Do you request lemon with your water at restaurants to improve its taste? Did you know that in doing so, it provides plenty of health benefits, besides better taste? If you try drinking lemon water for 7 days straight, you will find these 7 things happening to your body.
Health Benefits of Lemon Water:
1. Better Hydration
Proper hydration is essential for good health. You should take in between 91-125 ounces of water daily. Some of this can come from food, but, you need to drink the rest.
Water is not very exciting to drink on its own, while some people just dislike the taste of plain water. Adding lemon to water is believed to enhance the flavor enough to help encourage people to drink more, and thus, be better hydrated as a result.
2. Fresh Breathe
There is a reason that lemon is a common scent in cleaning products. It helps in neutralizing odors.
This similar principle applies when you need to get rid of bad breath from lingering foods such as garlic, onions, fish or blue cheese.
3. Great Source of Vitamin C
Citrus fruits such as lemons are high in vitamin C, which is a primary antioxidant that helps in protecting cells from damaging free radicals. You have probably heard that vitamin C may help limit or prevent the duration of the common cold in some individuals, but studies are conflicting.
Vitamin C may help in reducing your risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease, and lower blood pressure.
While lemons are not on top the list of citrus fruits rich in vitamin C, lemons are still a good source. As per, the United States Department of Agriculture, the juice of 1 lemon provides about 18.6 milligrams of vitamin C. The recommended daily amount for adults is about 65-90 milligrams.
4. Helps Digestion
Some people drink lemon water as a daily morning laxative to help in preventing constipation. Drinking hot or warm lemon water when you wake up may help to get your digestive system moving.
According to Ayurvedic medicine,the sour lemon taste helps stimulate your “agni.” In ayurvedic medicine, a strong agni helps jump-start your digestive system, thereby, allowing you to digest food more easily, and thus helping to prevent the build-up of toxins.
5. Helps in Weight Loss
Research has reported that polyphenol antioxidants present in lemons significantly reduce weight gain in mice that are overfed in order to induce obesity.
In these mice studies, the antioxidant compounds also improved insulin resistance, and offset the negative effects on blood glucose levels, the 2 main factors in the development of type 2 diabetes.
While these same results need to be proven in people, anecdotal evidence is strong that lemon water supports weight loss. Whether this is due to people drinking more water, then feeling full, or the lemon juice itself is unclear.
6. Improves Skin Health
Vitamin C present in lemons may help dry skin from aging, reduce skin wrinkling, and damage from the sun. How water improves your skin is controversial, but, one thing is sure. If your skin loses moisture, it becomes dry, while also prone to wrinkles.
A laboratory study in 2016, reported that a citrus-based drink helped in preventing the development of wrinkles in hairless mice.
7. Prevents Kidney Stones
The citric acid that is present in lemons may help prevent kidney stones. Citrate, which is a component of citric acid, paradoxically makes urine less acidic, and it may even break up small stones.
Drinking lemon water not only gets you citrate you need, but, also the water you need to help in order to prevent or flush out stones.
