Most of us have heard the following motivational statement: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade. The intent of this statement: When “bad/negative” things happen to us in life, try to turn this around to something positive. (For any of those frat humor movie fans out there, I laughed lots at Paul Rudd’s line in the movie, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” when he says: “When life gives you lemons, I say f— the lemons”.
So, why do lemons carry a bad/negative reputation? Here are the nutritional facts: One lemon contains:
- Calories: 17
- Fat: 0.2g
- Sodium: 1mg
- Carbohydrates: 5.4g
- Fiber: 1.6g
- Sugars: 1.5g
- Protein: 0.6g
- Vitamin C: 30.7mg
- Potassium: 80mg
There are some health benefits linked to lemons including:
- Reduce risk of kidney stones
- Improved gut health due to pectins present
- Excellent source of Vitamin C
- Improves the taste of “diet” sodas, allowing people to not opt for the sugar sodas that are very damaging to weigh control
So, when life gives you lemons, I recommend that you use them (but no added sugar for that lemonade!). And, here is a movie trivia question: In the original “Dirty Dozen” movie, what singer starred in the movie? Answer: Trini Lopez. Second question: What was Mr. Looez’ most famous song? Yep, “LEMON TREE”.
Enjoy a classic folk song written in the 1950s’s:
