The 7 Surprising Health Benefits of Drinking Lemon Water

Lemon water is in the headline these days.

The moment you step into restaurants, you are served a glass of lemon water. The moment some people wake up, the first drink that they would reach out for is not coffee or tea, but a glass of lemon water!

There’s no doubt that the benefits of lemons are prominent, but are there any benefits to adding lemon juice to your plain water? Is it really necessary?

Lemon water is not only refreshing that helps brighten up your day, but its popularity is also tied to the fact that it’s a great source of vitamin C! As a result, this drink is picked by many for its immune-boosting abilities such as having antibacterial and antiviral properties.

So should we start adding lemon juice to water?

To answer that, let’s uncover the benefits of drinking lemon water and understand why this drink is preferred to regular plain water!

In this article, we will be covering:

What Are Lemons?

Popular for its sour taste profile, the yellow oval-shaped citrus fruit lemon grows on evergreen trees and is cultivated commercially around the world. Lemons thrive in mild, warm tropical climates like Mexico, Turkey, California, and India.

Rarely eaten raw, lemons are added to recipes such as baked goods and desserts in the form of lemon juice to introduce brightness and depth to the overall flavor. They are also used to finish sauces or as an accompaniment to fish and poultry.

This bright yellow citrus fruit is harvested during several months of the year, which makes it available year-round in many parts of the world. This also explains the relatively low prices that they are being charged to consumers like you!

What is Lemon Water?

Now that we know what lemons are, lemon water is just a beverage made by combining water with lemon juice! Other optional ingredients which you can add to tailor your lemon water to your personal preferences, would be ginger, cucumber, strawberry, or mint!

So what are the benefits of drinking lemon water?

Research has unearthed a number of benefits of drinking lemon water for immune health, energy levels, and of course weight loss.

In fact, it’s due to these health reasons that lemon water has become a popular choice among dieters. In addition, adding lemon juice to your glass of regular water can help bump up the flavor while providing lesser calories than sugar-sweetened beverages like commercial fruit juice or soda water.

How to Choose the Best Lemons From Your Local Market?

Before you grab any lemons that you see on your local market shelf, make sure you know that it’s a fresh lemon that you have chosen.

How do I choose fresh lemons?

Choosing the best lemons from your local market for your kitchen use shouldn’t be a complicated task. Follow these tips for those who want to know how to pick the lemons!

Favorite Lemon Recipes

Lemons are usually introduced late into the cooking process of the dishes as a flavor enhancer instead of being one of the core ingredients. The following list of main recipes is a few inspirations that involve lemons, using them as side ingredients to brighten up the overall taste profile of dishes.

Classic lemon bars
Seabass with fennel, lemons & capers
Chicken Francaise with lemon reduction

The 6 Health Benefits of Drinking Lemon Water

One of the most common ways to reap the health benefits of lemon is by juicing it. Research has unveiled many benefits of drinking lemon water for weight loss, energy levels, and more. Here’s what you need to know:

Aids in Digestion and Detoxification
Keeps Skin Glowing
Promotes Weight Loss
Increases Iron Absorption
Boosts Energy & Mood
Enhances Immunity
Prevents Kidney Stones

Aids in Digestion and Detoxification

Besides being one of the top foods of vitamin C, drinking lemon water often can also aid in digestion and detoxification.

How is that so?

Lemon water tricks the liver into producing bile, which helps keep food moving through your body and intestinal tract smoothly. All these are due to the similarity between the atomic structure of lemon water and the digestive juices found in the stomach.

The citric acid found in lemon water has also been shown to protect liver function and prevent oxidative damage, helping the liver to detoxify more efficiently.

Drinking lemon water also helps keep you hydrated to promote excretion regularity, thus making you feel less bloated and allowing your body to detoxify. Lemon water also acts as a mild diuretic, which means you might find yourself using the bathroom more often. This can actually be beneficial as it helps the urinary tract clear out unwanted waste & toxins.

Keeps Skin Glowing

For many who are conscious of having more unexpected wrinkles growing on their face, here’s a piece of good news!

Antioxidants found in vitamin C provide a host of benefits for the skin. They fight free radical damage and prevent oxidative damage, helping to keep your skin looking fresh and slowing down aging.

Getting enough vitamin C also aids in the production of collagen, which is essential in smoothing out fine lines on the face. In a study published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, regularly having vitamin C led to younger-looking skin and fewer wrinkles!

Promotes Weight Loss

This should not come as a surprise to many as staying well-hydrated is crucial to any weight loss plan!

Why is that so?

Drinking water with a meal can help reduce feelings of hunger while increasing satiety to overcome cravings. In fact, one study has shown that drinking two glasses of water affects subjective feelings of hunger and satiety during the meal.

And yes, the benefits of drinking lemon water far extend to helping you lose weight too!

Increases Iron Absorption

benefits of lemon water increase iron-absorption

As we all know, iron is an incredibly important mineral for your body. It is one of the main components of hemoglobin, which is found in the red blood cells and provides the body with the oxygen that it needs.

If you are a vegan or vegetarian, you are at a higher risk for iron deficiency. This is especially true when vegetarian diets are devoid of iron since they are diets that lack animal products, all of which are great sources of the mineral.

How does lemon water help increase iron absorption?

Vitamin C in lemon water can help enhance iron absorption and prevent conditions related to iron deficiency such as anemia.

Citrus fruits, peppers, and berries are great sources of vitamin C and make a good addition to your daily diet plans to boost your iron absorption!

Boosts Energy Levels & Mood

It is said that lemon water can boost energy levels without the caffeine crashes.

How does that work out?

Our bodies get energy from the atoms and molecules in food. When negatively charged ions enter your digestive tract, like those in lemons, the result is a natural increase in energy levels.

Prevents Kidney Stones

benefits of lemon water prevent kidney-stones

Kidney stones are a condition caused by the formation of small, hard deposits in the kidneys, causing kidney stone symptoms like back pain, and blood in the urine.

Not to worry as here’s a piece of good news: lemons are loaded with citric acid, which can increase urine volume to help fight off kidney stones. It is said that drinking enough water can help promote proper hydration to flush out kidney stones.

Enhances Immunity

That’s right – you might have guessed the last benefits of drinking lemon water correctly. Drinking lemon water does indeed enhance your immunity!

Vitamin C plays a central role in many aspects of your health, especially when it comes to immunity. In fact, getting enough vitamin C can help decrease the severity and duration of respiratory infections such as flu or pneumonia.

Adding lemon juice to your daily glasses of regular plain water is one of the best ways to take advantage of the many benefits of lemon water, especially vitamin C.

Nutritional Value of Lemon Water

Lemons are loaded with vitamin C, and boast many health benefits. In fact, just one cup of fresh lemon water provides about 187 percent of your daily recommended serving of vitamin C!

Wondering what other vitamins and minerals a cup of lemon water contains? Here are some figures:

61 calories
21 grams carbohydrates
0.9 gram protein
1 gram dietary fiber
112 milligrams vitamin C (187 percent DV)
303 milligrams potassium (9 percent DV)
31.7 micrograms folate (8 percent DV)
0.1 milligrams vitamin B6 (6 percent DV)
0.1 milligrams thiamin (5 percent DV)
14.6 milligrams magnesium (4 percent DV)
0.1 milligrams copper (4 percent DV)

The Disadvantage of Drinking Lemon Water Daily

“Drinking a glass of lemon water every morning makes you healthy!”

While there are health benefits to this morning ritual, it may not exactly always be true to this claim.

Why is that so?

Rather than reaping the health benefits of better digestion and boosted digestion, there is also a dark side to this tip (just like many other things in life). One of the major side effects of drinking lemon water often could be heartburn and acid reflux.

For some people, especially those experiencing acid reflux, drinking lemon water may not be a good idea as it may worsen acid reflux symptoms. Eating foods that are acidic, whether it’s lemon water, tomatoes, or oranges, can trigger reflux symptoms.

However, this definitely does affect everyone. If you don’t feel that burning effect after drinking lemon water, then committing to drinking it every day could boast many health benefits, such as maintaining proper hydration and helping support overall health!

Risks & Side Effects of Using Lemon Water

Acids in lemon can eat away at your tooth enamel. Hence, to prevent this do drink lemon water before brushing your teeth – the overnight bacteria will protect your teeth a bit.

Additionally, there have been cases of citrus fruit allergies, particularly to oranges, mandarins, and grapefruits. If you experience any food allergy symptoms like hives, redness, itching, or swelling, stop consuming and consult with your doctor immediately!

In Conclusion

Lemons are citrus fruits famed for their bright yellow and oval shape physical characteristics, along with their sour taste profile! Because of that, they are highly sought after for their use in cooking and baking to add on that refreshing, light, and zesty flavor, whether it’s in the form of a slice or wedge or juice.

You could also straight up juice the lemons and drink to take advantage of its numerous health benefits, most notably is the ability to detoxify the liver and flush out potential toxins! What’s more not to drink about lemon water?

Let us know in the comment section down below if you incorporate papaya into your daily diet!

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