Drinking Lemon water has many health benefits. When doing a Ketogenic Diet, it is a first step in eliminating some of the toxins in the body. We eat meat and vegetables that contain uric acid and oxalates. These things need to be broken down to prevent the build-up of things like plaque in the arteries and stones in the kidneys. The citrates from the lemon help dissolve stones but also prevent them from growing.

Lemons are acidic but have alkalizing effects, and they help to balance the PH levels in the urine. They also help with the breakdown of uric acid, oxalates, and help with other deficiencies like Vitamin C deficiency.

One of our routines every morning is to drink an 8 oz glass of warm lemon water with 2 TBSP of lemon juice and 2 TBSP of Apple cider vinegar, doing this helps aid in digestion and gets our metabolism started first thing in the morning. We did notice a difference when we started doing this every morning.

Preventing and Assisting in the Passing of Kidney Stones

On a Ketogenic diet, you want to eat things like Spinach, Kale, broccoli, etc., these vegetables are necessary to get the micro nutrients you need while on a Ketogenic diet, but the oxalate in the greens can cause painful kidney stones in some people who are susceptible to them.

We can help prevent Vitamin C deficiency and kidney stones by adding lemon to a glass of water. Drinking it warm will also help with digestion. The amount of vitamin C in one lemon is 45 mg or 49% of the recommended daily dose. So with just two lemons a day, you could get your full daily dose.

One lemon is approximately 2-4 TBSP of lemon juice therefore if we put 4-8 TBSP of pure lemon juice in the water we can help to prevent VItamin C deficiency and the citrates from the lemon will also help dissolve and prevent kidney stones from growing.

PubMed References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18946667
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17721827
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17382731
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17919696
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18946667

As a personal connection to this article, because of an inherited trait to easily form kidney stones, I have passed many kidney stones over the last 10-15 years. I was advised by my urologist many years ago to start drinking lemonade, lemon water, pretty much as much lemon as I could get. Early on, passing stones was excruciating, and in my case, required multiple surgeries. The stones were jagged, like crystalized shark’s teeth.  But possibly because of my daily regimen of warm lemon water when I wake and iced lemon water before I go to bed, I noticed that the most recent stone that I passed was not near as bad, and was also not as jagged, and passed much easier.  While it may have nothing to do with it, if there is even a remote chance that it made a difference, it will now be part of my daily routine moving forward.

These are also added benefits of drinking lemon water
1. Fights fatigue
2. Reduction of Collagen breakdown
3. Prevents clogged arteries
4. Decrease of Spider/Varicose veins
5. Slows down bruising
6. Helps with bleeding gums
7. Metabolic Boost
8. Can prevent or diminish kidney stones

One thing to consider, lemons are acidic to tooth enamel.  Because of this we recently started using a straw to avoid getting too much of it on our teeth. Some suggest waiting to brush your teeth to keep the bacteria on them as a protection to your enamel until after you drink the lemon water, but if you have brushed your teeth, you will want to rinse your mouth out with water to protect the enamel.