The health benefits of apple cider vinegar (ACV) are immense, ranging from enhancing weight loss, decreasing blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well as reducing blood sugar, acid reflux and even enhancing your skin health. Simply google “Apple Cider Vinegar Cures” and the result list will be longer than this entire newsletter.
ACV is an ancient tonic that can be easily applied to your daily routine to ensure you receive all of its incredible health benefits.
Apple Cider Vinegar vs White Vinegar?
Simply put, apple cider vinegar is made from apples while white vinegar is a distillate of grains (rice or wheat). White vinegar has a higher acid level than ACV which makes it more suitable for cleaning than consumption.
ACV comes in several forms and, in my opinion, the unfiltered raw fermented form is the best (example: Braggs Fermented AVC with mother included) as it has beneficial enzymes, acetic acid and other naturally occurring acids, as well as bacteria and yeasts that add additional benefits.
Healing Power of ACV
The majority of AVC’s healing power is due to the Acetic Acid, which is a byproduct of the fermentation process that converts natural sugars in the apple cider to alcohol in the 1st fermentation stage (hard cider), then into acetic acid in the 2nd fermentation stage.
The Many Benefits of Adding ACV To Your Daily Routine
Adding ACV to your day is as easy as drinking it directly or mixing it into the various foods you eat. When drinking, simply add 2 TBSP of ACV directly into a 8-10oz glass of water and consume 10-15 min before eating a meal or nightly before sleeping. When eating, replace the “vinegar” in oil & vinegar dressings with apple cider vinegar. Or add a splash to your pan when sautéing meats and vegetables.
ACV Improves Blood Sugar
ACV has been shown to not only help balance blood sugar response to meals, but it also can help to reduce blood sugars when combined with low-carb and/or ketogenic dieting (high fat, moderate protein, low carb dieting) and intermittent fasting. In fact, ACV reduced the blood sugar spike of a piece of white bread from 100% to only a 64% point increase.
ACV Improves Fat Burning Power
This is one health benefit the majority of people associate with daily use of ACV: additional weight loss. ACV has the ability to improve your body’s capacity to oxidize fats, which assists in the conversion of fat to energy. Pair that with a ketogenic intermittent fast and you will see the pounds melting off fast.
ACV Improves Digestion/Reduced “Heartburn” acid reflux
This may seem counterintuitive, but acid reflux is not from too much acid. Rather, it’s from too little acid. As food lingers in the stomach longer than it should (due to reduced acid digestion) the stomach will often “reflux” some of those partially digested content into the esophagus – which creates the burning sensation. ACV can improve stomach acid and also the function of the gallbladder to properly digest proteins and fats. If you benefit from drinking ACV before eating, you may be one of the 9/10 Americans with low stomach acid and now you are supporting your body’s natural digestive process.
Cuts Carbohydrate Cravings
If you have never consumed ACV on a regular basis, this statement may be hard to understand, but those of us who use it daily attest to this fact – consuming AVC or fermented foods (those high in acetic acid) tend to notice their sugar cravings are significantly reduced or eliminated.
One of the main reasons we have sugar cravings is because of a primal desire to balance blood sugar. As mentioned earlier, ACV has the ability to stabilize blood sugar swings–which is why most people who consume ACV experience less sugar cravings. Again, pair this with a ketogenic intermittent fasting diet, being naturally lower in carbs and higher in fats (which keep you feeling full), and you have a power punch for knocking out cravings.
ACV Added Directly To Food
The easiest way to incorporate ACV into your daily routine is to simply add it directly to your food. 1-2 TBSP goes a long way when used directly on your salads or sautéed into veggies and/or proteins. Sometimes when cycling out of ketosis, I eat quinoa – which has a high glycemic index. You can lower that significantly by adding 1-2 TBSP to the water or broth within which it is cooking. (To further enhance quinoa, try melting grass fed butter and coconut oil into the final product or add turmeric, cayenne and/or black pepper to increase its anti-inflammatory power!) ACV can also be used as a base to any marinade.
Early Morning Energy Boost
We all have days where a little extra kick is needed, especially after you have already had your coffee. Here’s a “morning energy tonic” that my wife developed years ago that works wonders:
- 2 TBSP ACV
- 1 TBSP lemon juice
- 1 TSP cinnamon
- 2 cups boiling water (Optional: liquid stevia or 1 TSP raw honey).
Drinking this in the morning is a perfect way to control the microbial balance of your intestine, boost your body’s pH, and prime your detox organs all while giving you that extra energy boost.
Those who have tried this often report not only an energy boost, but a general improvement in their health and well being. Try this daily for at least 14 days and report back – I would be curious to see if the same thing happens to you!
Adding to Smoothies, Soups or Stews
Not only can this enhance the flavors but the enzymes and acetic acid will begin pre-digesting the proteins and fibers that assist your body’s ability to extract nutrients. ACV added to bone broth while cooking also helps to gently pull minerals and other nutrients from within the bone and ligamentous tissues, ensuring the broth is “fully loaded.”
As you can see these are just a few ideas, and chances are while you were reading this you thought of a way you use ACV daily or perhaps were in- spired to try a new method of your own.
