The majority of you are familiar with the traditional uses of lemon, and use it to alleviate a sore throat, or to give a specific flavour to meals. However, the diversity of lemon’s favourable properties far exceeds general knowledge. After reading them all, you will never leave your kitchen without a few lemons.
- High Blood Pressure
The potassium in lemon controls high blood pressure and reduces the effect of nausea and dizziness.
- Refresh Cutting Boards
Normally, you use it to chop onions, crush garlic, and prepare fish, so your cutting board has intense smell. To get rid of the smell and help sanitize it, rub it all over with the cut side of half a lemon or wash it in undiluted juice straight from the bottle.
- Make a Room Scent/Humidifier
Make your own room scent that also doubles as a humidifier and freshen and moisturize the air in your home on dry winter days.
If you have a wood-burning stove, place an enamelled cast-iron pot or bowl on top, fill it with water, and add lemon peels, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and apple skins. If you do not possess a stove of this kind, use your stovetop instead and just simmer the water periodically.
- Remove Fridge Smell
Lemon can help you remove refrigerator odours with ease. Dab lemon juice on a cotton ball or sponge and leave it in the fridge for several hours. Make sure to get rid of any malodorous items that might be causing the bad smell.
- Clean and Whiten Nails
Add the juice of 1/2 lemon to 1 cup warm water and soak your fingertips in the mixture for 5 minutes. After pushing back the cuticles, rub some lemon peel back and forth against the nail.
- Respiratory Problems
Lemon is beneficial in cases of asthma, can also help you breathe properly and can reduce phlegm.
- Replace Your Dry Cleaner
This homegrown trick can help you ditch the expensive dry-cleaning bills (and harsh chemicals). Simply scrub the stained area on shirts and blouses with equal parts lemon juice and water.
- Boost Laundry Detergent
Lemon will turn out your clothes brighter and will also make them smelling lemon-fresh. For more powerful cleaning action, pour 1 cup lemon juice into the washer during the wash cycle. The natural bleaching action of the juice will zap stains and remove rust and mineral discolorations from cotton T-shirts and briefs and will leave your clothes smelling fresh.
- Prevents Kidney Stones
Regular consumption of the refreshing drink, or even lemon juice mixed with water, may increase the production of urinary citrate. It is a chemical in the urine that prevents the formation of crystals that may build up into kidney stones.
- Keep Insects Out of the Kitchen
The lemon treatment can substitute insecticides or ant traps to ant-proof your kitchen. Initially squirt some lemon juice on door thresholds and windowsills. Then, squeeze lemon juice into any holes or cracks where the ants are getting in.
Finally, scatter small slices of lemon peel around the outdoor entrance. This will send a message to ants that they are not welcome. Lemons are also effective against roaches and fleas: Simply mix the juice of 4 lemons (along with the rinds) with 2 litres water and wash your floors with it; then watch the fleas and roaches flee.
- Treating Arthritis and Rheumatism
Another remarkable property of lemon is that it can act as a diuretic, for it assists in the production of urine. This helps you to reduce inflammation by flushing out toxins and bacteria while also giving you relief from arthritis and rheumatism.
- Anti-Aging
Lemon water is calorie free and an antioxidant. Lemon water reduces the production of free radicals which are responsible for ageing skin and skin damage.
- Deodorize a Humidifier
When smelling funky, deodorize you humidifier with ease: Just pour 3 or 4 teaspoons lemon juice into the water. It will not only remove the off odour but will replace it with a lemon-fresh fragrance. This procedure can be repeated every couple of weeks to keep the odour away.
- Reduce Asthma Symptoms
2 tablespoons of lemon juice before each meal, and before retiring, in addition to a general detoxifying diet, can reduce asthma symptoms.
- Treat Infections
Lemon water can fight throat infections thanks to its antibacterial property. Try lime and water for gargling.
- Deodorize Your Garbage Can
If your garbage is beginning to smell yucky, here’s an easy way to deodorize it: Save leftover lemon and orange peels and toss them at the base under the bag. For gaining a fresh effect, repeat once every couple of weeks.
- Purges Blood
Daily consumption of lemon water helps to purify the blood. We consume a lot of junk food or food with a lot of preservatives and artificial flavours, which builds up a lot of toxins in the blood and body, so this purification is really important.
- Keep Guacamole Green
The solution for the guacamole turned brown on top can be easy using lemon: Sprinkle a liberal amount of fresh lemon juice over it and it will stay fresh and green. The flavour of the lemon juice is a natural complement to the avocados in the guacamole. I squeeze some lemon juice onto the apple slices, they’ll stay snowy white, which will help you make the fruit salad hours in advance.
- Wash with Fruits and Vegetables
To wash your groceries from pesticides or dirt which may be lurking on the skin, slice your lemon and squeeze out one tablespoon of lemon juice into your spray bottle. The lemon juice is a natural disinfectant and will leave your fruits and vegetables smelling nice too.
- Make Soggy Lettuce Crisp
With the help of a little lemon juice, you can toss the soggy lettuce in a salad. Add the juice of half a lemon to a bowl of cold water. Then put the soggy lettuce in it and refrigerate for 1 hour. Dry the leaves completely before putting them into salads or sandwiches.
- Oral Health
Lemon juice also stops bleeding gums and reduces toothaches.
- Vaginal Hygiene
Preserve your vaginal health using lemon juice. Diluted lemon juice makes a safe and sane method of vaginal hygiene. Though it is a powerful antiseptic it is nevertheless free from irritating drugs in bought products for this aim.
- Forget Moth Balls
Learn a popular French custom to keep closets free from moths. Take ripe lemons and stick them with cloves all over the skin. The heavily studded lemons slowly dry with their cloves, leaving an excellent odour.
- Age Spots Lightening
Lemon juice is a safe and effective skin-lightening agent. To lighten liver spots or freckles, try applying lemon juice directly to the area. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then rinse.
- Stomach Health
Digestive problems are the most common ailments but warm water and lime juice is the solution to most digestive problems. Lemon juice helps to purify the blood, reduces your chances of indigestion, constipation, eliminates toxins from the body, aids digestion and reduces phlegm.
- Remove Warts
Next time you try to banish warts, apply a dab of lemon juice directly to the wart using a cotton swab. Repeat for several days until the acids in the lemon juice dissolve the wart completely.
- Create Blonde Highlights
For salon-worthy highlights, add 1/4 cup lemon juice to 3/4 cup water and rinse your hair with the mixture. Then, sit in the sun until your hair dries. For optimal results, repeat once daily for up to a week.
- Cleanse Your Face
Lemon water is a cooling agent, it represents the best way to beat the heat. You can also wash your face with lemon juice for a natural cleanse and exfoliation. Zap zits naturally by dabbing lemon juice on blackheads to draw them out during the day. Your skin should improve after several days of treatment.
- Flaky Dandruff Treatment
Just massage two tablespoons lemon juice into your scalp and rinse with water. Then stir one teaspoon lemon juice into one cup water and rinse your hair with it. This procedure is repeated on a daily basis.
- Freshen Your Breath
The citric acid in the juice alters the pH level in your mouth, killing bacteria that cause bad breath. Wash your mouth by rinsing with lemon juice straight from the bottle. Swallow for longer-lasting fresh breath. Long-term exposure to the acid in lemons can harm tooth enamel, so rinse after a few minutes.
- Eliminate Tough Stains on Marble
Marble is really petrified calcium, also known as old seashells. That is the reason why it is so porous and easily stained and damaged. Those stains can be hard to remove. For this purpose, try the following method: Cut a lemon in half, dip the exposed flesh into some table salt, and rub it vigorously on the stain. Acid can damage marble, so do this after you have tried different options only. Rinse well.
- Remove Berry Stains
Berry juice stains on the fingers won’t come off no matter how much you scrub with soap and water. Try washing your hands with undiluted lemon juice, then wait a few minutes and wash with warm, soapy water. Repeat until they are completely away.
- Chills and Fevers
Spanish physicians regard lemon as an infallible friend. Chills and fevers may be due to a variety of causes, but lemon is always a helpful remedy.
- Prevent Cauliflower From Turning Brown
You can make sure the white vegetables stay white by squeezing a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice on them before heating.
- Mental Health
Lemon water can also keep you in a good mood and relieve you from depression and stress. Explorers, walkers and long distance walkers are extremely grateful for lemon and its benefits. When fatigue begins, a lemon is sucked through a hole in the top. It gives almost unbelievable refreshments.
- Make Your Dry, Scaly Elbows Soft
Itchy elbows give a bad feeling and look terrible. For better-looking elbows, mix baking soda and lemon juice to make an abrasive paste, then rub it into your elbows for a soothing, smoothing, and exfoliating treatment. Rinse with a mixture with a 1:1 lemon juice and water ratio. Afterwards, massage with olive oil and dab dry with a soft cloth.
- Headaches
For those who suffer from hangover headaches–and from headaches due to many other causes, lemon juice with a few teaspoons of hot tea added is the treatment which makes miracles. A sophisticated New York bartender converts his customers to this regime and weans them away from drug remedies completely.
- Diphtheria
Lemon juice is one of the most powerful antiseptics and the strong digestive qualities of lemon are admired around the world. Every hour or two, and at the same time, 1/2 to 1 tablespoons should be swallowed. This routine cuts loose the false membrane in the throat and permits it to come out.
- Soothe Poison Ivy Rash
You won’t need an ocean of calamine lotion the next time you experience poison ivy rash. Simply apply lemon juice directly to the affected area to soothe itching and alleviate the rash.
- Clean Tarnished Brass and Polish Chrome
Get rid of tarnish on brass, copper, or stainless steel using a paste of lemon juice and salt (or substitute baking soda or cream of tartar for the salt). Coat the affected area with it. Let it stay on for 5 minutes. Then wash in warm water, rinse, and polish dry.
Use the same mixture to clean metal kitchen sinks too. Apply the paste, scrub gently, and rinse. Get rid of mineral deposits and polish chrome faucets and other tarnished chrome. Simply rub lemon rind over the chrome and watch it shine! Rinse well and dry with a soft cloth.
- Rid Clothes of Mildew
Have you ever unpacked clothes you stored all winter and discovered some are stained with mildew? To get rid of it, make a paste of lemon juice and salt and rub it on the affected area, then dry the clothes in sunlight. Repeat the process until the stain is gone.
- Bleach Delicate Fabrics
Soak your delicates in a mixture of lemon juice and baking soda for at least half an hour before washing. Avoid additional bleach stains by swapping ordinary household chlorine bleach with lemon juice. This mixture is milder but no less effective.
- Disinfect Cuts and Scrapes
Pour a few drops of lemon juice directly on the cut to stop bleeding and disinfect minor cuts and scrapes. You can also apply the juice with a cotton ball and hold firmly in place for one minute.
- Eliminate Fireplace Odor
Simply burn some lemon peels along with your firewood as a preventive measure, or next time you have a fire that sends a stench into the room, try throwing a few lemon peels into the flames
- Neutralize Odor in Cat- Box
Just cut a couple of lemons in half and place them, cut side up, in a dish in the room, and the air will soon smell lemon-fresh. You don’t have to use an aerosol spray to neutralize foul-smelling cat-box odours or to freshen the air in your bathroom anymore.
Source: Organic Health
I believe that we each want to better understand ourselves; make ourselves known to the people who matter to us most; deepen our relationships, and heal what may be broken between us.
Clifton West has led an extraordinary life disguised as an ordinary man. Life has afforded him a wonderful childhood, an exciting world-class track career that put him on the path to the Olympics, a successful and thriving business and the opportunity to travel throughout the world. One would think that all of this success would change a person, perhaps cause them to feel that they are somehow “better” than others. For Clifton West that could not be further from the truth.
In his book “Of Life and Time” Clifton West chronicles his life and what was going on in the world during these times. A child of the late fifties, a teenager of the 60’s and a young adult of the 70’s, Clifton’s book is rich with memories of those times and the lessons learned while growing up. He shares with how he came to learn that a life rich in love and peace is much more precious than attaining worldly success. Clifton’s book shares the soul-substance of an extraordinary life lived by an ordinary person. It attempts to provide a personal yet inclusive testimony of a spiritual journey that has brought him to discover his true life’s purpose. Clifton describes how this living and breathing phenomenon called ‘life’ moving within this ever-advancing entity called ‘time’ provides for us all a profound introduction to our life’s purpose.
Olympic Trials. After graduating from UC Berkeley, he embarked on a business career, first at IBM and then, in 1976, he became one of the first black owners of a computer software firm. He later restarted his running career, this time as a sprinter – almost unheard of in track, a miler turned 100- and 200-meter specialist – and made the 1977 U.S. 4×400-meter relay team that competed on the world track circuit. He also coached track at Cal, MIT and, for a spell, Sacramento’s Christian Brothers High School. The author is Clifton L. West III, the firstborn of Clifton L. West, Jr. and Irene Bias West. He is the older brother to Dr Cornel R. West, Cynthia R. West-McDaniel, and Cheryl L. West. He is the father of two children (Erika Lynn and Cornel Jamine), stepfather to one child (Brianna Denise), grandfather to four children (Deja Marie, Roni Rachel, Cadence and Corrin), and great-grandfather to two children (Kaden Kameron) and the husband to Leticia Leonor Mendez.
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