Lemon aid

Recently I’ve noticed my gut health isn’t quite so resilient, and this manifests in a series of symptoms that I won’t go into! Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) covers a wide range of problems and I was beginning to suspect that my grumpy guts were included.

I’ve tried everything: colonic irrigation, a gluten-free diet, and I always top up daily with a range of probiotics.

Then I discovered lemon water. Now I’m doing this, which is simple, effective and cheap, everything seems to be running so much more smoothly. I’ve even noticed a difference in my skin and the whites of my eyes seem brighter. It’s a very simple quick fix: every morning on rising I drink a large glass of warm water laced with a little fresh lemon juice.

Make it a big one, at least a pint, or two half litres, whatever your glassware allows. I think volume is crucial because I did this before and it didn’t do anything, but I was only drinking a small glass.

Don't have too much lemon in there either, or it can give you a sore tummy. I cut an organic lemon in half, just squeeze a bit of the juice with my hands into the glass and put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow. So I reckon it’s about the juice of a quarter of a lemon, per litre, every day.

The water has to be warm. Ice cold water can be a shock to your delicate insides first thing in the morning and drinking water at body temperature is recommended by Ayurveda.

Can you use filtered water? We have a water filter tap in the kitchen which is great, but there are lots of ways to filter your drinking water and it can make a huge difference to gut health. I fill the kettle and boil it, fill my ginormous glass about three quarters full with cold water and top up the last quarter with hot water.