Hangover : The ways to get around it --- The Sinner's Twist

Since when did Saints start writing about Alcohol and it’s after effects? How would they know? If they did, would they still have the saintly status?? Well, If you have not read it, here is the link…saint's tips .

Well since the Saint has ventured into an area unfamiliar to him, I thought it was my solemn duty to correctly inform general populace about a phenomenon called.. Hangover! Let’s first try and understand what is Hangover, before I tell you how to avoid them or cure them.

In Medical parlance (these medics think they know everything!) hangover is experiencing an unpleasant condition both physiologically and psychologically ( imagine.. they are already calling us psychos !!) following excessive drinking !! Ask them what is excessive drinking and you would probably draw a blank. ( see what I mean about medical science not being absolute).

Let’s now look at the symptoms as described in Medicinal studies.

1. Severe Headache:    What the hell ? I get the most severe ones when my wife starts nagging! I usually get one, when a righteous ( read: non-drinking) guest overstays their welcome!  Sometimes even when,  I wake up, when normal people do ! What the hell , I have even got one because of alcohol abstinence !!  You see there could be multiple reasons; why blame the poor alcohol for your faults?

2. Drowsiness:   Now that is even more common. Put me in a seminar/conference/lecture or even a documentary film ; I will exhibit this symptom spectacularly.

3. Lethargy and Listlessness:       Now , now this is taking things a bit far. I thought one drank to get over the lethargy and listlessness! ( this doesn’t make sense at all.. if you don’t believe me try this home experiment......Make a lethargic/listless person drink a couple of stiff drinks, and then turn up the music...... do let me know what happens then)

 

4. Nausea :     Does this apply to Men too ??  I always believed this happened not because of excessive drinking, but what one did afterwards… and only applied to women!( now I am confused!) Anyway, thinking logically, it could be body’s mechanism to throw out the unwanted stuff and thus make more room for booze!

Internet searches will give you plenty of (untested and non-scientific.. my opinion) solutions as a cure for hangovers. While some of them does work occasionally, practise them at your own peril.

Here are the most common ones.

a) Having fried or greasy food ( usually bacon) , fries and heavy carb food, will reduce the hangover instantly, the logic being  the fat absorbs away all the alcohol.

b) Tomato Juice or Grapefruit juice are rich in Lycopene, which acts against the congeners found in alcohol, thus overriding their effect.

c) Lemonade or yogurt, muesli (even lassi) cuts the alcohol level in the blood stream, thus easing the hangover away.

d) Eggs and Lean meat . they are full of proteins and Amino Acids that spruce up the liver function and eliminate the after effects of alcohol.

e) Nuts and fresh fruits, like kiwi and bananas are loaded with electrolytes and minerals which are lost due to the heavy drinking and subsequent dehydration. Supplementing them takes care of the resultant hangover.

f) Pills like the aspirin etc are also supposedly effective.

Well, to say the least, having tried all the above and must admit, they have their benefits. But if you really want  to avoid an hangover, you need to do what I do.. fight fire with fire ! Like the famous hindi saying goes “ Loha hi loha ko kaat ta hai”  .. Avoid Hangover --- Stay Drunk !!

The Gym Brigade - The Sinner's Venom !

Gym is a noun and not a verb! Workout is the verb associated with gyms. Anybody who understands the difference, understands the importance of the Gym. Going to Gym is not the qualifier  here,  while actively working out is!

Modern lifestyles, pollution, mechanization, junk (Fast) food, rampant abuse of everything natural and organic, have given birth to problems and diseases that were relatively unknown or rare earlier. Heart conditions, Back problems, respiratory problems, cancers, diabetes, kidney stones, blood pressures, vitamin deficiencies,  take your pick and you will probably be fighting  at least one.

Technology had made our lives easier,... or has it really??  When was the last time you climbed a couple of flight of stairs? or maybe just ran for a short distance ( maybe to catch a bus)?  when was the last time you stood in a queue? or gone to the local market in scorching sun ( vitamin D)? Imagine navigating through an airport without travellators and escalators !! Imagine washing your own clothes without a washing machine , or  even cleaning your own car... It has been conclusively proven that there is a direct connect between all these factors and the current spew of  ailments.

   

In times that we are living in, open fields, playgrounds, access to stadiums and swimming pools etc. are seriously limited to the fortunate few, who either have the financial muscle or proximity to these facilities. For others, there is the neighborhood Gym! Even with the 'biological residue' or 'dingy basements'  as, my very learned friend points out, I would take it, any day.   Not everybody can afford the swanky gyms on the high street or the star hotel.  I much rather take my chance with these biological residue than fighting a chronic back ailment. Of course I shall give them a sermon on basic hygiene standards.

In my humble opinion,  as far as Gym-habits go, most people can be divided into four categories.

Category A :    The Dumbass " Gymmer" .. these category goes to the gym for reasons that are completely " un reasonable".  These are boys and girls who idolize some celebrity with a great body, and hit the gym hoping to build a body like them. These category, chooses the most fancy gyms, pays extra for personal trainers, consume all kinds of body building 'powders" steroids included, in their quest to get the results as quickly as possible. . In their steroid-induced dumbness , they would spend hours in front of a mirror , flexing muscles, mapping each millimeter of muscle gain,  walking around with t-shirts that their kids should fit into, and post their  intolerable pictures all over social media. Again the Brown-bread, egg white consumers are these category. Their only, I repeat, ONLY expectation from this whole exercise is to somehow look good enough to attract some equally dumbass member of the opposite sex.  These are the variety who does everything  DK , said and more...

Category B  :  The Kick Ass "Gymmer"....  Now these are your serious gymmers. They do not care about the quality of the gym and the equipment , but only about the quality of the 'work-out" . This category worships their own body and counters all the abuse and the ill-effects of the modern day lifestyle by trying to fight them.... by staying fit . They understand the importance of  balance in 'R-E-D'..  In Gym parlance, it stands for  Rest-Exercise-Diet. These are the category who will be very cautious about what they put into their mouth and constantly check labels of all products. They would understand their own body metabolism and adjust the R-E-D accordingly. This is where any kind of nutrition supplementation comes in. Logic is very simple, If you are working  your ass off  in the gym and burning calories, then you need to put in enough fuel ( read protein, carbs and vitamins) for your body to be able to counter the effect of heavy workout. The motivation here is not to build a body for others, but for self preservation.

Category C : The Non-Gymmer;   this is the category who cant be bothered. they are too lazy or indifferent about themselves to bother looking towards a workout regime. They usually have excuses by the dozen, as to why, they cant work out, common one being, " too busy with work/studies" , physical disability or ailments, and of course nature of the job, bad experience etc . This Category normally is so far away from a fit body that they feel, no matter how much they work out, it will not be possible to get back to shape. Interestingly, most people in this category will also live in denial or on past glory ! " In my school days I used to be a Gymnast / cricketer/  long distance runner" .This category normally has huge beer bellies and body fat to make a hippo shy!! The only strong muscle they have is in their jaws !!

Category D : The Non-Conformist Preacher ;  This is the most dangerous category. These are guys have disdain for anything new or "western" as a concept. Their natural reaction is to look at everything with disdain and doubt the core philosophy. Not only will they reject the idea of a gym, they will also influence every body within their span of influence. This category normally preaches about the ill-effects and negatives without fair consideration and put the scare of God in all the fence sitters. They confirm to Kejriwal's philosophy of Anarchism!!

Finally, Not all food supplements out there are harmful.  It is multi-billion dollar industry world wide and huge amount of money and research have been spent on researching these products. Food supplementation as the name suggests is only to "supplement" dietary requirements that cannot be fulfilled by consumption of normal food. Nobody disputes the intake of "natural and organic" diet. However, if a person is going through a heavy workout and needs lets say 160 gms of protein supplementation, he would probably be required to have 30 eggs, or maybe 2 kgs of dal or maybe two -three whole chicken. This requirement can be easily supplemented by a protein Isolate powder. the reason despite "working-out" all day, ploughing fields the laborer does not develop bulging muscles, is because they probably do not get enough supplementation for the kind of nutrition their body requires. Look at the physique of the Kenyan long distance runners.

Like all products, there are several cheap imitations and harmful fakes out there in the market. These are normally aggressively marketed by smart marketers, who  mislead and trap the gullible "Category A" to by these products.

Bottom line “beware of marketers" .. What do you say ?

"every saint has a past & every sinner has a future"