By Helen Duffy, Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist

As
a Nutritional Therapist, I regularly talk with my clients about
making something become part of their daily habit. One of the most
simple, yet it can have some pretty impressive effects on our health,
is starting each day with a simple tonic. This means that before you
eat or drink anything else, yes even that most important first cup of
tea or coffee, you have a simple tonic drink.

The
tonic drink that I most commonly recommend to my clients is warm
water, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, honey and cinnamon. All of
the ingredients have their own important qualities and together they
can help to boost your immune system, balance your blood sugars,
expel toxins from your liver, kick-start your digestion and support
your kidneys. Not bad from a pleasant tasting morning drink ready in
a couple of minutes!

The
key to success with this tonic is the quality of the ingredients so I
always recommend using the best that you can find, so that means
organic whenever possible and in the case of the honey and apple
cider vinegar, they need to be raw so that the active ingredients are
still present and haven’t been processed away. Look for ‘raw’ on the
label when you buy them. The apple cider vinegar may also say
something like ‘contains the mother’, which is another way of saying
that the active culture is still present which is exactly what you
want to get the benefits of.

If
you’re struggling to find these ingredients in your supermarket there
are some good online shops, like www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk
or of course, Amazon.

To
make your morning Lemon
Water Elixir
you will need:

½ lemon squeezed

1-2 tsp apple cider
vinegar

1/4-1/2 tsp turmeric
(optional)

½ tsp honey

¼ tsp cinnamon

Mix the ingredients
together and add to a cup of warm water. Keep stirring as you drink
so the ingredients do not settle to the bottom.

Try
this as part of your morning routine for at least a week to begin to
see the benefits.

Helen
Duffy

Naturopathic
Nutritional Therapist

helen.duffy@northstarnutrition.co.uk