There is no easier dietary intervention than adding lemon juice. Research has shown many of those who went on diet never really made it. Dieters looking to lose weight sometimes are not aware of considerations that have to be addressed for their greatest success. One way of addressing these considerations is to introduce the lemon juice diet. Here's how it can help.

Lifestyle challenge #1: A high-stress lifestyle causes sugar cravings.

There is an intimate connection between stress and belly fat. A high-stress lifestyle makes the adrenal glands generate huge quantities of the stress hormone cortisol. This hormone in turn encourages the fat cells around your navel to pick up any fatty acids the bloodstream delivers to them, and this leads to depletion of the mood-lifting neurotransmitter serotonin.

Serotonin is one of the chemicals that tells your brain when your stomach is full and you can stop eating. Serotonin deficits can lead to anxiety, depression, insomnia, and carbohydrate cravings. Even if you don't overeat, stress can cause you to put on belly fat.

What can a dieters do? Well, simply stopping inflammation and allergies by going on the lemon juice diet helps. But it is important not to gotoolow-carb. Continue to eat fruits, especially lemon, but at least one other fruit a day. And an occasional natural sweet is also OK.

Lifestyle Challenge #2. Low-carb diets tend to be high-fat diets.

The well-known Atkins plan emphasizes foods like bacon and steak. These meats are expensive, and they are loaded with fat. Actually, even bacon and steak and hamburger contain some healthy fat, specifically, conjugated linolenic acid (CLA), but a lot of fat can lead to indigestion.

The lemon juice diet helps you with this problem, too. There is nothing about the lemon juice plan that prohibits you from eating meat. Just be sure to get lemon and high-fiber vegetables, and the bloating, gassiness, and heartburn that sometimes go with high-fat diets will not be a problem for you.

Lifestyle Challenge #3. Low-fat diets can cause constipation.

The problem with many low-fat diets is that people follow them too closely. The idea is that the body can't burn fat if there is any carbohydrate consumed at all—and this just is not so. Anyone who has lost weight on the lemon juice diet can tell you that it is still possible to lose weight even if you eat lemon, fruits, and vegetables. But the first two weeks of the Atkins plan tries to help dieters lose weight by inducing a process called ketosis. To achieve that you cannot eat over 20 grams of carbs per day.

That means not eating more than one small fruit or a starchy food serving about the size of a slice of bread or maybe 1/3 cup of a rice, for your total carbs, for all day. If you did not eat the fruit or the starchy carb, then you could have three small servings of a non-starchy vegetable, like spinach.

For most people who stick to the Atkins diet, the resulting constipation is mild or severe. It is not unusual for people to walk around for days with bulging stomachs, belching, flatulence, and acid reflux. Weight measurements would be down, but waistline measurements would be up.

So enjoy a piece of fruit—even better after you have a refreshing glass of lemon juice and water.

Lifestyle Challenge #4. Being hungry all the time when on a diet.

Low-calorie diets usually allow you to eat the same foods you always eat, only in much smaller portions. Most calorie-counting plans require the dieter to eat no more than 50 to 60 per cent of their normal amount of plan. These diet plans usually allow desserts, just half as much, so the dieter does not feel "deprived." The problem is, the sugar keeps the appetite constantly stimulated even though portions have to be kept small.

So what can a dieter do? Don't focus on the calories you can't eat, focus on the nourishing foods you can eat on my lemon juice plan. Your diet will not be "low-carb," but if you cut out the processed foods, it will be lower-carb, and you will have more energy and longer-lasting weight loss.

The lemon juice diet promotes a sensible lower-carbohydrate diet. You don't eat mass-produced desserts loaded with high-fructose corn syrup. You don't load up on noodles, rice, and bread. You do, however, eat natural carbohydrates in lemon, fruits, and vegetables, and small amounts of sugary foods are OK once in a while (about once a week).