When Life Gives You Lemons, EAT them. Get Healthy!
There is an old proverbial saying , “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” meaning to take the sourness/bitterness of those lemons and turn them into a sweet/pleasurable drink of lemonade…in other words to be optimistic in the face of adversity or challenge.
However, I say, when life gives you lemons…EAT them! Why? Because that bitterness, sourness will literally do your body much better than making a sweet, sugary lemonade drink! Lemons (limes, oranges and other citrus fruits) can help your body become better balanced.
While these fruits are acidic in nature, they actually are alkaline producing to your body after they are digested.
Lemons, especially, are used frequently in Ayurveda. They are generally pitta producing and vata calming, but can gently be used to treat, heal or simply maintain your bodily health.There are so many wonderful benefits of adding real lemon or lemon juice to your daily nutritional regime. Here are the Top 10 Benefits I have found to be extremely useful:
Top Benefits of Eating Lemons:
- Improves your skin texture.
- Improves your digestive power. (In Ayurveda, we call this agni...your digestive FIRE.)
- Decreases fat deposition.
- Relieves bad breath. Cleanses oral cavities.
- Decreases cholesterol by decreasing deposits in blood vessels so decrease risk of heart attacks.
- Assists in daily elimination of bowels.
- Works to detoxify your liver (helps dissolve kidney stones).
- Improves your immunity-works against colds and flu.
- Helps decrease your body’s production of phlegm…especially important during cold/flu season.
- Helps to absorb iron from natural foods. Because lemons are high in Vitamin C, they naturally improve your body’s absorption of iron in many foods including spinach, beans, lentils.
So the next time you feel like life has come at you just too hard and you are feeling challenged by those lemons being tossed your way, DON’t discard them…EAT them instead…a proverbial gift from the universe !
