You’ve probably heard it as often as I have. ‘You should start your day with a hot lemon drink’. You might even have attempted to start each day with a hot lemon drink but given up fairly quickly when you realised how much effort you had to make when you were barely awake. Luckily for you I came across one of the most ingenious ideas to make having a hot lemon water every morning a reality. It also stops me from having half or full lemons slowly going off in my fridge because I was too lazy to squeeze them every day. So this brilliant idea also helps to reduce your food waste.
But let’s start with why so many health blogs tell us to start the day with a lemon water. What exactly are the benefits of doing this?
Why is a glass of hot lemon water good for you?
A glass of warm / hot lemon water is claimed to:
- Aid digestion
- Help you stay hydrated
- Help with weight loss
- Fight the common cold
- Be a remedy to skin problems such as acne, hyper-pigmentation, wrinkles and rashes
- Contain antioxidants
- Be a good way to get Vitamin C
- Also be a source of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and more
- Help to Prevent Kidney Stones
- Help fight sore throats and inflammation of the tonsils due to its anti-inflammatory properties
- Reduce joint and muscle pain
- Help toothache
- Prevent gingivitis
- Maintain the pH balance of the body
Benefits of Drinking Lemon Water in the Morning on an Empty Stomach.
Even if not all of those claims turned out to be true, you’re certainly not doing yourself any harm. The only problem with a glass of hot lemon water is how tedious it is to prepare it in the morning before you’re completely awake! Well, here’s an ingenious and very simple solution for those of us who don’t function very well before coffee. Freeze lemon juice! It’s that simple.
The hassle free way to make hot lemon water
- Squeeze your lemons.
- Fill an ice cube tray with the juice.
- Each morning pop out a lemon ice cube and pour hot water over it.
Not only is there far less messy faffing to do first thing in the morning but it should be at a reasonable temperature to drink. You should apparently wait at least 15 minutes before eating or drinking anything else to give your liver ‘time to clean up‘.
What to do with your leftover lemon peel
If you’re trying to reduce your food waste every part of the lemon can be used. Before squeezing your lemons make sure to zest them so you can use the zest in a recipe. Once you’ve prepped your ice cube tray for your morning hot lemon water, don’t throw away the lemon peel just yet.
If you have any leftover lemon juice why not use it with some baking soda to clean your brass? The lemon peel itself can also be used in a variety of ways as a cleaning tool. You can use them as a deodoriser for your bin or your fridge. You can wipe them over taps to get rid of watermarks. I’ve also used the skin on my shower walls which helped clean it and made it smell very nice. Don’t put your lemon peels in the compost though.
There are numerous other uses for lemons and lemon peels, some of which are great for being more eco-friendly.
