It is well known that there is a huge variety of sodas and soft-drinks in the market. They come with all kind of colors, flavors, stabilizers, sodium chloride and flavor enhancers, all with lots of sugar, and in the worst cases sweeteners, many of which are potentially dangerous.
It is a shame to keep acidifying your body with toxic substances and filling the pockets of big corporations, because it is very easy, very fast and cheaper to make your own homemade alkaline lemon water. It is refreshing and really better for your body than all those commercial drinks.
The benefits of this natural alkaline lemon water with soda are fabulous. When you learn them I am sure that you will become a frequent consumer of it. Regularly drinking this homemade alkaline lemon water, which is made of natural ingredients such as lemon and baking soda (Bicarbonate of Soda) has multiple benefits. It is a very healthy drink with very low caloric value and a high content of vitamin C.
This alkaline lemon water with soda is a very nutritious and healthy drink, with a very low caloric value and very rich in vitamin C.
The benefits of this simple alkaline lemon water with soda are due to its two main ingredients. Lemon, despite being a very acidic fruit (pH=2,3) has a very alkaline behaviour (pH=8,5), once it has been assimilated by the body. As for the baking soda or bicarbonate of soda, it is a very alkaline substance (pH=8,5).
First of all, I suggest you to read this post to know what is alkaline lifestyle, what is pH and how food and drinks can help you alkalinize your organism.
How to measure the pH of a solution
There are different methods for measuring the pH of a liquid or solution. The most common and convenient are to use litmus paper or a digital pH meter, or pH meter.
Litmus Paper
Litmus paper is an absorbent paper strip that changes colour 15 seconds after contact with the liquid, acquiring a colour that varies according to the pH of the substance. After this time, the color of the paper is compared with a sample book that relates color to pH. In this way we have a measure of the acidity-basicity of a solution. The advantages of this method are:
- No batteries needed.
- It is a simple method to know the pH if we do not need too much precision.
- No need to calibrate the instrument periodically, unlike the digital pH meter.
If you are interested, in this link you can buy the litmus paper.
Digital pH meter
Digital pH meters measure the pH of a liquid or solution by the electrochemical method, i.e. by measuring the potential that develops through a very fine glass that separates the solution from another contained in the glass as the basis for measurement. The advantages of this method are:
- Greater precision in measurement, reaching the pH measurement with decimals.
- The measurement is not affected by dyes or colors of the liquid to be measured.
- More economical in the long run than litmus paper.
This is the method I use today because it is more convenient, more accurate and more economical given the number of times I use it. If you are interested, you can purchase the digital pH meter from this link.
Benefits of lemon
Lemon contains vitamin C, bioflavonoids, pectine, citric acid, minerals (calcium and potasium), essential oils (carothenes, alpha-thujene, limonene, etc…) This citrus has amazing benefits for our body. It is:
- Antioxidant
- Alcalinizer
- Cardioprotective
- Diuretic
- Detox
- Liver and Pancreas stimulant
- Moisturizing
- Remineralizing
- Invigorating
- Balances body pH
- Stimulates immune system
- Stimulates circulatory system
- Prevents calculus and can even disolve them
- Stimulates digestive tract easening digestive process
In addition it has other interesting benefits to keep us healthy:
- Anti-flu
- Anti-cancer
- Antibacterial
- Antiviral
- Hypotensive
- etc…
Lime and grapefruit have very similar features as well, and they are also very beneficial.
Benefits of Baking Soda (Bicarbonate of Soda)
Bicarbonate of soda is an essential buffer substance for our body, being present in many biological body fluids. Its buffering attribute is essential to control blood pH variations, which could have awful consequences. Our blood pH should be kept between 7.35 and 7.45.
Variations under 7.35 are unwanted due to the negative effects for our organism. During very intensive or sustained sport activities, we produce lactic acid, piruvic acid, acetic acid, carbonic acid, fatty acids, etc. With the help of baking soda we manage to keep pH in its ideal value, preventing acidosis caused by these acids to lower pH value below 7.35.
This could have very negative consequences such as head aches, muscular fatigue, vomits, sickness, etc. In some extreme cases it could cause “sudden death” of the of the athlete due to a high acidosis level causing a metabolic block.
Bicarbonate of soda contributes to neutralize the excess of positive ions (H+) in blood and to keep pH amongst the right range.
It is scientifically proven that Bicarbonate of soda increases lactate threshold. This is very important, because it delays exhaustion and muscular fatigue. This way we can run longer and faster. For this reason, adding baking soda to our lemon juice will result in a highly hidrating and remineralizing drink.
How to make alkaline lemon water with soda
This alkaline lemon drink is very fast and easy to prepare, and also very cheap (around 0.60€ per litre). It should be the substitute of all comercial drinks and sodas you are currently drinking, no matter which brand.
To prepare this alkaline lemon water with soda you just need:
- Lemons (2 or 3 lemons)
- Tap water or mineral water (1 litre)
- Bicarbonate of soda or baking soda (1 teaspoon)
- If you want to sweeten your drink do not use sugar. You can use Stevia powders instead, which is a 100% natural sweetener. There are also Stevia liquid extracts which are easy to disolve.
In the video included in this post I show you how to prepare this alkaline lemon drink.
I hope you found this post interesting and instructive. If you liked it please share it with your friends. As usual, if you have any doubt or question please contact me through the comments on my blog. You can follow me on Youtube, Facebook or Twitter.
Teodoro Vázquez