Il lemon it is known for its vitamin C content. It is used to consider it a complementary food, to be used in recipes as a seasoning and condiment. Nevertheless lemon is a natural source of benefits.
Used in the folk medicine as a detoxifier and tonic, use as remedy ranges from the use of juice to that of the peel.
Benefits and uses of lemon juice
Il lemon juice has always been used as detoxifying natural: drinking the juice of a lemon dissolved in a little warm water in the morning before breakfast, allows you to activate the metabolism, complete the digestive process possibly slowing you down during sleep, e as a diuretic.
Furthermore, the use of juice can be useful in case of indigestion: boiling the juice of two lemons in a cup of water and drunk hot allows digestion and stimulation of biliary activity.
The lemon is the fruit of choice for the liver purification: the cure of lemons, during which the juice of one is consumed up to seven lemons, within a week, cleanses the liver and dissolves small gallstones.
Lemon juice is also used as syrup, associated with honey and ginger, in herbal teas for flu and cough. However, the bioavailability of vitamin C is lost with the application of high temperatures, so it is more useful to consume raw and cold lemon.
Finally, the juice can also be used externally, such as antibacterial, fungicidal, anti-inflammatory and draining. In clay wraps, massage oils, even foot baths and baths, as an ingredient in natural cosmetics, lemon juice is good for the skin. But pay attention to the degradability of the juice: any preparation must be used within a few days.
Finally the lemon, used as raw dressing of green leafy vegetables, helps and improves the absorption of iron contained therein.
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Benefits and uses of lemon zest
Lemon zest contains the same properties as lemon, but implemented. In fact, the essential lemon oil is extracted from the lemon peel.
Like the juice, the zest also has an effect detoxifying, draining, alkalizing. It also strengthens the immune system, and studies are underway on the ability of lemon peel, thanks to the presence of limonene, the active ingredient also present in the essential oil, to oppose the proliferation of abnormal cells in the body, such as those responsible for the formation of some types of cancer.
The lemon zest helps to counteract flatulence and intestinal gas, also remedying bloating resulting from bad digestion or irritable colon.
Lemon zest is useful against warts and mycosis: using it as a compress on the affected part allows you to reduce the size of warts and eliminate mycosis, thanks to its disinfectant power.
The lemon zest, added to salads or cold dishes, then raw, grated, regulates the blood pressure, regulates the ph of blood and mucous membranes and helps counteract cholesterol.
To benefit from the lemon zest, however, be careful to use untreated lemons and eliminate the white part of the peel when you want to eat it raw, as the spongy part makes the taste particularly bitter.
Read also Lemon oil, properties and use >>
