In the Western world, the go-to morning beverage is a cup of hot coffee, usually laden with cream, sugar, or flavor shots of some kind. However, health and wellness experts have been recommending their clients start their day with a simple preparation of fresh-squeezed lemon in hot water. It’s a cheap and tasty drink that has a number of benefits. In today’s wellness post, we discuss 13 more reasons why you should make the change.
- Restore your body’s electrolytes. Think you need to grab a bottle of sugary, neon-colored Gatorade to sort of your body’s electrolyte levels? Think again! Make a natural “lemon-ade” and give your body a healthy dose of potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
- Sooth your aching joints. Adding a cup of warm lemon water to your morning routine has been shown to reduce both joint and muscle pain. It’s an affordable and effective option for athletes who would otherwise have to spend money on anti-inflammatory supplements.
- Improve your digestion. The citric acid contained in lemon interacts with the various enzymes in your body to stimulate the secretion of gastric juices. This ultimately helps your body’s digestive efficiency, which makes a cup of warm lemon water the perfect compliment to a meal.
- Detoxifying your liver. Fresh lemon water will help your liver produce healthy enzymes that play a vital role in your digestion, weight loss, and overall health.
- Fight off respiratory problems. Lemon water has powerful anti-inflammatory properties that can help with achy throats and sore tonsils.
- Keep it regular. Lemon water helps to keep you regular, in part because of its incredible digestive properties.
- Fight off free radicals. Lemon is a powerful antioxidant. As a result, starting your day with lemon water can help protect your body from various cancer-causing free radicals while it strengthens your immune system.
- Combat symptoms of depression and anxiety. Anxiety and depression are often linked to potassium deficiencies. Lemon water is full of potassium, which means that starting your day with a fresh cup can actually improve your mental health.
- Regulate your blood pressure. Ingesting lemon water every day can reduce your blood pressure by upwards of 10%.
- Alkalize your body. Nutritionists have been analyzing the different impacts that alkaline and acidic foods have on our bodies for years, with some studies suggesting that an alkalized body is a hostile environment for cancer cells. Drinking lemon water every day will increase your alkalinity.
- Revitalize your skin. Lemon is packed with vitamin C, which is known to improve various skin conditions.
- Get rid of gout pain. Gout pain is mostly caused by a buildup of uric acid, which lemon water can mitigate. Lemon water helps dilute uric acid, and its anti-inflammatory properties will sooth you from inside-out.
- Dissolve problematic “stones.” Kidney stones, gallstones, pancreatic stones, and calcium deposits can all be dissolved more easily when you’re ingesting lemon water on a regular basis.
Check back with the Healthy Hub team soon for more lemon-based recipes to help you ingest even more of this miracle food.