Lemon Perfect is Building the Body’s Defenses, Can Help You Reach Your Healthy Goals

For many, the combination of self-isolation and working from home during the coronavirus pandemic has made sticking to health and fitness goals more difficult. With gyms closed, there are fewer opportunities to work out. And working from home means 24-hour access to snacks and treats. Add to that the general lethargy and lack of motivation that comes from burnout, constant stress about the dangers of COVID-19, and poor sleep. 

It’s easy when things are stressful and routines are disrupted to fall back on unhealthy habits, including sugary sodas, greasy food, and alcoholic beverages. But as we look to provide our bodies with the best defenses against the novel coronavirus and boost our immunity, we need those healthy habits more than ever. 

Is it time for a new routine?

Yanni Hufnagel, founder and CEO of the beverage company Lemon Perfect, has created a lemon water beverage line that provides antioxidants, vitamin C, electrolytes, and plenty of flavor and healthy hydration with just 5 calories and zero sugar. The drinks are USDA-certified organic from lemons hand-picked in southern California and cold-pressed to retain all of the lemon’s nutritional benefits. 

Replacing less-healthy drinks like soda and beer with lemon water is an easy first step to getting nutritional goals back on track. Lemon water is a perfect complement to diets of any kind, as it promotes digestion and a feeling a “fullness” that helps to curb over-eating, and it’s a great replacement for any number of sugar-laden drinks, including energy drinks, sports drinks, and even orange juice. 

A commitment to health and fitness goals starts with choices made in the morning: chocolate chip pancakes or yogurt and fruit? Egg-and-cheese sandwich or oatmeal? Morning beverages deserve the same kind of scrutiny, Hufnagel says, as that first beverage choice is setting the tone for the rest of the day. 

Before launching Lemon Perfect in 2017, Hufnagel discovered the benefits of lemon water and started squeezing lemons into his glass of water each morning to provide a healthy energy boost and hydration. He loved, too, that drinking lemon water before a morning meal made him less likely to over-indulge on breakfast. One good choice led to another. He just wished the drink were more convenient. Now, with Lemon Perfect available in four flavors – Just Lemon, Dragonfruit Mango, Blueberry Acai, and Peach Raspberry – at major retailers like Amazon, Target, and Whole Foods, it’s easy for anyone to start the morning right and provide their body’s defenses with an added boost. 

Each Lemon Perfect drink has a full FDA recommended daily dose of Vitamin C, an important antioxidant that helps strengthen the body’s immune system and protect against disease. And while an 8-ounce glass of orange juice contains 21 grams of sugar and 110 calories, Lemon Perfect drinks have zero sugar and just five calories.

Staying hydrated and minimizing sugar intake are especially important now, health experts say, as we look to protect ourselves against the novel coronavirus, and fight off virus-related symptoms. Some 60% of our body is made up of water, and water is used by every major organ and exists in every cell in the body. Water is needed to regulate body temperature as well, and dehydration can cause body temperatures to spike. 

Dr. Drew Oliveira, Senior Medical Executive Director at Regence Blue Shield, said: “Our bodies need quite a bit of hydration every day,” about 11 glasses of water per day for women, and about 16 glasses of water per day for men. 

Sweetened drinks like sodas and sugary juices should be avoided where possible, the doctor said, as drinking them can have the reverse effect, and hurt our body’s efforts to suppress disease. “Those sweetened fluids can actually suppress our thirst, and…lead to other problems,” he said. 

And that recommended daily intake of water does not all have to come from the tap. Most people find it difficult to drink as much water as is recommended. Lemon Perfect makes it easy to reach that daily goal, and, unlike plain water, the drinks have the added benefit of electrolytes—which are especially important if we do become sick.

Electrolytes are needed when they body becomes dehydrated, as can happen during bouts of illness. These minerals help balance the amount of water in the body and also help to maintain the body’s acid-to-base or pH level, helping to move toxins out of cells and keeping organs and nerves functioning properly. Like green vegetables and sea salt, lemons are a terrific natural source of electrolytes. 

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes, without a vaccine or approved treatments available, the best approach to staying healthy during the pandemic is to practice prevention. In addition to social distancing, wearing masks in public places, and frequent handwashing, it’s important to maintain (or begin!) healthy habits that will provide the best defense against the virus, experts advise. That includes: lowering sugar intake, boosting hydration, and getting plenty of exercise and rest. Adding Lemon Perfect to the morning routine is an easy way to start each day at home on a healthy path, with Vitamin C, antioxidants, and electrolytes the body needs to help ward off disease and dehydration. 

About Lemon Perfect

Lemon Perfect is a naturally refreshing, zero sugar cold-pressed lemon water with antioxidants and electrolytes. Certified organic and full of flavor, Lemon Perfect is widely considered by industry insiders to be one of the most scalable, exciting and innovative emerging beverage concepts in the marketplace.

About Yanni Hufnagel

Yanni Hufnagel is the Founder & CEO of Lemon Perfect, a naturally refreshing, zero sugar cold-pressed lemon water with essential antioxidants and hydrating electrolytes. Certified organic and full of flavor, Lemon Perfect – named “Best New Product” at BevNET’s Best of 2019 Awards – is widely considered by industry insiders to be one of the most scalable, exciting and innovative emerging beverage concepts in the marketplace. 

Founded in 2017 and backed by an extraordinary team of investors, the company’s mission is to democratize drinkable wellness by making Lemon Perfect accessible for anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Before starting Lemon Perfect, Hufnagel served as an assistant men’s college basketball coach, with stops at Nevada, California, Vanderbilt, Harvard and Oklahoma. Hufnagel earned the reputation as one of the most dogged recruiters in America, consistently lauded for signing nationally-ranked recruiting classes. In Hufnagel’s 10 years coaching college basketball, his teams reached the NCAA Tournament six times.