The REAL Reason to Drink Lemon Water Every Day (most don't know this...)

Is lemon water really the miracle drink that everyone claims it to be? There are claims that it detoxes your body, that it boosts metabolism, that it even clears your skin. But what does the science really say and what is actually just pure hype? Today we're going to break down what lemon water actually does in your body and how to potentially make it work for you. By the way, I'm Dr. Ashley. I am the owner and founder of PhD Weight Loss, where we have helped to date over 11,600 people drop collectively more than 466, 6,000 pounds nationwide. And my goal with this channel is to give you the information you need to actually make positive, sustainable change in your own life. So let's talk about the impact of lemon water and how it could potentially fit into your daily routine. So number one is that it keeps you hydrated. At least a lot of people who I work with at PhD weight loss don't love drinking plain water. So sticking some lemon water in there just helps to change the flavor and encourages a lot of folks to want to consume more. Most people enjoy in general, don't drink enough water. Women need about 90 ounces a day. Most men need about 120 ounces a day. If you're working out a lot, if you're sweating a lot, you are going to need even more. Now I've talked a lot about hydration in previous videos. If you feel like, oh my gosh, I'm such a camel, I can't get in water, I don't know what to do and I don't understand the importance of it, then you should check out my other video where I do a deep dive into the science around hydration. And I'll make sure to include the link to that video in the description of this one so that you can check it out. Now, if plain water is boring to you, you can add lemon in there to give you some flavor. You want to make sure that you add some kind of electrolyte in there. It could just be a sprinkling of salt with a pinch of lemon. That's totally fine to do. Or if you want to do more and you feel like lemon water isn't enough to actually get you wanting to drink more, you could check out an electrolyte mix. I've created a really great electrolyte plus mix. I actually have a lemonade flavor and then a strawberry paradise flavor that a watermelon kind of flare to it. If you like that and just go into the description here and I'll include a Link with a special discount code where you can check out my electrolyte mix. It has the most highly bioavailable forms of vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, chloride, vitamin D. All of these very important things that support the body during the stressful process of dropping weight. Dropping weight is very healthy for the body, but it is still still a process and it can impact your adrenals and thyroid. So this electrolyte plus mix supports the body in that process. Or if you feel like a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt in there will continue your drive to drink, then that can be totally fine as well. Number two, the benefits of drinking lemon water is that it's a natural source of vitamin C. A lot of the vitamin C that we get in supplements is the type that the body can't do anything with. This is why in my electrolyte mix, I added pure way C, which is a patented form of vitamin C. It's very expensive and it actually allows the body to be able to use it. Now, getting vitamin C from whole food sources is the very best, and that's what you are getting when you consume lemon juice in your water. Lemon contains 30% of your daily vitamin C needs in just 14 cup of juice. So you could squeeze out a lemon, get a fourth cup and drink it in your water. In the morning is my favorite time to encourage people to drink lemon water. Now, if we go back to the topic of vitamin C. It helps to protect your body from free radicals. It supports your immune system. It supports collagen production, which we all want to do to increase the elasticity of our skin, especially when we're dropping weight when we're going to the fall season. Helpful from the immunity perspective. I just mentioned reducing the amount of colds potentially that we could get. I know we're all for that. At least I am. We can think of lemon water as this quick boost. In general, studies link higher vitamin C intake to lower blood pressure, better heart health, and fewer colds, which I am totally into as we head into the fall season here. So think of lemon water as this quick hydrating immune boost, especially when you consume it in the morning. Lemon water has also been shown to improve skin quality, which I alluded to earlier. It helps with collagen production, so it will support your skin staying more firm and more elastic, which again, is important when we're dropping weight. A clinical nutrition study found that people who had higher vitamin C intake actually had fewer wrinkles and less skin. Skin dryness and hydration also flushes out toxins that dull your complexion. So this combination of higher vitamin C intake and adequate water actually helps the skin glow from the inside out. Which is why when I was creating this electrolyte mix, I wanted to find the best form of vitamin C to add in there. Because again, when we go through a weight loss journey, we want to support our skin in as many ways as possible. Lemon water can also support weight loss. Research shows that lemon polyphenols may reduce fat storage and improve insulin sensitivity. There's actually a compound called Ariel Min and it has been clinically shown to significantly increase GLP1 levels in the gut. And this is a lemon bioflavin. And I am super excited about this compound and I will share with you here in a few weeks when I have more information for you. Also, as I mentioned earlier, when you stick lemon in your water, it's going to continue to drive the desire to drink more. When we drink more water without calories, research shows that we're going to drop more weight. Now, when I was earning my PhD at Virginia Tech, I was in a lab where we focused on weight management and we did a study where we had two groups of individuals. One group who consumed 16 ounces of water 30 minutes before their meal and a control group who did not consume water before their meal. And the group that consumed water lost significantly more weight despite despite consuming around the same amount of calories than the non water group. Now, if you can replace your soda or juice or skim milk with lemon water, you are going to have even more extreme benefits. So lemon water also can aid in digestion. Specifically, when you consume lemon in warm water in the morning, it wakes up your digestive system and can act as a gentle natural laxative in ayurvedic medicine. They believe that the sour taste in the lemon wakes up your digestive fire and helps food move move smoothly through your system. So what you could do is try sipping on this warm lemon water before breakfast, before you eat anything to get your gut going. So you could make a promise to yourself that the first thing that touches your mouth when you wake up is 16 ounces of warm water with a little lemon in it and maybe some sea salt. Lemon water freshens breath. It helps to neutralize strong odors like garlic or onion or coffee. I sometimes use lemon in my kitchen sink and I will rub it on the the sink or I'll shove it down a peel, I'll shove down the garbage disposal and it will neutralize those strong odors. So it does the same thing in the body actually also when you drink lemon water, it stimulates saliva to prevent dry mouth, which are two key causes of bad breath. Just remember it's healthy to rinse with plain water after you drink lemon to protect your teeth from the acidity. Research shows that lemon water can also help to protect against kidney stones which are so painful. So if there's anything we can do to prevent those, it is a huge win. In general, it's thought that the citric acid in the lemon will bind with the calcium in your urine help prevent stone formation. Also, drinking lemon water consistently increases urinary citrate, which reduces your risk of painful stones. We also know that hydration and balanced electrolytes just help to flush waste from the kidneys. So in general, many benefits from drinking lemon water. Let me know in the comments below if you are going to give it a try. Tell me how much you're going to consume and when you're going to consume it, and if you're going to consume it with anything else I want to hear. So in general, how to make it right Always use fresh lemons. Do not use bottled juice. Squeeze half of a lemon into 8 or 16 ounces of warm water and drink it in the morning. For your convenience, you could freeze lemon juice in ice cube trays and drop it into hot water anytime. Or you can do cold water as well throughout the day. Just if you're going to do this in the morning, it's best for your body to make the water warm and then you can sip it throughout day for good, steady hydration. Just make sure you add some electrolytes in there. All right, I hope that this was helpful. Please be sure to subscribe to this channel so that you do not miss another video. And once you add lemon water into your daily routine, what should you eat next to make the most out of it? Well, I did a video where I talk about the benefits of avocado and you can check that out right here. See you on the next video.