For years, my grandmother has been drinking hot water with lemon instead of tea or coffee. When she first started
drinking it and ordering it at restaurants, she would add on “all the young folks are drinking it these days”. Back then, it was a bit of a stretch, but now, it seems to ring true.
My best friend sent me a message the other day to tell me she had read an article in Whole Living magazine that spoke of the benefits of drinking warm water with lemon first thing in the morning. In her words, “it changed my perspective on the whole day”. And truthfully, it really does. A few months ago, I did a three week diet detox, and each morning I kicked started my digestion with lemon water. Lemon water helped to decrease sluggishness in my body (yup, I’m talking digestion) and fogginess in my mind. I literally felt more awake after each glass.
So here are my top three reasons to give it a try:
1) Digestive aid: Lemons help to trigger digestion by stimulating the gastrointestinal tract and flushing toxins from the body. Warm water helps to further aid this process. Warmer liquids are easier for the body to digest and process than cold water, because they trigger rather than shut down the digestive system enzymes.
2) Healing Properties: Lemons are high in Vitamin C, which helps boost the immune system, is a powerful antioxidant, and is believed to reduce heart disease, blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma. It also balances the pH level in the body by reducing acidity. Even though lemons are a citric acid, they become alkaline in the body, thus reducing the overall acidity.
3) Hydration: By adding the lemons to water, you are getting an extra bit of hydration early in the morning. Hydration is directly related to our ability to focus and concentrate – the brain needs to be hydrated in order to fire properly. When we start the day with high amounts of caffeine, (aka coffee) we are actually further dehydrating the system, which hasn’t been hydrated since bedtime. When I get dehydrated and have too much caffeine first thing, I get cranky and my head seems very foggy. So try the lemon water first to rehydrate, and then go to the caffeine boost if it’s still needed.
Challenge yourself – tomorrow start your day off with a little extra boost. Boil some water, add half a lemon, and change your perspective on the day ahead. Give it a try – all the young folks are drinking it 🙂
Peace, love, and hot lemon water,
Jessi
Sue mansour
August 29, 2012 at 9:37 pmWill definitely give the hot lemon water a try. I would like your opinion on something. I like fish, seafood and poultry and occasionally eat red meat. Most dietitians endorse eating lean meats. What are the Health benefits of eliminating animal products?
thehouseofhealthy
September 4, 2012 at 10:36 amThanks for reading! I hope you are enjoying it. And thanks for the intriguing question. You are right, many dietitians do recommend eating lean meat for protein. Many nutritionists, however, do not recommend it, or at least recommend most of the diet to be “plant-based”. It’s just a difference in how you look at the diet. Many doctors, dietitians are very brilliant, but are trained in looking specifically at the calorie/protein/carb/fats ratios and not necessarily the specific ingredients in the foods – which is why hospitals serve the yucky food they do.
We switched to plant-based after reading a few blogs and books, but mostly after watching 2 documentaries: Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead; and Forks Over Knives. The first one is about a man who goes on a 60 day juice cleanse to reboot his immune system, lose excess weight, and become healthy again. It is a great film to show how juicing can change your health and also sustain you for long periods of time.
The second film is about a study from some of the countries leading cardiologists, that shows how a plant-based (no animal products) diet can stop and even reverse heart disease, diabetes, and many other diseases. They actually had a woman who was told to go home and wait to die, because her next heart attack would most likely kill her, but there was nothing more they could do for her surgically. They brought her into their study, stopped her heart disease progression, and actually started to reverse it.
Another study used rats that were given a diet of 5% casein (a protein in dairy and meat) and 20% casein. The ones with 20% started to grow cancerous tumors on their livers, while the 5% did not. Then they switched the feedings and the results changed,. The tumors started to shrink and the tumor-free rats started to grow tumors.
Those are the main reasons we switched. I think each person has to do what is right for them though. Some people may never be able to give up meat/dairy completely, but I think we can all reduce it and add more plants to our diet.