Before we can really dig into the many benefits of why lemon water should be part of your daily routine, let’s get to know more about the fruit’s origins itself.
Why Citrus?
The citrus, or Rutaceae family is a genus of flowering trees and/or shrubs. This types of trees and shrubs produce fruits such as lemons, limes, and oranges. Typically, these plants are found natively in subtropical regions such as Southeast and East Asia as well as Australia and Melanesia. However, over many years these plants have been able to adapt to certain areas of the United States and thus we have been able to really enjoy the vitamin C they provide.
While adding numerous types of citrus fruits to your diet is beneficial, they all tend to supply you with the same things. For example, lemons, oranges, and even grapefruits are chalk full of phytonutrients. What are those?
Phytonutrients are a plants way to help them resist things like fungi, bacteria or other infections that may try to overtake them. Of course, not all phytonutrients are created equal. While some have been used in medicines, others are capable of being used as poison. The good news is that what we consume in our fruits are typically on the good side.
These compounds include carotenoids, flavonoids, and polyphenols and fall under the umbrella of antioxidants.
Health and Citrus
So, why should you choose citrus fruits? For starters, there is the obvious reason. They’re full of vitamin C. This then aids your body by boosting your immune system. How so? Well, it helps your body create white blood cells that are necessary in the fighting of infections. Granted, this isn’t to say that vitamin C alone will help you avoid the cold. However, it does tend to help you out.
Are you dealing with stress over whether your heart is healthy? Believe it or not these citrus fruits can also help with that. Certain soluble fibers and flavonoids play a role in raising health cholesterol while reducing the more harmful varieties.
Still need more reasons to include lemon water in your daily routine. What if I told you citrus fruits not only can help protect your brain from things like chronic inflammation but can also give your skin a boost as well. How? If you’re new to understanding how collagen works, vitamin C is a big player in that category. In other words, increasing your lemon water intake can help you reduce the signs of aging.
In any sense, increasing the citrus in your life is a great way to increase several vitamins and minerals in your body. Not only vitamin C either. Other vitamins and minerals include things like Vitamin A and B6 as well as magnesium and potassium as well.
Warm Lemon Water vs. Cold
Keep in mind that drinking lemon water on a daily basis is not necessarily the end all be all to a healthier lifestyle and body. It will require a great deal more than that. However, drinking lemon water whether in the morning or evening isn’t a bad idea either way. Why? For starters, if you start your day with lemon water instead of a cup of coffee, you’re more likely to increase your intake of water throughout the day. This can lead to increased oxygen and nutrient circulation throughout your cells.
Now, whether you need to drink it warm or cold is still up for debate. Why? Because the temperature of the water doesn’t really change much. However, it has been proven that cold water is absorbed that much faster than warm water.
Dental Health & Lemon Water
Fair warning for those that have sensitive teeth, lemon water daily may end up causing more problems for you. This is because lemons are highly acidic and can thus erode tooth enamel over time. Moral of the story being that if you decide to drink lemon water, don’t take your time. You’ll want to drink it on the faster side and rinse your mouth with regular water once you consume your drink for the day.
Preparing Your Lemon Water
Aside from the possibilities of causing erosion to your teeth, lemon water still can make a small difference in your daily routine and health. There are a couple of ways you can prepare your lemon water. The first being the pretty straight forward approach. In other words, grab a glass of water, slice up your lemon and throw those slices in.
Now, if you’re not one for having full slices of lemon in your water you could try the lemon juice route. This can either be done by slicing a lemon in half and then squeezing the juice into your water. Or you could buy lemon juice already pre-squeezed and put around a tablespoon or two into your glass of water.
If you want to be more on the fancy side of things. Or the idea of having straight lemon water sounds like pouring acid down your throat you could try this instead. Take some fresh mint leaves and mix it in with the lemon juice. The mint takes away from the sour taste of the lemons. This makes it easier to drink.
Other Uses
While lemon water is a great way to increase your water intake on your own. Sometimes you need a little more of a kick when it comes to getting sick. A tried and true method is to combine lemon water with a few other ingredients. Those ingredients include apple cider vinegar, honey, ginger, and cinnamon. Using this mixture when you feel a sore throat or cold coming on can make a huge difference in the duration of said cold.
The preparation for this mix is easy to do and will keep you healthy. For starters, you want to warm up your water. Then if you have fresh lemon, you’ll cut it half and squeeze the juice into the warm water. If you’re a slice person instead of a wedge, you could always toss the slice in after squeezing it.
Then you’ll want to take 2 tablespoons of honey and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and add it to your warm water. Top it off with some ground cinnamon and ginger and drink. One thing to keep in mind is that you’ll want to stir it frequently to make sure you don’t get a mouthful of the ground ingredients. Also, drinking it warm will give you the best outcome.
What if Lemon Water Doesn’t Work?
If you’re in need of something stronger than lemon water to boost your immune system then you’ll want to look at peptides. More specifically Thymosin Alpha 1. This particular peptide helps your body by increasing its killer T cells. These killer T cells can then do their job and get rid of whatever is causing you to be sick in the first place. You can get yours here from Paradigm Peptides.