Lemon diet: that’s why it’s not healthy

A lemon diet should not only make you slim, but also detoxify the body. You can find out here whether this is actually the truth and when the diet can even be harmful to your health.

Recommendations, a lemon diet or other crash and Zero diets to try, you will find again and again in fitness and women’s magazines. In addition to weight loss, the radical diets are said to have other health benefits.

We explain to you what science says about it and why the lemon diet in its original form is not recommended.

This is how a lemon diet works

The lemon diet was invented by naturopath Stanley Burroughs in the 1940s. Not only is it supposed to help you lose weight, but it is also said to detoxify the body and make the skin look firmer. You can implement the lemon diet in two ways:

• the classic but radical variant: You will completely avoid solid food for seven to ten days. Instead, you only drink a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup, water and throughout the day Cayenne pepper. You use between three and eight lemons a day.

• the more sensible variant: The second option on a lemon diet is to have a normal diet. It’s not about reducing your food intake. The lemon water mixture already described above serves only as a supplement to the diet. It is supposed to stimulate the fat metabolism and digestion and additionally curb the appetite.

You can also supplement the second variant with a nutrition plan, for example if you want to make your diet healthier. For example, you could consciously focus on sugar, White flour and abstain from alcohol and incorporate many foods that are rich in Micronutrients are.

This is why a lemon diet is not healthy

A classic lemon diet is definitely not recommended because it is not good for your health. This is due to the following aspects:

• With the radical variant of the lemon diet, you only consume lemon juice for days. According to the German Nutrition Society, such detox diets can quickly lead to nutrient deficiencies. After all, you are not giving your body any proteins, fats and hardly any Micronutrients to.
• Since the classic lemon diet is a crash diet, you risk it Jojo effect. This means that although you lose a lot in a short time, you gain weight again afterwards. One reason for this is that you haven’t changed your diet consistently and efficiently. Many people eat as they did before after the diet and therefore gain weight.
• Another reason is that you reduce your energy expenditure and thus your basal metabolic rate while dieting. Your body then runs on the “back burner”, so to speak. If you then eat normally again, you may even gain weight more quickly because your body wants to replenish your fat reserves as quickly as possible.
• The lemon diet can be particularly dangerous because it requires extreme eating habits. This can encourage eating disorders to develop.
• The promise that a lemon diet will detoxify the body has also not yet been scientifically proven. Rather, the consensus in research says that a healthy body can detoxify itself from harmful substances through the liver, kidneys, intestines, skin or breathing.

In moderation and as part of a balanced diet Lemons however, a healthy food. In particular, they strengthen your immune system as they provide you with a large amount of vitamin C. So you can drink about one or two glasses of lemon water a day to promote your health.

Lose weight without a crash diet

In addition to the lemon diet, there are much more sensible and healthier variants to lose some weight. If you want to lose weight healthily, you can use the following tips as a guide:

• Eat a balanced diet. Instead of a one-sided diet, it is a long-term one Diet change more efficient. This should provide you with all the important nutrients and occasionally allow unhealthy foods such as candy and chips in moderation. This way you don’t have the feeling that you have to do without something all the time and you can integrate the new diet into your life more easily.
• In order to lose weight, it makes sense to reduce the calorie intake – but only in moderation. If you eat too few calories, you not only risk food cravings and the yo-yo effect, but also deficiency symptoms. To avoid this, it can sometimes be helpful to count calories. But this method also has its disadvantages. You can find out more here: Counting Calories: Helpful Strategy or Unhealthy Compulsion?
• Make sure you get enough exercise every day. Not only will this help you lose weight, but it will also promote your physical health and wellbeing. You can either try different sports or just take a longer walk. You can find more tips here: Doing sport: How to find the right sport
• Do not compare yourself to other people or social ideals of beauty. It is important that you also pay attention to your mental health and have a positive access to your own body.
• You can get more tips here: Lose weight effectively: this is how it works in a healthy and sustainable way.

Read more on Utopia:

• Mediterranean diet: That speaks for and against the Crete diet
• Planting, caring for and using the lemon lemon: Here’s how
• Lose weight with exercise: Suitable sports and tips