One drink, you barely notice. Two drinks, you start to feel normal. And three drinks? Well besides the rowdiness and bullshit that begins around the table - you've all reached your tipping point apparently. The moment when you'll inevitably binge eat the next day.
New researchsays that drinking three large glasses of wine or four pints is the point after which you'll inevitably end up in Chicken Cottage on the way home and need to pick up a bacon sandwich and a Diet Coke (to drink later) on the way into work the next day. In other words, the point after which you're doomed to consume up to 6,300 extra calories that night and in the morning. Uh, oh.
The YouGov survey talked to 2,042 people and found that it's exactly 9.3 units of alcohol that leads you into the track of making unhealthy choices. (And they weren't talking about the boy you'll end up snogging). 1,476 calories of the extra calories you'll take in are from the alcohol, but an extra 2,829 is from the crap we eat as a result of said drunkenness the next day.
As nutritionist Fiona Hunter puts it: ‘Alcohol dissolves willpower. But more than that, if you go out for drinks straight from work, you will usually skip dinner. Alcohol is an appetite stimulant too – the more you drink, the hungrier you get. It also lowers blood sugar levels, making you even hungrier, hence the craving for a kebab on the way home from a night out.’
In our defence, access to healthy foods after midnight is something of a problem. But the morning after? Well somehow a yoghurt and fruit just never seems to be enough to motivate yourself to get out of bed and into work when you've had 2.5 hours sleep now, does it? ‘Again it’s down to low blood sugar,' says Fiona. 'Our bodies are programmed to seek out food when our blood sugar takes a dip. But let’s not also forget, when you feel at your grottiest, you’ll do anything to feel better, including indulge in your favourite bacon sarnies. There’s a reason why they call it comfort food.’
Now, we're not exactly here to dish out advice at this stage - have you seen our guide to getting through the day hungover at work? - but we did think to pick Fiona's brains for a few tips of how to avoid binge eating for those of you who have more sense than me. ‘If you know you’re going out drinking, just make sure you eat beforehand,’ advises Fiona. ‘A low-GI carb snack like oat cakes and peanut butter, yoghurt or a banana at about 5pm before a night out should keep hunger at bay and lessen your risk of binge eating.’ Life lessons, people. Life lessons.
Follow Tracy on Twitter @Tracy_Ramsden
Picture: Rory DCS
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.