Abundant in health benefits, lemons are rich in vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, potassium, iron, calcium and magnesium. You can easily make use of these health benefits by simply adding lemon to your water. However, you should be careful as lemon juice can potentially damage your tooth enamel. Luckily, this can easily be avoided by diluting the lemon juice with lukewarm water.
Lose weight
Due to the high content of pectin fiber, lemons are especially beneficial for preventing hunger cravings, and thus promoting weight loss. Plus, lemon juice improves digestion because it stimulates the production of bile, which breaks down food during digestion. Regular intake of lemon water can cleanse your liver too, which is quite important due to the fact that the liver breaks down fat and secretes bile. These things together can stimulate weight loss over time.
By making this amazing morning elixir, you can further improve your weight loss efforts.
Morning Lemon Elixir
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of water at room temperature
- juice from 1 lemon
- 1 tsp raw organic apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp raw organic honey
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger root or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Boost your immune system
Lemon water can do wonders for your immune system and your lymphatic system, which work together in order to eliminate pathogens. Lemon water cleanses the lymph, which in fact collects all the toxins in your body, and is stored by the lymphatic nodes. Plus, the antibacterial properties of lemon are extremely beneficial in times of flue and colds.
Reduce inflammation
Due to the anti-inflammatory properties of lemons, you can successfully relieve inflammation by simply adding lemon juice to your water. These medicinal properties of lemons are also beneficial for reducing acidity which is the number one cause of tissue inflammation. Although lemon juice is acidic outside of the body, it becomes alkaline when digested. These alkaline properties reduce acidity, and therefore inflammation.
No matter how you include lemons in your water, whether sliced or juiced, it’s important to use organic lemons that haven’t been treated with chemicals. Also, stay away from lemon juice concentrate sold in stores because these pre-bottled juices are packed with additives, including preservatives that have adverse impact on your health. This is also due to the fact that processing during production destroys natural enzymes, vitamins and antioxidants found in lemon juice. That’s why fresh-squeezed lemons are the best choice.
It’s recommended to start by using 1/4 of a lemon (juice) in an 8-ounce cup of water. Gradually increase the amount to one lemon per 8 ounces. At first, the lemon water will taste bitter or sour when you taste it, which is normal, but after a few days the lemon water will start tasting sweet, like lemonade. This is because your body’s pH is becoming less acidic.
Source: Living Traditionally
