BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Family Health Beware of Lemon Slices in Your Restaurant Drinks

Here's the latest article by Dr. Mercola on why you shouldn't get lemon in your restaurant drinks.

I have to say, at home I use organic lemons and then still wash them with a fruit and veggie rinse, before i use them. I doubt they do that in a restaurant!

If anyone is unfamiliar with Dr. Mercola, he has a great newsletter you can subscribe to and lots of great articles to read.

I would have never even given that a thought before. I usually have water with lemon, but I think I might start skipping the lemon now.

I saw that on the news about the health issues, its scary
think i will pass up the lemon or lime wedgies in my ice tea to go!

Dr Mercola needs to be taken with a grain of salt. As he admits -

"So while the idea of strange fecal bacteria coating your restaurant lemon wedge is disgusting, and certainly not hygienic, your own kitchen is probably home to some of it as well. Studies have actually shown that there could be up to 200 times more fecal bacteria on your kitchen cutting board than on your toilet seat. "

So it's not like this lemon is really any better or worse than anything else they serve at the restaurant OR anything at your own home. He tends to go heavily for the scare tactic technique.

I mean, if you're going to worry about the lemon that the workers touched, how is that any different than any other item of food they have touched? Bread rolls?

Yikes!

Not that I would want tons of bacteria served to me, I do believe that this is taking it to the extreme a bit. They are proving more and more that all this "keep every little cootie away" is not such a good thing, you can't build your immune system with that. I'm still having lemon.

well thats a little comforting , it was getting a little creepy there for awhile

Hello.
Check out my article, under Urban Legends concerning lemon slices. I agree with you...we shouldn't be too concerned about this....!
I also enjoy crocheting.
Lana Mixon

For the curious ones, Lana's article is here -

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Actually, I don't usually touch door knobs when I go out to stores if I can help it. I push the door open with my arm if possible or we wash our hands before we eat. I've notice that most restrooms have a place to use the paper towel to open the door and then a trash can near by so you don't have to touch the door knob.

I know it's not good to keep all germs from your environment as that can give you a weak immune system but I've just gotten in the habit of things like using my own pen in a store or bank and not the one sitting on the counter. Just like the remote control in a hotel room, I think there's lots of things sitting around that are never cleaned and probably have cold and flu germs all over them.

I don't think I'm overly cautious, just being sensible with all the weird diseases in the world these days. I read someplace that 75% of shopping cart handles tested positive for bodily fluids! Yuk!