I used to be a huge Diet Coke junkie until I realize how bad it was for me. When I finally decided to give it up for good, I needed something to replace it with that wasn’t equally unhealthy for me. This pretty much left me with water. And while I don’t mind water too much, it sometimes gets hard to get it down, especially when I’m not thirsty. So I started drinking lemon water instead. After doing some research on it, not only is it a flavorful way to dress up my water, but there are surprisingly a lot of health benefits to drinking lemon water as well. Here are 10 of them.

1. When you are drinking something you enjoy, it makes it much easier for you to get in your recommended amount of ounces per day. This helps you to stay hydrated which keeps your body functioning properly.

2. Lemons are packed with Vitamin C which is good for your teeth, bone, cartilage, and muscle tissues, as well as your immune system.

3. It helps you to digest. The lemons help your liver produce bile which keeps the food moving through your digestive system.

4. Lemon water also helps you detox. The acid in the lemons helps your body to process foods more slowly giving the nutrients more time to get absorbed into your body.

5. Lemon water freshens your breath! The acidity in the lemon as well as the antiseptics in the lemon help to kill the bacteria that cause bad breath. Now you don’t have to skip the garlic on your next hot date!

6. Drinking lemon water can help prevent kidney stones. Citrus fruits like lemons have high levels of citrate which binds to the excess calcium in the urine, making it hard for crystals to form, which helps prevent kidney stones.

7. Lemon water can help you lose weight! The properties in the lemon increase the number of calories you burn, enhancing your weight loss! (This one was really the only reason I needed!)

8. Drinking lemon water can help prevent cancer! Lemons are packed with antioxidants that fight against the free radicals that cause the cell damage that builds up and causes tumors to form.

9. Fighting the free radicals also keeps your skin looking healthy and helps your body produce collagen which also keeps your skin looking younger and healthier.

10. Of course the most obvious one is that it cuts down on your intake of sugar, artificial sweeteners, calories, and whatever else is in the drink that you replace with lemon water!

Drink up!