Consuming lemon for diet is one simple way that is believed to be able to lose weight and make the body look more attractive. However, is this diet method using lemon proven effective?
Who doesn't know lemons? This fruit contains a variety of nutrients that are good for the health of the body. This low-calorie fruit contains various nutrients, such as vitamin C, B vitamins, fiber, water, complex carbohydrates, and calcium.
This fruit, which is often processed into cold drinks, not only has a refreshing taste, but also has a myriad of health benefits. The benefits of lemon include preventing heart disease, lowering the risk of kidney stones, maintaining digestive tract function, and reducing cholesterol.
In addition to the various benefits above, regularly consuming fruit or lemon juice is also believed to be able to lose weight. Therefore, many people consume lemon for diet.
How to Use Lemon for Diet
Diet with lemon water is fairly simple to live. The essence of this diet is to reduce calories by limiting the food consumed, and increase the consumption of lemon water and water.
You are advised to reduce your intake of food and drinks gradually, before actually implementing the lemon diet and not consuming other foods or drinks. This is so that the body can adjust to the lemon diet pattern.
The following are the stages of the lemon diet:
First and second day
Avoid processed foods, meat, dairy, sugar, fatty foods, alcoholic beverages, soda, and caffeine. For the first two days, focus on eating only fresh, washed vegetables or fruit.
The third day
Start getting used to going on a diet by only consuming drinks smoothies, soups, and fruit or vegetable juices throughout the day.
The fourth day
You can only drink water or squeezed orange juice plus a teaspoon or two of sugar to taste. Sugar intake can provide energy for the body so you don't get tired during a diet.
Fifth day
You can already start on the lemon diet. First of all, prepare the ingredients for making lemon water, namely 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, a glass of water, and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Mix these ingredients and drink it whenever you feel hungry.
Limit consumption of lemon water is 6-12 times a day. This diet should be accompanied by consuming 1 liter of warm water mixed with 1 or 2 tablespoons of salt every morning and a glass of water or warm tea at night before going to bed. The lemon diet is carried out for 10-30 days, starting after the initial adjustment period.
When the weight has reached the expected target and you want to stop the diet, don't do it suddenly. Just like when starting, stopping the lemon diet should also be done gradually.
At this stage, you can start eating as usual, but limit the portions and the number of calories you eat so you don't gain too much weight. Interspersed with lemon water consumption when hungry.
Is the Lemon Diet Effective for Weight Loss?
The lemon diet encourages you to drastically cut your calorie intake, thereby leading to weight loss. But actually, the lemon diet is not the main way doctors recommend to lose weight, because the safety and effectiveness of this diet method is still questionable and needs further research.
Some people who go on this diet can gain weight again if their diet is not maintained. Not only that, the lemon diet is also at risk of causing your body to lack nutrients and increase your risk of experiencing a number of health problems, such as malnutrition or dizziness and weakness.
The safe and correct way to lose weight is to adjust your diet, adopt a healthy lifestyle, and exercise regularly. The process must be done in stages.
How to Have a Good Diet
Before going on a diet, you must first calculate the body mass index. This aims to find out how much body weight should be lost.
After that, you also need to find out why you are overweight. The reason is, having a body that is too fat is not only caused by a bad lifestyle, such as often eating high-calorie foods or rarely exercising, but it can also be due to medical conditions or side effects of certain drugs.
When on a diet, you are only recommended to lose weight by 0.5-1 kg per week. More than that, you can potentially experience dehydration, electrolyte disturbances, muscle aches, metabolic disorders, and gallstones.
You can use lemon water as a way of supporting your diet program. For example, if you like to consume high-calorie drinks, such as soda or sugary drinks in packaging, you can replace it with lemon water.
This will certainly help you lose weight. The reason, lemon does not contain many calories. There are only about 20-25 calories in one lemon.
If you have excess body weight and intend to lose it, try to consult a nutritionist first before you try any type of diet, especially extreme diets that have not been proven safe and effective.