up recovery, easing hangover symptoms, and maintaining your overall health. Eating the wrong foods can also worsen your symptoms and slow recovery. It’s thus crucial to choose well.
This article will discuss the best recovery foods and provide you with hydration tips. You will know foods to avoid and learn helpful dietary practices to adopt after drinking alcohol.
If you or your loved ones are experiencing any issues after drinking alcohol, please reach out to our team at Nirvana Recovery for expert help.
Best Foods to Eat After Drinking Alcohol
Foods Rich in Electrolyte
Electrolytes are minerals that carry an electric charge when dissolved in body fluids or water. They’re essential for the following bodily functions:
Maintaining pH levels
Hydration
Muscle contractions
Alcohol, as a diuretic, increases urine production and causes excessive fluid loss. Urination flushes out water and electrolytes from your body, causing dehydration and worsening hangover symptoms.
Foods rich in electrolytes ease hangovers by improving your body’s fluid management and how your cells work. Here’s how different minerals promote rehydration and overall body function:
Sodium helps manage your body’s water levels
Potassium helps your nerves work efficiently
Magnesium enhances muscle function
Calcium aids in proper muscle movement and function
B vitamins help in energy generation
Electrolytes help your cells retain fluid, minimizing the intense dehydration that worsens hangovers.
Excellent sources include the following:
Coconut water, which is rich in potassium and low in calories
Fruits like bananas and oranges for potassium and vitamin C, respectively
Leafy greens like spinach for potassium and other essential nutrients
Avocados for potassium and yogurt for potassium and calcium
Protein-Rich Foods
When you drink alcohol, your body stops building muscle protein. Research suggests that alcohol impairs mTOR, a protein enzyme that plays a key role in cell growth, reproduction, and metabolism. While it doesn’t reduce the number of ribosomes (sites of protein synthesis in cells), it blocks signals that instruct your muscles to make new protein.
Proteins supply amino acids, which are fundamental in building and repairing muscles. While alcohol inhibits muscle protein production, eating a protein-rich meal still partially restores your body’s ability to build and repair muscles.
In a study, people who drank alcohol and consumed carbohydrates had a 37% drop in their muscle-building response. However, those who took alcohol with proteins had a 24% drop; so, proteins reduced alcohol’s impact on their muscle-building response.
Moreover, drinking lowers your blood sugar, resulting in fatigue or weakness. Proteins slow alcohol absorption, helping keep your blood sugar steady. Your liver may also convert some amino acids into glucose, reducing the fatigue you feel the following day after drinking.
Excellent sources of proteins that aid muscle recovery and boost energy levels include:
Eggs
Chicken
Fish
Tofu
Complex Carbohydrates
Alcohol can interfere with the liver’s ability to release glucose into the bloodstream. As a result, your blood sugar may drop, but it can be hard to realize, since alcohol also impairs your body’s natural response to low blood sugar.
Your body digests complex carbs more slowly than simple carbohydrates, releasing glucose gradually into your bloodstream. A slower release of glucose maintains your blood sugar and ensures a consistent supply of energy through the next day after drinking.
Foods and Drinks to Soothe Your Stomach
Bland, Easily Digestible Foods
Alcohol irritates your stomach lining, causing discomfort and inflammation. As a result, you may vomit or develop nausea. Alcohol also slows down digestion, making effective nutrient absorption harder.
When your digestive system is sensitive, heavy foods or those that are hard to digest can worsen nausea and slow recovery.
Here’s how different bland foods provide digestive relief:
White Rice: Provides a gentle source of carbohydrates and is low in fibre. It offers energy without overworking your digestive system.
Toast and Plain Crackers: They’re low in fat. They help absorb excess stomach acid, and your body tolerates them when your appetite is low.
Applesauce: Provides soluble fibre for healthy bowel movements. It’s easy to digest and doesn’t irritate the stomach lining.
Broth-Based Soups: They’re hydrating and rich in essential nutrients like potassium and sodium. They soothe the digestive system and replenish fluids lost through diarrhea or vomiting.
Herbal Teas and Soothing Beverages
The following herbal teas and soothing beverages calm nausea and aid digestion:
Ginger Tea: It’s a natural remedy for gastrointestinal issues like indigestion and nausea. It has powerful anti-nausea and anti-inflammatory properties that calm the digestive system. Gingerols and shogaols are the active compounds in ginger that ease feelings of discomfort and bloating. The warmth of ginger tea relaxes the digestive tract, while ginger neutralizes stomach acids to reduce discomfort.
Peppermint Tea: Its menthol compounds help relax the muscles of the digestive tract, reducing bloating and cramping. Menthol’s cooling sensation also soothes an irritated stomach lining. Peppermint’s antispasmodic properties settle nausea and reduce queasy feelings.
Chamomile Tea: Its anti-inflammatory properties alleviate hangover-induced inflammation throughout the body. It also promotes normal digestion.
Warm Lemon Water: Aids in hydration, directly countering the alcohol-induced dehydration. Even mild dehydration can worsen nausea. The warm water also promotes effective nutrient absorption.
The Importance of Hydration After Drinking Alcohol
Water and Electrolyte Drinks
Vasopressin, also known as antidiuretic hormone (ADH), aids your body’s water retention. Alcohol inhibits the release of vasopressin, allowing its diuretic effects to dominate. These effects increase urine production, causing excess fluid loss through urination, eventually leading to dehydration.
Hydrating after drinking alcohol helps replenish the fluids lost and aids in absorption, digestion, and nutrient transportation.
When you lose excess fluids through urination after drinking, you also lose essential minerals like magnesium, potassium, and sodium. These, among other electrolytes, help retain water in the body by balancing fluid levels in cells. You can ensure proper hydration by taking electrolyte beverages.
While plain water helps rehydrate you, your body may not retain it if your electrolytes are low. Some homemade hydration solutions contain electrolytes like potassium, which help ease feelings of nausea. These solutions may also boost your energy levels and improve your muscle function.
Hydrating Foods and Vegetables
Fruits like watermelon and cucumbers have high water content (over 90%) and offer an excellent natural way to rehydrate. Cucumbers also have high potassium levels, meaning they help restore your electrolyte balance. Watermelons are rich in minerals like vitamin C, which help clear free radicals produced during heavy drinking.
Oranges have high water content (about 87% per serving). They’re rich in vitamin C, helping replenish the levels lost during alcohol consumption. Vitamin C also plays a role in the detoxification of the liver, helping process and eliminate any remaining alcohol in the body.
Spinach also contains plenty of water (about 91% water content). Like the fruits we’ve discussed, this vegetable also replenishes water lost to dehydration. Moreover, raw spinach leaves are rich in nutrients like potassium, which help restore electrolyte balance. A one-cup serving contains 15% of your daily vitamin E intake, a powerful antioxidant that helps clear free radicals.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid After Alcohol Consumption
Greasy and Fatty Foods
Fats, like alcohol, slow digestion. They require bile and pancreatic enzymes to break down. Overwhelming your digestive system with too much grease within a short time can result in a laxative effect that moves stool through your intestines before it fully forms (diarrhea).
Foods high in fat can also impact how fast food moves from your stomach into your small intestines. Eating these foods after drinking alcohol can cause an uncomfortable “heavy” feeling in your stomach, along with symptoms of indigestion.
Sugary Foods and Beverages
Sugar in foods or beverages can contribute to dehydration, which worsens hangover symptoms. Sugar needs more water in your body to metabolize it, leading to more fluid loss.
High sugar levels can cause a rapid increase in your blood sugar levels before a sharp drop as your body releases insulin to process it. This “crash” can cause irritability, headaches, fatigue, and shakiness. Moreover, combining sugar with alcohol can interfere with the liver’s ability to stabilize blood glucose levels, worsening your symptoms.
Caffeine and Alcoholic Beverages
Both alcohol and caffeine are diuretics; they increase your urine production. The dehydration that alcohol causes will worsen if you drink coffee or other forms of caffeine. More dehydration means a worse hangover, and more alcohol isn’t a hangover fix.
Caffeine also narrows blood vessels, which raises blood pressure, causing more pronounced hangover headaches. What’s more, it may increase your stomach acid production, which can cause or worsen nausea, irritation, and indigestion.
Why Food Choices Matter After Drinking Alcohol
Alcohol's Effects on your Body
We’ve discussed how alcohol, as a diuretic, leads to increased urine production and excessive fluid loss. Since you lose essential electrolytes when you repeatedly urinate, your body becomes unable to retain water as it usually would. Here are other ways that alcohol affects your body:
Nutrient Depletion: Ethanol in alcohol interferes with the small intestine’s absorption of essential nutrients. Over time, this can cause deficiencies of macronutrients like B vitamins, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron. Heavy drinkers may thus experience malnutrition.
Inflammation: Alcohol interferes with the balance of “good” and “bad” bacteria in the gut. It allows harmful bacteria to multiply rapidly, causing inflammation in the gut before triggering bodywide inflammation.
Gastrointestinal Distress: Excessive alcohol consumption can cause inflammation of the stomach lining. Alcohol increases stomach acid production as it weakens the stomach’s mucus lining. Over time, alcohol erodes this protective lining, causing alcohol gastritis (stomach lining inflammation).
How Foods Aids Recovery
Here’s how food aids recovery:
Foods rich in electrolytes help the body retain fluids, thus promoting rehydration. They also restore the balance of water and essential minerals lost to alcohol’s dehydrating effect. Food sources include fruits like bananas and oranges, leafy greens, and avocados.
Foods with antioxidants, such as beans, vegetables, nuts, olive oil, and fruits, can help prevent or reduce inflammation. They lower inflammation markers like C-reactive protein (CRP), promoting faster recovery.
Your liver prioritizes processing alcohol over maintaining blood sugar, which can lead to low blood sugar levels. Complex carbohydrates like legumes and whole grains provide a steady release of glucose, helping stabilize blood sugar levels.
Alcohol irritates the stomach lining, increases acid production, and slows digestion. Easily digestible foods like white rice, toast, and broth help soothe the gut, aid digestion, and ease nausea.
Helpful Dietary Practices for Alcohol Recovery
Eating Small, Frequent Meals
Smaller, more frequent meals are better than larger meals for recovery after drinking alcohol. Here’s why:
Metabolism: When you eat, your body goes into a thermic effect of food (TEF) state, whereby your metabolism increases to process the food. Eating small, frequent meals keeps your metabolism active and high throughout the day.
Digestive Comfort: Large meals can put an extra strain on your digestive system, leading to indigestion, discomfort, and bloating. Small, frequent meals are easier to process.
Blood Sugar: Large meals, especially those high in simple carbohydrates, can cause irregular blood sugar levels. You may experience an energy boost before a crash, fatigue, or hunger. Smaller, frequent meals help regulate your blood sugar levels.
Incorporating Anti-Inflammatory Foods
When your body breaks down alcohol, it produces harmful byproducts like acetaldehyde, which can damage the gut, liver, and other organs. This damage may trigger an inflammatory response in different parts of the body.
An anti-inflammatory diet includes foods that reduce inflammation and avoids those that contribute to it. This diet is rich in sources like berries, nuts, olive oil, and leafy greens. The following are ways in which such a diet can help counteract the effects of alcohol on the body:
Antioxidants Boost: Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants, which help clear out free radicals produced when your body breaks down alcohol.
Promoting Gut Health: Fiber serves as a prebiotic, feeding “good” bacteria and supporting overall gut health. Sources include legumes and whole grains.
Signs You Need Medical Attention After Alcohol Consumption
Red Flags to Watch Out for
The following red flags indicate that you need medical attention:
Persistent Vomiting: It depletes electrolytes. Ongoing vomiting can cause a tear in the esophagus called the Mallory-Weiss tear, which can result in bleeding. In this case, seek urgent medical attention.
Severe Dehydration: Warning signs include thirst, dry mouth and skin, and rapid breathing or heartbeat. It can lead to kidney damage or seizures and can be life-threatening.
Confusion: It can be a sign of alcohol poisoning and is usually accompanied by slowed responses. Alcohol poisoning is life-threatening and requires urgent medical attention.
Blood in Vomit: It can be caused by a severe stomach ulcer or a Mallory-Weiss tear. It requires immediate medical attention.
Prolonged Dizziness: It could be a sign of severe dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, or low blood pressure. Seek immediate medical attention if it doesn’t resolve after rehydrating.
Importance of Seeking Professional Help
Seeking professional help immediately makes it possible to address some of the warning signs. Some of these red flags are life-threatening; the longer you wait, the higher the chances of losing your life. It’s thus essential to get prompt medical care. Call 911 or go to your nearest ER.
Nirvana’s Guide to Healthy Eating After Alcohol
At Nirvana Recovery, we’re committed to helping you manage post-alcohol wellness. Different people may experience different reactions to alcohol, and the following day may feel different for everyone. We understand the importance of addressing every individual’s unique challenges and providing help that suits their specific situation.
Our alcohol and mental health treatment programs help people struggling with alcohol use. Whether you’re trying to quit entirely or cut down your consumption, we’re here and ready to help. We believe in proper nutrition before, during, and after drinking alcohol and encourage it for people trying to quit or cut down their use. Our supportive community promotes understanding and makes every member feel safe and valued.
Nirvana is a trusted resource for balanced and mindful dietary practices after drinking alcohol. Reach out to our team at Nirvana Recovery today for more information on how we can help you.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Does eating before drinking alcohol reduce hangover severity?
Yes, it does. Here’s how:
It slows alcohol absorption. Food keeps alcohol in your stomach longer. Since most alcohol is absorbed in the small intestine, delaying the release of food and alcohol from the stomach allows your body to process alcohol gradually.
It helps maintain your blood sugar. Your body digests complex carbohydrates slowly, releasing glucose gradually. This prevents blood sugar spikes and dips that can worsen hangovers.
A full stomach helps dilute alcohol and reduce irritation to the stomach lining. You’re thus less likely to experience nausea associated with irritation the next day.
How can Nirvana support me in making healthier post-alcohol food choices?
Nirvana Recovery can support you in the following ways:
Providing expert guidance on what to eat and what to avoid after drinking alcohol
Providing resources, like this article, where you can learn all you need to know about post-alcohol food choices
Offering group counseling, where you can share experiences in a safe environment and learn what worked for others
Offering individual counseling to assess your nutritional choices and provide suggestions for healthier living
What to Eat After Drinking Alcohol
Published On August 2, 2025
Table of Contents
The next day after drinking alcohol is often full of discomfort, and many people experience hangovers. What you eat is essential in speeding up recovery, easing hangover symptoms, and maintaining your overall health. Eating the wrong foods can also worsen your symptoms and slow recovery. It’s thus crucial to choose well.
A study found that people who ate more foods containing vitamin B3 and zinc had less severe hangovers. Those who consumed more zinc had less severe vomiting.
This article will discuss the best recovery foods and provide you with hydration tips. You will know foods to avoid and learn helpful dietary practices to adopt after drinking alcohol.
If you or your loved ones are experiencing any issues after drinking alcohol, please reach out to our team at Nirvana Recovery for expert help.
Best Foods to Eat After Drinking Alcohol
Foods Rich in Electrolyte
Electrolytes are minerals that carry an electric charge when dissolved in body fluids or water. They’re essential for the following bodily functions:
Alcohol, as a diuretic, increases urine production and causes excessive fluid loss. Urination flushes out water and electrolytes from your body, causing dehydration and worsening hangover symptoms.
Foods rich in electrolytes ease hangovers by improving your body’s fluid management and how your cells work. Here’s how different minerals promote rehydration and overall body function:
Electrolytes help your cells retain fluid, minimizing the intense dehydration that worsens hangovers.
Excellent sources include the following:
Protein-Rich Foods
When you drink alcohol, your body stops building muscle protein. Research suggests that alcohol impairs mTOR, a protein enzyme that plays a key role in cell growth, reproduction, and metabolism. While it doesn’t reduce the number of ribosomes (sites of protein synthesis in cells), it blocks signals that instruct your muscles to make new protein.
Proteins supply amino acids, which are fundamental in building and repairing muscles. While alcohol inhibits muscle protein production, eating a protein-rich meal still partially restores your body’s ability to build and repair muscles.
In a study, people who drank alcohol and consumed carbohydrates had a 37% drop in their muscle-building response. However, those who took alcohol with proteins had a 24% drop; so, proteins reduced alcohol’s impact on their muscle-building response.
Moreover, drinking lowers your blood sugar, resulting in fatigue or weakness. Proteins slow alcohol absorption, helping keep your blood sugar steady. Your liver may also convert some amino acids into glucose, reducing the fatigue you feel the following day after drinking.
Excellent sources of proteins that aid muscle recovery and boost energy levels include:
Complex Carbohydrates
Alcohol can interfere with the liver’s ability to release glucose into the bloodstream. As a result, your blood sugar may drop, but it can be hard to realize, since alcohol also impairs your body’s natural response to low blood sugar.
Your body digests complex carbs more slowly than simple carbohydrates, releasing glucose gradually into your bloodstream. A slower release of glucose maintains your blood sugar and ensures a consistent supply of energy through the next day after drinking.
Foods and Drinks to Soothe Your Stomach
Bland, Easily Digestible Foods
Alcohol irritates your stomach lining, causing discomfort and inflammation. As a result, you may vomit or develop nausea. Alcohol also slows down digestion, making effective nutrient absorption harder.
When your digestive system is sensitive, heavy foods or those that are hard to digest can worsen nausea and slow recovery.
Here’s how different bland foods provide digestive relief:
Herbal Teas and Soothing Beverages
The following herbal teas and soothing beverages calm nausea and aid digestion:
The Importance of Hydration After Drinking Alcohol
Water and Electrolyte Drinks
Vasopressin, also known as antidiuretic hormone (ADH), aids your body’s water retention. Alcohol inhibits the release of vasopressin, allowing its diuretic effects to dominate. These effects increase urine production, causing excess fluid loss through urination, eventually leading to dehydration.
Hydrating after drinking alcohol helps replenish the fluids lost and aids in absorption, digestion, and nutrient transportation.
When you lose excess fluids through urination after drinking, you also lose essential minerals like magnesium, potassium, and sodium. These, among other electrolytes, help retain water in the body by balancing fluid levels in cells. You can ensure proper hydration by taking electrolyte beverages.
While plain water helps rehydrate you, your body may not retain it if your electrolytes are low. Some homemade hydration solutions contain electrolytes like potassium, which help ease feelings of nausea. These solutions may also boost your energy levels and improve your muscle function.
Hydrating Foods and Vegetables
Fruits like watermelon and cucumbers have high water content (over 90%) and offer an excellent natural way to rehydrate. Cucumbers also have high potassium levels, meaning they help restore your electrolyte balance. Watermelons are rich in minerals like vitamin C, which help clear free radicals produced during heavy drinking.
Oranges have high water content (about 87% per serving). They’re rich in vitamin C, helping replenish the levels lost during alcohol consumption. Vitamin C also plays a role in the detoxification of the liver, helping process and eliminate any remaining alcohol in the body.
Spinach also contains plenty of water (about 91% water content). Like the fruits we’ve discussed, this vegetable also replenishes water lost to dehydration. Moreover, raw spinach leaves are rich in nutrients like potassium, which help restore electrolyte balance. A one-cup serving contains 15% of your daily vitamin E intake, a powerful antioxidant that helps clear free radicals.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid After Alcohol Consumption
Greasy and Fatty Foods
Fats, like alcohol, slow digestion. They require bile and pancreatic enzymes to break down. Overwhelming your digestive system with too much grease within a short time can result in a laxative effect that moves stool through your intestines before it fully forms (diarrhea).
Foods high in fat can also impact how fast food moves from your stomach into your small intestines. Eating these foods after drinking alcohol can cause an uncomfortable “heavy” feeling in your stomach, along with symptoms of indigestion.
Sugary Foods and Beverages
Sugar in foods or beverages can contribute to dehydration, which worsens hangover symptoms. Sugar needs more water in your body to metabolize it, leading to more fluid loss.
High sugar levels can cause a rapid increase in your blood sugar levels before a sharp drop as your body releases insulin to process it. This “crash” can cause irritability, headaches, fatigue, and shakiness. Moreover, combining sugar with alcohol can interfere with the liver’s ability to stabilize blood glucose levels, worsening your symptoms.
Caffeine and Alcoholic Beverages
Both alcohol and caffeine are diuretics; they increase your urine production. The dehydration that alcohol causes will worsen if you drink coffee or other forms of caffeine. More dehydration means a worse hangover, and more alcohol isn’t a hangover fix.
Caffeine also narrows blood vessels, which raises blood pressure, causing more pronounced hangover headaches. What’s more, it may increase your stomach acid production, which can cause or worsen nausea, irritation, and indigestion.
Why Food Choices Matter After Drinking Alcohol
Alcohol's Effects on your Body
We’ve discussed how alcohol, as a diuretic, leads to increased urine production and excessive fluid loss. Since you lose essential electrolytes when you repeatedly urinate, your body becomes unable to retain water as it usually would. Here are other ways that alcohol affects your body:
How Foods Aids Recovery
Here’s how food aids recovery:
Helpful Dietary Practices for Alcohol Recovery
Eating Small, Frequent Meals
Smaller, more frequent meals are better than larger meals for recovery after drinking alcohol. Here’s why:
Incorporating Anti-Inflammatory Foods
When your body breaks down alcohol, it produces harmful byproducts like acetaldehyde, which can damage the gut, liver, and other organs. This damage may trigger an inflammatory response in different parts of the body.
An anti-inflammatory diet includes foods that reduce inflammation and avoids those that contribute to it. This diet is rich in sources like berries, nuts, olive oil, and leafy greens. The following are ways in which such a diet can help counteract the effects of alcohol on the body:
Signs You Need Medical Attention After Alcohol Consumption
Red Flags to Watch Out for
The following red flags indicate that you need medical attention:
Importance of Seeking Professional Help
Seeking professional help immediately makes it possible to address some of the warning signs. Some of these red flags are life-threatening; the longer you wait, the higher the chances of losing your life. It’s thus essential to get prompt medical care. Call 911 or go to your nearest ER.
Nirvana’s Guide to Healthy Eating After Alcohol
At Nirvana Recovery, we’re committed to helping you manage post-alcohol wellness. Different people may experience different reactions to alcohol, and the following day may feel different for everyone. We understand the importance of addressing every individual’s unique challenges and providing help that suits their specific situation.
Our alcohol and mental health treatment programs help people struggling with alcohol use. Whether you’re trying to quit entirely or cut down your consumption, we’re here and ready to help. We believe in proper nutrition before, during, and after drinking alcohol and encourage it for people trying to quit or cut down their use. Our supportive community promotes understanding and makes every member feel safe and valued.
Nirvana is a trusted resource for balanced and mindful dietary practices after drinking alcohol. Reach out to our team at Nirvana Recovery today for more information on how we can help you.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Yes, it does. Here’s how:
Nirvana Recovery can support you in the following ways: