Benefits and Uses of Lemons: Separating Fact from Fiction

Lemons have been getting all kinds of attention lately for being amazing super foods, and with so many potential health benefits their great reputation has been rightfully earned.

For example, a quick look at the nutrition facts of lemons show several reasons that any person would want to include them in a healthy balanced diet.

Here's the basic nutrition rundown on lemons:

• 20-30 calories per lemon
• 89% water
• 9.3% carbs-mostly pectin fiber (lowers blood sugar levels by slowing down digestion of sugars and starches) and simple sugars (only 2.5 grams…Did you know you’re only supposed to have 24-36 grams of sugar a day?!?!?)
• 1.1% protein
• Vitamin C-51% of the recommended daily value in one lemon
• Beneficial plant compounds-Citric acid, Hesperidin, Diosmin, D-Limonene

As you can see, lemons pack a powerful nutritional punch!

The following are a list of potential health benefits of lemons:

• Regulates blood sugar
• kidney stone and gall stone prevention (breaks down stones as well as working as a diuretic)
• prevention of anemia (helps the body absorb iron)
• keeps skin looking youthful and healthy (by killing free radicals that make the skin age)
• reduction of emotional stress
• strengthen blood vessels
• reduce the risk of some types of cancer (including breast cancer)

Not only are lemons good for our bodies when we eat them, but just smelling lemons can improve our mental and emotional conditions.

Many people reap the aromatic benefits of lemon by diffusing lemon oil so that the fresh smell of lemon permeates the air that they breathe.

Some aromatic benefits of lemons are:

• Increases brain power-One study involving lemon oil in Japan showed that the smell increased cognitive function in Alzheimer's patients. Another study showed that people made 54% less typing errors when typing in a room where lemon oil was being diffused.
• calms and uplifts people's emotions

Lemon juice is great for cleaning (as in adding sparkle and shine) and stain/smell removal, but many sources say it is not strong enough to be an effective disinfectant.

Many websites suggest that lemon juice is a great way to sanitize cutting boards, because it will get rid of unwanted stains and smells, but because lemon juice is not powerful enough to kill the germs on your cutting board, this is not a good suggestion.

Lemon oil on the other hand is powerful enough to be used effectively in natural cleaners.

You also want to be careful as it does have bleaching characteristics. Try it on a small area before using it on large areas. Lemon oil is a more effective natural alternative for disinfecting.

There are tons of suggestions of how to use lemons around your home on the Internet, but again, the question is whether or not they should be trusted. Here are a few suggestions that I discovered in my research.

I've tried some of these, but not all of them, so I can't promise the effectiveness of every suggestion.

I did go through the effort of sorting through a lot of suggestions that seemed potentially dangerous, so that you won't experiment with them and cause you or someone else harm.

For example, many people suggest using straight lemon juice on your skin, and while lemon juice does have many potential benefits for your skin, it also could be harmful, particularly for someone with sensitive skin, so you probably want to stay clear of any recipes that recommend using straight lemon juice on your skin.

Here are some everyday household uses for lemons that I found in my research:

• Freshen the fridge-put a cotton ball with lemon juice in the fridge to absorb unwanted odors (obviously cleaning out smelly items will make this work better).
• Get rid of yucky sink smells-grind lemon peel in the garbage disposal.
• Repel bugs-ants, roaches, and fleas don’t like the smell of lemon. Lemon juice near doors, windows, and other places where bugs like to come in will discourage them from entering. You can also scatter small slices of lemon peel near doors. Some people recommend adding lemon juice to your mop bucket when cleaning, but you will want to make sure that the material your floor is made out of is lemon juice safe.
• Fruit and vegetable wash-lemon juice will help clean pesticides and other chemicals off of your produce better than water will.
• Keep produce looking fresh-lemon juice keeps foods such as cauliflower, apples, potatoes, pears, pesto, and guacamole from turning brown.
• Make soggy lettuce crisp-add the juice of half a lemon to a bowl of water. Put soggy, limp lettuce in, and refrigerate it for an hour. Dry the lettuce, and it’s perfect for a salad again.
• Create blonde highlights- add ¼ cup lemon juice to ¾ cup water and rinse your hair with the mixture. Sit in the sun until your hair dries. Repeat daily for up to a week.
• Clean and whiten nails-Soak your finger nails in a mixture of 1 cup warm water and the juice of half a lemon. Soak for about five minutes and then rub some lemon peel back and forth against the nail.
• Bleach delicate fabrics-soak delicate fabrics in a mixture of lemon juice and water for half an hour before washing rather than using bleach.
• Easily clean cheese graters-scrub cheese grater with half a lemon and then wash as usual.
• Polish chrome and stainless steel-scrub metal with lemon rind, rinse, and dry.
• Lower salt intake-your taste buds get the same sensation from sour foods that they do from salt. Try adding zest and flavor to your meals by seasoning with lemon instead of salt.

I've also included a few recipes using lemons below, so feel free to experiment. I love the tart and tasty lemon smoothie, and after converting to cleaning with natural cleaning products, I will never go back to using chemicals in my home again.