Photographer: Linda Wagner
Photographer: Linda Wagner
By Linda Wagner – Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach
I love me a glass of piping hot lemon water with ginger and stevia! Besides being absolutely delicious, it has a whole BOAT LOAD of health benefits.
Here are 10 health benefits of lemon water that you may not have known! (via LifeMojo)
- Good for stomach
Lemon can help relieve many digestion problems when mixed with hot water. These include nausea, heartburn and parasites. Due to the digestive qualities of lemon juice, symptoms of indigestion such as heartburn, bloating and belching are relieved. By drinking lemon juice regularly, the bowels are aided in eliminating waste more efficiently. Lemon acts as a blood purifier and as a cleansing agent. The intake of lemon juice can cure constipation. It is even known to help relieve hiccups when consumed as a juice. Lemon juice acts as a liver tonic and helps you digest your food by helping your liver produce more bile. It decreases the amount of phlegm produced by your body. It is also thought to help dissolve gallstones. - Excellent for Skin Care
Lemon, being a natural antiseptic medicine, can participate to cure problems related to skin. Lemon is a vitamin C rich citrus fruit that enhances your beauty, by rejuvenating skin from within and thus bringing a glow on your face. Daily consumption of lemon water can make a huge difference in the appearance of your skin. It acts as an anti-aging remedy and can remove wrinkles and blackheads. Lemon water if applied on the areas of burns can fade the scars. As lemon is a cooling agent, it reduces the burning sensation on the skin. - Aids in Dental Care
Lemon water is used in dental care also. If fresh lemon juice is applied on the areas of toothache, it can assist in getting rid of the pain. The massages of lemon juice on gums can stop gum bleeding. It gives relief from bad smell and other problems related to gums. - Cures Throat Infections
Lemon is an excellent fruit that aids in fighting problems related to throat infections, sore throat and tonsillitis as it has an antibacterial property. For sore throat, dilute one-half lemon juice with one-half water and gargle frequently. - Good for Weight Loss
One of the major health benefits of drinking lemon water is that it paves way for losing weight faster, thus acting as a great weight loss remedy. If a person takes lemon juice mixed with lukewarm water and honey, it can reduce the body weight as well. - Controls High Blood Pressure
Lemon water works wonders for people having heart problem, owing to its high potassium content. It controls high blood pressure, dizziness, nausea as well as provides relaxation to mind and body. It also reduces mental stress and depression. - Assist in curing Respiratory Disorders
Lemon water assists in curing respiratory problems, along with breathing problems and revives a person suffering from asthma. - Good for treating Rheumatism
Lemon is also a diuretic and hence lemon water can treat rheumatism and arthritis. It helps to flush out bacteria and toxins out of the body. - Reduces Fever
Lemon water can treat a person who is suffering from cold, flu or fever. It helps to break fever by increasing perspiration. - Acts as a blood purifier
The diseases like cholera or malaria can be treated with lemon water as it can act as a blood purifier.
Photographer: Linda Wagner
Lemon is not the only power player in this recipe. Ginger is known to have some pretty remarkable health generating qualities like the ones listed below via Health Diaries
- Colon Cancer Prevention A study at the University of Minnesota found that ginger may slow the growth of colorectal cancer cells.
- Morning Sickness A review of several studies has concluded that ginger is just as effective as vitamin B6 in the treatment of morning sickness.
- Motion Sickness Remedy Ginger has been shown to be an effective remedy for the nausea associated with motion sickness.
- Reduces Pain and Inflammation One study showed that ginger has anti-inflammatory properties and is a powerful natural painkiller.
- Heartburn Relief Ginger has long been used as a natural heartburn remedy. It is most often taken in the form of tea for this purpose.
- Cold and Flu Prevention and Treatment Ginger has long been used as a natural treatment for colds and the flu. Many people also find ginger to be helpful in the case of stomach flus or food poisoning, which is not surprising given the positive effects ginger has upon the digestive tract.
- Migraine Relief Research has shown that ginger may provide migraine relief due to its ability to stop prostaglandins from causing pain and inflammation in blood vessels.
- Menstrual Cramp Relief In Chinese medicine, ginger tea with brown sugar is used in the treatment of menstrual cramps.
- Prevention of Diabetic Nephropathy A study done on diabetic rats found that those rats given ginger had a reduced incidence of diabetic nephropathy (kidney damage) - via Health Diaries
Photographer: Linda Wagner
So try a nice hot glass of Lemon water with Ginger and Stevia, it’s delicious and good for you in so many ways!!
You’ll need:
- 1/2 inch knob of ginger sliced thinly or grated
- lemon
- Stevia to taste
Simply pour boiling water over the ginger, let steep for about 5mins then add lemon juice and stevia to taste.
Photographer: Linda Wagner
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Linda Wagner is behind one of our go-to sites for Nutrition and Lifestyle updates, where this post originally appeared.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
love lemon water. like the addition of ginger.
Add some delicious parsley for a diuretic/green taste!
i add some sugar in water then lemon and mix them together. i put the ice .when water is cold i drink. its amazing drink.
Wow this is amazing. I have been suffering with a serious long spell 2 1/2 months of Vertigo. Nothing seemed to help and then I accidentatly came accross this information and since it could not hurt and fortunately I love lemons I started it the next morning. Thought it was coincedence that I was able to function the next day, finally no more belching, dizziness or nausea. When I failed to drink this about two weeks later within two days the symptoms came back. It’s been a month now that I have been drinking the warm lemon/line hot water drink and sometimes I add green tea with gasmin. So simple and big results. I hope it also works to lower blood pressure as this article states. This needs to be shared with everyone. Thank you for posting this very important article.
I can vouch for this, I have a glass of it every morning. A drop of honey will benefit more than stevia, though, I think. And I also steep some tulsi (Indian holy basil) or mint with the ginger.
Lemon juice will definitely settle an upset stomach, but adding the gallstones on to the list makes the whole discussion less credible. Kidney stones are a completely different critter, being composed of calcium and residing in the (obviously) kidneys. Lemon juice can help with those. Gallstones are accretions of cholesterol, and are held in the gallbladder, which lemon juice does not impact.
You need to know how the gallbladder works to know why lemon juice won’t work. The gallbladder’s only purpose is to store the bile which dissolves fat into something you can digest; when you eat a fatty meal, your gallbladder gets the message and squirts in a little bile. Nothing from the stomach gets into the gallbladder; it’s a one-way system.
Gallstones are a gallbladder malfunction, where bile goes wrong and turns into cholesterol “pebbles”. When they’re small they might get out, but then they reach a certain size they can get stuck in the tubes that run from the gallbladder to the stomach. This can be bad, since it can cause infection, septicemia, fever and (worst case) death.
Since the gallbladder shares a tube with the pancreas called the “common bile duct”, galls tones can also cause pancreatic juices to back up into the pancreas and cause pancreatitis. Which, over time, can cause irreversible damage and diabetes.
Gotta love those system malfunctions. Anyways, nothing dissolves gallstones except possibly ultrasound. Not lemon juice, not vinegar, not starving yourself, nothing. You either pass them, live with them, or get them removed. If you decide to live with them you need to know what size they are. If they’re ones the size to fit into your bile ducts and get stuck there, it’s best to eat an almost entirely fat-free diet. For life. Seriously.
If they’re large (golf-ball sized), you’re pretty much safe; they’ll just sit there. If they’re tiny (sand), you’re safe; they should pass unhindered. It’s just the one size, the ones about the size of a pea to a marble, that’s a real issue.
How awful would it be to used dried ginger? I have a whole jar of this and I would hate to waste it. Any thoughts? Should I just get over it, throw it out and go fresh?
I drink ice cold water and lemon all day long and notice that my skin is much healthier now than before I used to drink it. I rarely have breakouts and there does seem to be a certain shine there that wasn’t before.
Just a question…is it more beneficial to drink it warm/hot than ice cold?
Thanks.
I’ve read that the warm water is better than cold for absorption, and that hot water may heat away some of the lemon’s benefits.
Before I read the whole post, I immediately filled my glass with hot water straight from the Keurig and Cut up and squeezed lemon to enjoy this great drink! I’m literally enjoying my Hot Lemon water as I tupe. With a garnish of course!
Thanks for sharing this. I suffer from stomach issues, bloating and heartburn, so this is just great to know! I’m always looking for natural remedies, so thanks again!
Ashley
Read your post a couple of days ago…and started right away drinking lemon juice in ‘tepid’ water…I drink quite a lot of it , as I really enjoy the thirst quencing benefits as well…love to know that what I’m drinking is so very good for ‘all’ of me…..!!! thanks for enlightening me.
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