Hot water
 

Does hot water with a touch of lemon first thing in the morning really speed up the metabolism?

Cold water is better for speeding up your metabolism because your body has to work to warm up the water. Adding about a tablespoon of lemon juice to it will cause your stomach to empty more slowly, which slows the digestion of starch.
My trainer has me drink a glass every morning as soon as I get up.

Ellis, I'm not questioning you or your trainer, I'm sure you know what you are doing...but why would the acid in lemon slow down digestion? I would think it would speed it up. :chin: Don't fats slow digestion down? And fiber? (not that you would add a slice of avocado to your water or anything... :lol: )

Beats me, Laurie. I read it on a website. :lol3: Maybe it breaks stuff down better. How the **** do I know? Just because I'm a moderator doesn't mean I know anything, ya know. :rofl:
I hope no one is reading this.

Ahem. Sorry. I just got back from my workout, and I'm feeling a wee bit punchy. :lol:
All I know is, my trainer makes me drink that every morning. He's a vegetarian and thin and muscular, so I'll take his word for it.
As you were.

The hot water/lemon thing is part of the fat flush program, but I don't even remember if they had a reasonable reason for drinking it in the morning. I would think lemon might slow digestion because it is acidic?

Well, hot water and lemon helps with constipation. Maybe that's it! If you do a Google search on "hot water and lemon", you may find the reason.

Lemon I believe is used to clean out your system, its kinda like putting vinegar in your coffee pot :p

I just don't get how it would slow digestion...since we use acids to digest food, and lemon juice is an acid, how would it make us digest more slowly? I would think it would make us digest faster!

Found this on http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~amc/Lemon_Flush.htm : "Lemon juice helps to break up and dislodge the sticky mucus deposits that tend to clog up the system. Its powerful enzymes and high vitamin-C content are natural cleansers, helping to flush your system of toxic wastes. The bioflavonoid in the white inner rind and fibrous strands are also very cleansing, so use a squeezer to derive the benefits of these fibrous parts of the lemon as well."

Sounds like a crock to me...if acid helped clean out mucus, all the acids from our stomach would be doing more that enough already! How much bioflavinoid or vitamin c do you get from the lemon juice? And wouldn't most of it be digested before it reached your intestines?

Interesting, since Cobalt asked...this lemon and water thing appears to be especially popular in Britain. :chin:

I can't find anything that contradicts the use of lemon and water to help dieting. But something tells me that it just doesn't make sense. Guess it is a good question to run by your doctor.

Personally, I love the taste of lemon slices (or lime) in my water. And it can't hurt you. :shrug: Plus, it's good to keep your trainer happy, right Ellis? ;) Then you only have to do ten flights of stairs instead of 12. :lol:

I don't recall the rationale behind it, but I do remember Dr. A saying in the blue book that sourdough bread was allowed in Phase 2 because the acid in the dough slows down digestion. I would assume the same theory applies to acid in the form of lemon juice...

Pages 48 and 65 of The Big Blue Book talk about lemon juice, vinegar and sourdough slowing digestion and prevening a fast rise in BGL. The GFGC Guide Page 37 says sourdough rye bread is good. This would be for Phase II.
I think we've said almost all that can be said on this topic but I could be wrong!

One more thing to say... I've been googling about lemon juice for the past half hour now; I hate not understanding things. :)

Everything I see says that lemon juice slows stomach emptying (as Ellis's trainer mentioned), though, I can't seem to find an explanation as to why or how the lemon juice accomplishes this anywhere.

It does sound counterintuitive that acid would slow digestion, but apparently this property of lemon juice has been proven time and again. If anyone can find the answer as to why it works that way, I'd be interested in hearing it. I imagine this little question will be sticking around in my head a month from now. :)

I had a gym trainer as well and she told me to drink hot water with a touch of lemon, honey and cayenne pepper. I don't know if it works but she said it would speed up my metabolism.

Also my coworker has a Doctor friend in India who swears by it, especially with the cayenne pepper. So who knows!?

Well any hot spices speed up the metabolism for a short amount of time. I actually put cayenne pepper into almost everything I make, mostly because I like it a lot. You can eat salsa, curries, etc etc, anything that tastes hot and it'll have a slight temporary effect on your metabolism.

Thanks, guys, for reminding me about sourdough bread and what Dr. A says about it...you are all right and I had totally forgotten!

It is counterintuitive, but perhaps it is a different type of acid and so some kind of chemical reaction has to take place, slowing the metabolism down? I mull over this kind of stuff, too, Fuzzy! Have you seen www.straightdope.com ? There are a lot of answers to weird questions like this there, but not this one. Wonder if I should e-mail Cecil and ask? ;)

Definitely true about spicy things. They do help speed up your metabolism. And all the super-skinny people I know (including my DH), seem to love spicy stuff. Go figure! :lol: