When life throws you lemons

This beautiful picture of organic Bangalow Bush lemons is my inspiration this week and it comes credit to Lorien Waldron from Wholesome Loving Goodness all the way over the pond in sunny Byron Bay, Australia.

I absolutely love this picture and from now on it will be my blog profile picture and a banner on my website, alongside some of my more humble shots of a local Dorset beach and the Shiva Temple at the Ganga Talao lake in Mauritius from a recent trip.

But back to Lorien! I have been following her through social medias for a few years now and she’s been a bit of a muse with her business sharing Ayurvedic wisdom as a Lifestyle Consultant. She has a real passion for pursuing healing through food and teaching Ayurvedic cooking to the community. What a wholesome goal! She’s also a photographer so check her out on Instagram or via her website, details in the Resources page.

In a previous post I made a quick suggestion that you start your day with a glass of warm water & a dash of lemon with perhaps even some grated ginger and/or honey. Lemon water is a kitchen staple in Ayurveda. Make it fresh every day. It is cleansing upon waking and prepares your digestive system for breakfast. It helps flush toxins out and you’ll feel much more energetic once your digestion is back on track, which this simple technique will help with.

Although lemons are a citrus fruit and acidic in nature they actually have an alkaline effect on the constitution when metabolised, after the minerals dissociate, and so help counteract acidity in the body and over-acidity in diet which is a well-spread issue nowadays. Long term acidic environments are damaging to the cells structure & function and to the human tissues which causes health problems.

Some of the benefits of lemon water first thing in the morning are:

– fighting bad cholesterol

– relieving abdominal colic pain & gastritis pain due to indigestion

– reducing mucus

– helping with weight loss

– detoxifying (reducing ama) and alkalising

– boosting immunity

– glowing skin

– generally supporting to the digestive system, it improves digestive enzymes

There are multiple ways to use lemons particularly as a salad sauce mixed with herbs. Here is a side-dish recipe from “Eat, Taste, Heal” which can’t fail to give you some zing and takes absolutely no time to rustle up:

” Steamed Kale with Lemon and Dill Butter

Ingredients

3 to 4 cups chopped curly or flat kale leaves

1/3 cup organic unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or fennel leaves

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

1) Bring about 1 inch of water to a boil in the bottom half of a steamer or in a saucepan with a steamer insert. Put the kale in the steamer, cover, and cook until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes

2) Put the butter, dill, lemon juice and a lemon zest in a small bowl and mash them together with a fork. Season to taste with salt and pepper

3) To serve, spoon a dollop of butter on each serving of kale

Vatas can add thyme or rosemary; and Kaphas could replace the butter with safflower oil, and the dill with thyme or rosemary. The Kapha version is dairy-free and gluten-free.”

If you liked this post, join the tribe and leave me your email address to receive weekly inspiration and calls to action. And in return I’m delighted to announce that you’ll get a copy of my freshly pressed free new guide: “The How-To Of Food Shopping, My Top 10 Tips” (and you’ll recognise Lorien’s lemony picture in the background again).