Natural Health Boosts: Have You Discovered Apple Cider Vinegar?

I’m sure you’re wondering… why an article on apple cider vinegar, of all things, on a blog concerned with Regency romance and writing? Primarily because I’m looking to improve my health this year, so I thought I’d create a “natural health boosts” category for the blog.

Everyone I meet seems to have health concerns, whether for themselves or someone in the family. So I’m investigating ways that tiny, inexpensive changes in our life, focused on natural products, can help to improve our health.

When a country-living friend told me that she’s making apple cider vinegar, using their home-grown apples, I became intrigued. My grandmother made me hot lemon, honey and apple cider vinegar drinks when I had a cold, but it seems apple cider vinegar has many health benefits.

Natural health boosts: change to apple cider vinegar

First things first. The easiest way to include apple cider vinegar in your diet is to use it in recipes, instead of red wine or rice vinegar, or whatever your favorite vinegar happens to be.

Let’s look at ways apple cider vinegar can boost your health.

1. Boost your energy with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in water (or tea)

Nourished Life suggests:

Taken daily, Apple Cider Vinegar is great for helping to give you that boost of energy, even if only from the ‘refreshing’ taste! Best taken diluted with water, it can help to soothe a dry throat, kickstart your metabolism and discourage the growth of bad bacteria.

Try drinking a glass of hot water (or herbal tea), with honey and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar each day. It’s a pleasant drink to get you hydrated.

After trying this for a couple of weeks, I can report it does appear to give you more energy. (Of course, the energy boost could come from the honey.)

2. Do you suffer from indigestion? Try apple cider vinegar

The Reader’s Digest suggests for indigestion-sufferers:

Try this folk remedy: add 1 teaspoon of honey and 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar to a glass of warm water and drink it 30 minutes before you dine.

Indigestion is unpleasant. If you find yourself regularly crunching antacid tablets after meals, the above remedy is worth a try.

3. Weight loss: can apple cider vinegar help?

The idea that apple cider vinegar added to your diet can help you to lose weight may well be a myth. After a little online research, it seems that they jury’s still out on the issue. That said:

Studies in obese rats and mice suggest that acetic acid can prevent fat deposition and improve their metabolism.

Please check with your doctor on this one—always be guided by your doctor when you have health concerns.

See the little recipe for tea, honey and apple cider vinegar above. If you need to lose a few pounds you may find that apple cider vinegar helps you to be more active; this will affect your overall health and weight.

4. A healthier home: use apple cider vinegar for cleaning

Vinegar helps you to keep your home clean with fewer chemicals. From One Green Planet:

You can dilute vinegar in with water (1:1 ratio) and it can be mixed with other natural cleaning products like lemon juice, salt, alcohol or essential oils. A note about baking soda, which is a common natural cleaning item: mixing baking soda and vinegar will impair the bacteria-killing properties of vinegar.

Inexpensive natural health boosts save money

I was chatting about natural health boosts like honey, sauerkraut, and apple cider vinegar with a fellow writer. He told me that his wife has switched to apple cider vinegar and herbal teas, in preference to buying expensive over-the-counter products.

“We drink peppermint tea after dinner and lavender tea before we go to sleep. The herbal teas work. They’re healthy and they save us money,” he said. “We’re trying to pay off our mortgage. Using inexpensive natural remedies works for us.”

Please share your own experiences in the comments. Are you a fan of apple cider vinegar?

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