Lemon water is one of the easiest things you can add to your health regimen. It tastes great, freshens breath, lightens acne scarring, brightens skin, and has quite a few health-promoting benefits.

You can even use the leftover lemon peels to clean and freshen up the garbage disposal! Lemon is pretty handy to have around, if I do say so myself.

10 Reasons You Should Drink Lemon Water

Why is lemon water good for you, you may ask?

For something so simple as squeezing a wedge of lemon into some water, this delightfully simple beverage sure has a lot to offer.

The amazing benefits of lemon water:

1. Lemon Makes Water Taste Better

Squeezing a bit of fresh lemon into your morning glass of water sure does make it more appetizing! I have always found it difficult to drink water first thing in the AM because it just doesn’t sound very good to me. Add a bit of lemon and turn your boring glass of water to make it into something healthful and more interesting!

2. Lemon Rehydrates your Body

Naturally occurring salts (about 2mg per 1 cup), potassium, and electrolytes in fresh lemon juice are really good at rehydrating your body after a long night’s sleep. You'll feel better hydrated than drinking just plain water alone, it's refreshing, and it cleanses the palate first thing after waking.

3. Lemon Supports Immunity and Health

Everyone knows that vitamin C helps keep you from catching a cold, and lemons contain a lot of it. ¼ cup of fresh lemon juice contains 28mg of vitamin c, that’s about a quarter of the daily recommended amount of vitamin c per day needed for adults.

Vitamin C is important because it stimulates the production of white blood cells which is a great way to help keep cold and flu viruses from taking root. 

This is my favorite Vitamin C supplement if you're interested.

Lemons are also high in potassium, an essential nutrient that stimulates and supports brain and nerve function. Potassium is also essential for controlling and balancing blood pressure levels.

You can get my favorite Potassium supplement here.

Supporting immunity with natural sources of Vitamin C like drinking a nice big glass of lemon water daily, will help keep your immune system functioning properly. This means that even acne breakouts will become less likely because your immune system is less likely to overreact with acne-causing bacteria.

Check out these cold and flu articles below:

The Best Remedies You can Buy for Cold and Flu
My Top 5 Preventative Cold and Flu Remedies
Natural Cold Remedies- Part 1

4. Lemon Alkalizes the Body

One of the most important reasons for drinking lemon water is that it alkalizes the body. This may seem a bit counterintuitive sense lemons themselves are very acidic, however, when metabolized, lemon juice becomes alkaline in the body. This alkalinity is important to help prevent illness, yeast overgrowth, and bone loss. It also helps prevent acne-causing bacteria from flourishing since it needs an acidic environment to grow.

5. Lemon Balances PH

Since most of us eat a highly acidic diet that includes processed foods, high amounts of sugar, and high amounts of caffeine, our bodies tend to be acidic. An over acidic body is known as metabolic acidosis, a condition that can cause a multitude of unpleasant conditions like candida, fatigue, brain fog, and various illnesses - even disease.

Eating more alkalizing foods every day like fresh fruits and vegetables is a great way to help your body keep its proper PH. Balancing your body’s PH levels is one of the most important things you can do for good health and lemon water can definitely help with that!

Don't know what your PH is to begin with? Try out these PH strips.

6. Lemon is a Digestive Tonic

Drinking lemon water, especially warm lemon water in the morning will help kick-start digestion. If you have ever had trouble going to the bathroom in the AM, then this is your answer because lemons relieve constipation.

This is due to the atomic structure of lemon juice which is surprisingly similar to the digestive juices found in the stomach. Its acidic nature stimulates the release of bile and helps move food through the digestive tract.

Lemon juice also encourages the body to assimilate more nutrients from our food and stimulates the digestive enzymes in the intestines to digest those foods more completely. This means less bloating!

Warm lemon water is also an effective diuretic and will help flush waste and toxins from the body within an hour after drinking it. If it doesn’t, try drinking another glass to further stimulate digestion.

Check out these digestion articles below:

Instant All Natural Heartburn Relief
How to Relieve Gas- The Herbalist’s Way

7. Lemon Detoxes the Liver

Lemons and other citrus contain a high amount of citrus bioflavonoids. These flavanols cleanse and detox the liver as well as help promote the production of hydrochloric acid, one of the most important aspects needed for synthesizing proteins, activating digestive enzymes, microorganism control in the foods we eat, and proper mineral absorption.

Lemon juice also encourages the liver to produce bile, the acid needed for the digestion of fats. So drink a glass of lemon water 30 min before each meal to stimulate optimum digestion.

Check out these liver detox articles: 

Liver Cleanse Recipe and How to do a Liver Flush
How to Detox your Liver for the New Year with Herbs!
Energizing and Detoxifying Charcoal Lemonade
How to Detox the Liver Using Essential Oils

8. Lemon Clears the Skin and Keeps it Youthful

Lemon water is also very cleansing for the blood which helps keep skin clear! Vitamin C in lemons is also anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and promotes the formation of collagen, the protein responsible for the skin’s youthful appearance, pliability, resilience to aging, and durability. It also happens to an effective natural acne treatment both topically and internally healing acne faster and preventing hyperpigmentation and scarring.

For more clear skin articles look below:

The Complete List of Comedogenic Oils
6 Skincare Tips That Cleared My Acne Naturally
The 7 Step Routine You Need to Get Clear Skin
Get Clear Skin With These 10 Foods

9. Lemon Helps Kick Bad Habits

Drinking lemon water in the morning can help kick your coffee or tea habit by hydrating, invigorating, and stimulating the body. I find that if I drink lemon water first thing in the morning, I hardly ever feel the need to drink my morning tea because the lemon water wakes me up and curbs the craving for caffeine.

10. Lemon Improves Overall Health

Incorporating lemon water into your health routine is a simple, tasty, and convenient way to improve health and feel good! It relieves congestion in the lungs, relieves constipation, cleanses the blood, optimizes liver function, purges toxins from the body, and clears your skin! Pretty nifty stuff from just a little lemon eh?

Should you Drink Lemon Water Hot or Cold?

I believe that it is best to drink lemon water warm. Drinking it cold, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, can shock and stress our digestive system. It’s much easier for your body to process food and water that is closer to body temperature.

I recommend drinking your lemon water warm in the AM and before meals for optimum results, though I do enjoy it cold throughout the day as a refreshing drink.

Suggested Use and Amount

I find that 1 whole juiced lemon in an 8 oz glass of water consumed within 20-30 minutes works best for me. If this is a bit too sour or pungent, try half a squeezed lemon in 8 oz of water. Over time you’ll find that you’ll be able to drink more and more lemon in your water till you reach the amount that suits you best. I don’t think anything less than a ¼ squeezed lemon with work as effectively, so try to use ¼ of a lemon or more if you can.

Concerned About Your Teeth?

Here’s a simple solution: drink your lemon water through a straw! Though I said that the acid content of 1 lemon squeezed in 8oz of water has little effect on your enamel, there are those out there with sensitive teeth. If you don’t like the thought of using a regular straw, check out these glass straws.

Check out some other fantastic posts below:

20 Unbelievable Reasons To Start Your Day With Water and Lemon
Make Your Own Citrus Infused Water

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