You’re sitting at your desk plugging away at your tasks after successfully completing your morning routine. Your lunch break has come and gone. Your belly is full.
You notice that a yawn creeps in and forces your mouth to open and your body yearns for a good, long stretch.

That’s it. It’s that midday moment.

The eyes feel heavier. The brain fog slips into your mental agenda for the afternoon.

Standing up to stretch helps fight off some of the sluggishness, but you feel like you need something else.

You’re in the mood for something hot during this cold day working in the office.

You reach for the mug and decide to pour something delicious into your cup.

It’s not coffee…

It’s not hot chocolate…

It’s technically not tea…

It’s warm lemon water!

I buy 1-2 lemons per week and wash them off with water. I cut up the lemons into cubes or slices and place them up into a container in the fridge. You can put them in the freezer instead of the refrigerator to last longer. Another perk to placing the lemons in the freezer is that they can be used as flavorful ice cubes for your beverages.

You can heat up your water via a kettle, stovetop, microwave, however, you prefer to heat up your water and whatever you have access to at the time. An electric tea kettle is ideal if you have one. They are affordable to buy. You can buy an electric tea kettle for under $40.

After the water is hot, you can pour it into your mug. Then you can add 2-3 pieces of lemon to your water.

The flavor of just the lemon in your water may be just right for you. For some of us that enjoy a little bit of sweetener to our warm beverages, you can add a little bit of your go-to sweetener. I live in New England, so my go to sweetener of choice is maple syrup or honey. Typically, I prefer the more natural sweeteners, but you can do what’s best for you! Add your preferred sweetener and give your water a good stir! There you have it!

• Lemons are high in Vitamin C. This is a great and simple way to drink a quality source of Vitamin C! Vitamin C is needed to boost your immune system, especially during these winter months where respiratory and stomach bugs are prevalent. 
• Lemons makes drinking water more pleasant. It gives us more flavor.
• It’s a warm beverage without caffeine. We are quick to grab the hot chocolate, tea or coffee to warm us up.

What does coffee, hot chocolate and tea have in common? If they don’t specify “decaf” or “caffeine-free,” they all have caffeine.

These liquids contain caffeine. In the colder months, we can be more prone to dehydration because we don’t drink as much water as we would during the hotter weather.

Think about it, we are already cold. We don’t necessarily gravitate toward the cold drinks. However, we are more likely to grab the typical hot beverages, which usually contain caffeine. These drinks are what I call “drinkable diuretics” or “drinkable water pills.” They make us lose more of our body’s water supply and urinate more often. The warm lemon water is a way to hydrate your body, so that you don’t eliminate the water that your body needs.

We can drink warm liquids AND hydrate at the same time by drinking warm lemon water!

Sources

https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-lemon

https://www.everydayhealth.com/dehydration/why-dehydration-is-still-a-risk-during-the-wintertime/