Cures for holiday hangovers

This is the time of year when even health-conscious hard-liners roll off their yoga mats and indulge in a little hedonism. Face it; the month of December is a potential quagmire for the wellness minded. Office parties, family get-togethers and frequent cocktail hours collide to create a glut of temptation that can undermine even the most disciplined lifestyle.

After all, who isn't sorely tempted to overindulge in the luxurious pleasures of silky liqueurs and buttery desserts?

You can also blame some of it on stress. This is the season when you're spending time you don't have cooking, baking, shopping for things you may not find and socializing a lot -- sometimes with people you don't care for. The result: you might seek comfort in food or drink -- even though experts say this only succeeds in making you feel worse.

But take heart. If last year's festivities left you feeling bloated and grumpy from overindulging on your mom's shortbread, there's still hope for you this year. If it was the booze that did you in, I'll debunk some popular hangover prevention myths and provide some soothing tonics to counteract your temporary bingeing behaviour.

Healing hangover hazes
As everyone knows, even a moderate drinker can veer from normal drinking patterns under holiday pressure to "celebrate" the season. In our family, my cheeky sportswriter father, John Robertson, likes to refer to New Year's Eve as "Amateur Night." According to him, a notorious imbiber turned teetotaler, that's when many of the less practised drinkers used to horn in on his binge-drinker's turf.

I credit maternal guilt, rather than paternal example, for keeping me healthy and sane. My holiday hangovers were often short in duration, or nonexistent, due to the dreaded anticipation of my mother, Betty's, ire. The thought of her Hoover Upright vacuum banging loudly against my bedroom door on New Year's Day (when she surmised I'd likely overindulged the night before) was the best preventive cure for hangovers I've encountered. If you don't have a Betty in your life, indulge yourself with these tips and advice before (and after) you drink.