The Lively Lemon

It is common knowledge that the lemon is loaded with Vitamin C and citric acid. A whole lot of food and beauty items can use the lemon’s expertise. So a squeeze here and a dash there has been its forte for ages, centuries, in fact there are opinions on whether the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden was actually an orange or a lemon, and not an apple…..

But scientists have dissected this expertise and given it chemical names. The ubiquitous looking lemon is full of magnesium, potassium, calcium and phosphorus, copper, zinc, iron and manganese. Its citric acid is nature’s best source of Vitamin C, the nutrient that keeps the body’s balance of iron consumption optimal, thereby ensuring the good health of your red blood cells and also stepping up the body’s resistance levels high.

Regular squeeze of a lemon over your food helps keep the immune system stronger and imparts greater ability to fight off infections. With its stimulating properties, lemon juice can activate the pancreas and the liver, aiding the digestive process and helping the overall well being of the body.

As an additional advantage, regular consumption of lemon juice has also been known to relieve the discomfort of rheumatism and arthritic pains. To serve as an overall rejuvenator, a glass of lukewarm water with the juice of one lemon does the trick, the body gets instantly refreshed. This also helps to remove toxins from the body.

Lemon is almost priceless as a beauty aid. It has strong astringent properties which make it a perfect cleanser and refresher. Mixed with other things it can do wonders for the skin. For instance, rubbing a lemon with rind all over an oily face will not only serve to bleach the skin but also to effectively remove the grime from deep within the pores. This is why most natural products for oily skin care use lemon, or at least claim to use it, but there’s nothing like the original.

An effective overnight cream to help keep the balance of your facial alkalinity over night is the juice of one lemon mixed with a tablespoon of cream (or milk). The resulting paste is very beneficial for the delicate skin of face, hands and neck. Rub it on liberally and massage in for a few minutes, then wash off with warm water. The facial skin will stay bleached while the skin of neck and hands will stay smooth, supple and soft.

For a dry skin, a teaspoon of glycerin mixed with two teaspoons of lemon juice and rose water, are excellent for adding shine to the skin.

Hair can also benefit a lot from the juice and rind of lemons. To reduce the static electricity from freshly washed hair, or to make it more glossy and manageable, it is a good idea to add the juice of one lemon to the last rinse of the hair. In any case, it is useful to prevent hair loss, both as a nutrient and as a conditioner. Its vitamin C and vitamin D add luster to dead hair, and also quantity to thinning tresses.

Lemon, mixed with curds, is the best answer to the problem of thinning hair. The thing to do is to mix the juice of one lemon in half a cup of curds and massage it into the scalp. Leave it on for about an hour and then wash or shampoo the hair. This makes hair soft, thicker and also reduce graying, over a period of time. In fact there is a very effective method of darkening hair naturally, and preventing premature graying of hair. Mix dried and ground gooseberries together with lemon juice to make a paste. Apply this paste on graying hair, over the use of a few months, graying will stop completely. Another method is to squeeze the juice of two lemons in one liter of tea. After shampooing, rinse hair with this solution.

These are just a few of the properties the little yellow citrus possesses. Life sciences of ancient wisdom attribute it with qualities that are still waiting to be discovered…who knows, it may well turn out to be the elixir of life!!!