From dehydration to gut health – we test the best products to combat festival fallout
FESTIVAL fun continues throughout August and although they are one of the greatest ways to spend your summer, they should also come with a bit of a health warning.
Many people are ill when they come home thanks to bugs, dehydration, and a lack of sleep and decent nutrition.
Today, I look at some of the ways to combat festival fallout . . .
DEHYDRATION
TO prevent dehydration caused by alcohol and hot weather, add electrolytes – mineral salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and potassium – into your water.
They support faster hydration by balancing the fluid throughout the body. Viridian’s Electrolyte Fix is a great option as it is a liquid while many are powders you have to whisk in.
Just 2.5ml turns any drink into an electrolyte-fuelled beverage.
Sourced from the Great Salt Lake, it contains no artificial fillers.
It costs £13.85 for 100ml, victoriahealth.com.
NUTRITION
PUTTING something in your backpack that can give you some decent fuel for breakfast following a day of partying isn’t a bad idea.
Bol Foods’s new Power Shakes are a 100 per cent nutritionally complete and plant-powered breakfast in a bottle.
Each bottle has at least 20g of protein to keep you full, plus 26 essential vitamins and minerals in each 410g bottle to boot.
Additionally, it has no added sugar, artificial sweeteners, colours, flavours or preservatives.
It comes in three flavours – vanilla, chocolate or salted caramel, which I loved, as it wasn’t overly sweet.
The drink is a mix of oat milk, banana puree, soya protein, dates, nut butter, coconut cream, vitamins, cornflour and natural flavourings.
Plus each bottle comes in at 229 calories and 2.8 per cent fat.
It costs £3.25 (or £2.25 with a Clubcard) at Tesco. See bolfoods.com.
GUT HEALTH
TAKING a regular probiotic tablet is a great idea for gut health but packing some kombucha, which will hydrate too, for a festival is a sensible idea.
Remedy Kombucha is perfect because it comes in a can while many are in a bottle, so it is really convenient.
Plus with their range of fruity flavours such as wild berry, peach and raspberry lemonade, they make great mixers too.
The drink is brewed for 30 days using water, sugar, black tea and green tea leaves using a traditional kombucha culture with natural flavourings.
But no sugar remains by the time you drink it thanks to the traditional long fermentation.
It is also raw, vegan and unpasteurised.
I love the new Orange Squeeze flavour: refreshing, fizzy, good for you and just four calories in each 250ml can.
It costs £1.53 per can, remedydrinks.co.uk.