A glass of lemon water a day...

Drinking a glass of fresh squeezed lemon juice in warm water every morning is extremely beneficial to health, perhaps even more than having an apple a day!

Lemon is a rich source of vitamin C. It also contains vitamins like vitamin B, riboflavin and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, magnesium as well as proteins and carbohydrates.

Daily consumption of lemon water provides a number of health benefits like:

Good for stomach

Lemon can help relieve many digestion problems when mixed with hot water. These include nausea, heartburn and parasites. Due to the digestive qualities of lemon juice, symptoms of indigestion such as heartburn, bloating and belching are relieved. By drinking lemon juice regularly, the bowels are aided in eliminating waste more efficiently. Lemon acts as a blood purifier and as a cleansing agent. The intake of lemon juice can cure constipation. It is even known to help relieve hiccups when consumed as a juice. Lemon juice acts as a liver tonic and helps you digest your food by helping your liver produce more bile. It decreases the amount of phlegm produced by your body. It is also thought to help dissolve gallstones.

Excellent for Skin Care

Lemon, being a natural antiseptic medicine, can participate to cure problems related to skin. Lemon is a vitamin C rich citrus fruit that enhances your beauty, by rejuvenating skin from within and thus bringing a glow on your face. Daily consumption of lemon water can make a huge difference in the appearance of your skin. It acts as an anti-aging remedy and can remove wrinkles and blackheads. Lemon water if applied on the areas of burns can fade the scars. As lemon is a cooling agent, it reduces the burning sensation on the skin.

Aids in Dental Care

Lemon water is used in dental care also. If fresh lemon juice is applied on the areas of toothache, it can assist in getting rid of the pain. The massages of lemon juice on gums can stop gum bleeding. It gives relief from bad smell and other problems related to gums.

Cures Throat Infections

Lemon is an excellent fruit that aids in fighting problems related to throat infections, sore throat and tonsillitis as it has an antibacterial property. For sore throat, dilute one-half lemon juice with one-half water and gargle frequently.

Good for Weight Loss

One of the major health benefits of drinking lemon water is that it paves way for losing weight faster, thus acting as a great weight loss remedy. If a person takes lemon juice mixed with lukewarm water and honey, it can reduce the body weight as well.

Controls High Blood Pressure

Lemon water works wonders for people having heart problem, owing to its high potassium content. It controls high blood pressure, dizziness, nausea as well as provides relaxation to mind and body. It also reduces mental stress and depression.

Assist in curing Respiratory Disorders

Lemon water assists in curing respiratory problems, along with breathing problems and revives a person suffering from asthma.

Good for treating Rheumatism

Lemon is also a diuretic and hence lemon water can treat rheumatism and arthritis. It helps to flush out bacteria and toxins out of the body.

Reduces Fever

Lemon water can treat a person who is suffering from cold, flu or fever. It helps to break fever by increasing perspiration.

Acts as a blood purifier

The diseases like cholera or malaria can be treated with lemon water as it can act as a blood purifier.

Go ahead and splurge on yourself, have a glass of lemon water every day!

Is your coffee too "heaty"?

“Isn’t this heaty?” asks Mae-Yang eyeing her boyfriend Jason’s grand latte.  “What?” says Jason.  “Do you mean it is too hot?” Mae-Yang looks at him and rolls her eyes.


“Heaty” or “heatiness” is a common term that Chinese people use to describe certain food, which leaves many Westerners stumped.   In Traditional Chinese Medicine, food is a balance of “yin” and “yang”.  Yang food is considered heaty, whereas yin food is cooling.   Yang is both the quality of certain food as well as a person’s basic constitution, which is primarily influenced by genetics and upbringing, or temporary condition, which is influenced by lifestyle choices and environment.


This concept of heatiness/coolness is not applied in Western medicine.  However, some believe that acidic food roughly corresponds to heaty food, and alkaline food to cooling food.  Or, positive charges in cells to heatiness and negative charges to coolness. 


A person who is heaty often has the following symptoms:
• Feelings of irritability;
• Short temper;
• Fever;
• Constipation;
• Flushed face or cheeks;
• Dark yellow urine;
• Sore throat;
• Nose bleed;
• Outbreak of pimples and acne;
• Rashes;
• Mouth ulcers;
• Indigestion.


Yin or cooling condition, however, makes us feel weak and tired.


The heatiness and cooling effect does not refer to the temperature of food but to their capacity to generate either hot or cold energy in our body.  To seek a balanced diet, we should consume both yin and yang.  However, if our basic constitution is yang, it may be beneficial to consume more cooling/yin food, and vice versa. 


Heaty/yang foods tend to grow under the hot sun; are sweet; have lots of fats; are rich in sodium; and are hard, dry or spicy.   Cold/yin foods tend to grow in little sunshine; are salty; are lean; are rich in potassium; and are soft and wet.


Below are examples of food that is cooling/yin or heaty/yang.  It should be noted that how you prefer the food matters, for example, beef is considered neural, but if deep-fried it will turn heaty.


Cooling/yin foods which reduce hot or yang symptoms:  Apple, banana, pear, persimmon, cantaloupe, watermelon, tomato, all citrus, lettuce, radish, cucumber, celery, button mushrooms, asparagus, Swiss chard, eggplant, spinach, summer squash, Chinese cabbage, bock choy, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, zucchini, soy milk, soy sprouts, tofu, tempeh, mung beans and their sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, millet, barley, wheat and its products, amaranth, kelp and all seaweed, spirulina, wild blue-green, oyster-shell calcium, wheat and barley grass, kudzu, yogurt, crab, clam.


Heaty/yang foods which reduce cold or yin symptoms:  Ginger root, black beans, aduki beans, lentils, cinnamon bark and twig, cloves, basil, rosemary, oats, spelt, quinoa, sunflower seed, sesame seed, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, fennel, dill, anise, carraway, carob pod, cumin, sweet brown rice, parsnip, parsley, mustard greens, winter squash, cabbage, kale, onion, leek, chives, garlic, scallions, cherry, citrus deal, date, hot peppers, butter, and anchovy, mussel, trout, chicken, beef, lamb.

ini mini miny moe, which eggs for my breakfast-o?

Buying eggs used to be easy.  You choose half a dozen or a dozen, brown or white, and just pop open the cover to eyeball the eggs to make sure none are cracked.   As with buying almost everything nowadays, buying eggs can be a confusing feat.   There are now several types of eggs:  regular or factory, cage-free or free-range, and organic eggs, and each may come in brown or white, totaling 6 choices without taking into account all the different brands.  And the price varies greatly:  For example, factory eggs may go for as low as $1.50 per dozen, cage-free over $3, and organic for over $5.

Surprisingly, a study published by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the different eggs are the same in nutritional level.  The white of an egg is where all its protein is found; it is made of both thin albumen, the watery fluid that runs farthest from the yolk when the egg is cracked into a cold pan; and thick albumen, the more viscous fluid that stays closer to the middle. The greater the amount of thick albumen, the more nutritious the egg.  All things equal, all three types of eggs have the same amount of thick albumen.

But what about safety?  The USDA says hens are not routinely treated with antibiotics, though they may be if they're sick.  So it seems like there is no difference in safety.   As a matter of fact, since environmental contaminants may be the biggest issue, factory eggs may even be the best choice.  Research shows that free-range chickens have higher levels of contaminants, simply because they get out more and can peck almost anywhere.

Also, the color of an egg does not make a difference and brown eggs, even though they are more expensive, are not better than white ones.  Color is determined by the breed of chicken laying it, so it just takes a brown-shell-species hen to lay brown eggs.

But what about which egg-laying conditions is the best for the hens themselves.  It is well-known that factory hens are confined in what are known as battery cages, which reduce them to little more than egg-laying machines.  There's no question it is not a humane way of treating chickens.

So if you are price sensitive but concerned about nutritional value and safety, you can choose to save a few dollars next time you are in the supermarket.  But if you would like to protest against inhumane conditions for the hens, by all means spend a little more and buy cage-free or organic eggs.  Just know what you're paying for.   

There is also another option.  Pastured eggs come from pastured chickens that are raised outdoors on pasture.  They run around and eat grass from the land along with their daily rations of grain, and have a happier, healthier life than free range or cage free chickens that stay indoors.  Pastured eggs are not necessarily organic, but they may be healthier.  Pastured eggs contain up to 20 times more healthy omega-3 fatty acids, have 10 percent less fat, 40 percent more vitamin A, and 34 percent less cholesterol.  The yolk is deep orange, and the white is clear and doesn't spread and thin out.   Pastured eggs are not easy to find, but you may be able to buy them from your local farmers or health stores.