I believe very much in the biology of human beings. We work the way we work for a reason. Humans developed in accordance with the natural world. Evolution has played a role in how we came to be. When I hear suggestions or practices about health or weight loss, I always think about it in terms of what nature intended.
Is lemon water a lemon?
When people tell me that we should drink 8 ounces of water with lemon in it first thing in the morning, I try to figure out why that would be helpful. Some would say the cleansing effect of lemon juice would flush your body of toxins. Others would say lemon water helps with digestion.
But seeing things through my lens of nature and evolution, I look at the behavior of humans over time. Over the course of human history, most humans have never even had a lemon. Most humans haven’t had cold water or pure water. Many humans even now don’t have water immediately available to them the minute they wake. Based on these limitations, I’m not sure how lemon water is consistent with our evolutionary development.
Water is important. We have to have it. But the vast majority of humanity that has ever lived has been in a tenuous balance with their water supply. Humans over the centuries have worked hard to find water and have always settled near it. They made daily decisions about how they accessed and used water. People may have been drinking water with pond scum on it, not lemons. The water certainly wasn’t cold and drinking water wasn’t the first thing they did upon rising.
So looking at how humans have lived over time, not just in the last 100 years in developed countries, gives me some idea as to whether or not these latest health fads have any merit.
Bottom line: Drinking water with lemon first thing in the morning sounds gimmicky to me based on the way our bodies are designed to work.
Something that’s not gimmicky is taking a holistic, sustainable approach to healthy habits that can impact your health and weight for a lifetime. Text our office at 325-268-0650 to learn more.