Alcohol, An Intelligent Choice

zaca    hangovers     alcohol brain cells

As proven by world genius alcoholics as Edgar Allen Poe, Oscar Wilde, and Alexander the Great, alcohol use and mental deficit are hardly related.  The notion that drinking alcohol causes a canyon’s load of dead brain cells is a debunked myth and scare tactic with roots starting during prohibition.

Several recent studies have shown that alcohol, in fact, has a positive effect on cognitive function, just ask Earnest Hemmingway.  According to the Whitehall study, those who moderately drink alcohol on a regular basis, which could mean four or five bottles of wine in the week, have sharper mental processes.  The theory behind these brain boosting benefits involves an increased blood flow to the brain with alcohol consumption.  6,000 civil servants were tested on their short term memory and mathematical reasoning.  The scores were cross matched with their lifetime drinking habits.  Those who abstained from alcohol were two times as likely as light drinkers for achieving the lowest test scores.

In Italy, over 15,000 men and women over 65 were tested on mental impairments commonly associated with older age.  29% of those who practiced abstinence from alcohol showed signs of mental degradation, while only 19% of those who regularly used alcohol showed similar symptoms.  In Toronto, similar research with women in their 70s showed akin results.  Moderate drinkers outperformed abstainers on five of seven mental cognition tests conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health.  Additionally, the combined score of all seven tests ranked dramatically higher for the ladies who love libations.

None of these test results are congruent with the effects of alcohol abuse, only of those who practice moderation.

Headache, nausea, and all the other fun symptoms of a hangover may make you feel as though you’ve killed half your brain cells, but what you really need is a good hangover remedy and to start preparing for your TED talk, great lectures don’t write themselves.

Wasted Guy vs Flip Flop

zaca    Funny     Wasted Guy vs Flip Flop

The guy is so wasted at Coachella 2010 he can’t get his flip-flops on. haha

Eggs-Over-Hangover: You May Want to Eat Breakfast After Partying

zaca    hangovers     breakfast, cysteine, eggs, hangover

It’s 1 am.  You and your friends are drunk and watching videos of kittens stuck in paper bags on YouTube.  It’s late, but there is no denying the egalitarian decision that the best possible option for everyone is a three-egg Denver Omelet with sausage links a-la-carte. Your compulsion to hit up the 24-hour diner down the street may be more complex than your unrelenting desire for pork sausage links, or the fact the wait staff there becomes dramatically more attractive when inebriated, but instead your subconscious informing you of your body craves the amino acid, Cysteine.

Cysteine is a non-essential amino acid, which can be created naturally in the human body, but is also found in such high protein diner delectables as sausage, lunch meat, chicken, eggs, turkey, cottage cheese, and yogurt. While you may feel like your corroding your arteries, feel rest assured you are protecting your liver.  Though cysteine is produced naturally in your body, after a night of overindulgence you are guaranteed to have over run your body’s natural supply of this toxin blocker.  When your body metabolizes alcohol, it produces the organic chemical compound of acetaldehyde, responsible for the more annoying effects of alcohol such as hangovers and liver damage.

Cysteine counteracts the toxic acetaldehyde by furthering its metabolism to form acetic acid, a relatively harmless compound found in vinegar.  Maybe not the best option for calorie counters, or Gremlins, but a smart way to keep your body equipped to battle the remainder of the evening and the impending daylight hours.  No need to worry about your Grand Slam killing your buzz, as cysteine has no relation to the direct effects of drunkenness; you can protect your good time at night, and your good morning with your late-night super snacking.

If you didn’t think ahead and hit up Denny’s on your drunken escapades, you may want to fry up some eggs and sausage in the morning to tackle the remainder of the alcohol, yet to be metabolized, plaguing your appreciation for sunlight.  Good news for Vegans is cysteine is not only located in animal products, but also granola, oats, broccoli, red peppers, brussels sprouts, onions, and garlic, maybe not popular items on the Denny’s menu, but most likely foods you have stored in your refrigerator or kitchen cupboards.

So, bottoms up with a side of eggs, and good morning tomorrow.

A Tall, Dark, Handsome Headache

zaca    hangovers     dark and light liquor

Baby, it don’t matter if you’re black or white, unless you are alcohol and I am the next morning.

The deliciously tall, dark, sexy beverages like red wine, bourbon, and brandy owe their rich, bold color to congeners, impurities produced as a by-product of fermentation.  While congeners produce the fine aromas and tastes to the rich bodies of dark liquors, they are also liable for the more undesirable attributes to alcohol, such as hangovers.

Acetone, more popularly associated with nail polish remover, acetaldehyde, the key culprit in liver damage from alcohol abuse, and tannins, which give red wine it’s astringently dry pucker, are just a few of the chemicals more present in dark colored alcohol.  Lighter liquors, like gin and vodka, contain less of these impurities, and as a result reportedly result in less uncomfortable hangovers.  The lack of congeners in such liquors is also why historically vodka and gin have been appraised for their “mask-ability,” leaving little smell on the breath and easily disguised in mixed drinks.  This difference is mainly attributed to the distilling process, as clear liquors will be distilled sometimes multiple times to strip these impurities, where darker liquors do not face such a dramatic distilling process, since congeners are a key facet in determining taste. read more

Zaca Donates to the Denver Twestival

zaca    Zaca News     concern worldwide, denver twestival, the lobby denver

You’re probably asking what the heck is Twestival?

It’s actually a very large involvement of people on Twitter who organize a social gathering in hundreds of cities worldwide, and the effort is to raise money for most poverty-stricken children around the world.  It’s a great opportunity to grab a few drinks, meet some new people and help children that live a harder life than we could ever imagine.

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