The lemon, in addition to the many benefits that it brings to our body, is a fat burner food that is very effective to help those who undertake a diet.
In this article, we will talk about the return on the slimming power of this small citrus fruit with great secrets and propose to you some ideas of diets based on lemon.
Why Does The Lemon Help You Lose Weight?
Lemon is an acidic citrus fruit. It boosts the digestive system, digests fats, and lowers blood sugar levels.
It has long been recognized as a slimming benefit. It is thanks to the numerous vitamins and antioxidants it contains, notably flavonoids: it helps the body eliminate bad toxins and excess fat and to burn calories.
It also encourages the stomach to produce more gastric juices and therefore break down food more quickly.
You can also find flavonoids in the following foods:
- grapefruit
- kale
- spinach
- beets
- goji berry
Thanks to its natural diuretic action, lemon also helps eliminate bad toxins through the kidneys and urinary tract.
Since it is very low in calories (for 100 grams of fresh pulp, it provides us with less than 35 calories), it is highly recommended to consume lemon on a diet to lose weight.
Finally, the presence of pectin, a soluble fiber, helps fight against the desire to eat. It reduces the feeling of hunger.
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How To Take Advantage Of Downsize With Lemon?
There are different ways to incorporate lemon into your diet. Drink it all day long, add to different meals, etc…
Idea No.1: Drink Lemon Throughout The Day.
To balance the ph levels, lemon juice is recommended, but there is still no medical evidence to support this idea.
The idea that it would be effective to drink lemon juice on an empty stomach before breakfast is not necessarily true, as the body’s ph is more acidic in the morning.
A good way to help the body eliminate fat is to drink a lemon tea or infusion half an hour before each meal.
Lemon juice diluted in lukewarm water, on an empty stomach is an excellent old remedy trick when you wake up or throughout the day to take advantage of the lemon’s slimming benefits. It is also full of vitamins and facilitates the elimination of fat!
You can also drink lemon juice diluted in hot or lukewarm water to multiply the clean benefits of hot water.
Idea No.2: Replace Sodas and Juices With Natural Lemonade Or Lemon-Based Juice.
Lemonade with honey is the perfect alternative to soda because it’s not only refreshing, and tasty but also helps the body burn fat.
There are also other lemon drink recipes that you can check out by reading the article on the top 10 best homemade lemon juice recipes.
Idea No.3: Start A Lemon Slimming Diet.
Adopting a lemon diet will help you absorb a small number of calories while providing good nutrients to your body.
Accompanying physical activity with a lemon-based diet will also help you fill up on energy.
The “Lemon” Diet.
One of the most famous diets for losing weight with lemon is the “lemon diet” which consists of incorporating lemon in all meals for 7 days.
It aims to facilitate digestion, the elimination of fat to lose weight and be more toned, without depriving yourself of eating just lemon.
It’s to include lemon on the menu: in salad dressings or dishes, in infusions, in the desert …
To start this diet, you still should apply to yourself the first two days with menus devoid of starchy foods, composed of vegetables, and very low in carbohydrates.
These first two days are the hardest because you have to reach a count of only about 1,000 calories.
The following days allow yourself to integrate more carbohydrates and proteins, to reach 1,500 calories per day. During the rest of the diet, you should eat a lot of vegetables and fruit instead of sugar and be physically active. You should also limit snacking as much as possible.
With this diet, you can lose up to 5 kilos!
Example Of A Menu To Follow During The “Lemon Diet”:
Day 1:
- Breakfast: Green tea infused with lemon, a bowl of almond milk with apple sprinkled with lemon juice, and chia seeds.
- Lunch: Quinoa with cauliflower and preserved lemons. In case of small hunger, drink a lemon infusion, a plain yogurt with lemon zest, a small handful of almonds.
- Dinner: Pumpkin soup with candied lemon, verbena tea.
Day 2:
- Breakfast: Accompany your lemon infusion with green tea and homemade applesauce. Add a small handful of nuts.
- Lunch: A salmon filet a la plancha, a pan of vegetables, drizzled with a lemon vinaigrette sauce. For a snack, a piece of fruit or plain yogurt with lemon zest will do the trick.
- Dinner: Prepare a lentil soup, hard-boiled eggs with lemon sauce, and herbal tea to help you sleep well.
Day 3:
- Breakfast: One of the two dishes from the first day.
- Lunch: A fillet of oven-roasted chicken breast with vegetables and a lemon sauce. If you feel hungry, you can have one of the first day’s snacks.
- Dinner: Choose a mushroom-spinach soup with a small handful of nuts, all seasoned with a dash of lemon juice.
Day 4:
- Breakfast: You can drink a kiwi-banana-spinach smoothie, accompanied by your lemon infusion, and possibly a green tea.
- Lunch: For the main course, couscous with vegetables and preserved lemons. The snack will consist of an apple-pear compote without sugar and a lemon infusion.
- Dinner: A grilled white fish fillet, steamed broccoli, accompanied by a lemon sauce.
Day 5:
- Breakfast: It consists of a fresh fruit salad with oatmeal and soy milk and a lemon infusion.
- Lunch: An egg omelet with vegetables, arugula, and avocado salad, and a lemon vinaigrette. As a snack, a piece of fruit, some dried fruit, and a lemon infusion.
- Dinner: In the evening, a pan of shrimp and vegetable wok style with lemon, accompanied by Asian noodles.
Day 6:
- Breakfast: An apple-celery-banana-spinach smoothie with a lemon infusion.
- Lunch: Fish fillet and raw vegetable salad with lemon vinaigrette. The snack will be composed of a lemon infusion and yogurt accompanied by applesauce without sugar and lemon zest.
- Dinner: A ratatouille and hard-boiled eggs accompanied by lemon salad leaves, finish with a lemon chamomile infusion.
Day 7:
- Breakfast: On the last day, replace the smoothie with a homemade compote with no added sugar and some dried fruit. Always accompanied by a lemon infusion and green tea if necessary.
- Lunch: You can prepare a good mixed salad with tuna. The snack can be composed of a lemon infusion and citrus fruit.
- Dinner: A vegetable soup with a green salad with lemon vinaigrette.
These menu ideas are only suggestions, it can be adapted according to your tastes and desires.
Remember that the most important thing is to distribute the calories and protein intake throughout the day, eliminate added sugars, and fats. Also, you should always accompany this diet with regular exercise.
To go along with each different menu of your weight loss diet based on lemon, here is a sauce recipe, and a recipe for slimming herbal tea that I had shared with you in the article dedicated to the benefits of cider vinegar for getting into shape.
Option #1 For A Lemon-Based Slimming Sauce:
Mix two tablespoons of apple vinegar, one tablespoon of olive oil, a little lemon, a little salt, a little pepper, and a clove of minced garlic.
Add a little water if you wish to have a larger quantity.
Option #2 Of Lemon Slimming Tea:
And here is a herbal tea that will accompany you in your weight loss process, particularly effective for losing the bulges located on the abdominal belt, and for a flat stomach effect (other ideas to lose belly without sport here).
In a cup of green tea, add a spoonful of cider vinegar, a little lemon juice, a little honey, ginger, and a little cinnamon.
This tea not only helps to clean the body, protect the kidneys and bladder, it also has an anti-inflammatory effect, helps digestion, protects skin cells, and fills up with vitamins.
Detox Days With Lemon
Another option is to accompany a balanced diet with a detox day every two weeks, to purify the body and help the metabolism work.
This day consists in integrating a maximum of fruits and vegetables in season, and therefore fiber and water, and minimizing the intake of calories, all accompanied by lemon juice.
- Upon waking up: About 30 minutes before breakfast, drink a glass of lemonade. Breakfast will consist of fruit and apple salad, plain yogurt without sugar, and a handful of almonds.
- In case of hunger: A glass of lemonade, a banana, and a handful of dried fruit.
- Lunch: A stir-fry of beans sprinkled with lemon juice and virgin olive oil.
- For snack: A glass of lemonade, some dried fruit.
- For dinner: Grilled white fish sprinkled with lemon juice, steamed vegetables.
- About 2 hours before going to bed: Drink a glass of warm or hot lemonade.
The Hyper-Lemon Diet: A Guaranteed Vitamin Boost!
This ultra-vitamin diet is prized by Hollywood stars who promote its effectiveness for some time in terms of weight loss.
It is a 20-day diet that includes more and more lemons during the first ten days (up to 10 lemons on the 10th day!).
This method is said to be radical for losing pounds (up to 5 kilos of weight loss) and ideal for people suffering from acidity or chronic fatigue.
- On the first day: Drink the juice of a lemon in a glass of warm water.
- The second day: The same thing with two lemons, the third day, with three lemons.
- ….Until you reach 10 lemons squeezed in a glass of lukewarm water on the tenth day. All this in one intake only.
- After the 11th day: Start the second part of the diet by going in the opposite direction. Decrease each day by one lemon, until the 19th day.
- On day 20, go back to one lemon.
This diet is effective for the digestive system, to cleanse the body of bad toxins and boost liver function.
Rich in fiber, especially pectin, antioxidants, calcium, and vitamins, it slows down the absorption of sugar in the blood and eliminates fat.
It is also a good detoxifier for heavy smokers.
However, is a diet very rich in acidity, it’s contraindicated for people suffering from kidney problems, heartburn, or ulcers.
It is also strongly advised to brush your teeth just after drinking lemon juice, to avoid damaging the enamel.
To get the most out of the slimming properties of lemon, you can add it to other fat-burning foods – a list of which you will find in this dedicated article – for greater effectiveness.
I also advise you to take inspiration from the articles on fruit and vegetable juice recipes which are often composed of lemon juice, and more particularly those in which lemon is associated with calorie burner foods such as pineapple-based juices…
