Given the the fact we are down in Mexico at an all inclusive resort I guess it’s time to address the stumbling elephant in the room. Booze! Or more importantly what happens after the booze. The keto hangover.
It’s vacation season and chances are you are going to have a few drinks. Whether you are fully fat adapted or just a few weeks into your keto journey let me be 100% honest with you. It’s going to hurt.
Why A Keto Hangover is Different
When your body is running on fat and you suddenly introduce alcohol in large quantities a lot of changes take place. Because your body treats liquor like a foreign substance it suddenly goes into overdrive to get rid of it. That ties up your liver for an extended period of time. Your liver in ketosis is normally busy dealing with fat. But all of a sudden you have put some rum or tequila in the mix and your liver sounded the alarm.
That change alone could easily kick you out of ketosis, but isn’t the primary reason why you woke up the next morning feeling like a rhino ran over your head. That feeling boils down to a very simple reason… dehydration. Because we drink primarily hard liquor to keep the carbs down we often mix it with diet or sugar free soda (pop in Canada).
Electrolytes Might be the Key to the Keto Hangover
Those two together are flushing a tremendous amount of electrolytes out of your system that you are not replenishing at a quick enough rate. Dehydration and electrolyte imbalance can be an issue on keto at the best of times. When you start hitting the silly sauce you have compounded that problem. As alcohol is a diuretic pushing water through your kidneys and bladder at a much faster rate than your day to day life.
So now you have dehydration causing your kidneys and bladder to work harder. Along with your poor liver that is trying to sort this cluster out. With all that going on you’re bound to feel awful.
Wendy and I drunk and chubby in 2008
Oh yeah, and back to that diet pop. Good chance you’ve added an artificial sweetener you’re not used to in aspartame to the party. Your body, that you’ve been treating like a temple lately isn’t going to like that much. It will rebel by likely kicking you out of ketosis. Bring on the KETO FLU.
There is Help Out There for the Keto Hangover
Now there are some very practical ways to help with this. Drink water in between each drink to help with hydration. Maybe throw in an electrolyte drink like Gatorade Zero to get some salt back in your system. You could even take it easy and only have a few drinks.
This last one might be wise as you are going to be shocked at what a lightweight you have become on the drinking front. With your body allocating so many resources to getting rid of the booze you could be dancing on tables by drink number three.
Here’s the hard look at reality. Those above steps have never worked for me. None of them. Since I’ve been on keto, each and every time I drink I suffer like I bargained with beelzebub himself around a poker table. I vomit, my head pounds, and I feel like garbage for two to three days after. I am fairly lucky in the fact that liquor doesn’t seem to kick me out of ketosis. But that is the least of my worries the day after waking up from a night out.
Not Being a Big Drinker Obviously Helps
Fortunately I’m not a big drinker and only live it up a couple of times a year. So I can grin and bear it. The obvious solution to all of this is stop drinking, but ask yourself if that is realistic long term. We’re adults and have changed our lives drastically to undertake a keto lifestyle.
We need to find a balance to make it long term and part of that might be giving yourself permission to go out and have a few giggly pops with friends. It does help bring a sense of normalcy as most times you’re telling your friends things like “I can’t eat that,” or “I don’t do that anymore.” Have a drink, enjoy the holidays, but please be prepared for the morning after.
Oh and thank your liver for its service.
Take care my friends, Bill.
