Lemons + Lemon Slice “Tea”

Lemons, Lemons, Lemons

lemlemons.jpgLemon cultivars can be sweet, sour, and downright pucker-inducing. In the kitchen, they can be used in savory dishes and sweet treats, as well as employed as antibacterial cleaning agents. They’re good for digestion, too. That’s a lot of work packed into these little yellow fruits!

Like other citrus fruits, lemons are high in vitamin C, and they also contain small amounts of potassium, folate, and B6. When consumed along with iron-rich foods, vitamin C may help the body absorb more of this mineral. (A good tip for patients who tend toward iron deficiency anemia. Who wouldn’t want lemon garlic lamb kebabs? Or, for vegetarians, how about fresh squeezed lemon juice on an iron-rich bean salad?)

The acidity of lemons may help aid digestion, and their pectin—a soluble fiber—may help reduce total cholesterol as well as improve bowel health. (It should be noted, however, that lemon juice doesn’t provide fiber. For that, the pulp of the fruit must be consumed. A tall order, perhaps, for people who don’t like the sour taste, but grilling lemons is a way to bring out their sweetness. Preserving lemons in salt or with spices is another way to tone down the tartness and bring out the sweet zing while making the pulp very soft and easy to eat—including the rind!.

What’s the Difference Between Meyer Lemons and Regular Lemons?

Lemons are sometimes promoted as a weight loss aid. While squeezing a bit of fresh lemon juice on a salad or even eating the pulp of a lemon isn’t going to put bariatric physicians out of business, there’s some evidence that lemons may help just a little in the battle of the bulge. Mouse studies indicate that lemon polyphenols suppress body weight gain and body fat accumulation by “increasing peroxisomal beta-oxidation through up-regulation of the mRNA level of acyl-CoA oxidase in the liver and white adipose tissue.” Lemon polyphenols also improved serum levels of insulin, glucose and leptin, which may be of benefit to individuals with insulin resistance and/or metabolic syndrome. Additionally, adding a splash of lemon juice to water may help individuals drink more of it throughout the day, which may translate into slightly greater weight loss, owing to the thermogenic effect of water. (Many patients simply don’t like to drink water, and a little bit of lemon may make it more appealing.)

Other populations that may benefit from increasing lemon fruit and juice intake are those at risk for kidney stones or those with a history of stones. The high content of citric acid in lemons may help increase urine volume (particularly if added to beverages) and raise urine pH, creating an unfavorable environment for stone formation. It also increases urinary citrate excretion, with citrate acting as a natural inhibitor of urinary crystallization. “Achieving therapeutic urinary citrate concentration is one clinical target in the medical management of calcium urolithiasis”—and drinking plenty of lemon juice might be one way to boost urinary citrate levels.

Lemon juice is a powerful antimicrobial agent, which accounts for the use of lemon essential oil in many household cleaning products, particularly those used to clean kitchen counters and cutting boards. Lemon juice has demonstrated antibacterial effects against E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and strains of Salmonella, as well as anti fungal effects against Candida Albicans. Another helpful thing lemons do in the kitchen is keep apples, bananas, pears, and avocados from turning brown when they’re cut prior to adding to a recipe. (Other citrus juice will do this as well, such as orange and lime.)

What’s the Difference Between Meyer Lemons and Regular Lemons?

Here is a great article from David Wolf-

20 Incredible Things Happen When You Add Lemon Water to Your Morning Routine

Magnesium

After oxygen, water, bicarbonate and iodine, magnesium may be the most important element needed by our bodies.  It is vital for heart health, bone health, mental function and overall body maintenance – yet 80% or more of us are deficient in this vital mineral.

Magnesium is more important than calcium, potassium or sodium, and it regulates all three of them. This vital mineral plays an important role in over 1300 different biochemical reactions.  Contrary to popular misconceptions, it is magnesium that is actually most important in building strong bones and preventing bone loss. Recent research has revealed that lack of magnesium may put your heart and your overall health at significant risk.  This research also found that a deficiency may be linked to cognitive dysfunction and mental decline.

Called the The Forgotten Mineral and the 5-Cent Miracle Tablet by medical researchers, magnesium is a muscle relaxant, and low magnesium intake is associated with muscle spasms, tremors and convulsions. It protects against heart disease and heart attacks, high blood pressure and stroke, type II diabetes and much, much more.

Many researchers have reported that adequate amounts of this mineral in the population at large would greatly diminish the incidence of kidney stones (1 in 11 Americans), calcified mitral heart valve (1 in 12 Americans), premenstrual tension, constipation, miscarriages, stillbirths, strokes, diabetes, thyroid failure, asthma, chronic eyelid twitch (blepharospasm), brittle bones, chronic migraines, muscle spasms and anxiety reactions.

An increasing number of medical scientists also believe that additional magnesium and other minerals missing from today’s diet may prevent cognitive disorders such as ADD, ADHD and bipolar, and help prevent Alzheimer’s and mental decline as we age. Sufficient intake by the American population would likely reduce health care costs by billions of dollars.

In addition to the problems listed above, deficiency of the master mineral has been associated with:

  • Insomnia and other sleep disorders
  • Fatigue and low energy
  • Body-tension
  • Headaches
  • Irregular heartbeat
  • High blood pressure
  • Other heart disorders
  • PMS
  • Backaches
  • Constipation
  • Kidney stones
  • Osteoporosis
  • Accelerated aging
  • Depression
  • Anxiety and irritability

Our depleted soils, processed foods and fast food diet lifestyles have led to a steady increase in mineral deficiencies. Nowhere is this more true than with magnesium.  The U.S. minimum RDA is about 320 mg per day for women and more than 400 mg per day for men, while optimum daily amounts are closer to 500 to 700 mg per day. Yet studies show that after over a century of steadily decreasing intake, today more than 8 out of 10 people do not take enough daily magnesium for even the minimum daily amounts recommended.

In 1900, magnesium consumption was 475-500 mg per day.  By 1990  consumption had dropped to 175-225 mg per day, and it has continued to drop since then.

Following is a list of some of richest sources of the master mineral, including standard serving sizes and calories:

  • Pumpkin and squash seed kernels, roasted – 1 oz contains 151 mg of magnesium /148 calories
  • Brazil nuts – 1 oz contains 107 mg of magnesium /186 calories
  • Bran ready-to-eat cereal (100%), – 1 oz contains 103 mg of magnesium/74 calories
  • Halibut, cooked – 3 oz contains 151 mg of magnesium /148 calories
  • Quinoa, dry – 1/4 cup contains 89 mg of magnesium /159 calories
  • Spinach, canned – 1/2 cup contains 81 mg of magnesium / 5 calories
  • Almonds – 1 oz contains 78 mg of magnesium / 164 calories
  • Spinach, cooked from fresh – 1/2 cup contains 78 mg of magnesium / 20 calories
  • Buckwheat flour – 1/4 cup contains 75 mg of magnesium /101 calories
  • Pine nuts, dried – 1 oz contains 71 mg of magnesium /191 calories
  • Mixed nuts, oil roasted w peanuts –1 oz contains 67 mg of magnesium /175 calories
  • White beans, canned – 1/2 cup contains 67 mg of magnesium /154 calories
  • Pollock, walleye, cooked – 3 oz contains 62 mg of magnesium /96 calories
  • Black beans, cooked – 1/2 cup contains 60 mg of magnesium /114 calories
  • Bulgar, dry – 1/4 cup contains 57 mg of magnesium /120 calories
  • Oat bran, raw – 1/4 cup contains 55 mg of magnesium /58 calories

The list of dietary magnesium sources shows that although it might be possible for a person to obtain optimum, or at least minimum, amounts of magnesium from the diet, doing so on a daily basis would take very careful planning.  When processed food is part of the diet, it becomes even more unlikely for the general public to consume enough magnesium through dietary sources alone on a daily basis.

Only supplementation is likely to make up for such a widespread magnesium deficiency for most people. Since the same problems with soil depletion and diet cause deficiencies in many other vital minerals, it would be a good idea to supplement magnesium and to also supplement with a wide range of other minerals. The very best mineral supplements are those derived from whole food and plant sources because they are more readily absorbed than mined rock minerals.  Taking a tablespoon of molasses daily is an excellent choice for supplementing magnesium as well as many other minerals.

If you want to take a pill instead, it is believed that the best forms of supplemental magnesium are the ones chelated to an amino acid (magnesium glycinate, magnesium taurate) or a Krebs cycle intermediate (magnesium malate, magnesium citrate, magnesium fumarate).  The only side effect of too much magnesium is loose stool. Reducing the dosage or dividing daily doses into smaller amounts resolves the problem.

Blood tests for magnesium are notoriously inaccurate since only about 1 percent of the total body magnesium pool exists outside of living cells. Thus, blood serum levels are inaccurate and your doctor can’t easily tell by a blood test if your magnesium levels are low.

For optimum health, magnesium and calcium intake needs to be at about a 1 to 2 ratio. So, if you supplement with 500 mg of magnesium, you should supplement with 1000 mg of calcium (or less if you get plenty of dietary calcium and little dietary magnesium).