How to Get Rid of Alcohol in Your Body
A late night of partying and consuming alcohol can have a detrimental effect on your body. While a moderate amount of alcohol, such as a glass of red wine, may have positive health benefits, drinking too much alcohol can make you feel sluggish, painful and result in long-term health problems like cirrhosis of the liver. While time is the only way to truly rid your body of alcohol, there are other ways to rid your body of the toxins that accompany alcoholic drinks.
Drink 8 glasses, 8 oz. each, of water and other liquids. This will increase your urine flow, which in turn will help your body rid itself of toxins.
How Do You Get Alcohol Out of the Body?
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Take natural diuretics such as tea and cranberry juice. Green tea, herbal tea, nettle and dandelion tea, as well as natural cranberry juice, all help cleanse the kidneys of toxins.
Eat foods like beets, oats and other natural grains to help absorb alcohol and other toxins 1. Beets contain dietary fiber which encapsulates proteins and fatty acids in your urine. Oats, which can be consumed in traditional oatmeal form, contain silica, which is a natural diuretic 1. They also absorb toxins and expel them through excrement.
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Allow your body time to detoxify and metabolize the alcohol in your system 1. Ultimately, you can remove toxins from your body through eating and drinking diuretics and substances that absorb and expel toxins, but it may still take up to three hours for your body to remove just one drink from your body, depending on your gender and size. Allow ample time to recover and let your body metabolize alcohol, based on the amount of alcohol you drank.
Tips
Drinking alcohol in moderation, or drinking water in between drinks, can help to reduce the time it takes to eliminate alcohol from your body.
Warnings
Never try to cheat a drug or alcohol test, as the repercussions can be detrimental.
Related Articles
References
- Global Healing Center: Nutritional Programs for Alcohol Detoxification
- Taylor B, Rehm J. The relationship between alcohol consumption and fatal motor vehicle injury: high risk at low alcohol levels. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2012;36(10):1827-34. doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.2012.01785.x
- Ferré S, O'Brien MC. Alcohol and caffeine: The perfect storm. J Caffeine Res. 2011;1(3):153-162. doi:10.1089/jcr.2011.0017
- Stornetta A, Guidolin V, Balbo S. Alcohol-derived acetaldehyde exposure in the oral cavity. Cancers (Basel). 2018;10(1):20. doi:10.3390/cancers10010020
- Hadland SE, Levy S. Objective testing: Urine and other drug tests. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2016;25(3):549-65. doi:10.1016/j.chc.2016.02.005
- Stewart SH, Koch DG, Willner IR, Randall PK, Reuben A. Hair ethyl glucuronide is highly sensitive and specific for detecting moderate-to-heavy drinking in patients with liver disease. Alcohol Alcohol. 2013;48(1):83-7. doi:10.1093/alcalc/ags109
- Fillmore MT, Jude R. Defining "binge" drinking as five drinks per occasion or drinking to a .08% BAC: which is more sensitive to risk? Am J Addict. 2011;20(5):468-75. doi:10.1111/j.1521-0391.2011.00156.x
- American Association for Clinical Chemistry. Ethanol. 2018.
- Cederbaum A. Alcohol metabolism. Clinics in Liver Disease. 2012;16(4):667-685. doi:10.1016/j.cld.2012.08.002
- LabCorp, Inc. Drugs of Abuse Reference Guide. 2007.
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Alcohol Metabolism: An Update. Alcohol Research & Health. 2007;30(1).
Tips
- Drinking alcohol in moderation, or drinking water in between drinks, can help to reduce the time it takes to eliminate alcohol from your body.
Warnings
- Never try to cheat a drug or alcohol test, as the repercussions can be detrimental.
Writer Bio
Adam Johnson has been writing for online publications since 2008 and in his capacity as a Freedom of Information Act professional since 2002. Johnson holds a Bachelor of Arts in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and a Master of Arts in international commerce and policy from George Mason University.