Lemon Water – Alkalising Superstar

Almost as cunningly simple in its title as ‘green drink’ – lemon water is quite blindingly straightforward in its makeup: it is water with lemon squeezed in. Could it be any easier?

The beauty of lemon water is that it is tasty, refreshing and best of all, alkalising. The lemon juice raises the alkalising effect of the water so even with standard tap water you can make your drink nice and alkalising.

However, for the full lemon water effect: distilled/ionised water with Alkalive’s pH booster (or Prime pH or another pH drop) and lemon creates the ultimate alkaline water. The trick however, is to have the water lukewarm. If the water is too hot or too cold then it will cause the body to expand energy in order to process it. Lukewarm water also has that comforting feeling to it…

I know a lot of you know about lemon water already, through reading/learning about alkalising or through Gillian McKeith (who also recommends lemon water on rising) – but it is always a good thing to reinforce the basics.

So What Are the Benefits of Drinking Lemon Water?

Apart from being an amazing body alkalizer/alkaliser, lemon water also gives the following health benefits:

• Lemons are antiseptic
• Lemon water has excellent digestive properties and can ease heartburn, bloating and other digestion problems
• Lemon water cleanses and stimulates the liver and kidneys
• Lemon juice contains calcium, magnesium and potassium
• Lemon juice has been known to relieve asthma
• Lemon water (hot) offers relief from cold and flu symptoms while providing some much needed Vitamin C
• Lemon juice is a great skin cleanser

So if you do not do anything else – start every single day with a glass of lovely lemon water!

PS – I have noticed that someone just found this page by googling: ‘do not leave lemon in lemon water’ and it reminded me of how true this is! Obviously if you are going to drink the water there and then by all means leave it in, but if you are making a batch up then the water can easily get too lemon-y if you leave the squeezed lemon chunks in.

Also, and more importantly, unless you have REALLY washed the lemons or have bought organic then the pesticides and chemicals could leach out of the rind and into your water if they are left soaking for too long.

PPS – yes, it is fine to add some cayenne (cayene) pepper to your lemon water for a bit of a kick, but PLEASE DO NOT ADD MAPLE SYRUP – this will make it have an acidic effect on the body!

NOTE/UPDATE: given the amount of comments that have been left all saying “I thought lemons are acidic” (or something slightly more forceful than that), I thought I should point out the following:

It is not the relative acidity/alkalinity of the food but rather the effect it has on the body that is important. Seemingly acidic foods such as lemons, limes and tomato are acidic in their basic state, but once metabolized by the body have an alkalising effect. The high alkaline mineral content of these foods means that once consumed and metabolized they increase the alkalinity of the cells of the body.

Here is a video with reknowned nutritionist and blood specialist Gareth Edwards where he explains that lemons are alkalising once consumed.

Further resources:

• Our Energise Alkaline Diet Resources
• Middle Path’s Benefits of Lemon Juice – lists ailments helped by lemon water!
• About.com’s lemon water article
• Mommylife gives some other lemon juice benefits here (about 2/3 of the way down!)

Tagged as: alkaline diet, lemon water

Note: This blog is only my opinion. It is not medical advice or diagnosis. Only opinions based upon our own personal experiences or information detailed in medical/academic journals or other publications is cited. WE DO NOT OFFER MEDICAL ADVICE or prescribe any treatments. Please consult with a medical professional before making any diet or nutrition changes. Refer to our full disclaimer for more information.