I must now confess to everyone that I am addicted. Yes, people, my body craves for my daily fix. And when I take it, my body feels healthier. What is my burden? Vinegar!
This is definitely one of the stranger habits I’ve picked up in China, but somewhere along these three years I started to love the taste of good vinegar, especially apple vinegar. At Din Tai Feng I’ll secretly sip a spoonfull when the waiter isn’t looking. Now I have it daily, usually at least a tablespoon with water and honey.
I don’t know why, but my body literally feels good after drinking it. Today I found a great article which discusses one possible reason; vinegar is very effective at lowering sugar levels as well as increasing your sensation of feeling full. The data was quite robust and is detailed in the article below, but the main point was that a small amount of vinegar with a meal will lower your sugar absorption levels by 30%, and also make you feel more full and hopefully eat a smaller portion. That 30% is a huge amount for a diabetic struggling to control their sugars and wanting to avoid insulin shots.
This is a great and easy suggestion for anyone to improve their health a bit, and especially for diabetics or those with “early” or borderline diabetes. As for how to take it, the easiest way is as a vinaigrette on a small salad with your meal. I often have it just in warm water but some may find that too acidic for their stomach. People should experiment! Plus, there are a lot of choices for vinegar in all local markets. It’s nice to know that there’s a medical reason for my madness. Does anyone else like vinegar?
Update: Lead in Balsamic Vinegar?
I just read a disturbing new report that details how many aged balsamic vinegars have high lead levels. It seems that many of these bottles have lead levels many times higher than healthy, which could cause health effects, especially for children. I’ll look into it more, but they recommend that people get younger balsamic vinegars, or just stick to other types such as apple, rice and others.
Article: Really? – The Claim – Vinegar Can Help Lower Blood Sugar Levels – Question – NYTimes.com.
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while vinegar has been known to lower the arbsoption rate of glucose which is very helpful for diabetics, this happens to be first time I have heard of someone taking vinegar raw as opposed to adding it to my food, I wonder if it has a higher impact if it is used this way, This is surely going to my project pile. thanks for sharing.
I have used apple cider vinegar off and on for years. Don't know why I ever stop but just do some at intervals. It also helps make the joints more flexible. expecially if you are experiencing joint pain.
The raw apole cider I use is by Braggs and is a pure form of the vinegar. It is not the distilled kind as that loses a lot of the value when vinegar is distilled. At least that is my understanding.