Can I Drink Lemon Water During Intermittent Fasting?
By bulksupplementsdirect
Table of Contents
Fasting is a great practice to improve your overall health and well-being, apart from its religious and cultural implications. During that period, one needs to abstain from eating or drinking—basically, no consumption of calories.
However, it is essential to maintain hydration, nutrition, and electrolyte balance for health and safety reasons. This concern matters the most when answering the above question; what would not break a fast but still preserve your electrolyte balance?
Can I drink lemon water, and is it acceptable during intermittent fasting? Yes, you can. Drinking lemon water hydrates you while delivering additional nutrients to the body. Find out more below.
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Practicing intermittent fasting is switching between fasting and maintaining your regular meal plan. This fasting has proven effective in helping individuals lose weight. Not only that, but intermittent fasting can also lessen your risk of developing certain diseases.
Intermittent fasting is concerned with when you eat and less about what you eat. It is concerned more with overall calorie content and less with composition. Such complexities are what sometimes make sticking to restrictive diets such a challenge for so many people.
Therefore, this fasting bunches up meal and fasting times, following specific schedules. The idea is to get your body into a state of metabolic switching, moving beyond burning sugars for energy to burning fat reserves. This way, you’ll lose excess body weight as you boost your metabolism to burn fat.
Here are some intermittent fasting schedules you can follow:
- Daily Fasting: You’ll eat your meals within a six or eight-hour window and fast the remainder of the 24 hours.
- 5:2 Approach: You’ll keep your regular meal times for five days of the week, then limit your food intake to one 600-calorie meal in the two days. Naturally, consult with your doctor before trying this more extreme schedule.
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What Can You Consume While Intermittent Fasting?
During the fasting portions of the schedule, you’re supposed to consume zero calories. Therefore, you must stick to water and other beverages that supply your body with zero calories. Black tea is one such example.
Plain lemon water is permitted because it contains virtually negligible calorie amounts.
For example, half a liter of lemon water contains nine calories, which won’t affect your calorie-limiting goals. However, avoid the urge to add sugar to your lemon water, black coffee, or green tea because you’ll immediately shift from minimal to significant calories.
The added sugar, no matter how little, will somehow affect the delicate balance you have attained, spike your insulin levels, and mess up your blood sugar.
During the eating window of the schedule, you need to practice moderation. Therefore, please resist the urge to go overboard with the waiting, as it will erase all progress.
Focus more on the proper nutrients by eating a balanced diet.
Why Lemon Water Is Popular
Lemon water is a mixture of lemon juice and drinking water. As a member of the citrus fruits family, lemon juice infuses that tangy taste into lemon water due to its citric acid content.
It is common to find people enjoying this beverage, some even taking a lemon water break at work.
Hydration
During intermittent fasting, your body needs water to maintain its physiological processes. Lemon water delivers the necessary hydration due to its water content.
Since fasting is challenging for most people, the tangy water in lemon water makes it easier to remain hydrated for long periods. Plain water may be too bland for most as they aim to stay hydrated.
Vitamin and Mineral Source
You’ll also introduce some vital vitamins and minerals into your body as you hydrate. Lemon water contains vitamin C, folate, and potassium.
Moreover, it contains vitamins A and B6 and iron. Therefore, you’ll supply your body with these vital nutrients, thus improving your health and well-being.
Promote Weight Loss
Consuming lemon water takes up space in your tummy, which you would otherwise be tempted to break your fast and fill with food. It is the same with the fasting portion of your schedule being over.
Lemon water can help you reduce food cravings by taking up more space in your stomach. Hence, leaving little for food and helping you attain your weight loss goals.
Better Than Sugary Drinks
Instead of drinking sweetened beverages or succumbing to their temptation as you fast, lemon water helps you beat your thirst.
Therefore, you won’t feel strongly urged to take something cold and sweet instead.
Helps Prevent Kidney Stones
As you fast, your body generates higher-than-normal amounts of uric acid. While it is an excellent antioxidant, this acid can cause kidney stones. Perhaps a great result is how lemon water helps prevent kidney stones.
The citrate in citric acid helps prevent urine from being too acidic. Additionally, it helps break down small stones into comfortably passable sizes as you urinate.
Improve Overall Digestive Health
Lemon water’s citric acid stimulates your digestive system to produce gastric acid, a vital component of food digestion. Hence, drinking lemon water as you approach the end of a fasting period helps prepare your body for digesting food properly.
Tips on Effective Lemon Water Use During Intermittent Fasting
Although lemon water is an excellent accompaniment to intermittent fasting, you may miss its health benefits if you don’t consume it right.
Follow these tips to get the best out of your lemon water.
Avoid Hot Lemon Water
High temperatures denature vitamin C, thus minimizing what you gain from drinking lemon water.
Therefore, introduce drinking water above 30 degrees celsius to your lemon juice. Alternatively, consume cold lemon water if possible.
Drink in Moderation
Don’t drink too much lemon water, which could lead to pH imbalances in your body. Ideally, one or two glasses should be enough.
Add Salt
You could add a pinch of salt to the lemon water, which helps minimize muscle fatigue and headaches during fasting.
Substitute with Lime
If you cannot access lemons, you could also use the juice of a lime to attain the same effect.
Mix with Apple Cider Vinegar
Lemon water and apple cider vinegar are great in helping you lose weight while promoting digestion and boosting metabolism. You can drink this early in the morning instead of just plain lemon water.
Add Some Lemon Slices
Instead of just the juice, you can make your lemon water taste and look even better by adding lemon slices.
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Conclusion
Intermittent fasting is a great way to help reduce excess body weight, boost metabolism, and prevent certain diseases. During fasting, you’ll need help staying hydrated and balancing your electrolytes.
Drinking lemon water is an excellent solution to both needs while delivering a pleasant and welcome taste.
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- Note: The content on this website is meant to be for information and it should not be taken as medical advice. The content and the products mentioned in them are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. Always speak with a certified medical professional before making any changes to your lifestyle, diet, exercise plan, and /or taking any supplements or changes.
