We’ve all been there. We have a good dinner. We get ready. Pregame with our friends and head to the bars. After a long, hard night of drinking and throwing back all those shots we’re overcome with this vivacious appetite. A hot slice of pepperoni pizza sounds like heaven or maybe an order of pokey sticks to hit the spot. Or what about some hot wings and to pair with that some waffle fries? The cravings never stop. Yes, people I’m talking about the “drunchies.” Now what exactly is the “drunchies?”According to Her Campus the drunchies best refers to the large, mindless consumption of mood which is usually unhealthy and in large portions. Drinking takes away our ability to make proper decisions so it’s not wonder we eat the way we do because we don’t really know what we’re fully doing. According to Dr. Jennifer Wider she explains on Her Campus that they’re are several theories as to why we drunk eat. The number one reason why we drunk eat according to Dutch researchers is that they found that,” It actually takes people longer to feel full when they drank alcohol… that their bodies didn’t recognize the alcohol calories as much as calories from other sources like protein.” This theory would explain whole lot considering the fact that I can usually eat for a family of 12 when I’m drunk. The second theory behind drunchies, Dr. Ria Gilday and author of Healthy Weight Loss: Easy, Fast, Safe explains that since alcohol is technically sugar which causes it to be absorbed into our bloodstream spiking our insulin. When our insulin is spiked our, our blood sugar levels drop causing to crave even more sugar and fats which in turn exacerbate the entire situation. Dr Ria Gilday further explains,” We mainly crave carbohydrates when drunk is because “those are the foods that will provide fast relief of the symptoms associated with low blood glucose levels.”

Due to the fact that drinking enhances our production of salt that’s why food, especially the unhealthy kinds always taste better when we’re drunk versus sober. Now while this may be a true statement about how delicious food tastes late night, drunk eating has is disadvantages  as well. The more calories=more weight gain. To metabolize alcohol you need a huge amount of vitamins and minerals so the only thing your body can do is store it as fat Alcohol has enough calories by itself so avoiding the only late night drunchies is most preferred. We can prevent this from happening though by being very cautious and putting in a concentrated effort before grabbing our phone to order Canyon Pizza. Dr. Ria has to drink a lot of water before and after you consume alcohol to dilute the blood concentration of alcohol. So next time you’re back from a late night remember to down the water so you can avoid the the notorious question in the morning, “Did I drunk eat? Please say no.”