Why should you start your morning with warm lemonade?

In today's society we have become programmed to practically crawl to the coffee pot first thing in the morning. The problem with this? When we first wake, our bodies are in an acidic state from all the breakdown of lactic acid and toxins throughout the night. By drinking coffee first thing, we are making our body even MORE acidic which not only makes it harder to lose weight, but it affects our energy levels, our skin, and greatly impacts our digestive system in a negative way. Did you know that one way our body keeps acid from entering our vital organs is to store the acid in your fat cells, leading to weight gain and obesity??

So the question is, what should we be drinking first thing?? Obviously WATER. When we wake up our bodies are dehydrated from having ZERO liquids for at least 7 hours. So not only is it craving some hydration, it needs something that is going to help FLUSH the toxins that have been built up in your liver through the night.

Why Lemon?

The vitamin C in lemon juice helps produce glutathione which helps the liver to process toxins and eliminate them. The combination of water mixed with lemon helps the formation of quality bile (gross, I know... just being real). 

The warm water also promotes peristalsis, the contraction of muscles in the colon that keeps waste and fat moving along the digestive tract and out of the body for elimination. Also, lemon juice contains the minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and manganese, which makes it highly alkalizing to the body!

Tip: your water should be the temperature of a cup of tea, not boiling hot! If it's too hot the vitamin C in the juice is easily destroyed by high temperatures.

** For more on this, I suggest picking up a copy of "The Science Of Skinny" by Dee McCaffrey, CDC

What Can Drinking Warm "Lemonade" Do For You?

If I haven't already convinced you to ditch coffee first thing and turn to warm lemon water first, maybe these health benefits will do the trick. 

1. Lemon water is full of electrolytes like potassium, calcium, and magnesium (3 of which most humans are VERY low on)!

2. Help with your joints - if you're a runner or heavy lifter, this is a no brainer!

3. Better disgestion - hello, step number 1 in healthy weight loss

4. Increased liver function - coffee, alcohol, drugs all put A LOT of stress on the liver. Take care of this organ, without it, there would be no YOU.

5.Liver cleansing 

6. Fight respiratory infections

7. Regulate bowl movement 

8. Reduce depression and anxiety symptoms - since warm lemon water has a high potassium content, both depression and anxiety are linked to not having enough potassium in your blood

9. Regulate blood pressure 

10. Revitalize your skin - thank you vitamin C!

11. Protect your body through pregnancy 

12. Relieve heartburn 

13. Kidney stone relief 

14. Weight loss 

15. Oral health - lemon water helps relieve tooth pain and fight gingivitis 

16. Prevent cancer - studies have shown cancer cannot thrive in an environment that is rich in alkaline- a substance prevalent in lemon

So, get on the lemon water train! You'll feel better, you'll have more energy, and you won't even miss having coffee first thing!!! 

XO,

Brianna