Our neighbors have been super kind letting us indulge in their Calamansi limes. Picking these cute sour treats has been a pleasure to the start of my day. I’ve been simply squeezing them into warm water. Calamansi limes have properties to gently  break up mucous, offer anti-inflammatory benefits, and give a great start to good nutrition for the day - 27 mg of vitamin C, 6 mg Iron, 37 mg Potassium.

All of these nutrients are common deficiencies in my patient population.

Regular limes contain around 19.5 mg vitamin C -a great amount of Vitamin C especially if you combine in the salad below that has good amounts of Vitamin C in the peppers as well.

I’m regularly finding my son making himself a nice warm cup of lime water. He says it helps break up allergy mucous in his throat. 

How could you squeeze a little more natural sourced Vitamin C into your diet?

I’ll help out with a favorite recipe:

Summer time food is typically cold, cooling and wet to help balance the outdoor heat and keep your kitchen cooler.

This raw salad is one of our summer staples. Mostly due to its simplicity! We spend lots of time outside and with the Arizona sun we try to maximize anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C.

We now know Vitamin C for the immune system but did you know it’s also good for recovery from the sun?

“Topical Vitamin C: A Useful Agent for Treating Photoaging and Other Dermatologic Conditions”

Summer C Salad

Ingredients:

2 cans of black beans rinsed

2 cups of bite sized tomatoes chopped

1 can sweet  one rinsed

1 cup cilantro chopped

3 bell peppers chopped

3 green onions chopped

1 tsp cumin

6 Calamsi Limes or 1 regular lime squeezed and added

Optional: add dry Mexican seasoning to taste or cayenne pepper. 

Olive oil to texture preference 2-3 tsp is typical. 

Chop, mix and serve! 

Best if flavors mix for a few hours before serving.