4 Amazing Benefits of Lemon

It’s not often that I single out a citrus fruit for an article.

I tend to focus on berries and the like because they’re known to be superfoods. Yet, as I sit here pondering what to write about I realize that one of the most common foods we use in our diet is also incredibly healthy.

Obviously I’m talking about lemons.

This sour fruit delivers some amazing benefits that can work wonders for your cellular health. Plus, if you learn how to incorporate them into more of your recipes you’ll notice that many of your dishes taste better as well. And what could be wrong with that?

Now, before I tell you what makes lemons so special, I’m wondering if you can guess how they improve health.

Do you think it has to do with a vitamin or two?

Is it fiber?

Is it the color?

I’ll let you know in just a second.

4 Reasons Lemons Can Transform Your Health For the Better

I know the headline above is a bold claim, and it may be far reaching...but I maintain that if you build your diet with foods that are known to be healthy, lemon being one of them, you can transform your health entirely.

When it comes to lemons, there are a few things that can happen when you get them consistently into their diet.

1 - They Help Boost Immune Health:

Ok, so maybe it doesn’t come as a shock that lemons can help with your immune health. I’m sure most of you realized that I was heading in this direction, but because of how adept lemon is at helping with immune health I’m happy to talk about it.

Lemons are incredibly rich in one of the best antioxidants in the known universe. Which would be vitamin C.

Most people don’t realize that gram for gram lemons are just as good for getting vitamin C as oranges, while also being lower in sugar. Plus, they have other antioxidants that are linked to the reduction of inflammation, including Eriocitrin.

The bottom line is there is significant evidence showing that increased intake of vitamin C is linked with having enhanced immunity to all kinds of pathogens. 

In a review published by the Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism the authors noted that the evidence is clear: if you get enough vitamin C in your diet it could do a ton of positive things for your immune health, including reducing the duration and severity of respiratory tract infections as well as helping to ward off, malaria, stop intense diarrhea and curb the development of pneumonia while also helping people suffering from these conditions heal more quickly.

Just a few slices of lemon squeezed into your water daily could help you get these immune-boosting effects.

2 - Can Improve Circulatory Health:

The health of your circulatory system has a tremendous impact on your overall health. Anything you can do to keep your heart healthy is going to benefit you in the long run.

As hard as it is to believe, getting lemons in your diet might be a quick path to better heart health.

While enjoying a diet that contains a wide assortment of fruits and vegetables is ideal, it may be the case that making citrus fruits one of the preferred food sources to boost heart health is the way to go.

Not long ago Harvard School of Public Health analyzed 126,399 people’s diets. This was an intense observational review where they looked at diets over a period of eight to 14 years.

What they found was that those who ate more fruits and vegetables had a lower risk of heart diseases.

For every serving people ate, their risk for coronary disease went down 4%. Most importantly they realized that the more leafy green vegetables and vitamin C-rich fruits and veggies, like lemon, were in the diet, the greater the impact on the boost to cardiovascular health.

3 - Helps to Improve Iron Absorption:

Being able to utilize iron well comes down to being able to absorb it well, too. Iron is incredibly important as it’s necessary to create blood cells and other vital functions.

Not everyone is able to absorb it properly, and that can be changed entirely by how much vitamin C you get in your diet.

According to Dr. Axe. 

“Research shows that vitamin C, which is plentiful in lemons, can help enhance iron absorption to prevent conditions like iron-deficiency anemia. One study even showed that taking 100 milligrams of vitamin C with a meal increased iron absorption by 67 percent.”

Obviously you can use foods like limes, oranges, peppers, berries and more to get additional vitamin C but I argue that getting extra lemon in your diet is another great way to do this...especially because you can add lemon juice to a drink for a nice, crisp refresher and derive awesome health benefits in the process.

And speaking of adding it to water, there’s also a way to use lemon to lose weight.

4 - Lemons Can Aid In Weight Loss

I am all about finding safe, natural, and effective ways to lose weight.

And if you want to turn your weight-loss goals into reality then I suggest adding some lemon into your diet immediately.

Of course, I’m not telling you to eat slices of lemon a day… that would take some getting used to for sure.

Instead, I think you should add slices of lemon, or at least the juice, to your glasses of water.

Here’s why:

Lemon juice is extra-low in carbohydrates and sugar, and if you start switching out your normal glass of juice, or your sugary drink you’re attached to the hip with, it could cut the number of calories to next to nothing (like 8-12 calories in a 12 oz. glass).

In theory, if you decided you were going to trade out a 12 oz. serving of juice or soda for an equivalent of lemon water for an entire year, it would slash 39,000 calories from your total caloric intake for the year.

That equals an 11 pound weight loss provided you didn’t make any other changes to your diet.

Honestly, if I could get all of my patients to make this dietary switcharoo I think the combined amount of weight lost by them (assuming they maintained a healthy diet, and exercise regimen too), would be in the thousands of pounds.