We do not assure you that continue to eat a hearty plate of food after partying and having more than one drink, but at least you will discover that there is a scientific explanation for that “low” that you enjoy so much.
In English it is called “drunchies”, in Spanish, “resaca” and in Chilean, simply the “bajón”. It’s about that insatiable desire to eat something strong when you’re drunk.
That’s because when you party or just decide to drink alcohol, you reach a level where there’s no going back and you’re definitely drunk.
This is when your stomach tells you that it’s hungry and you go straight for whatever food source is available. It can be whatever you have in the fridge, you prepare anything or, if you can, you go out to buy the nearest gas station.
If you’ve ever been drunk, you’ve probably experienced this feeling. But why does it happen? That is the question that scientists asked themselves and they found the explanation.
Rene Roa | Pexels
The Comedown: Why I Want to Eat When I’m Drunk
After an afternoon or evening where alcohol was involved, people who are intoxicated to the point of being drunk are likely to be attacked by a ravenous hunger that they did not feel when they drank liquids with a considerable ethyl content.
But, the usual question is why this happens. This was consulted by researchers who published a study in Nature Communications addressing this question.
What they discovered is that when you’re hungry, technically you shouldn’t blame alcohol, but rather your brain.
According to the scientific publication, “ the central elements of the brain’s feeding circuits, hypothalamic Agrp neurons, which are normally activated by hunger and cause intense hunger, show electrical and biochemical hyperactivity when exposed to dietary doses of ethanol in brain slices”.
That is, your brain thinks that you are literally starving, and it sends you signals to eat the first thing you find in order to fill yourself up.
But the signals that your brain sends are very specific and it is going to make a radical decision, it will go straight to fats, salt and carbohydrates, because even if you are trying to eat healthy or on a diet, alcohol will not allow your brain think about that and go straight to this type of food.
We know that when you’re drunk, a bacon burger and fries are the best dish you could eat.
Ccottonbro studio | Pexels
It is possible to avoid a “slump” full of fat
Believe it or not, there are several options to avoid foods full of fat, salt or carbohydrates while you’re drunk, but most refer to planning before those extra drinks.
Healthline quotes Dr. Chirag Shah, an emergency medicine physician and medical reviewer for PollMed, who says that the best option is to avoid foods that cause temptation when your brain is not working at its best.
Shah notes that “it’s much harder to eat something that’s not readily available,” adding that “keep healthy snacks in place.” If you end up eating something, at least give yourself the option to eat something that isn’t so unhealthy.
The problem occurs when it’s often, in the opinion of nutritionist Suzanne Dixon, people look for the worst foods to eat when drunk, indicating that “drinking can cause you to overeat junk food, which is likely to make you high weight over time, but the problem is even worse than that”
What he means is that when you are drinking alcohol you are already consuming calories, considering that per gram it has 7 calories and, therefore, Therefore, it is much closer to being fat than other foods. If you mix that with caloric drinks and high-fat foods, the combination will be a bomb for your body.
The professional recommends that, to avoid falling into temptation and adding thousands of calories to your body every weekend, you avoid drinking alcohol to the point of getting drunk.
Pressmaster | pexels
In this way you will avoid the changes in your brain that tell you “I am very hungry” and so you can take care of your body from overeating.
The slump is not only at night, but also the next day
In the food industry a few years ago the famous “brunch” appeared, which mixes breakfast and lunch in a single meal that you can even accompany with mimosas.
This caught the attention of Jessica Kruger, PhD, clinical assistant professor of community health and healthy behavior at the University at Buffalo, who sought to study the effects of alcohol consumption on the eating habits of college students.
The study confirmed that only 14% of those surveyed would skip breakfast or “brunch” after a night of partying where they ended up drunk. This is because the next day the desire to eat fatty food or carbohydrates continues.
Hence the popular “brunch” They began to grow in the restaurant industry, since they mix the best for a hangover the day before, adding a breakfast and lunch in the same meal, the New York Post reported.
Lucie Liz | Pexels
Another important point that makes people access this type of food is the belief that eating will take away your hangover; however, Kruguer assures that it is just a myth.
“There are stories that fatty foods can absorb all this alcohol, when in fact none of them work… The only way to get over a hangover is to not have one in the first place: drink less alcohol and drink more water.”
A tip that will help you if you want to avoid that hangover or get out of the healthy eating routine when you drink alcohol.