YMCA Healthy Living Magazine, powered by n4 food and health (Winter 2015) | Page 7

CATHERINE SAXELBY, APD
Catherine is an Accredited Practising Dietitian who helps busy women eat right,
lose weight and boost their energy through her website, Foodwatch (www.
foodwatch.com.au). Learn more about Catherine at n4foodandhealth.com

FOUR
REASONS

TO LOVE LEMONS

Nutrition expert Catherine Saxelby explains why lemons
can be good for your health.

Lemons are fresh, convenient and inexpensive – and can help you overcome the ‘sameness’ of processed foods.
I make use of them daily! In addition to their taste appeal, I’ve discovered lemons have many nutrition benefits
too and wanted to share these with you.
1.

Lemons won’t make you gain weight

3.

Lemons score high for nutrition

For years, dieters have been told to start the day with a
glass of water with the juice of half a freshly squeezed
lemon to ‘cleanse’ the insides and quell early morning
hunger pangs. While there’s no real evidence to prove
if this works or not, it’s easy to see why lemons feature
in so many diet regimes.

Lemon juice has almost no protein or fat and barely a
gram of carbohydrate (primarily sugar) in every 100mL
yet changes flavour so dramatically. This means that
an average sized lemon yields only around 80
kilojoules (20 Calories), which is hardly anything. It has
so few kilojoules that you can use it freely if you’re on a
diet – you don’t even need to bothe ȁ