When Life Gives You Allergies, Make Lemonade
Although it’s technically still winter, I’m sure most of us in the northern hemisphere are beginning to feel the warm promises of spring in the afternoon sun. While winter is nature’s season of sleep and rest, spring can be felt as its early morning stirs and stretches, its slow budding and preparation to begin the year anew.
Unfortunately with all this budding blooming happening, seasonal allergies also start to become a bigger problem. But all is not left to despair, for there is an easy delicious little conococation that can help lessen your symptoms that we doubt you’ll object to, and that is lemonade! Yes, lemonade, but not just any lemonade… Many store bought lemonades, mixes, and recipes will include or call for a high amount of added, processed sugars, but there are simple and easy ways to substitute those sweeteners for a far healthier option.
But lemonade for allergies? Really? Yes, really. Lemons are an excellent source of vitamin C, which is a natural antihistamine. This means that it can help reduce the amount of histamine that your body will produce in response to an allergen, such as sneezing, congestion, watery eyes, ect. Research also shows that a single lemon contains about 31mg of Vitamin C (about tbs). This amount averages to 51% of the reference daily intake!
As for your sweet substitute, locally collected honey has also been known to do wonders for seasonal allergies! See here for more in depth info on how local honey is lovingly made by your neighborhood honey bees and how it can do wonders for your seasonal allergies over time.
Lemonade is also primarily just water in addition to lemon juice and sweetener of choice and making sure you're hydrated is also very important to battling illness and allergies. It also may be fun to use sparkling water to fizz up your lemonade or use chilled tea to add additional flavors and health benefits!
Our Favorite Healthy, Allergy Alleviating Lemonade Recipe
Ingredients: Serves 4
- 5 fresh lemons ( or 1/2 cup unsweetened lemon juice)
- ⅓ cup honey
- 4 cups chilled water
- Lemon wedges for garnish and ice
- Juice lemons and add contents and honey to a blender .
- Gently blend until smooth.
- Add juice and honey mixture to a jug along with water. Stir well until fully mixed.
- Serve in your favorite glass with ice and wedge garnish and enjoy! (Keep the remaining lemonade refrigerated.)
