Amazing Health Benefits of Lemon and Lemon Water
The health benefits of lemon water include improved heart health, reduced risk of cancer, reduced cholesterol level, boosting the immune system, relief from stomachaches. It also aids in skincare and the treatment of scurvy.
Lemon water — it’s just lemon juice and water! So how healthy can the two-ingredient drink be? You’ll be surprised. There’s no doubt we’ve ignored lemon water for too long. For its nutrition, health benefits, and hydration properties, there are just a few better drinks than lemon water for your health.
Here’s all you need to know about lemon water and its key ingredient: lemons, from health benefits to a few neat recipes you can make today. Let’s make lemon water part of our lives. Do you want to know why? Because it’s incredibly good for you — and it’s tasty! Here’s what you need to know.
Lemon Nutrition Facts
First things first. How nutritious are lemons? Well, it turns out the citrus fruit is exceptionally nutrient-rich, and that’s a great start. Here are lemon’s most notable nutritional facts.
According to USDA, this is what 1 average-sized(84grams) fresh lemon add to your diet:
- Only 24.4 calories
- 7.83 grams of carbs
- 2.35 grams of dietary fiber
- 44.5mg of Vitamin-C which is 51% of your needed daily intake (RDI)
- Trace amounts of vitamins A, E, and K, sodium, calcium, and potassium
Net carbs in lemon are fairly low which is roughly 2% of your Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). So lemons won’t make you break your low-carb diet anytime soon.
Besides lemon is rich in vitamin C. Did you know lemon contains twice as much vitamin C as lime? Check out more lime vs lemon facts.
Health Benefits of Lemon & Lemon water
Lemons are not only low in calories and high in nutrients, but they also work at many levels in your system to guarantee everything in your body works a-okay. Here are the most exciting health benefits of consuming lemons, particularly when you mix freshly squeezed lemon juice with water.
Keep in mind, when it comes to health benefits in food and drinks, consistency is critical. The secret here is making a habit out of drinking lemon water. Here are all the benefits you’ll enjoy from your refreshing new go-to drink.
Lemons Have Lots of Antioxidants
Lemon juice is packed with antioxidants, molecules that bind with free radicals floating in your bloodstream. Free radicals are behind most modern disorders, from heart disease to brain degeneration and even hypertension and some types of cancer.
Keeping free radicals in check is a top priority, and lemon water can help. Other foods high in antioxidants include blueberries, dark chocolate, red wine, and olive oil. As you see, antioxidant-rich food and drinks are quite tasty!
So, add them all to your diet, starting with lemon water. You just can’t eat enough antioxidants; they’ll even prevent premature aging.
Improves Heart Health
Some studies have found that adequate levels of vitamin C, the most essential nutrient in lemons, can reduce heart disease risk. Considering that heart illnesses are the most significant cause of death globally, this is a big deal.
The plant compounds hesperidin and diosmin present in lemons might be in part responsible for these heart-healthy benefits together with vitamin C.
The best part? It seems lemons are especially beneficial for people with overweight, obesity, and high blood pressure. Let’s reduce the number of victims heart diseases claim every day!
Prevents Anemia
Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is healthy already, but your body has more uses for it than you think. Vitamin C allows your digestive system to absorb nutrients better, including iron. Iron deficiency, commonly known as anemia, is quite dangerous and easily treated by consuming iron-rich foods and vitamin C to aid with its absorption.
It comes without saying there’s iron in lemons as well, perhaps not much, but every amount helps. When it comes to nutrient deficiencies, you want to take all the precautions. Drink lemon water, and if iron is what you’re looking for, enjoy a fat steak with it!
Reduces Risk of Cancer
Hesperidin and d-limonene, two potent antioxidants in lemons, do more than keep your arteries strong and clean; they can even help prevent tumor growth and cancer cell formation. There’s still a lot we don’t know about cancer and lemon’s cancer-fighting properties, but results are promising so far.
If there’s only a chance of preventing certain cancers with something as economic, easy to make, and tasty as lemon water, then drink it. As medical research progresses, we’ll soon know more about this mysterious connection between the citrus fruit and the feared condition we call cancer.
Reduces LDL Cholesterol Levels
Lemons are more than vitamins; they also have significant amounts of dietary fiber. This type of fiber does two things in your system — it helps with digestion and cleanses your arteries, particularly from bad low-density cholesterol building up and potentially clogging your circulatory system.
Having cleaner veins and arteries means better brain health as well and healthier eyes. Everything is connected, and an unobstructed circulatory system is one of those things that make everything work better. Many other foods have dietary fiber as well, including veggies, other fruits, and whole grains. Eat those too!
Keeps Your Immune System Strong
We all know vitamin C helps you have a robust immune system, as it allows you to develop resistance against many pathogens like viruses and bacteria. A vitamin C boost is especially advisable in cold weather, or when you’re feeling stressed — that’s when your immune system is weaker.
Besides fighting possible threats, compounds in lemon water can also fight minor infections or prevent them altogether. If you’ve heard about people never or rarely getting sick, that’s because they probably consume citrus fruits regularly. You can too, and the easiest way is by drinking lemon water.
Prevents the Formation of Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are formed for many reasons, but they’re more common in people who don’t drink enough water and have a vitamin C deficiency. The acid in lemons dissolves kidney stones with time, preventing the formation of new ones.
These tiny stones form over time, and they’re mostly made of calcium, so the ascorbic acid in lemons can thin them out until your body can expel them naturally. It’s also worth mentioning that lemon water will help prevent urinary infections, again for its elevated acidity. The refreshing water cleanses you all the way out!
Can Reduce Stomachaches
D-limonene is an aromatic compound present in lemon peels and gets infused in lemon water. The compound can reduce reflux, heartburn, and stomachache in general. Although people think the acid in lemons is bad for their stomach, in most cases, the opposite is true — lemons are excellent for stomach problems and digestive discomfort in general.
Your stomach is quite resistant, and it produces its own reasonably strong acid, so it won’t mind lemon’s acidity. In fact, your digestive tract will make the most out of the lemon’s antioxidants, nutrients, and healthy oils.
Can Strengthen Your Circulatory System
A compound in lemons called hesperidin is a potent antioxidant that can strengthen your veins, arteries, and blood vessels keeping them firm but elastic. This is a good way of preventing other problems like artery-clogging, lousy circulation, and inadequate blood pressure — these, of course, can lead to severe conditions like strokes.
A strong heart and healthy blood vessels guarantee you’re strong and overall fit, as all your muscles and organs are well irrigated with oxygen and nutrients. Healthy arteries are the difference between feeling young and experiencing general health decay.
Prevents Scurvy
Back in the day, sailors ate lemons or drank lemon water during long trips to keep scurvy at bay. Scurvy is a severe vitamin C deficiency with nasty symptoms. Weakness, sudden exhaustion, loss of appetite, irritability, aching limbs, and sometimes fever are common in people with low vitamin C levels.
Drinking lemon water daily is a fool-proof way of ensuring your body has all the ascorbic acid or vitamin C it needs. And although extreme scurvy cases are now rare, you can still experience some of its symptoms if you don’t eat well.
Keeps You Hydrated
Finally, lemon water is an all-natural electrolyte, just like Gatorade but better. You might not know this, but most of us are dehydrated daily — we don’t drink enough water.
Dehydration can be deadly, sure, but in most cases, it just causes us headaches, makes us moody and irritable, makes our skin look dry, and our throats sore. Dehydration also takes a toll on your kidneys and digestive system. Constipation is common in people who don’t drink enough water, and so are kidney stones. Lemon water is healthy, sure, but it’s also water, so drink lots of it!
Why You Should Drink Lemon Water in the Morning?
Now that you’re more than convinced to drink lemon water often, here’s the best way to do it. Enjoy a glass of refreshing lemon water in the morning and reap its health benefits. There are few better ways of starting the day with the right foot, and none are as tasty! Here’s why you want to drink lemon water every morning.
Lemon Water is Hydrating
We all wake up dehydrated. Our bodies lose lots of water while we sleep, and that makes us feel cranky, unrested, moody, and slow. Hydration is the name of the game here, and lemon water might just be the best way to get hydrated.
Since lemon water is basically a natural electrolyte with potassium, sodium, and calcium, it will help you retain liquids better and recover all lost hydration at a cellular level. Hydrate yourself and feel good all day.
Lemon Water Can Help You Develop Good Habits
Drinking water in the morning is the first step into creating a healthy routine that should involve a healthy and hearty breakfast and some exercise. Repetition is critical to developing good lifestyle habits, so drink a glass of lemon water every morning, and then go on and do other things good for your health.
By drinking lemon water every day, you won’t only give your body all it needs to stay strong and healthy; you’re also telling yourself that your health matters.
Lemon Water Is Fun and Tasty!
We’re not saying you should drink a spoonful of fish oil every morning — we’re inviting you to take care of yourself with a citrusy, thirst-quenching, and delicious drink! What else do you need?
Fun, tasty and healthy are three words you won’t find in the same sentence often, but lemon water is just that. We can’t say the same thing about other healthy foods like broccoli, can we? Lemon water is just fun, so enjoy it!
Lemon Water Recipe
Ingredients needed:
- 1 pitcher of cold water (4 cups)
- 2 lemons, better if organic
- 1 pinch of salt
- Lemon slices as garnish
Directions to prepare:
Store the water in the fridge overnight. In the morning, slice the lemons and squeeze them into the water. A pinch of salt lifts the lemon juice’s flavor while making the lemon water even more hydrating. Pour over a glass filled with ice.
To make your lemon water pitcher even more attractive, garnish it with lemon slices. They’ll add a new flavor dimension with the peel’s oily aromatics while making your lemon water Instagram-worthy.
The Best Lemon Water Recipe
Ingredients needed:
- 1 pitcher of cold water (4 cups)
- 2 lemons, if organic, even better
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 mint sprig
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- Cucumber slices
- Lemon slices as garnish
Directions to prepare:
Store the water in the fridge overnight. In the morning, slice the lemons and squeeze the juice into the water.
Slap the mint leaves to release their aromatics and throw them into the pitcher along with the blueberries.
Lemon and cucumber slices are the final touch for just-say-summer lemon water you can enjoy with friends while spending the morning on the porch.
Who Knew Two Ingredients Could be So Incredibly Healthy?
Now you know it. Lemon water might just be the easiest thing to add to your diet to feel better at many levels. Besides, it’s the most inexpensive super drink, so you can always have a pitcher of freshly made lemon water in the fridge.
Take it to another level and carry a reusable bottle of lemon water around. Stay hydrated, keep your immune system strong and get all those vitamins and minerals on the fly. If only everything were as easy as enjoying the health benefits of lemon water, right? We would all be extra healthy!
About the Author
Twigs cafe staff is comprised of editors, writers, food & drink experts, nutritionists, and researchers to create informative and helpful content for health-conscious people.
