If you search for lemon water on Google you will get 602 million results. You will get 467 million results when you search "is lemon water good for you" and 117 million if you search "is lemon water bad for you". How in the world is the average person who heard something about the benefits of lemon water supposed to determine whether to drink it or not? Even if you were to only read the first page of results for "lemon water" you will get conflicting answers about its health benefits (at the time of writing this blog). Some of the numerous health claims made about lemon water include: a good source of vitamin C, aiding in weight loss, aiding in digestion, preventing kidney stones and cancer. Those are all pretty broad health claims but sound great, I would definitely like all of those.
I'm sure you have heard of those people who swear by having their lemon water every. single. day. Am I right?
I am not sure who started the idea of having anything every single day but I prefer to believe that our bodies thrive on variety and any one thing we consume in excess every day is most likely going to do more harm than good; yes even if it is essentially something healthy. I drink coffee and water every day and probably some other foods but it is never in excess and never a MUST. Ok , well maybe the coffee, but I admit that is probably not that healthy either.
I bet you think I am going to delve into the nutrition studies that prove to you whether you should drink lemon water every day or not. First of all, you may have noticed I will never tell you to do or eat anything. Anytime I give nutrition advice I make sure I leave to options open and let YOU decide. In regards to lemon water, I could not find any harmful effects to drinking lemon water, though the studies don't seem to have tested it over a long period of time. There may be some harmful effects on tooth enamel but this can be diminished by rinsing your mouth after drinking with plain water or drinking with a straw.
Nutrition, like any other health profession is based on scientific research that is usually printed in peer reviewed journals. Most topics have hundreds of studies performed on them and it is up to the qualified health professional to take these into account when diagnosing, treating or providing health advice. Just think about the last time you wanted a second opinion from a doctor. So of course, when it comes to nutrition there are lots of different opinions out there even from those that have been 'qualified'. The issue is that for some reason, nutrition has become something that the media, and the wellness industry loves to exaggerate in order to sell something based on those exaggerated health claims. We are all different and a qualified professional ideally should get to know you and your habits before recommending that you follow any type of specific diet or eat more of a certain food.
This is why I hope I will be able to bring out in all my posts the importance of doing your own research and seeking out the advice of someone qualified to give advice on the topic. A simple search on Pubmed.com and Google scholar will lead you to the source of the information from where health claims are made. You don't have to read through all of them in order to come to a decision for yourself, but I do believe it is a good idea to at least start and see if there is any truth to what you read. Sometimes, online news articles will link up to the research study so you can read it and decide whether it makes sense for your life.
Here are 3 questions I ask myself whenever I read any news article, or journal article:
1. How many people were involved in the study? Keep in mind we are all unique so what works for someone else won't necessarily work for you. The more people were analyzed in the results, the more accurate it could be for the general public.
2. Was the study done on humans using the food or vitamin itself or was it done with the extracted vitamin in a lab or on animals? This is often the case with supplements as it is the best way to study the effects. But it must be tested also on humans in order to find out if the health claim applies. If a claim is made on a food - was the food used in the research and how was it prepared and offered to the participants?
3. Diseases often take many years to develop. How have they come to the conclusion that the food will prevent a disease? Have those people been tracked over a period of time?
The last thing I would like to touch on is the term - 'orthorexia'. This is actually a medical condition which involves an obsession with foods that one considers healthy. The term was coined in 1998 and is a real eating disorder. Yes, an eating disorder in the same category as the other well known ones; anorexia, bulimia and binge eating. Instagram did not exist in 1998 but it makes me wonder if the healthy eating trend that has exploded in recent years is a direct result of those suffering from this disease looking for a community of like minded individuals. I'm sure you've seen those posts: "eat this, not that" and others that highlight the important of eating only super healthy foods. Those Instagram feeds of only bright colored salads are beautiful to look at and definitely a great place for ideas.
It does not mean you can't have chocolate after that salad. Now we even have what I consider the back lash of that trend; intuitive eating - listening to your body to understand what it needs. Because if you want a cookie or 2, eat it! The pendulum has swung too far to the side of only eating healthy foods and now we must find a way to get our control back.
It is my belief that anyone claiming that they start every. single. morning with a lemon water and they don't feel themselves if they do not have it, is promoting a disordered eating lifestyle. I know this may sound harsh to many, but this is just my belief. Just as you should with any nutrition advice, do your own research, decide what works for our own body, and beware of habits that become obsessions.
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