When life gives me lemons.......

I add them to my water. This is a fairly new trick that I learnt earlier this year. About 2 months ago, I was watching a cookery show and saw this couple serving glasses filled with water and lemon wedges. It certainly looked interesting. If you still haven't noticed, I like to experiment all the time. So, I immediately bought a lemon the next day to give this 'lemon water' a go. I sliced my lemon into 2 to 3 disks, lightly squeezed them and dropped it into my water bottle. I removed the seed while slicing and left the rind on. You can cut them into wedges if you prefer, there's no right or wrong in this. My lemon slices were left in my bottle from morning till night. I drank this citrus potion throughout the day. As I am typing these, I wonder if you can do the same with oranges. I know you can use lime instead of lemons, but haven't heard of oranges. Orange water?? I don't know if it exists, but I did think of it myself. Let me play with those one day and I will share the story if the attempt becomes successful.

Now let's discuss about how the whole experience was. Truth be told, the taste of the lemon water was like a shock to my taste buds. It was tart and slightly bitter. Peculiar taste but in a good way though. I am an avid water drinker. I grew up with a bunch of friends who always carried humongous water tumblers and I was certainly influenced by them to gulp liters of water throughout the day. Hey, I wasn't complaining because water can be your only best friend in a sunshine paradise like Malaysia, where heat and humidity are unwelcome guests. It may sound creepy, but I can actually taste different types of water. Don't ask me how, but I can identify bottled water, tap water and filtered water. I admit, if you are a water addict like me, the taste is something you have to get used to. By the way, I don't drink lemon water everyday, I only prepare this drink either once or twice a week but I drink it from morning till night. Anything in MODERATION is the way to go. Guess what, if you leave the lemon wedges/slices in your bottle for an entire day, the lemon scent actually stays in your bottle for a couple of days even after several washes.
'Lemon scented bottle' ....ooohh laa laaa.

I may not be the best person to talk about the science behind lemon water. There are hundreds of websites that you can find to read on benefits of lemon water.  But I came up with a list of benefits of drinking lemon water using my common sense.

1. It's packed with Vitamin C.

Lemon is another citrus fruit just likes limes, oranges, tangerines and grapefruits. Any fruit that comes from the citrus family contains ascorbic acid  or in other words Vitamin C. Vitamin C is probably the most common vitamin needed to boost your immunity, protect yourself from cancer causing free radicals and prevent scurvy (bleeding gums).  Instead of buying vitamin C supplements (which I think are highly overpriced), why don't you get it in the most natural way through a fruit.

2. Let's talk pH.

Lemon juice by itself is acidic because it contains acids. Well what do you know, it becomes an alkaline when it goes through your system. If you don't already know, high acidity levels in the body damages proper functioning of organs. Imbalanced diet, stress and pent up negative emotions contribute to increase in acidity in your body. In order to neutralize excess acid and to maintain an optimum acid level, we need to consume alkaline-forming substance like lemons.

3. Keeps bacteria away.

Starting from the mouth up to your colon, bacteria are always breeding inside us. The reason we don't get affected by these bacteria is because they are at a healthy level. Lemon has anti-bacterial properties and it can certainly prevent infections when bacteria level goes up in our body. That is why you can always see lemon extract in detergents and hand soaps which can fight airborne bacteria. Lemons can also treat throat infections, not that you will get one if you are diligently drinking your lemon water.

4. Fresh, lemony breath.

Do I need to say more. Lemon is the most common flavor used in chewing gums and breath fresheners. Lemon water cleanses your palate and you can enjoy fresh breath. If you're concerned about lemons making your teeth sensitive, fuss not because enamel corrosion only happens if you bite lemons directly. If you are still worried, use a straw to drink your lemon water and don't let the lemon water linger in your mouth for too long.

5. Flushes toxins.

I'm not sure if you can really shed the weight with lemon water but I'm pretty sure you can flush out toxic materials out of your body. Lemon acts a diuretic to increase the rate of urination while releasing more toxins out of the body to maintain a healthy urinary tract.


That's a wrap for this post. Even if you choose to ignore the benefits of lemon water, think of adding a natural flavoring to your regular drinking water which will surely cut down your cravings for soft drinks and synthetic flavored drinks. Ladies, mind you that lemons are vital for your diet to maintain your reproductive health. And who doesn't want to get clear and glowing skin. Lastly, I would suggest you to get organic lemons if you choose the leave the rind on the lemon wedges. You don't want chemicals and wax covered lemon rinds to be floating in your water the entire day. Just to be on the safe side, remove the rinds completely if you're in doubt.

Squeeze some lemons for your health!

~M~