The Cheap, Super Healthy Drink I Use Every Day for Energy & Immunity

Recently, I posted about the one simple thing I do every morning to improve my health.  In that post, I mention that I drink some apple cider vinegar in my morning cup of water, and I promised to go into a little bit more detail on that later.  Well, here we are at “later.”  Let’s dive in, shall we?  Because, let’s be honest…drinking vinegar is weird.  But ya know what’s weirder?  The fact that I actually now like drinking vinegar first thing in the morning.

So, quick recap…  I started drinking a big glass of water first thing in the morning before I would let myself have any coffee as a bit of a new year’s resolution for improving my health in 2016.  Then, a few weeks into my water drinking, I started adding one big spoonful of apple cider vinegar to my water and a few drops of essential oils (usually lemon or another citrus fruit).  If you’re used to your first sips of liquid in the morning being something hot and roasty flavored, this is kind of a weird wake up call to your tastebuds, but guys, I am HOOKED!

Here are five reasons why I love drinking apple cider vinegar every morning.

1.  My digestion has never been better.  Okay, honest game here.  I suffered from chronic gas, bloating, irregularity, and constipation for years and years.  I thought it was “just the way I am.”  (Ever heard that one?  Yeah, I’ve decided not to say that anymore for, like, most everything.)  Now, this has markedly improved by eating a much lower carbohydrate, high fat diet, particularly with cutting gluten and dairy from my diet pretty drastically.  I feel so, so much better!!  But, I would still have some constipation here and there that was bothersome, sacked my energy, and just made me feel, in general, meh.  Enter ACV (let’s just get on an acronym basis with apple cider vinegar, shall we?)!  That stuff just gets everything moving!  Sometimes I have to hit the bathroom before I’ve ever had a sip of coffee.  (Side note: if coffee is the only way you can “go,” there is a problem with your gut!)  Also, I sit down, go, and get back on with my day.  There is no sitting on the toilet, browsing your Facebook news feed (come on, we all do it), hoping you can go.  Nope.  I’d say going #1 or #2 take me about the same amount of time, and I feel as though I have thoroughly eliminated.  (Probably more than you ever wanted to know about me, but we need to get honest about poop, people.  Everybody does it, and it tells us a LOT about our health!)

Now, I do give the plain ol’ water a bit of credit here as well.  Dehydration can be a serious contributor to constipation, and, after you’ve been sleeping all night, your body needs some hydrating!  But, I do think the ACV has made my digestion even happier!

2.  My immune system is a bit tougher.  I can’t prove that ACV is the reason for this, but I do feel like I have been able to fight off quite a bit of sickness this year.  My little guy seems to pick up every little germ.  This bothered me for a while.  Is his gut compromised that he can’t seem to fight these germs?  Perhaps.  More probiotic foods for you, Little Man!  In the meantime, I’ve decided to stop stressing about his occasional sniffles.  I’m also not going to raise him inside a giant petri dish.  What’s better?  I rarely catch it!  As my sister-in-law says, “They [babies] always seem to be leaking from some orifice.”  True statement, and it’s usually all over me.  So, plenty of contact with this guy and his germs, and I usually (not always, but usually) manage to avoid getting sick.  Also, my husband has been sick more often this year (hello, new job stress), and I haven’t gotten most of his colds either.

So, can I prove that it’s the ACV?  No, I cannot, but it’s the only thing I’ve added to my health regimen that would be an immune booster.  Apple cider vinegar contains probiotics.  Probiotics build the immune system.  Voila.

3.  My skin is brighter and clearer than it’s been in quite a while.  Many people promote the benefits of ACV for clear skin.  Some people even use it (diluted) as a facial toner.  While I do think my skin is most effected by significant reductions in gluten and dairy, ACV does seem to help as well.  Not only does your poop say a lot about your health, but your skin does too!  (Actually, your skin says a lot about your gut.)  Listen, you need to be eliminating every day.  If your body is having trouble clearing out your system via the gut, it’s going to try to eliminate some waste through your skin.  Yes, this is gross, but the sooner we recognize this, the sooner we can start taking our guts more seriously!

4.  My blood sugar levels are regulating better.  This is so exciting for me!  My blood sugar levels used to spike and dip all freaking day long, and I thought this was normal.  (Newsflash: it’s not!)  It is common, but not normal to be “hangry,” to feel shaky after several hours without food, to have trouble focusing when you’re hungry, to wake up feeling so hungry you’re going to eat your own arm.  This was me.  Now, again, a high fat, low carb diet has been huge for me with getting this all under control, but apple cider vinegar has helped it even more!

If you give ACV a quick google, you’ll see lists a mile long of propertied health benefits.  Many of these are backed up only by anecdotal evidence (not necessarily a bad thing or making them untrue, but, just keep in mind that the ACV may only be correlated to said results and not actually the cause).  From looking at the scientific research to back up all the claims related to ACV, blood sugar regulation appears to have the most support and actual data.  This is exciting!!

5.  It helped with my occasional acid reflux.  I used to struggle with acid reflux from time to time (which is a big deal since I’m a singer, and acid reflux really messes your voice up badly).  This is pretty much fixed as long as I don’t eat a ton of food right before bed.  However, during pregnancy, I did have some acid reflux periodically.  (Hey, little buddy, quit taking up all my stomach space and pushing things all around with your little body!)  I found that a “shot” of ACV would clear acid reflux/heartburn/indigestion right up!

Contrary to popular belief, if you are struggling with these things, you probably do not have enough hydrochloric acid in your stomach rather than too much.  (Think of it this way, if you don’t have enough acid, it’s not going to be able to effectively do its job of breaking down your food down in your stomach where it’s all supposed to stay.  Thus, it churns around in your stomach, and the pressure from said churning sends some acid up into the esophagus.  Lovely.  When you take an antacid, you’re perpetuating the problem by neutralizing the only acid that’s in there.  Don’t buy into the lie that you need antacids for some sort of hyper acidic stomach!)  ACV provides necessary acidity to the stomach (the only place in your body that’s supposed to be acidic!), allowing it to do its job more effectively.  The results are pretty amazing within just a few minutes.  Plus, you get to enjoy all the other benefits listed above.  Tums will not give you clearer skin, people.

So, there you have it.  My top five reasons for drinking a big glass of vinegar each morning.  Like I said, there are many, many more benefits touted by believers in ACV.  Claims have even been made that ACV lowers cholesterol and blood pressure and kills cancer cells!  Wowzers.  These don’t have a ton of actual, human research to back them up, but for $6 a bottle and a plethora of other just really nice day-to-day health benefits, what can it hurt to give it a try.

A few quick notes:

• I’m partial to this brand (although, it is about half the cost just to buy the same sized bottle from my local grocery store…weird…)
• Make sure you’re using one that has “the mother.”  Yeah, I know.  That’s a weird term, but those are the good guys (or, ladies I guess) that you want.  They’re the probiotic strands.  Give the bottle a good shake before you use it to mix ’em all up.
• I’d steer clear of ACV in a plastic bottle.  The stuff is just too acidic for plastic and could leach some plastic from the bottle into the vinegar.  Ew.
• Definitely dilute it.  I use to take it in the tiniest bit of water to just get it over with, but now I put it in a big glass of water.  Some people say it can be hard on your tooth enamel.  I’m not terribly worried about that, but I do think it’s probably a good idea just to put it in water to be safe.  Plus, my stomach used to hurt a bit when I took it almost straight.  Maybe just a bit too potent.
• I stick to 1 tablespoon at a time.  Maybe 2 is fine, but I do think you can have too much of a good thing.  1 tablespoon seems to be all I need anyway.

Have you ever tried drinking apple cider vinegar?  What sort of results did you have?  Comment below!