Lemon Water: A Metabolism Increaser?

I've been reading a lot of health articles lately that talk about various ways of revving your metabolism. And increasing your metabolism is important if you're trying to burn fat and lose weight.

Your metabolism regulates how quickly your body burns calories, so knowing how to manage your metabolism is important to many people, including those trying to lose weight and diabetics, who depend on keeping their blood sugar stable to avoid metabolic highs and lows. Some of these ideas for increasing metabolic rate sound kooky, but others sound interestingly enough to pursue. An idea that is especially intriguing to me, mostly because of its ease of use, is putting squirts of lemon juice in drinking water to help rev your metabolism.

This article here speaks of putting lemon juice in water or tea to help speed up metabolism and thus burn more calories. But how much does lemon water supposedly raise your metabolism? I think that no one knows for sure, and perhaps it's only a negligible amount, but a lot of people swear that it makes a measurable difference. Others, however, (and this certainly seems like the more logical, convincing argument) state that there is no proof whatsoever that lemon water boosts your metabolism or helps you lose weight in the least.

So does lemons and/or lemon water (or tea) have any real effect on your metabolism? Is it worth adding lemons to your daily diet, for any reason?

Well, there seems to be one thing that both camps agree on: lemons contain Ascorbic Acid, which aids in digestion and is also a diuretic, which decreases bloating and water retention. So, if using lemon water, you may lose weight at first because your bowels will get clear. Lemons also contain high levels of Vitamin C, which aids in immunity and helps rid your body of free radicals. So the jury is still out on lemon water actually helping to increase your metabolism.   You can read an informative article here about the many health benefits of lemons and lemon juice, and how other cultures have used lemons for health for centuries. 

Most research says that it will not increase your metabolism, but it may still be a beneficial choice for you to add to your healthy eating regimen. Since I tend to have sluggish bowels, I have decided to drink lemon water to help me alleviate bloating and stay regular. I have only been drinking lemon water for a couple days now, but so far it seems to be working in keeping my bowels functioning well.

image credit: Lemon, Copyright © 2009 Thomas Sawyer, http://proutils.github.com/lemon/