As more and more trends appear on popular social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook, many viewers are left confused as to which tips work and which ones are simply fake fads.
Thus, it has become important to differentiate between those trends that are truly beneficial versus those that are not.
This specific new trend gained traction on the video-focused social networking site known as TikTok, and claims that drinking coffee with lemon helps melt off fat while also relieving headaches and diarrhea.
As we know, losing weight is a feat that cannot be achieved overnight or by slightly tweaking one aspect of our lives.
A good diet with a calorie deficit, enough exercise each day, and a healthy lifestyle all combined together can allow individuals to shed stubborn fat.
However, that doesn’t stop us from searching for such tips that come with lofty promises of achieving the results you’re looking for within just a few days or weeks! So, does coffee and lemon help you lose weight? Find out here!
Lemon and Coffee
Lemon and coffee individually are known for having their own specific benefits. A glass of lemon water in the morning is generally recommended to those trying to lose weight and many people drink coffee regularly to give themselves a boost and get rid of headaches.
However, before this trend, adding lemon to coffee was generally unheard of and definitely not used for weight loss.
Once it took off, hundreds of videos from individuals and fitness bloggers started sprouting out of seemingly nowhere, claiming this concoction really worked and spread throughout different social media sites. They even contained before and after pictures to increase the authenticity of their claims!
A Closer Look Into the Ingredients
Coffee
Coffee is one of the most consumed drinks in the world. Many adults drink it on a daily basis, especially in developed countries such as the USA or Canada. The drink is made from brewing roasted coffee beans with hot water and can have additions such as milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, or other flavors and toppings added to it.
In this particular tip, the coffee used has been plain black coffee. It contains caffeine which can increase alertness and can help make your mood better, too! It also contains antioxidants.
The components of coffee are said to protect you against cancer growth and thus can lead to a reduced risk for several types of cancer, like breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, and more!
Consuming coffee is also associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, and depression, as well as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. It increases productivity and has positive effects on endurance and your body’s calorie-burning ability.
Lemon
Lemon is a household essential, with many people using it daily, especially in salads or cooking. It is widely known for being a good source of vitamin C and antioxidants and has been used for many centuries for its medicinal properties.
Antioxidants are contained in both lemons and in coffee and protect your body from harmful free radicals that can negatively affect it.
Just like coffee, the antioxidant properties of lemon can help reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, such as stomach, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, and esophageal cancer.
Lemon flavonoids and the vitamin C present in lemons reduce the risk of heart disease while vitamin C boosts your immune system and helps target any infections present in your body.
Thus, it can easily be concluded that both coffee and lemon offer a wide range of benefits. The question is whether mixing them increases their beneficial properties and aids in weight loss or whether it remains the same.
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What Is the Tip?
As seen in multiple videos, the coffee and lemon trend recommends mixing one cup of coffee with the juice of one lemon.
Although the flavor might come across as odd and bitter, those perpetuating these claims suggest that the benefits greatly outweigh this unpleasant aspect. Science, however, disagrees with these claims.
What Are the Claims?
Here are the claims that the trending videos make regarding this combination.
It Helps Melt off Fat
Although various trends promise to do this, and this one is no exception, ultimately the only way to burn off fat is through controlling your diet and maintaining a consistent exercise routine, i.e. by consuming fewer calories or by burning them.
Although studies show that the drink may help you lose some weight due to the presence of coffee, which is why some people do experience slight weight loss after consuming the drink regularly, this is in totality a false claim.
Coffee can increase the metabolic rate for three hours after ingesting it and so it allows you to burn around 80-150 calories a day upon a daily intake of it. Thus, any weight loss is probably due to ingesting coffee and not because of the mixture itself.
It Eases Headaches
Research suggests that coffee, due to its vasoconstrictor effect, can reduce blood flow towards the head and relieve headache pain. Also, studies show that it can amplify the effects of any medicines being used for headaches or migraines.
However, for some people, coffee can trigger headaches and so can citrus foods like lemon. Therefore, it isn’t an all-around fix and can instead even worsen it.
It Relieves Diarrhea
This tip suggests you should consume ground coffee with lemon instead of making a mixture and drinking it. However, there is no scientific proof behind this and instead coffee is a known diuretic due to its ability to stimulate your colon.
It Offers Skin Care Benefits
Due to the antioxidant contents present in both coffee and lemon, this claim can prove to be true! Coffee is believed to improve hydration in the skin and helps reduce skin scaliness and the deterioration of the skin barrier while improving the smoothness of the skin.
Conclusion
All in all, both lemon and coffee do have properties that allow for quicker fat oxidation. However, there is no one-stop solution to losing weight and although there are some benefits to ingesting coffee and lemon separately, there are no added benefits associated with drinking a concoction made up of them.
Lily
Hi, I'm Lily! Like you, I have struggled with my weight. It was not an easy journey but I was able to lose 40 pounds and have kept it off for 14 years. My goal is to share with you all the research, tips, and tricks that I have learned over the years to help you lose weight also.Download this cheat sheet to learn the secrets to go from busy and out-of-shape to energetic and fit!