By Michael DeSanti
I’m a firm believer in the fact that we are always just a couple of tweaks away from making our lives healthier. I am a huge proponent of morning rituals because I’ve found that starting the morning off properly really helps to keep the day on track so. Even if it means waking up 5 minutes before usual and 1 less snooze on the alarm, it is totally worthwhile.
When we begin our day mindfully our day inevitably has a better routine to naturally follow. Creating a healthy morning routine is critical to maintaining health and discipline. Besides waking up calmly and rested, one of the greatest morning routines is drinking a glass of lemon water. Not only are you getting the many health benefits of lemons and water, but you’re also waking up and having your health on your mind, and that’s a great habit to get into and always keep.
When we sleep at night, our stomachs are digesting our food from the previous day. This means that there is a ton of acid in our system due to breaking down proteins. Most diseases and imbalances come in the body from a high acidic environment. If we wake up acidic we want to immediately balance our system out into what is called an alkaline or base environment so that our bodies are not as susceptible to inflammation and disease. Nothing does this better than a glass of water with lemon. Not only are we hydrating our bodies first thing in the AM, but the lemon helps us reach that better PH acid/alkaline balance. Most people often think that since a lemon is sour and acidic in the mouth, then it must be as well in the stomach. This is not true. Once the lemon hits our digestive system, it is immediately converted to an alkaline base and aids in digesting highly acidic foods.
Let’s look at more benefits of lemon water:
A couple of notes: Don’t add the peel to the water, lemons are rarely washed properly and often travel really far to make it to our glasses Room temperature water is best, it is faster to hydrate.
The process is simple: Squeezing a half to whole lemon in room temp water is an easy way to start our day off on a healthy foot. The more of these positive routines that we add to our day, the least likely we are to reach for and crave the things that are harming us. So buy a bag of organic lemons and before we reach for the coffee or even the OJ, let’s get in a tall glass of lemon water and give our bodies the tools that it needs to keep us healthy for years to come.