Summer with its long hot days invite us to come out play. Take a vacation! Reconnect with relatives! Lounge in the park reading a novel!

With increased exposure to the hot-hot sun, replenishment of nutrients and fluids becomes important, and sometimes water alone is not enough. But before reaching for a sports drink full of sugar and food dyes, try this simple refreshing prep of lemon honey water to help you through the dog days of summer.

  • 1 fresh lemon, juice pressed
  • 1 Tsp of raw honey
  • 16 oz of lukewarm water

Why lemon and honey?

Honey is soothing and contains 180 known micro-nutrients including vitamins minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants counteracting all the nutrients lost to the urination and perspiration of summer. Lemon, in addition to containing hundreds of its own micronutrients, is a known cooling agent. It has been shown to lower mean body temperature during fever.

How does lemon cool?

I’ll give you a little insight into how an naturopathic doctor thinks, how one can ascertain properties of plants based on careful, insightful observation. Lemon grows in sunny tropical environments meaning it can absorbs lots of heat and sun. But rather than ripening, it holds back ‘containing’ those heat and light forces maintaining its sour taste. The lemon holds form so well that you may find the fruit continuing to linger on the tree after other nearby fruits lay fallen and withered on the ground. You can also see the highly organized structural element of lemon when cutting  a cross section of the fruit.

So when you find yourself loosing form amidst the summer heat – hot, bothered, with red blotching skin – down some lemon honey water to refresh yourself back to form.