It may seem a bit strange and not to everyone’s taste but drinking warm water with lemon juice squeezed in it first thing in the morning is so good for your health and especially good when following a healthy eating diet plan.
And this is why we recommend it as part of our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge
Make sure the water is lukewarm as opposed to boiling hot (add some cool water to boiled water) as it is easier for the body to digest and process the goodness of the lemon juice when the water is warm as opposed to ice cold.
Ensure you dilute the juice well e.g. squeeze half a medium lemon in a 250ml glass of warm water.
If you don’t like the taste then dilute it even more until you get used to the flavour. You may surprise yourself and learn to like it the more you drink it and start adding lemon or lime to your water throughout the day too, it does make drinking plain water a lot more interesting.
The health benefits of warm lemon water
Drinking lemon water first thing in the morning gives your body a kickstart to the day and helps begin all these good benefits:
- Antioxidant: lemons contain large amounts of Vitamin C, which is an antioxidant. Antioxidants can help improve the functioning of your body and also improve your overall fitness. This means you will have more energy to get active.
- Diuretic: lemon juices are natural diuretics, so adding them to water helps flush the body of excess fluids. This can help relieve bloating and constipation.
- Digestion: the citric acid contained in lemon can help the liver to produce more bile, which aids in better food digestion.
- Appetite Reduction: drinking water flavoured with lemon juice can help you to feel full, reducing the amount of food (and therefore calories) that you consume, which leads to weight loss.
- Balances pH Levels: Lemons are one of the most alkalising foods for the body. Yes, they are acidic on their own, but inside our bodies they’re alkaline (the citric acid does not create acidity in the body once metabolised). Lemons contain both citric and ascorbic acid, weak acids that are easily metabolised by the body allowing the mineral content of lemons to help alkalise the blood. Disease is more likely to occur when the body pH is acidic.
- Freshens Breath: Besides fresher breath, lemons have been known to help relieve tooth pain and gingivitis. Be aware that citric acid can erode tooth enamel if you drink it without a lot of dilution, so you should be mindful of this. If you like, rinse your mouth with water after you’ve finished your lemon water.
