SPRUCE UP YOUR HYDRATION WITH THIS

Lemons. It affects your teeth, skin, hormones and so much more. Sure, adding lemon to your water may be a trend but no doubt is it a staple in athletes' hydration strategies, celebrities' beauty routines and Ayurvedic practices.

With a pH level of around 2, lemon juice is just as acidic as vinegar. For comparison, typical H2O has a neutral score of 7. Simply sipping away on citrus can wear away at your enamel, your teeth’s protective coating. In time, this increases your risk of cavities and discoloration.

There’s a silver lining: when lemon juice is diluted in water, it’s much less of a concern. Mixing lemon juice into water rises the pH to a less damaging 5 or 6. Just as long as you’re not drinking lemon juice straight or swishing it around in your mouth, you’re good to go.

However, the juice’s acid causes plastic to leach, an often overlooked concern. Ingesting chemical plasticizers is particularly problematic with prepackaged lemon water or squeezing lemon juice into a plastic bottle/cup. Instead, drink from only glass containers. Pro tip: squeeze a quarter lemon into 16 ounces of water. For enamel protection, drink from a metal, bamboo or paper straw.

The greatest takeaway from linking lemon juice? The fruit is alkaline-forming, which helps balance acidity in the body. Consuming more alkaline foods and beverages may reduce the risk of fractures, help preserve muscle mass, protect against chronic disease and improve memory and cognitive function. Adding said alkaline foods and beverages also reverses the low-grade metabolic acidosis (when your body pulls minerals from the bone to maintain a neutral pH), often caused by high-protein diets such as paleo or kept. Over time, this condition can make you more susceptible to kidney stones, reduced bone mineral density and muscle loss. Alkaline foods help prevent inflammation and thereby, improve your ability to recover between bouts of high-intensity exercise.

Lemon water has beauty benefits too! It boosts hydration and adds a good dosage of vitamin C to the body, aiding in maintaining and building collagen. The antioxidants fight acne and free radical damage.

Feeling thirsty?

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