 Drinking lemon water in the morning seems to be a very popular trend throughout the internet and in the blogosphere and the YouTube sphere in general. And I don't know why this trend started or who it originated with. Maybe it was with the whole master cleanse idea. But people seem to have this idea by putting a squeeze of lemon in your water in the morning. It's going to have a significant effect on your health or the detoxification pathways in your body. But in this video, I'm going to share why I do not think that is true. Hey guys, Dr. Alex Hein, author of the health book Master of the Day, Doctor of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncturist. So before we jump into this video, there are two very important links right below it. The first is if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine, you can reach out to my private practice right below this video. And the second is for a free download, which is four daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life with Chinese medicine. So I recently shot this video on food grade medicine versus medical grade medicine. Now this is very important to talk about because I think for so many people, there is a certain kind of disconnection that traditional cultures have. You know, in the modern world, no one uses pharmaceuticals for fun, right? You don't ever put medication for a diabetic person in your oatmeal in the morning to spice it up, for example. You know, no one's ever taking a high blood pressure medication just for shits and giggles. But in reality, in traditional cultures, this line is a little bit more skewed because in ancient times, medicine was very often besides medical interventions, medicine was often traditional herbalism. And so traditional herbalism, it's very easy for a culture that is close to the environment and to nature to understand that this plant, stinging nettle, we can boil into a stew. It's harmful and it hurts if you touch it when it's uncooked, but if prepared right, it's edible and it's very nutritious and it's a nice soup. And then on the other level, we have aconite, one of the most dangerous toxic plants on earth when unprocessed, the Romans used to poison tip their arrows to kill each other and wolves, I think they call it wolf spain. I think that was what the ancient name was for aconite. But on top of that, in China, aconite was one of the king medicinal and still is, it is an essential medicinal for many different uses. But the point is unprepared, you die, prepare very medicinal in between is what many herbs are. So herbs like ginger are both food and medical grade. You can cook with it every day and it won't harm you. You're not going to cook with aconite and eat it in a regular meal probably ever, right uncooked, you will die. But I think the point being traditional culture is because food was often herbs and herbs can be both food grade. You put it in a stew or medical grade. You take it to stop the fever that may kill the child. Ancient people had a much more intimate understanding and connection with food as medicine or food as just food. Now a squeeze of lemon in the morning definitely falls into the category of food grade medicine and it's unlikely to have a significant impact on your health any more than a bowl of oatmeal well in the morning. Now a bowl of oatmeal in the morning may help you a lot. It may mean a great bowel movement the next day. It may mean your stomach's not upset. It may mean something else. But the point being food grade medicine versus medical grade medicine and in that the dose makes the poison. Is it good for you? Sure, it's probably good and a nice flavor for the water. Is it going to have a significant effect on your health? I do not think so. So this idea of the dose makes the poison credited to paracelsus was really an observation that it's not a one-to-one, it's not such a linear correlation. But even benign and common things in our environment, oxygen and water, for example, can kill you if they're the wrong dosage. And this is obviously true with herbs and medicines and food, for example. I mean, I think frankly the thing that kills the most humans in America these days is food, right? Diabetes, heart disease, the metabolically related cancers, food is probably the major killer of human beings today. And obviously food can be both healthy and unhealthy. But for people that are putting lemon in their water for a, I don't know what people say, liver detox, gallbladder flush, digestive health, I don't think it's going to have a significant impact. And even clinically when I treat those things, we are giving much, much stronger formulas to deal with, for example, gallstones, gallbladder attacks, gallbladder sludge, acid reflux, indigestion, SIBO, all these kinds of deeper, more severe gut problems are unlikely to be even touched by lemon water. So I thought I would share this because a lot of people seem to follow wellness influencers and they shoot this video on the lemon water in the morning or the new agey person and they think it's going to really fix the problem. And it very likely will not. And in that case, you need to do something that's more medical grade. So I thought I would take a second to talk about this trend because it seems to be very common. I don't think, frankly, besides it tasting good, it's going to have a large therapeutic value for people. But in the context of food as medicine, food as food grade medicine, I think it can be very helpful for some people. But that is all I have for today. A little bit of a fiery rant as per the usual. And otherwise, before you go, check out these two other related videos for you right there.