Antiviral
★★★★★
When my husband came down with a nasty virus, I began to drink fresh squeezed lemon juice, and also to chew on the peelings. This kept me from catching his bug, and I also felt much healthier as a result -- more energy and healthier digestion.
Since then, I have found a more palatable way to take the lemon juice. I put on some filtered or distilled water to boil. In the meantime, I squeeze one whole lemon and set the juice aside. I cut up the peeling into quarter-inch pieces (approximately) and drop them in a coffee cup. I pour boiling water over the peelings just to cover, then cover the cup and let them steep for 5 minutes. This pulls the zest from the peelings. I strain the liquid and discard the pieces. I then combine the hot liquid with the sqeezed lemon juice and drink. This should be done once per day at the onset of flu season, and 2 to 3 times per day if exposed to or suffering from any virus.
This drink is bitter, since it consists of the essence of lemond rind. It may cause loose stools, which may be a good thing if ridding the body of unwanted "guests".
It works extremely well if combined with an ecchinacea regimen for convelescence after a bout of illness. Adding a teaspoon of cinnamon may help to prevent diarrhea if it becomes bothersome.
Diarrhea, Poor Sleep
★★★★★
For diarrhea: Lemon water. I have found that drinking lemon water has stopped my 6 months of diarrhea. This is amazing. One 16 oz water bottle( drink some to make room for juice), squeeze one fresh lemon, pour into water bottle. Sip all day. Then do this again the next day and sip on this one bottle for 2 days. Keep making one bottle last 2days and always drink with a straw as to not damage teeth. Best results after about two weeks. This drink also alkalizes your body. Lemon turns into an alkaline after ingested.
Bonus: sleeping through the night.
Fever and Headaches
★★★★★
When I had fever or a very bad headache, Mom would slice a lemon.....take a linen or cotton towel.....take the slices of lemon and put them in a row on the towel and sprinkle a lot of baking soda on the lemon slices; roll the towel and cover the slices; make the towel like a bandage, tie it around the head (as if you were wounded in the Civil war...) and go to sleep. It worked every time; felt 90% better!!!! I do this often and for me it works; hope it works for you too!
Lemon Bicarbonate Formula

Ted, I have Addison's disease & have a hard time keeping my electrolytes balanced out. If they are out of balance I have muscle pain and very fatigued. I have been using the baking soda/lemon recipe you show here on Earth Clinic to alkaline my Ph, it worked the very first day like a miracle, I had lots of energy and was feeling good, however as the week went on I got to feeling worse, I was only doing this twice a day 1/2 lemon and 1/4 tsp baking soda to 4 ounces of water and my face got extremely, extremely dry, I am now severely fatigued, stomach is bloated & crampy, I am achy all over, sore throat, all the signs of electrolyte imbalance & my blood pressure is all over the place, one hour it will be low with low heart rate then the next its high blood pressure with high heart rate, it has not been stable. I have been more drowsy and out of it lately. I drink lots of water, and I take in salt & potassium so I don't know what is going on. I seem to be having a acid imbalance but of what? I don't know if its low potassium or calcium or sodium? I know emergency rooms uses baking soda to help lower very high levels of potassium fairly quickly. Could it be my potassium is low? I have started being nauseated now, and very weak and unable to do anything. It seems to be getting worse. My Ph is akalined soon after I do the lemon/Baking soda recipe but it goes back to acidic within 4 hours. I don't know what to do but I do know I am desperate to feel better. I don't know what to do to get to feeling better again. Should I quit the Baking Soda & Lemon? Or am I doing it wrong? Please Help. Thanks
(Irvine, Ca.)
10/01/2014
Dear Pamm, stop this baking soda and lemon deal and take organic green tea with honey and lemon. (lots of honey). Also don't forget taking Co-Q10. let us know how it goes.
Lemon Bicarbonate Formula
This simple formula will normalized many biological parameters, pH, ORP, phosphates, bicarbonates and antioxidants of vitamin C. A potential miracle water. One whole lemon freshly squeezed. Keep adding baking soda slowly bit by bit until the fizz stops. Then you will add water to one half glass. This is often taken either twice a day. To be taken once in the morning and once before bedtime on an empty stomach.
Lemon for Gallstones
★★★★★
Gallstone Issues: You can try the juice of 1 lemon in an 8oz.glass of water on an empty stomach. Do not eat or drink anything for 30 or so minutes and let this sit in your gallbladder. This will help dissolve stones. Do this for a year. Also take about 4 digestive enzymes with each meal. Vibra-Gest is one of the best. Eat pinnapple with meals or papaya which also have digestive enzymes in them and stay away from fat, sugar, and fried foods. It is hard to change your diet, but it will help tremendously. Eat bananas, and long cooking oatmeal. This helps. Some can't eat the oatmeal. Whatever works for you. Eat more vegatables, baked potatoes, greenbeans, tomatos, carrots,cucumbers, salad, fiber filled fruit, chicken and fish (nothing fried), but especially beets. Ginger is good for digestion. Avacados, coconut, garlic, grapes, plenty of water is good also. No beans, eggs, milk, pork, grapefruit or oranges, icecream, choclate, alcohol, cofffee.If you eat something and your stomach starts bubbling, you know that is something you can't eat.
Drink the lemon water religously and you will get relief. Keep drinking it for a year. There are meds doctors can give to dissolve stones, they don't tell you that. The lemon water will do it.
Try this: take a small rock the size of a quarter, and as thick as you finger and place it in a small glass in the kitchen window and cover it with lemon juice or concentrate you can get in the plastic lemons in the veggie section of the grocer. Cover the rock every day for about 3 months and you will dissolve that rock....Drink lemon water on an empty stomach upon waking and eat or drink nothing for about 30 min. Do this for a year. Drink the same just before going to bed the first week to two weeks of your attack. You will find that a gallbladder attach lasts about 3 to 5 days, but the lemon juice will start to dissolve the stones and the sludge. Take red yeast rice to get your cholesterol down which is the culprit here. Lemon water, red yeast rice and a change in your diet ot remove fat and you will see impovement in the next 3 weeks or so. Include exercise by even just walking, to lower your bad cholesterol also. You can live to eat or eat to live. Your choice. Hope this helps someone.
(Panama)
12/21/2013
★★★★★
Thanks so much for this! It makes a lot of sense to me. I'm going to try it for sure.
(UK)
04/27/2021
Thank you for the information about the LEMON juice. I was desperately hoping to find someone who could report this that over time it would dissolve gallstones, hopefully, this means the ones that are the solid fat and calcified all in one?
(faithville, Us)
04/27/2021
Chanca Piedra Herbal Benefits (earthclinic.com) I buy from Swanson and they run out of it a lot
Also AF betafood from standard process helped my gallbladder. I took ten pills a day until the bottle ran out and it was amazing, kinda spendy, but you keep your gallbladder.
Read up on ox bile. You may have a cortisol issue creating a gallbladder issue, Eric Berg on youtube teaches a lot of gut health issues
Lemon for Health
★★★★★
re: Lemon and vinegar.. SOUR = HEALTH! I have been reading alot recently about the benefits of herbal/natural cures for everyday ailments. Not because I am sick BUT, rather, because I am almost NEVER sick! I have always been that "rare and weird" child. The one that wanted Olives, Pickles, and Lemons instead of sweets. My family called me the "Sour Baby"! Plus, I have always loved Salt over Sugar.. but, only on sour foods.
Only in the past 5-6 years (I am 28 now), have I really noticed how sickly all of my friends are. While I always seem to stay healthy. This fact was very ODD to me as I am the poorest of all of my friends. I have no health insurance, I RARELY see a doctor, etc, etc.. So, I started to study my diet and saw that I am almost ALWAYS the only person that adores sour foods. I (I know this sounds weird) Love to mix Vinegar and Salt in a shot glass..and drink it in tiny sips all day. The same with Lemon juice and salt. Often, I slice lemon wedges, cover them in salt, and eat them while watching tv. Because of this, my friends think that I am insane but, it's like my candy!? They just giggle about it.
Lately though, now that I have been reading up on my habits, I am the one giggling. I am the one that never gets sick! I have found tons of info that proves my original thoughts on the matter. Sour = Health!
Note: there is a downfall though, My method is high in Sodium. (I can live with that) BUT, all of the acidic foods (Lemons, Tomato, Vinegar, ANY Citrus) are very bad for your teeth IF you brush within 30 minutes of eating or drinking them!! Doing so literally eats the natural enamel off of your teeth. My Dentist scolded me about this!!! So, Brush before you ingest.:) Then, Drink lots of water and make sure to swish around your teeth.
(East lansing, MI)
12/19/2008
U know I am like that I have always used lemons and eat them as if they are fruit, even if I make lemonade, my ingrediant is lemon and salt..woow its good to know that I have been doing something good and not know it LOL I also eat sour grapes and very sour plums before they change color ofcourse ..thanx for the info
(Montrose, CO)
12/20/2008
★★★★★
Oh my God, I thought I was the only one afflicted with this condition. I've always been a pickle puss...laugh out loud. I love sour things...just so you don't know you're the only one. Don't like sweets.
(Pioneertown, Ca.)
06/10/2013
I too love sour. I drink lemon juice with salt all the time. I never liked sweet. I also love grapefruit with salt as well. And I too rarely get sick.
(Idaho)
10/02/2015
★★★★★
I'd just like to add these comments that my mother never got a cold. I thought about that as I was reading Natalie's great comments and remembered that my mother was a serious pickle fiend! She also loved pickled herring and sour kraut and told me that when she was a kid she would mix vinegar and bicarbonate of soda on a saucer and watch it fizz. Don't know if she ate that. What would you guess? :-)
Lemon for Hyperpigmentation
I had a laser treatment a few months back that went very badly wrong,and I was left with patches of hyperpigmentation all over my face. Nothing worked, and in fact, my face seemed to have become hyper-sensitive to many things. Finally, through research on the net, I have found something that is lightening and curing my face significantly. I am making my own niacinamide cream, and in the mornings and evening I make a poultice with a slice of cucumber and crushed almond paste. I am still interested in exploring other things, though, and I would like to try adding lemon to my poultice, but I am very afraid of a bad reaction. Can anyone explain exactly HOW lemon bleaches the skin? is it just the acid? Also, I have heard that it does induce photosensitivity- if I use the lemon only at night, will the photosensitivity persist into the following day? any info would be much appreciated.
(Corpus Christi, Tx, Usa)
05/15/2011
Lemon for IBS
★★★★★
I have had IBS for over a year now and after trying everything that the doctors and friends and family told me to try, nothing worked. Until I finally tried Lemon water. I squeeze Half of a lemon into a 8oz glass of water and drink it over an hour hour or two. If you drink it too fast you are likely to get heart burn. But after two days of drinking this once a day I was regular and no longer felt bloated or constipated all the time. Good luck and I hope it works for you.
Lemon for Infections
★★★★★
Fresh lemon cured my bladder infection! This may help those who find that cranberry juice/tablets don't work. I suffered from bladder infections for many years. I used to have it about every six weeks, and it was often triggered by eating food high in salt, sugar or fat, or drinking alcohol - it was a nightmare, I couldn't even have one glass of wine. I tried antibiotics, cranberry, everything - nothing worked. Sorting out my diet and cutting down wheat and sugar helped a bit, but I would still get the infection several times a year. Until I met a former fellow sufferer who told me to eat lemon wedges - as many as I could bear - next time the symptoms started. I followed her advice and I haven't needed antibiotics since! I still watch my diet but if I "have to" overindulge on food & drink, I have one or two lemons squeezed in a drop of water before going to bed and wake up right as rain. Interestingly, my sister, who is also prone to bladder infections, finds that cranberry works for her whereas lemon doesn't. For me it's the other way around, cranberry didn't do anything but lemon works in an instant. Hope this helps someone!
(Toronto, On)
09/28/2009
For Urinary Tract Infections, please try Uva Ursi. It's a powdered leaf in a gel cap... you follow the instructions on the bottle (I think 2 gel caps, 3 x a day) and within 36 hours all symptoms of the UTI are gone! I used to get UTI's like clockwork - every 3 month. I remember reading something about how the bacteria that causes it burrows into the skin of the bladder to hide from the anti-biotics. Because the skin in the bladder sheds like the skin that covers our bodies, eventually enough skin is shed to uncover the bacteria - and BAM you have another Urinary Tract Infection.
I don't know how the Uva Ursi worked, but after treating ONE UTI with it, I haven't had one since...it's been about 4 or 5 years since my last UTI and I've recommended this to countless women in my life.
Earth Clinic, I don't know where you want to post this, but I think it's so important that women who deal with recurring UTIs read this information... THANK YOU for this amazing website.
Lemon for Intestinal Problems
★★★★★
I have suffered intestinal problems for years finally diagnosed by a 'functional' doctor as dairy intolerance. A friend finally convinced me to try taking straight lemon juice from two smaller, greener lemons from Mexico and it has cured my problem almost immediately. Apparently I also cannot handle soy as I had a bad reaction to Chinese food. I have been treated by normal MDs and none have ever diagnosed this dairy intolerance, they only treated the symptoms and never identified the cause.
(Warner Robins, Georgia)
08/14/2010
I just have to say I just had surgery and I have been using organic lemon.. (sorry no measurements yet) and I too am sensitive to dairy protein and eggs. However, I did indulge in chocolate m&m's and some diary and eggs were in my food that people made me but I did not have my normal painful reactions. I usually get headaches because my sinuses go crazy and post nasel drip which in turn gives me acid stomach and the eggs give me rashes and I get very grumpy with headaches. Nothing now and I believe it was the lemon I am comsuming everyday... I will start to eat those regularly now just because the lemon seems to help though. I will though continue to consume the lemon everyday!! Woohooo
Lemon for Kidney Stones
★★★★★
i've read alot of cures on kidney stones and read about the lemons and olive oil i have been married 20 yrs now i have had calcium stones averaging 2 to 3 times a yr and no history on either side of my family and i have a twin brother who does not get them , so one day at the uroligist i ask him look i have put all of your kids through college and helped in buying your house ,what have you done lately for me well he recommended lemons with my water so i tried for like 3 to 4 days 1 or 2 glases a day of bottled water and acouple of squeezes of lemon juice and guess what i passed atleast 3 or 4 stones from each side of me and im not braging i am a large stone former averaging 6 to 7 mm and i have passed that size many times my wife wishes they were diamonds lol but i have to say the lemons worked for me but my question is seeing alot of post on kidney stones shows me not only to look for a cure but find out why we are forming them what are we lacking?
(NY, USA)
09/19/2008
Lemon for Lice
★★★★★
lemon juice really works I poured some on my head and 5-7 lice bugs came out!! lemon juice is the key!
Lemon for pH Alkalizing
Fresh Lemon juice vs ACV... An alternative therapist once advised me to drink hot water with lemon first thing in the morning to flush out my system and I know that you guys advocate for ACV also first thing in the morning and on an empty stomach. What I want to know is which one is better? I have been drinking the lemon with water and it was really working well for some time in terms of my system but now I feel like its not although ther are other benefits such no more cold or coughs. But is lemon juice good in the long term. Ted is always referring to the body's alkalinity and acidicty and how that affects our immune system so I wanted to know if lemon juice everyday wont do more damage to my body in the long run. Thanks
(New Orleans)
06/22/2016
I have been wondering this as well. I remember reading long ago for a general daily health tonic to use lemon juice in the summer and ACV in the winter, in rhythm with the seasons. I don't necessarily follow this, but I tend to do some alternating throughout the year. I also see tonic recipes on this site that combine the two. It does seem like apple cider vinegar has more healing properties maybe? And it is definitely cheaper and easier to find than organic lemons.
Lemon for pH Alkalizing
★★★★★
hi, I have been recommended lemon shot ie. juice of 2 lemons+equal amount of water for flushing off excessive acidity from the body and as a good neutraliser as lemon turns alkaline post digestion. After visiting your website I have found that you recommend ACV much more than Lemon. Kindly reply as which one is better option. what are the precautions to be taken when we use both of them. Thank you. regards. Ujwala
(Austin, Tx)
01/09/2009
i too had the same question as to whether lime or lemon juice or ACV is better. for me i probably prefer lime juice. but since it is hard for me to get organic limes and easier to get organic apple cider vinegar which i pour into a 1 oz eye dropper bottle so i can take it with me if i go somewhere... i am using ACV.
i just don't trust our limes or lemons here. they often have a powdery white residue on them... we are in texas and most of our lemons/limes come from mexico and i know they use a lot of pesticides. when i can get organic limes/lemons i do.
but i find it much easier to just use ACV and i find it works just as well.
btw i mix 1/3 a teaspoon of ACV into a liter of water and drink at least 2 liters a day. sometimes i add a pinch of sea salt.
i definitely can tell the benefits of doing this. i feel better; stronger and my skin looks better.
oh - i started giving my pet rat sookie a few drops of ACV because she was frail and not thriving. in just a few days she has started eating more and has a LOT more energy.
djh/austin, tx