Enjoy Happy and Healthy Benefits of Drinking Lemon Water–
When I think of what fruit makes me feel the happiest, I would put lemons on the top of the list. One reason is obvious. They have a happy bright yellow color like the sun. The other is I have many happy childhood memories I associate with lemons. Whenever I saw a big pile of lemons on the kitchen counter, I knew my mother was going to let me put out my lemonade stand! We had fun getting out my arts and crafts and poster board material to make my “lemonade for sale” sign. Then my mom would help me get my lemonade inventory prepared in a big pitcher. We would set up my stand and the best part was serving my curb side customers a cup of fresh lemonade and receiving a nickel in return! I felt like I was making them happy and they were certainly making me happy with each additional nickel I added to my money jar.
Then later when I was in college, I worked as a waitress at the Jordan Pond House in Acadia National Park. One of our customers’ favorite items on the menu was fresh lemonade served with a sprig of fresh mint. Hundreds of people ordered it every day. I learned that everyone loves fresh squeezed lemonade, especially served with a pretty garnish!
Lemon Water Makes Us HAPPY
As a mom, my sons’ go-to drink when we went out to eat at a nice restaurant was always lemonade— and it had to be fresh! Happy sons make happy moms! So, lemons bring me so many happy memories that I like to keep a big bowl of them on my kitchen counter. I often see a bowl of lemons in decorating magazines or even in classic still life paintings. No wonder they are there—artists and designers know lemons make us happy. But now I’m learning much more about lemons—their amazing health benefits! I’ve begun making a habit of adding a lemon to my first glass of water each day. Here’s why.
Lemon Water Makes Us HEALTHY
Here are some of the top 10 lemon water health benefits I’ve discovered that keep me motivated to start each day with a glass of lemon water.
1. Provides an Immune System Boost
Lemons have plenty of vitamin C, antioxidants and other nutrients that improve immune system function. This helps avoid colds and the flu, and it helps fight infection in general. It also protects against oxidative stress that promotes a host of diseases.
2. Helps Dental Health
Along with good oral hygiene, lemon water prevents gingivitis from setting in or becoming worse. Gingivitis is one of those nasty dental problems that can come with aging if we don’t take proper oral care.
3. Helps with Cleansing the Kidneys
Good hydration is good for the kidneys and adding lemon to water makes this effect even more powerful. Apparently, this is because lemon water has a diuretic effect. The citric acid in lemon water helps prevent or flush out kidney stones.
4. Keeps Body Hydrated
If you don’t like the taste of plain water, adding a lemon to it makes it tasty and fun to drink. This helps you stay hydrated because if you enjoy it, you’ll keep drinking more of it.
5. Helps with Weight Loss or Reduce Weight Gain Can Help
A study shows that mice given lemon water, along with a high-calorie diet, didn’t gain as much weight as mice that were fed just plain water with the same food. This study implies that it will make your weight-control efforts easier.
6. Makes Skin Look Better
Good hydration is very important for keeping your skin healthy. By chugging a glass of lemon water first thing in the morning, I know I’m helping my skin, and making it part of my daily anti-aging regimen.
7. Helps with Digestion
Lemon water can improve bowel motion, thereby reducing constipation. Keeping normal movement is important to feeling good, and lemon water is more convenient and appetizing than other things that are often recommended for gastrointestinal health.
8. Improves the Breath
Lemons have a strong, natural deodorant effect, so drinking some lemon juice with water improves the smell of the breath.
9. Supports Heart Health and Nerve Communication
Lemons have plenty of essential nutrients. Along with vitamin C, lemons provides electrolytes like magnesium and potassium, critical for heart health and nerve communication. This makes lemon water almost like a sports drink, but without all the calories.
10. Helps Fight Inflammation
The anti-inflammatory properties of lemons are obtained when drinking lemon water each day. The natural ingredients in lemon water help reduce joint and muscle pain, inflammation in general, irritation from gingivitis, and more.
Lemon Water is a Fun and Happy Way to Improve Health
Lemon water is simple to prepare. You can have fun with it. You can mix it up and be creative— adding other fresh sweet, spicy or savory ingredients such as mint, basil, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric.
Lemon Water Recipe
Ingredients
- Organic fresh lemon
- Natural spring water
- Optional add-ons: mint, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, basil
Directions
- Pour warm water into a glass.
- Squeeze half a lemon for each 8-ounce glass
- Add favorite garnish.
Suggestions
Some experts mention that the lemon water should be warm, and that it is the warmth that produces much of the digestive system benefits of the mixture. It is also noted that the lemon juice should come from fresh, real lemons, ideally organic lemons. Lemon water made with fresh lemon is better for boosting the immune system function because some phytonutrients in lemons degrade with processing. Some people caution that too much citric acid from lemons can harm the enamel on teeth. But as long as you don’t suck on lemons every day, that should not be a problem.
Grace Notes
Try sipping lemon water with a colorful paper straw and feel like a kid again.
Good luck trying lemon water as a daily habit! You can turn lemons into more than lemonade! Turn lemons into lemon-AID and enjoy the health benefits and happy feelings they can bring. Let me know how it works for you!
Enjoy and Live Well with Zest!
Bev xo
Written by Bev Hope
Reviewed by Board Certified MD
