Since this is a health blog, I'll try to mainly concentrate on the potential health benefits of vinegar. If you're interested in the other aspects of this acidic delight, just do a web search about "the uses of vinegar," "cleaning with vinegar," or "cooking with vinegar." Anyway...
I suppose one of the most commonly used vinegar tonics, prepared as a simple-to-drink concoction, is the 2 tablespoons of vinegar in one cup of water solution. When drank like that, some people add honey or sodium bicarbonate to the mix, to make it more palatable. Personally, I can easily gulp down a cup with 4 tablespoons of vinegar with not much problem albeit I usually go for more water after I'm done; ha-ha!
Many people, especially health fanatics, try to ingest vinegar on a daily basis. I usually only use it purposely, as a concoction, when I feel that my blood pressure has been up for a while or when I feel like my body is suffering from inflammation due to physical or mental stress.
With that being said, one the best health benefits (at least to me) is that vinegar can lower blood pressure and acts as a mild anti-inflammatory.
Some people use vinegar for insect bites, stings, etc.
I'm sure many of you have heard about how vinegar is great for the skin when consumed regularly, helps with acne, and so on.
Now, I can't prove this, nor have I done an extensive study on it, but it is believed by many that vinegar can help detoxify the body by flushing out toxins from the liver and other internal organs, the blood, etc. I'd say that it could help a person detox, but I'm not going to say that it is the best method for a detoxification process. If you'd like to read more about this subject, visit my blog post "Natural Ways to Detoxify your Liver."
Some people use vinegar while on strict diets that aim to lose weight, as an aid to curb your appetite. Hmm, maybe that's why I've read before that eating pickles suppresses hunger. Interesting...
The ingestion of vinegar helps with digestion and intestinal functions and is often believed to have the ability to help lower cholesterol - which is very possible. Consuming it during large meals supposedly helps curb the drastic rise in blood sugar, as well, albeit the mechanism behind it involves blocking certain digestive enzymes that convert carbs into sugars - most likely by only a limited/small degree.
Some people have found that using vinegar can help with headaches, hiccups, arthritis, and other uncomfortable ailments. I've also read where people have found vinegar to be an effective treatment for their warts. Vinegar is naturally an anti-microbial agent that helps kill bacteria, viruses, etc.
As you can see, there are many health benefits of vinegar, and it has way more uses than what many folks realize. I have loads of this stuff around the house, mainly because I use it to pickle peppers from my garden each year.
However, I will say, it seems like the most beneficial form of vinegar is apple cider when compared to white. [Edit: When concerning polyphenols, Balsamic Vinegar is probably the healthiest.] I just have the standard 5% white vinegar for now, since that is what I use for pickling, but I'll probably buy some of the apple cider vinegar in the future, to use for some of the natural remedies - like I mentioned prior. Hey, anything you can use that is natural to replace the use of man-made drugs or chemicals, is always a big plus.
Well, that about wraps it up. I'm sure there are many other uses and benefits for this substance, but I just went over some of the most common ones I have heard of. Cheers!
Related Blog Post: Health Benefits of Lycopene
No comments:
Post a Comment