Lemons are among the most commonly used fruits in the entire world, though there’s a good chance you’ve actually never bitten into a lemon. Of course, the sour taste of a lemon doesn’t make it quite as edible as its citrus brother, the orange, but there are plenty of ways to get lemons into your diet. Some choose to put a lemon slice into their water (or even making lemonade), or mix lemon juice into other products.
If you are able to brave it out and eat more raw lemons without throwing them into different foods or liquids, you’re going to see some great health benefits. With a wide range of vitamins, lemons are extremely beneficial to your health. Even just eating a little bit is going to help you in the long run. Let’s take a look at the nutrients you can find in each lemon, and how you can use this wonderful fruit to see some wonderful (and proven) health benefits.
Nutrition of Lemons
Lemons aren’t one of those fruits that are especially well rounded and give you a ton of nutrition around the board, but what it has, it has a lot of it. There is a small amount of protein in each serving of lemons, while only bringing about 60 calories. You’ll also be getting a quarter of your daily recommendation in dietary fiber. Of course, the big vitamin to be found in lemons is vitamin C, with nearly 200 percent of your daily recommendation.
There are plenty of other vitamins and minerals in each serving of lemons, but they all come in at less than 10 percent of your recommendation. The more notable ones are thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, calcium, iron and potassium, each with more than five percent. Some might think that lemons contain plenty of vitamin A, but that’s not the case here. There are, however, some fatty acids from the omega-3 variety that will be helpful.
Total Immunity
Lemons, of course, are packed with vitamin C. Those that have ever had a cold have been told by almost everybody around them that they need to up their vitamin C intake to get through a cold. While that’s true, you can also avoid getting sick in the first place with regular vitamin C intake. Lemon juice has also been shown to fight through fevers and other cold symptoms so that you can get back to your normal life.
Lemon juice might not taste the best straight up, but it will help. Even blood diseases such as scurvy or cholera can be avoided with eating more lemons or drinking the juice. For those looking to avoid more serious diseases down the road, lemons are packed with antioxidants. These antioxidants help your body fight off free radicals that can cause chronic problems, which include cancer.
Beautiful Fruit
Lemons can help your exterior appearance just about as much (if not more) than any other food out there. For starters, lemons are great for your skin because of the vitamin C content that gives your skin more elasticity through collagen production. This will also help you avoid aging signs such as wrinkles. Even lemon juice clears your skin, keeping away a range of problems from acne to bug bites and burns.
Some people put lemon juice on their scalp because of how well it clears the dead skin. That allows your hair to grow in faster and thicker than ever before. Finally, the antioxidants in lemons are also very good for your mouth, giving you a better smile. Keeping harmful germs and bacteria out of your mouth will help you avoid gum disease and even bad breath.
Digestive Health
For those that are trying to get rid of toxins in their body, you may have seen others drink a lot of lemon water. Lemons are a great way of cleansing the digestive system because of the antioxidants and citric acid. In turn, that will make you more regular, and having a lot of fiber within lemons certainly doesn’t hurt. From constipation to indigestion, fiber (and other nutrients in lemons) help it all.
Lemons will also increase the efficiency of your liver, since it has the ability to break down uric acid. That is instrumental for avoiding problems such as gout and joint pain that are often associated with uric acid. Finally, your kidneys will see a huge boost in efficiency, meaning that there’s really no organ that lemons won’t help.
Weight Loss
Lemons can help you lose weight in many different ways. Since they are so low in calories, you can eat an entire lemon without doing much at all to your daily calorie total. The fiber within that helps your digestive system also gives you a metabolism boost while also making you feel more full throughout the day. The taste of lemons alone stimulates your taste buds so that you aren’t as hungry, as well.
Even if you’re just looking for something that will give you more energy for a workout, lemons help in that department. Lemons are beneficial to your respiratory health, and increase your oxygen capacity so that you can make it through a cardio exercise with much more ease. The same detox diet that includes drinking lemon juice can cleanse your digestive system and is also popular in the weight loss world.
Heart Healthy
Finally, lemons have the ability to improve your overall heart health. Because of the minerals in lemons, you can lower your blood pressure and the problems associated with it. Potassium plays a big part in heart health, and lemons have plenty. Flavonoids in lemons also prevent hemorrhaging, and the anti-inflammatory properties of lemons keep a ton of different heart problems away.
Summing it Up
With lemons being low in calories and high in benefits, there is plenty to like. So what is there not to like? Well for starters, the taste of lemons can prevent you from eating the amount you would need to experience quite a bit of the benefits. Science has not even found if there are any side effects of eating too many lemons, because it simply doesn’t happen before you get tired of the sour taste.
In fact, there have only been benefits found from eating lemons. If somehow you are able to eat more than the recommended amount on a daily basis, you just have to watch for an overdose of vitamin C. The citric acid can also do some damage that includes causing acid reflux and eroding tooth enamel, but that’s from pure lemon juice, another thing that would be nearly impossible to take too much of. Just taking a bite out of lemon each day can help you out, so cut a slice and have at it!